Two Most Talented People of the Planet?

Simon Cowell called Terry Fator "one of the two most talented people on the planet" and although it's not clear who Simon meant was the other one, it's clear to me, anyway. (Hint: look left for both!)

Being slot machine addicts, when we go to Las Vegas, we almost never go to see shows. I've been to Vegas probably 30 times and I've seen 4 shows total. [Okay, so I went to see Smokey 3 times at the Desert Inn, but that counts as one show.] In fact, until this last trip, I'd seen only 2 shows in 30 years: Siegfried & Roy and Smokey!

My mom and I love watching "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent". It cracked me up when she once confessed that she voted TWENTY TIMES for someone. Meanwhile I think I voted 200-300 times for Justin Guarini---uhhhh, that's two hours of my life I'll never get back. I now limit myself to an occasional 10-20 minutes of voting tops, figuring my efforts did nothing for poor Justin so what's the sense? I mean Terry Fator got himself a $100 million contract and what do we get? I'm thinking there should be some kind of voting incentive....like the chance to win cash for dialing. Throw us poor voters a bone! *LOL*

I digress....anyway, like mother like daughter, my mom has seen just a couple of shows in her almost 40 years of Las Vegas trips, but she requested that we go to see Terry Fator at the Mirage. Having already spent $400 on Mariah Carey tickets for Jordan and myself, we decided to wait til the Terry Fator tickets went to 25% off. It was somewhat stressing to wait because I had to check daily to make sure the show wasn't selling out, but it was well worth the wait because we were able to get nice seats for the discounted price.

Terry's show is very popular--it was a full house--because it's highly entertaining and I recommend it even at full price. It's amazing enough that he's a good ventriloquist and funny, but he can sing like dozens of celebrities while not moving his lips. Whaaaat!? It's mind-boggling to say the least. My favorite is his Michael Jackson/Cowboy Walter Airedale routine where he's dressed like a Weird Al version of Michael and confesses that he's "different".... because he likes country music and wants Cowboy Walter to listen to him yodel. Walter, meanwhile, hopes Michael doesn't have a crotch-grabbing moment.

I was happy that Terry decided to keep this routine in his act after Michael's death. As a fan of Michael Jackson, I wasn't at all offended and loved every moment of it. Even if you're unable to go to Las Vegas or don't care to drop $100 for a ticket to his show, you can still enjoy Terry Fator either on YouTube or better by purchasing his DVD online.

After the show we were able to meet Terry and get an autograph. What we didn't know, however, was that they don't allow you take a photo with Terry with your own camera because they have a professional photographer taking your photo and hope that you're willing to pay $44 to get a copy! I wish I had known this ahead of time or had thought quickly enough to have Leonard surreptitiously click a photo from the sidelines with our new 7x zoom camera! The ushers, however, were nice enough to give us the heads up so we were able to take photos of Terry as he walked to the meet/greet area.

This past weekend the three of us, all MJ fans, went to see "This Is It." Not sure if it'd be crowded with Kauai fans on Sunday (the fifth day of showing), we were there exactly an hour before the 6:45 p.m. showtime and as we purchased our tickets, were asked if we were sure we wanted to buy them so early. *LOL* At least being the first to buy tickets for that showing, we were able to secure a bench to sit on while we waited. We were treated to--or others may say subjected to--impromptu MJ impressions by one of the theater ushers, obviously a devout fan who admonished a group waiting for "Zombieland", "You should see Michael Jackson instead!" An hour later, the theater, although not sold-out, was respectably full, "Zombieland" or not.

Consider this my public service announcement: You have just a week more to see this movie on the big screen and if you have any interest in Michael or music concerts or dancing, do yourself a favor and see it. You won't regret it. I came away feeling very uplifted. The movie truly did his fans a service by showing that he was still on his game despite being away for a decade. After all he'd been through, I admit I had my doubts about his abilities. Watching the movie, however, I was even more in awe of him than ever, not only because of his still-amazing dance moves or hearing his singing, but witnessing his sheer genius as he took part in directing different elements of the concert numbers. This truly would have been a special--if not history-making--concert and although it's tragic that it will never take place, I'm grateful that we are given glimpses of what would have been, and also grateful that our last view of Michael Jackson was such a glorious one.

As I said earlier, it's clear to me who THE most talented person on this planet was.

Missing the Music

There's one business that's not experiencing a slowdown of any kind. It's the "business" of Baby Boomers wanting to boogie oogie oogie. The "70's Nightclub Reunion Dance," which I've mentioned before, went from an annual event to semi-annual this year and the event sells out in MINUTES. I wish I could be there that weekend, but unfortunately we have to be in Honolulu two weeks later and as much as I'd like to see what Asian Blend looks/sounds like 30 years later, it's not enough to warrant two trips in a month. Bobby Caldwell and Smokey Robinson, yes, Asian Blend...ummm, well maybe when our personal economy starts flourishing again.

I'm wondering if a similar dance event could be successful on Kauai. If I had the know-how and the connections, I'd seriously consider organizing one. There could be no better time than right now. Michael Jackson's stunning death has probably awakened everyone's dormant inner Tony or Stephanie as we've all been listening to MJ's songs all week, most of which "have a good beat that you can dance to." Okay, possibly only Baby Boomers get that last sentence.

Personally, I wish I could jump on a time machine and go back to the period between 1968 and 1982 in Honolulu. Going to a dance was probably my favorite thing to do. Junior YBA dances, YWCA club dances, "pay parties", Magic Mushroom, Foxy Lady II, Hawaiian Hut, Hula Hut, Infinity, Point After, Spats, Valentino's... oh my goodness, I haven't thought of those places in a long time!

One aspect of "boogie-ing" I didn't enjoy was the torture of having to wait to be asked to dance. OH...MY...GOD there's no greater torture. Women's Lib may have been born in the 70's, but it certainly did not extend to the Hawaii dancefloors in those days! This is why I'd love to travel back in time; this time I wouldn't hesitate to ask some guy to dance or dance with friends, etc.

I was lucky enough in 1976 to travel to Europe and I talked the other 20somethings in our tour group to go dancing in London, Madrid, and Innsbruck. We made the happy discovery that in Europe it was perfectly acceptable to dance in a group, or with another female, etc.

Another thing I loved about my young adulthood in Honolulu was not just having all those dance venues, but also having countless other quality live entertainment available: Booga Booga, Cecilio and Kapono, Kalapana, Country Comfort, Music Magic, Azure McCall, Carol Kai, Iva Kinimaka, Nephi Hanneman, Jimmy Borges, Sydette, Liz Damon, Peter Moon, Beamer Brothers, Society of Seven, Frank Delima, Mel Cabang, Dick Jensen, Don Ho...Sak and Stu (*LOOOOOOOL*) Whatever happened to Sak and Stu, I wonder?!

We also seemed to have more opportunities to see nationally as well as internationally renown talent and at much lower ticket prices (even accounting for inflation). I only went to a fraction of the concerts, and yet within a span of ten years or so, I saw Herman's Hermits, the Animals (twice!), Paul Revere & the Raiders, the Beach Boys, the Carpenters, Tower of Power, Doobie Brothers, Blind Faith (Eric Clapton), Sonny and Cher, Young Rascals, Wayne Newton, Liza Minnelli, El Chicano, and Jose Feliciano. I'm sure I saw more that I don't recall.

I suppose I'm feeling extra nostalgic for those days because on Kauai, there's so little night life. Oh yes, and also because today's our 30th wedding anniversary and I'm remembering the days of our youth. It seems like just a few years ago, honestly. I thank Leonard for letting me stay young in my mind by putting up with my silly, youthful antics...not to mention takes me dancing in Honolulu if I bug him enough. As he says, I'll always be a "young chick" to him since I'm five years younger than he is. Lucky me!

As a postscript, I'd like to note that Michael Jackson died on the day of Michael Edayan's funeral and as if the latter weren't hard enough to accept, the second Michael loss is almost as difficult. Imagine, two gifted Michaels I wish I could have known longer and heard from longer, gone too soon. I was no raging Michael Jackson fan-addict (I immediately went to buy a couple of his DVD's online, because all we have are MJ cassette tapes!), but I did recognize his greatness and being a music and dance lover, how could I not understand how he was one in a billion? He may have grown into a strange adult, but I always gave him the benefit of the doubt and accepted his eccentricities. Geniuses are often plagued by less desirable "by-products" of their genius, and I'd sooner enjoy their brilliant contributions and only judge them if I'm asked to be on a jury.