Put duct tape over her mouth.

Play Lobamba
When wife and I lived in Sacramento, California we sometimes drove east on US-50 up to Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains. We drove up to the adjacent town of ‘Stateline.’ Stateline is where the big casinos and it’s numerous entertainment venues were on the Nevada side of the California/Nevada border.
We would stay overnight at a local motel and they were so generous to give us a roll of nickel’s worth a dollar to get started on our gaming exploits. The roll was gone in a flash.
But anyway, we would go from casino to casino and listen to the numerous free ‘lounge shows.’ Shows with three or four musicians with or without vocals.
However, some of the big acts was British singer Matt Monroe. Monroe made the song Born Free famous from the movie with the same name. Also appearing in one of the big casinos was Ray Conniff and his chorus and orchestra. One of their big hits was “The way you look tonight.” But we skip the biggies and just listened to the free lounge acts. Generally, a lounge act is just an opened stage in the wall big enough for two or three musicians. The people who come to listen just stand around. There is no seating. One act I recall we listened to was “The Jets.” I later found out Thad they had opened for the early version of Steve Martin, standup comedian.
But we walked near and listen for a while to The Jets. One guy playing an electric guitar and was very good. Then another played the electric bass and a drummer with only a snare drum and a high-hat cymbal. They were performing a novelty tune about a one-eye rooster and just about finished when a very drunk woman blurted out “Play Lobamba.” But the band carried on with another pop tune. They got about half way into the tune and again the drunk lady bellowed out, “Play Lobamba.” Now to refresh your musical history, Lobamba was a tune written and made famous by Richy Valance. The same Richy Valance who perished along with Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper in a plane crash out in a corn field in Iowa after a concert in Illinois.
But anyway, The Jets persisted and played on. Two or three songs later the very drunk lady once again Hollard out, Play Lobamba. At which point the drummer stopped the show and yelled back “We do not have an arrangement for Lobamba so please stop asking. So, the ban went ahead only to be interrupted again by the drunk lady saying, Play Lobamba. After that final annoying request most people standing around began to wander off towards the all you can eat one-dollar buffet.

Published by OkieMan

I come from a family who migrated from the parched red dirt Plaines of southern rural Oklahoma. Migrating to blue collar working class community of East Los Angeles. There is where I was born. I am Mr. Writermelon. I can only write what my grammar and spell checker allows. I am neither profound nor profane. Boy howdy! Send comment to: Mr.writermelon@gmail.com

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