...was going to see bobby mcferrin in concert. i'm not familiar with his work but i do know that i hate that "don't worry, be happy" song. however, my friend got tickets for free because her co-worker couldn't attend so we went instead. he was performing at the santa cruz civic auditorium and i giggle every time i go in that place because it resembles a high school gym, not a civic auditorium! in fact, my high school's gym was much larger than the civic auditorium.

as we were walking in, i noticed many attending were families. that should have clued me in as to what kind of performance it would be. i think bobby mcferrin's performance style is perfect for a guest presentation/assembly at a school, especially an elementary school. he relies a lot on audience participation, which is great for elementary kids. it also teaches and encourages children to be musical and artistic, which is a pretty powerful thing. also, bobby makes references to classical music, which is why i can see that he would be popular with the academic world.

bobby performed completely by himself, no musicians or instruments, just a microphone. while i can admire someone who works out technique of vocal execution and new uses of a microphone, i just couldn't get into the show. i think i am part of the wrong age group. it just wasn't my thing at all. he sang many things that most americans would know, but i'm not like most americans. (some folk/traditional song, i suppose, the theme song to "the beverly hillbillies", etc.) at one point, i turned to look at my friend to see if there was any trace of recognition in her face as to what seemingly everyone else was singing along to but i don't think she knew the 'standards' either. it was as awkward as when i was in jr. high and i attended a missionary school and during a camp/retreat we had, everyone was supposed to sing "kumbaya" (is that the spelling?) and my teacher was like "come on, you know the words!". i swear i had never heard that song before in my life. i was completely dumbfounded!

i will say that bobby did a great summary of "the wizard of oz"--who doesn't enjoy a grown man throwing water on himself during the witch melting sequence? i was really afraid that he would sing "don't worry, be happy" and it would never leave my head, ever! luckily, he did not. i think the funniest moment of the evening was when bobby invited the audience to join him on stage, but he only wanted about 12. naturally, there was a great rush to get on stage. in total, i would say 100 people got on stage. bobby handled it very well and made jokes about it. it was also a very revealing moment about the ethnic composition of this town. many times i have said that i have never seen such a white town before. it's a bit frightening. i only counted 5 non-whites on stage. i'd also guess that the median age of the audience was about 40. it really is time to get out of this town.

it turns out that twiddle thumbs's big boss knows bobby mcferrin as one of her sisters dated him in high school. her family where childhood friends with the jackson family--yes, those jackson. is there anyone she doesn't know?