Dave
Well-Known Member
Yes, more than a week ago, I was privileged to see the one 'n' only Pat Boone...
Of late his little touring had mainly been a spoken-word documentary of his career, but this time even approaching the age of 79, and w/ his voice fine & in perfect tune gave us a full singing concert!
Worth the drive to the Drury Inn Terrace in Oak Lawn Illinois (even w/ the toll booths charging you for mistakenly getting on/off wrong/right entrances/exits (had to pay one "missed" Online) & the drive being nearly-600 miles w/o getting lost!)...
And worth staying at the Hilton Garden Inn (the cheaper version of the Drury Inn Hilton that Pat was staying at--a drop in the bucket for HIM!--w/ the theater in the same plaza being the two lodging venues) even for one night forking over a lot for my little money... But a nice stay & I made good use of the full-breakfast buffet the next morning, too!
(And yes, I did check out The Doubletree down the road, just to find the same rates & a very impractical drive to/from the show, so, ...NO!!!!)
Well, without further adieu, I present Pat's song set:
Love Is In The Air/Thank You For Being A Friend (more for the Golden Girls set, which made up the audience--Golden GUYS, too, than really equated w/ the late-Andrew Gold...!)
Pat's Hits, chronologically:
Ain't That A Shame
Tutti Frutti
I Almost Lost My Mind
Bernadine
Moody River
Love Letters In The Sand
April Love
> > > Intermission < < <
Speedy Gonzales
Friendly Persuasion
Don't Forbid Me (Pat actually claimed that this song was originally intended for Elvis, his main competitor in the industry, but a friend & at least a contemporary, who really had hits AFTER Pat's career took off...!)
A very funny bit Pat worked into his show was his band breaking into an "Elvis Beat", maybe it was "Teddy Bear" it was playing, while muffling out "Elvis explaining to Pat what was wrong w/ his hips & why he'd been shown from the waist up while on television", ending w/ Pat imitating The King w/ an "Ah cain't hep et! Cain't hep et!"...
Exodus (written by Pat for the biblical picture & a video was shown of him singing on Masada in Israel, and I couldn't help singing along w/ it! There was a '45' of this song, which Pat redid, from the early-'70's, which I have, among my Pat Boone recorded treasures!)
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show (the Neil Diamond song, that lost out to Peggy Lee actually doing the "star remake" of) with "Wonderful Time Up There", the notable first Gospel song reaching the Pop Top-40, and even BJ Thomas's "Mighty Clouds Of Joy", somehow not reaching such heights...
Theme song from THE NOTEBOOK: You And I; from the movie (of which the reading of the book of drove Pat to tears, as did seeing the movie, as he & his wife Shirley (whom will be sharing their 60th Anniversary of marriage this year) went through several boxes of Kleenex watching a rental copy of)...
America The Beautiful
Under God (preceded by a brief "Political Soapbox rant" of how someone campaigned to remove "Under God" from our Pledge Of Allegiance, yet Pat sat on a board of supporters to keep it & actually won...)
The Pat Boone show that I saw last year, I recall him doing Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless The USA', the only singing he'd virtually done, along w/ 'Under God', leading us in the "And I'm proud to be an American chorus", but didn't this time...
(Yes, another figure who'd done vastly much in his career, so naturally while there was more I thought & wished Pat could do & could have given us, this was it...!)
The end, but on to the meet & greet in the lobby! A fellow-concertgoer I befriended at last year's show (he told me about Pat speaking at a graduation commencement in Adrian MI, that my daughter & I took off to) & I wisely made ourselves last in line (and true, how Pat must have out-lived his fans, as the people waiting at the end of the show to meet & greet was not nearly as long as I would imagine & yes, I was the youngest one there!)...
So I bought a copy of his picture book/autobiography AMERICAN THE FIRST 50-Years, that I finally finished reading (the few things I have read cover-to-cover, word-for-word), but noticing that it was already signed by Mr. Boone had him sign another book I bought on his acting career, THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS, authored by Richard Kibbey, also in attendance, whom I'd gotten to meet & sit through the second set of songs w/ and who was also at that commencement, introducing Pat last year; he'd also signed the book along w/ Pat...
But the real meet & greet was the night before at the restaurant at the Drury Inn Hilton that Pat was staying at (which had a burger & beer special, that now I wish I'd paid the $16.50 for, instead of driving off to the McDonald's for just a chicken sandwich!) where he & Richard Kibbey (both who'd signed my program for the Adrian College (a small Chrisitan college much like the one Pat briefly attended before enrolling in & graduating from Columbia University) commencement) and two other men--most likely his tour director, whom I don't know the name of and his pianist & music director, Dave Siebels...
So there was a lot of mugging with him (four pic's: one at the restaurant & three at the meet & greet in the lobby) & I had a great time seeing Pat Boone while he--and I--are still around!
-- Dave
Of late his little touring had mainly been a spoken-word documentary of his career, but this time even approaching the age of 79, and w/ his voice fine & in perfect tune gave us a full singing concert!
Worth the drive to the Drury Inn Terrace in Oak Lawn Illinois (even w/ the toll booths charging you for mistakenly getting on/off wrong/right entrances/exits (had to pay one "missed" Online) & the drive being nearly-600 miles w/o getting lost!)...
And worth staying at the Hilton Garden Inn (the cheaper version of the Drury Inn Hilton that Pat was staying at--a drop in the bucket for HIM!--w/ the theater in the same plaza being the two lodging venues) even for one night forking over a lot for my little money... But a nice stay & I made good use of the full-breakfast buffet the next morning, too!
(And yes, I did check out The Doubletree down the road, just to find the same rates & a very impractical drive to/from the show, so, ...NO!!!!)
Well, without further adieu, I present Pat's song set:
Love Is In The Air/Thank You For Being A Friend (more for the Golden Girls set, which made up the audience--Golden GUYS, too, than really equated w/ the late-Andrew Gold...!)
Pat's Hits, chronologically:
Ain't That A Shame
Tutti Frutti
I Almost Lost My Mind
Bernadine
Moody River
Love Letters In The Sand
April Love
> > > Intermission < < <
Speedy Gonzales
Friendly Persuasion
Don't Forbid Me (Pat actually claimed that this song was originally intended for Elvis, his main competitor in the industry, but a friend & at least a contemporary, who really had hits AFTER Pat's career took off...!)
A very funny bit Pat worked into his show was his band breaking into an "Elvis Beat", maybe it was "Teddy Bear" it was playing, while muffling out "Elvis explaining to Pat what was wrong w/ his hips & why he'd been shown from the waist up while on television", ending w/ Pat imitating The King w/ an "Ah cain't hep et! Cain't hep et!"...
Exodus (written by Pat for the biblical picture & a video was shown of him singing on Masada in Israel, and I couldn't help singing along w/ it! There was a '45' of this song, which Pat redid, from the early-'70's, which I have, among my Pat Boone recorded treasures!)
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show (the Neil Diamond song, that lost out to Peggy Lee actually doing the "star remake" of) with "Wonderful Time Up There", the notable first Gospel song reaching the Pop Top-40, and even BJ Thomas's "Mighty Clouds Of Joy", somehow not reaching such heights...
Theme song from THE NOTEBOOK: You And I; from the movie (of which the reading of the book of drove Pat to tears, as did seeing the movie, as he & his wife Shirley (whom will be sharing their 60th Anniversary of marriage this year) went through several boxes of Kleenex watching a rental copy of)...
America The Beautiful
Under God (preceded by a brief "Political Soapbox rant" of how someone campaigned to remove "Under God" from our Pledge Of Allegiance, yet Pat sat on a board of supporters to keep it & actually won...)
The Pat Boone show that I saw last year, I recall him doing Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless The USA', the only singing he'd virtually done, along w/ 'Under God', leading us in the "And I'm proud to be an American chorus", but didn't this time...
(Yes, another figure who'd done vastly much in his career, so naturally while there was more I thought & wished Pat could do & could have given us, this was it...!)
The end, but on to the meet & greet in the lobby! A fellow-concertgoer I befriended at last year's show (he told me about Pat speaking at a graduation commencement in Adrian MI, that my daughter & I took off to) & I wisely made ourselves last in line (and true, how Pat must have out-lived his fans, as the people waiting at the end of the show to meet & greet was not nearly as long as I would imagine & yes, I was the youngest one there!)...
So I bought a copy of his picture book/autobiography AMERICAN THE FIRST 50-Years, that I finally finished reading (the few things I have read cover-to-cover, word-for-word), but noticing that it was already signed by Mr. Boone had him sign another book I bought on his acting career, THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS, authored by Richard Kibbey, also in attendance, whom I'd gotten to meet & sit through the second set of songs w/ and who was also at that commencement, introducing Pat last year; he'd also signed the book along w/ Pat...
But the real meet & greet was the night before at the restaurant at the Drury Inn Hilton that Pat was staying at (which had a burger & beer special, that now I wish I'd paid the $16.50 for, instead of driving off to the McDonald's for just a chicken sandwich!) where he & Richard Kibbey (both who'd signed my program for the Adrian College (a small Chrisitan college much like the one Pat briefly attended before enrolling in & graduating from Columbia University) commencement) and two other men--most likely his tour director, whom I don't know the name of and his pianist & music director, Dave Siebels...
So there was a lot of mugging with him (four pic's: one at the restaurant & three at the meet & greet in the lobby) & I had a great time seeing Pat Boone while he--and I--are still around!
-- Dave