My Name Was Oh Donna

Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper oh and me, Donna.

My ‘bar’ days are in the distant past but there still is one place that is more home like than bar like that my friends and I enjoy and that is The Commercial in Maryhill. (I know I have mentioned it previously). It is the ultimate Cheers ‘Sometimes you want to go, Where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.’

This past weekend Paul and Sylvia Weber, owners of the Commercial, hosted Bill Culp and the Memphis Cats who brought along Jeff Giles as Buddy Holly. I had never seen Jeff perform before and he is incredible in the role and lives up to all the hype you can google. He has played Buddy in a number of stage plays of the Buddy Holly Story and when he comes to the stage as Jeff there is a subtle morph to Buddy with the first strum of the guitar.

The show was an anniversary tribute as the previous Friday (Feb 3) was the 53rd anniversary of the death of Buddy, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson from a plane crash.  With the loss of so much talent at one time the date has been referred to as, ‘The Day The Music Died‘.

The plane trip was a last minute arrangement and the original three passengers were Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup.  Richardson (the Big Bopper) had the flu and asked Waylon for his seat and Ritchie Valens got Tommy’s seat in a coin toss.  So much for fate.

All were well represented.  Bill Culp is talented in so many ways but when he started The Big Bopper’s Chantilly Lace it was as though he was meant for that song in that moment.

Bruce Tournay, that white knight of song and the keyboard, as  you know is a long standing heart throb of mine, and when he sang Ritchie Valen‘s Oh Donna (I had already volunteered to be Donna when no one else in the room claimed the name), he knelt on one knee, held my hand, gazed into my eyes and sang, I was, I was…well…..Actually I was a very unfashionable beet red color due to the embarrassment of the whole thing.

The most fun, almost, next to the above, was when Jeff explained how Snowball dances were conducted way back when, and he had all of the band come off stage to dance with us, and then snowball. (You may have to google that if they were not part of your past!).

It was a wonderful show and if you get a chance to see any of these guys do catch their show.
I antiqued the first photo which was kind of fun!

Our friend Pauline volunteered to sit in a Maria Elena Buddy's wife

The Stage

My Very Personal Night with Bill Culp, Bruce Tournay and Marie Bottrell

Yup, last night we, I, rocked Seaforth Ontario.
My friends and I have been dedicated followers (groupies even!) of The Memphis Cats for a few years now and we follow any show that Bill Culp puts together and plays in.
 
Bill plays upright bass and guitar and Bruce on piano and they both sing stirring that primal beast to action that results in dance floor quaking and romance making good old rockabilly music.
 

Bill Culp

The band members take my group’s or groupies adorations to heart and love us as much as we love them (in the most platonic way of course).
 
Last night my friend Linda threw herself a retirement party and many months ago asked Bill if he would grace our little celebration with his presence. Well he came through and then some. Not only did he come, but he brought Bruce Tournay and Marie Bottrell, all award winners. In 2010 Marie was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame..who no unlike Shania did not take a tumble.
Marie specializes in Patsy Cline but rocks any song she sings as she did last night with Snowbird.
 

Marie Bottrell

Now I almost hate to start describing Bruce Tournay as it will give away more about me than I usually care to share but….the man is hot!! He could just stand there, just stand not even move and libidos are rising. He sang and played non-stop and one of the best was Billy Joel‘s Piano Man. And that is all I will say on that! Whew!

Bruce Tournay

 
Bill’s multi talents seem endless and whether it is a nice little ditty or a deep throaty sensuous serving of rock the man knows how to sing and engage the public. My sister who never dances and says she cannot dance and won’t dance, so don’t ask her, got up and strutted her stuff in wild abandon!
 
They play around the world; they play across the continent and last night these saints of savory songs played for us. And it was…..