I’ve mentioned in passing the crazy summer where Pat McCurdy hired me, Ann Marie, Phil and Kenny to be his “back-up singers and dancers” (lol) at his shows on the main stage at Milwaukee Summer Fest. I have never really told the story in full – and it actually could be an entire novel – but suffice it to say, it is – to this date – one of the most fun experiences I have ever had in my life. Singing and performing for 3,000 wasted people on a hot Milwaukee night, being put up in a motel, “boys” in one room, “girls” in another … the four of us were fast friends, and we totally enjoyed and reveled in this insane random adventure. We filmed (on video tape no less) a backstage video-diary, making up all of these scandalous events as though it was “Behind the Music” on MTV. Like we all came across Kenny shooting up backstage. lol. We all piled into the same bed, pretended to be asleep, and then all woke up, as though from an orgy we had the night before. NERDS. But it was so fun. Pat and I also went into the recording studio – I mean, there’s no other way to say it – to record the duet he wrote for the two of us. It’s called “You and I Are Just About to Fall in Love“. It was a jam-packed four days. There was a tornado watch involved. Ann and I were so settled into our motel room that within half an hour it looked as though we had lived there for decades. The amount of laughter cannot be described. The amount of fun was through the roof. We were beside ourselves with the sheer hilarity of just being asked to do this totally random hilariously fun thing. Here we are, ready to go out and be picked up by Pat’s sound guy, to take us to the venue. I don’t know, I’m getting the impression that we might be having just a little bit of fun. ? Maybe it’s just me.
I have a few of his songs on my playlists, from you mentioning him over the years. Sex & Beer, Ruin My Life. He opens one saying his aim is to write 100 drinking songs haha . I checked YouTube, just in case, and found him at Summerfest in 1984!! I enjoy that his hair is so long in front, it’s almost covering his eyes like a labradoodle ;);). I can definitely hear the Elvis influence in his singing.
Anyway, he does indeed write great drinking songs! I love drinking songs/ pub songs etc. WHY did we as a society stop doing that. I was in Oliver in high school. I can promise you that 90% of drinking experiences would be improved by singing Oom Pa Pa and swaying together.
I have LOVED this sea shanty craze going around. Have always loved them. Come to think of it, I was listening to multiple versions of Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald yesterday, and it really fits in that tradition.
Did Pat ever write any shanties? I bet it would be a HOOT.
Oh my gosh, you bought some Pat songs!! lol I love it! Yes, hilarious drinking songs.
// I was in Oliver in high school. I can promise you that 90% of drinking experiences would be improved by singing Oom Pa Pa and swaying together. //
YES. and I also love “It’s a fine FINE life”!
the sea shanty thing has been a blast. One of my favorite guys who focuses on Sea Shanties is Sam Pope – he not only highlights them on his instagram (he has a great deep voice) but also adapts well-known songs into the sea shanty style. He did Eminem’s Lose Yourself and … it rocks. ??
Let me think. I don’t think Pat HAS done any sea shanty songs – he is a Midwesterner so maybe that’s why.
I listened to shanty Lose Yourself and it was awesome! Thanks for the head’s up!
While I’m here, I was reading a Vanity Fair piece on being in Elizabeth Taylor’s entourage. Richard Burton’s reading & writing routine: “He’d begin his day reading one of his five books- one in the car, one on the bedside table, one on the living room table, one in the studio dressing room, and one in the loo. Each book stayed in its proper place. The reading material was always poetry, a biography, a mystery, a current novel, and a script.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/08/vicky-tiel-201108
You’ve posted excerpts from his diaries before, so I thought of you. Of course, one of the fun things about you/your blog Sheila, is your wide variety of interests. A LOT of what I read – usually creative things/ geopolitics/ history/ analysis of said things- can relate to a post somewhere on your blog! I love it. I learn so much xo.
Myrtle – ha – thank you! Burton was such a prolific reader – I think there’s an entry in his diary something like: “I would like to retire from my career and do nothing but sit in my library and read.” I also loved the variety of things he read. It ran the gamut!