Chapter 26: I'd Do Anything for Love - Before the Energists

Thursday, February 6, 2003

I was in my office grading some Motor Development lab assignments when I got a call from Bryant around 2:30pm. He wanted to know if I could get together with him later on today or Friday to work on our little Valentine's Day routine/song. He had few ideas about what to do but wanted to get my input on them. I told him Friday would be good, and we agreed to meet at Harry's Bar around 3:30 in the afternoon. He explained that Harry was good with us using his stage and sound equipment before he opened up the joint at 6pm.

I asked him if he had a song ready to play for Lyndy before he proposed and gave her the engagement ring. He said he had about two or three songs in mind, but nothing jumped out at him yet. He said he was struggling to come up with a unique way to do it in front of everyone. I then asked if he could play Meatloaf's #1 hit, I'd Do Anything For Love and he said he could, on either the piano or his acoustic guitar. I then explained the idea from my Sunday night drive home with Kaleigh. Bryant liked my initial thoughts on it.

As we bounced this back and forth over the phone, he became more intrigued by my idea, and asked if I would sing the song, as my part of the show. Bryant said he would play the song and sing backing vocals. I reluctantly agreed to sing it, dressed up in a fat suit and clothes, pretending to be a heavy Meatloaf.

The key moment in this combo routine proposal would occur about half way through the song, where I'm singing I would do anything for love, and I'll be there until the final act. I would do anything for love, and I'll take the vow and seal the pack. I would abruptly stop singing at that point, and Bryant would jump down off the stage and go ask Lyndy to marry him, thereby 'sealing the pack'.

Based on our telephone call, Bryant was pumped up big time to do it like this. He said he doubted anyone, especially Lyndy, would expect that type of proposal because it was my little song/routine, not something Bryant did on his own. I agreed that it would catch everyone off guard for sure. He asked if we should pick up the song after his proposal, but I told him the song should end right there. He asked why, so I told him the words to the next line, "But I'll never forgive myself if we don't go all the way - Tonight - I would do anything for love!"

Bryant laughed out after I 'half-way sung' those lines, and said, "Yeah Doc, I don't think Pastor Jim, Deni, or any number of church members there would appreciate that next line."

After we had a good laugh over that part of the song, I told him I had to run to a faculty meeting at 3pm, but that we would definitely get together tomorrow at 3:30 to practice.

I was actually surprised at how well he jumped on that idea. I guess you just never know when a seemingly stupid idea might actually be a masterpiece for someone else. Even though we were both pumped up about this little routine-proposal song, I decided I would still double check to make sure he was still good with it. I found that after a good night's sleep; yesterday's sweet idea often has a sour taste the next go round.

3:35pm, Friday, February 7, 2003

Bryant and I met up at Harry's Bar and we quickly got down to work on perfecting (with my voice, yeah right!) our routine. While I quickly had the moves for the routine down, Bryant gave me a few good tips on how to soften my voice and hold notes/words a little better. I was surprised at how well Bryant's instructions worked on my gravelly voice. About 4:45pm, Harry came in to see how we were doing with our routine. He really liked how we came up with our subterfuge to completely surprise everyone at the dinner/dance.

After watching us do it a couple of times, Harry suggested that Bryant record some of the keyboard parts and then play his electric guitar over them to spice it up a little more. After a few trial runs, with Bryant recording the keyboard parts on its hard-drive, we all liked how the music sounded with this new electric guitar driven arrangement. Harry said it was too bad we couldn't do it at his bar some evening when we had the whole Wayne Mills Band to back him up.

We all laughed at his idea, but I said, "Doing this in front of a church crowd is one thing; doing it here with the rowdy crowd you get each time Wayne is playing, I don't think you'd have enough Labatt's Blue on hand to get me up on stage to do this."

Both Bryant and Harry laughed, and Harry patted me on the shoulder and said, "You'd have free beer and admission for life, if you do this here sometime." While it was a tempting offer, I just shook my head no in response.

Bryant came to my rescue as well, when he said, "It would be fun doing something like this here, Harry, but it would mean a whole lot more to Lyndy, her family and friends to do it there at her dad's church."

"I know my man, I know," he replied. "I was just joshing with you. I hope it all goes well for you. Do you mind if I turn my video cameras on while you do one final run through of it?"

I looked over at Bryant and shrugged my shoulders at him. He motioned me towards the stage with his head, then turned to Harry and said, "Fire them cameras up my man. It might be good to have a copy of this to look at over the weekend. If we see something, we might be able to adjust it one day next week."

"Will someone record the real thing next Friday?" Harry asked as he walked over to the sound and lighting control booth. He played with the lights a little as I jumped up on the stage.

"Yeah Harry. I know it will be recorded and I'll try to get a CD of it for you," Bryant said to the older gentleman.

Bryant's electric guitar wailed as he played the intro to the song. He perfectly timed the introduction of the keyboard track and I moved out into the spotlight as my part began after about a two minute musical lead in. As I came to my finishing line, Bryant moved up alongside me, as his fingers danced magically over his beautiful flaming six string Gibson guitar. Just as I sang, "I'll take the vow and seal the pact," Bryant jumped down off the stage and continued playing a little more of the song as he walked over to his 'imaginary' fiancé-to-be. When he stopped playing, he actually knelt down beside an empty table.

Holy cow! I thought to myself. That was our best run through out of our eight or nine practice attempts. It was super to see how Bryant actually planned to transition from playing on the stage to getting over to Lyndy's table.

"That was bloody awesome Doc and Bryant. I was even able to follow you over to that table with the spotlight-camera system. If you guys sound and act anything like this next Friday, you'll f-ing amaze everyone at your church function. Heck, if I didn't have Big-Head Todd and the Monsters coming here to play for the first time next weekend, I believe I would grace a church's doorsteps for the first time in forever, and come up there. That was just an awesome performance guys." Harry was bouncing around in the control booth and appeared with a DVD of that performance.

When Harry handed it to Bryant, Bryant flipped it around, before he looked at me and said, "I'll take a look at this and see if I can think of anything else to add or adjust to make it better. Thanks Harry for doing that."

"Yes indeed Harry, thanks for letting us practice here as well; I really appreciate the private time you gave us," I said as I watched Bryant walk back over to the stage.

"Anytime guys, let me know if you want to do it again before next Friday."

"I will. I'll let you know when we're able to do it again," Bryant replied.

"Ok, Bryant ... Doc, good seeing you again my man. Stop by anytime for a cold one."

"Same Harry. I'll try to talk Kaleigh into coming over sometime. Thanks again for the space to practice. Later my man."

8:25am, Saturday, February 8, 2003

I followed Kaleigh from Tuscaloosa, up to her house Saturday morning, and we stopped by her parents' little mansion to have a cup of coffee and some of Tammy's incredible cheesecake. What a breakfast treat! I told them and Kaleigh just enough about Bryant's and my practice session to keep them on their toes wondering what we were doing. Not even Kaleigh's best puppy dog eyes could extract more information from me than what I wanted to share.

Around 11am, I told them I had some things to do over in Hoover, around the Galleria, and if they needed anything from that neck of the woods, I would gladly get it for them. While they appreciated me asking, neither Tammy nor Steven had any errands for me over in Hoover.

Kaleigh, on the other hand, begged me to take her with me, but I told her she wasn't invited on this trip. I put on my most evil grin to show her I was serious about it too. Even her mother got involved and told Kaleigh to chill out and let me go do whatever I needed to do. I thanked Tammy and gave Kaleigh a big hug as I headed out to my car. It was a good thing I really loved the girl because she sure acted like a petulant child right then. Her actions just refreshed and reinforced my memory of the things I planned on getting later that afternoon.

As I started my car, I rolled the window down and said softly to my pouting beauty, "I'm going birthday present shopping now. That is why you can't come. Some things HAVE to remain a surprise, don't they?"

"Noooo," came her long drawn out reply. However, the brightness in her eyes and smile returned as I did a little pouting of my own at her. "Have fun without me, you old fool!" she said as I started down the driveway.

"I will," I shouted back at her. "You'll have to pay for that wise crack too!" I wasn't sure she heard that last comment, but when I saw her in the side mirror, she raised her hands up and fluttered her fingers at me. I figured she at least got the gist of my 'threat'.

Tuesday, February 11, 2003

Kaleigh and I were enjoying one of my made from scratch Hawaiian pizzas (sugar cured ham, Canadian bacon, green peppers, pineapple, and 3 cheeses) in front of my TV. We were watching St. John's hold off a furious 2nd half rally by Villanova, while flipping to check on the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Edmonton Oilers' hockey game. Kaleigh had finally convinced me to splurge and get the 'Center-Ice' Package, since she said she wanted to learn more about my favorite game growing up. This was just another reason I was head over heels for this girl.

"I wasn't sure about pineapple on pizza when you told me," she said after downing her third piece of pizza. "But uh, I think the sweet and tangy taste, along with the peppers, is pretty darn good. Whoda thunk it, a Canadian with Hawaiian tastes."

"Glad you like," I replied as I took a gulp of my coke. "I use to make one or two of these pizzas every week when I was in grad school at USC. I'd make it with the 'Chef Boyardee' pizza crust mix, but one time, while visiting my parents in London, I got an authentic Italian dough recipe from a former girlfriend after church one Saturday night."

Kaleigh was devouring both the last slice of pizza and this story, when she gave me a confused look and said with a partially full mouth, "Sat-r-day church?"

"Remember, I'm a 'bad' Irish-Catholic boy. We often went to Saturday night mass," I said to refresh her memory about my upbringing. She nodded her head, as she recalled that about me. "Lisa, Lisa Masciotro gave me her grandma's dough recipe and I haven't looked at pre-made, packaged stuff since. Good God, Lisa's grandmother, a born and bred Italian momma, made the best pizzas and pastas I ever had. When we went back to her house after a date, or a co-ed church softball game, they had pizzas, raviolis and other awesome Italian things ready for us, as SNACKS!" I rubbed my hand over my belly and just sighed at the memory of those incredible treats.