CherryStreet
Member
Well this heat wave has finally broken (not even close to what Captain Bacardi has been putting up with) and I am again able to sit outside by the pool and file a full report, so sorry for the delay. Arrived at the Newport Hyatt at about 4PM and just went straight to the pool. Sat in the sun, swam and had a few ice-cold cervezas before show time. Even showed up to the show with my hair still wet and said hello to Bill & Hussain and found out that Sergio was going to use subs for the Tokyo show. Got to chat with Aria’s husband who was on “photography” duty for Herb & Lani. I told him that I saw his wife dance when she was a young girl on the Bullish Tour with Herb & Lani. He said, “You don’t look that old?” I laughed and told him I was 20 at the time.
Herb arrived on stage in a scarf at this intimate seaside resort. Something cool? Yes the air tonight but that was it. It’s been over a year since Herb has sung a solo piece live, I got a feeling he might be done with the hassle. Do you feel me? I got a feeling Herb’s just not feeling it on a solo vocal number in the show. He quickly dispensed with the scarf and lit a beachside bonfire and this little get together was on.
After Besame Mucho talked about Consuelo Vasquez and said, “I found that on Wiki Leaks……..I mean Wikipedia!……Don't get me involved with that guy, I didn't do it!……..I didn't get this gray hair for nothin', I earned it!” Herb then saluted the free loaders in the balcony. The balcony suites had a “free” view of this near beachside party. It was so intimate down front by Bill, hell I could have turned pages if this killer improvising band used sheet music, that is how close the stage was. Herb talked about improvisation and from Moondance the improvisation was "on". And that is why I love going to these shows, the set list might be the same but the music and the performance never is.
A hypnotic “Viola” still has the hairs on my neck raised. In the night air Herbs trumpet sounded like a soundtrack from another era. During the “trouble ahead” portion of the closing of “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” Bill had this spooky Dark Shadows-esque drone underneath that was so cool. Someone shouted out “Absolutely”, “Absolutely, are you drinking that or is it a request?” Herb was having fun.
TJB medley from the start with Rise you could just picture Herb and Lani running on the beach like in the video. Maybe it was being outdoors, maybe it was being so near the Pacific in Newport Beach, maybe it was remembering all of those summers so long ago out by the pool as my parents first played the TJB when I was a kid, But Herb's horn was again "outdoors" and it rocked my world. As well as this crowd. Even the video I shot of the medley has the corona of light behind Herb and it spookily, eerily looks like it's 1969. Still pretty shaken by that. Steve Sidoruk would have loved this show because you could shoot whatever you wanted. You could have set up a high-def camera on a tripod and shot the whole show if you wanted to and nobody would have said a thing. The whole vibe and atmosphere was that loose.
After O Pato Herb said, “I 'm not crazy about playing outdoors but this has been nice, but if you could feel that trumpet it's ice cold.” Someone asked how the Baja Marimba Band came to be, “Julius Wechter wrote a tune called, ‘Coming In The Back Door’, that's how that whole first Baja album came along”.
Some shouted for “Send In The Clowns”, “Yeah they will be soon, but one of these days we will do that open it up to what ever you want to hear, not quite sure how we would do that?” said Herb. I’ve got a great idea Herb, how about do what Elvis Costello did this year in LA at the Wiltern. He just put whatever songs he was willing to play that night on a big wheel and people from the audience came up and gave the wheel a spin.
Hussain’s bass along with Lani’s powerhouse take on “Anything Goes” was just extraordinary. Hot, hot improvising was the theme of the night and if Herb lit this beachcomber bonfire than Bill Cantos’ piano provided the wood! You could also say his scatting was the gasoline thrown on the fire. Cantos went moon shot tonight on “Got You Under My Skin. So much smooching on stage tonight from the two lovebirds. “I think I'm singing too much in this show”, said Lani after yet another crazy improv run by Bill Cantos. Never Lani, never. Herb told a story about the recent show in Saratoga, “No Laura’s were in the audience so finally this big guy stands up and shouts, “I'll be a Laura!”
A friend of Roger Caroll from KABC brought Herb two pictures on stage that he had never seen before and gave then to Herb. One was a great shot of Herb and Burt Bacharach during the recording of “This Guy’s In Love With You”. You could see Herb get emotional and he went on to talk about Roger Caroll and how he helped first make the TJB a hit by always playing our records and calling the Tijuana Brass, the greatest band in the world. No argument there. It sounded like the other picture showed Herb drinking a shot of Tequila!
That lit yet another bonfire under Herb and his improvisation on “Night And Day” was
just electrifying and take for the ages. The “Jobim Medley” was Bill Cantos’ zero hour.
He went off like a Roman Candle barrage at a late summer beach party. Lani Hall’s jaw literally hit the floor and she bowed a “we are not worthy” salute to an on fire Bill Cantos. Herb put back on his scarf and he and Lani and band shuffled off into the night as the crowd started to also exit and hum tunes.
And what a night it was. One big late summer beach party. When was the last time Herb played any TJB hits so close to roar of the Pacific ocean? The “Taste Of Honey" video maybe? In fact, when was the last time Herb & Lani played outdoors so close to home and so close to the crash of the waves. Like I said in an earlier post, this was one of the top 3 shows I have seen this band play and one of the greatest nights of my life.
Herb arrived on stage in a scarf at this intimate seaside resort. Something cool? Yes the air tonight but that was it. It’s been over a year since Herb has sung a solo piece live, I got a feeling he might be done with the hassle. Do you feel me? I got a feeling Herb’s just not feeling it on a solo vocal number in the show. He quickly dispensed with the scarf and lit a beachside bonfire and this little get together was on.
After Besame Mucho talked about Consuelo Vasquez and said, “I found that on Wiki Leaks……..I mean Wikipedia!……Don't get me involved with that guy, I didn't do it!……..I didn't get this gray hair for nothin', I earned it!” Herb then saluted the free loaders in the balcony. The balcony suites had a “free” view of this near beachside party. It was so intimate down front by Bill, hell I could have turned pages if this killer improvising band used sheet music, that is how close the stage was. Herb talked about improvisation and from Moondance the improvisation was "on". And that is why I love going to these shows, the set list might be the same but the music and the performance never is.
A hypnotic “Viola” still has the hairs on my neck raised. In the night air Herbs trumpet sounded like a soundtrack from another era. During the “trouble ahead” portion of the closing of “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” Bill had this spooky Dark Shadows-esque drone underneath that was so cool. Someone shouted out “Absolutely”, “Absolutely, are you drinking that or is it a request?” Herb was having fun.
TJB medley from the start with Rise you could just picture Herb and Lani running on the beach like in the video. Maybe it was being outdoors, maybe it was being so near the Pacific in Newport Beach, maybe it was remembering all of those summers so long ago out by the pool as my parents first played the TJB when I was a kid, But Herb's horn was again "outdoors" and it rocked my world. As well as this crowd. Even the video I shot of the medley has the corona of light behind Herb and it spookily, eerily looks like it's 1969. Still pretty shaken by that. Steve Sidoruk would have loved this show because you could shoot whatever you wanted. You could have set up a high-def camera on a tripod and shot the whole show if you wanted to and nobody would have said a thing. The whole vibe and atmosphere was that loose.
After O Pato Herb said, “I 'm not crazy about playing outdoors but this has been nice, but if you could feel that trumpet it's ice cold.” Someone asked how the Baja Marimba Band came to be, “Julius Wechter wrote a tune called, ‘Coming In The Back Door’, that's how that whole first Baja album came along”.
Some shouted for “Send In The Clowns”, “Yeah they will be soon, but one of these days we will do that open it up to what ever you want to hear, not quite sure how we would do that?” said Herb. I’ve got a great idea Herb, how about do what Elvis Costello did this year in LA at the Wiltern. He just put whatever songs he was willing to play that night on a big wheel and people from the audience came up and gave the wheel a spin.
Hussain’s bass along with Lani’s powerhouse take on “Anything Goes” was just extraordinary. Hot, hot improvising was the theme of the night and if Herb lit this beachcomber bonfire than Bill Cantos’ piano provided the wood! You could also say his scatting was the gasoline thrown on the fire. Cantos went moon shot tonight on “Got You Under My Skin. So much smooching on stage tonight from the two lovebirds. “I think I'm singing too much in this show”, said Lani after yet another crazy improv run by Bill Cantos. Never Lani, never. Herb told a story about the recent show in Saratoga, “No Laura’s were in the audience so finally this big guy stands up and shouts, “I'll be a Laura!”
A friend of Roger Caroll from KABC brought Herb two pictures on stage that he had never seen before and gave then to Herb. One was a great shot of Herb and Burt Bacharach during the recording of “This Guy’s In Love With You”. You could see Herb get emotional and he went on to talk about Roger Caroll and how he helped first make the TJB a hit by always playing our records and calling the Tijuana Brass, the greatest band in the world. No argument there. It sounded like the other picture showed Herb drinking a shot of Tequila!
That lit yet another bonfire under Herb and his improvisation on “Night And Day” was
just electrifying and take for the ages. The “Jobim Medley” was Bill Cantos’ zero hour.
He went off like a Roman Candle barrage at a late summer beach party. Lani Hall’s jaw literally hit the floor and she bowed a “we are not worthy” salute to an on fire Bill Cantos. Herb put back on his scarf and he and Lani and band shuffled off into the night as the crowd started to also exit and hum tunes.
And what a night it was. One big late summer beach party. When was the last time Herb played any TJB hits so close to roar of the Pacific ocean? The “Taste Of Honey" video maybe? In fact, when was the last time Herb & Lani played outdoors so close to home and so close to the crash of the waves. Like I said in an earlier post, this was one of the top 3 shows I have seen this band play and one of the greatest nights of my life.
