Dennis and the Review, 10/13/02 Nashville, TN!

[Ivory Fair]

Just a quick note to let y'all know that Kalisa and I got to SEA the Review here last night and they were WONDERFUL. I'll be back later with a report on all of our adventures and a review of the show and hopefully some pictures. By now Kalisa should be almost back home, if not already there so I'm sure she'll have lots to say too ............ so, I'll be back shortly!

[MikeNYC]

Hope you gave them my message and enjoyed the show.

[davidseafan]

Sure, just leave your poor hardworking friend who had to spend the weekend with drunk Texas/OU fans..WAITING for the Pictures of Mr. SEA

Twelve more days and it's my turn ;D but y'all know in four years I've never taken a photo at a show..so I need to SEA the ones you took.

(((Ivory))) I hear there was some hand holding going on, good thing it's wasn't with my guy

Ok..both of you..get our here and start talking !!!!!!!!

[davidseafan]

LOL..that should be...GET OUT HERE

[Ivory Fair]

“The Throwdown at the Hoedown: Dennis Edwards and the Temptations Review at the Wildhorse SA-loon, 10/13/02, Nashville, TN!” or “Ivory finally gets a dance floor so she can ‘Boot Scoot Boogie!’”


Ok, I’ll skip the mushy stuff about how Ivory and Mr. Ivory ate a big fat dinner and played footsie under the table Saturday night before stopping at the airport to pick up Kalisa, y’all can use your imaginations on that one.

Kalisa’s plane arrived at 10:30 local time and I walked in the door to baggage claim just in time to see her coming down the escalator. It’s amazing how you can KNOW someone despite never having seen them before, pick them out of crowd and all that. She spotted me and I spotted her right off. …………… of course the fact that she was the only woman with a cast on her arm helped.

Off we whisked her away to her hotel where we spent a little while chit chatting over a Tom Collins, an Amaretto Sour and whatever Mr. Ivory was having. I tried to slip him a roofie but it didn’t work. Oh well. She surprised me by presenting me with my very own copy of the ’91 Live Ruffin/Kendrick/Edwards concert CD, something I’d been wanting for a while but had never managed to set aside the money for. She told me all of the highlights to listen for and I can say now after listening to it a couple of times it really is a great CD! (http://www.10-am.com/ ) Kalisa had been up since 6am her time and it was about midnight Nashville time so who in the heck knows how long she’d been up, but we were all tired and knew we had a full day ahead of us on Sunday so we said our good nights and departed to our mutual sleeping venues.

continued........

[Ivory Fair]

Mr. Ivory and I picked Kalisa up Sunday afternoon around 3pm. She was wearing black pants and a cute little cowl-neck shirt with metallic thread running through it, one of her famous eBay bargains. Really pretty. Keeping with the glitter theme, I was wearing some chino pants, simulated leatherette camel colored patch boots, and a peasant sleeved brown shirt with copper glitter all over it. (Wake up Sukkafu!) This glitter came in handy because everywhere I went, I left a little glitter behind. I never got lost all evening because all I had to do was follow the glitter trail back to wherever I’d come from!

I’m sure Kalisa will agree that the highlight of the day was our trip to the Krispy Kreme store! Being a pioneer out there in the wilderness that is California, Kalisa had never had the chance to taste a fresh Krispy Kreme. Not wanting her to die in such a wretched state, I made a point of making the KK store our first stop! Now unfortunately when we arrived, the “Hot” sign was not on. I strongly suspect that one Mr. Otis Williams had a hand in this, knowing that I was going to see the Temptations Review show that night and considering it a betrayal of the highest degree, he most likely sent one of his goons down to Nashville to make sure that there would be no “Hot!” donuts there when we arrived. But I decided that a non-hot fresh KK was better than no KK at all, I explained to Kalisa that she STILL was not getting the full experience and needed to keep that in mind. She and I split a box of glazed (when it comes to some things, only the original will do!) and Mr. Ivory treated himself to a dozen assorted jelly filled. Of course we didn’t eat them all at once, we’re not savages! But we did have plenty. I know I had three, which is a personal, one-sitting, record for me. We dusted the sugar off of us and leaving a trail of glitter behind, we jumped back into the Ivory-mobile and it was off to the show!

continued.....

[davidseafan]

I know Kalisa is probably fast asleep, and can't deny any of this Are you telling me she not only ate KK, but was drinking? If she would have stayed with you a full week, lucky DSF would be doubling her St. John wardrobe:-)

[Ivory Fair]

We made our way to historic, scenic downtown Nashville, aka the white trash capitol of the world. Since it was Kalisa’s first trip to “Nash-vegas,” I played tour-guide and pointed out the historic significance of the various points of interest along the way. “That’s where Box Car Willie was discovered ……….. over here is where Tammy Wynette ate lunch ………. To the left you will see the former home of Chet Atkins …………. The Judds had a car wreck at this intersection.” Now whether any of what I said was actually true is not important, but I think will Kalisa will agree that she found the tour very memorable…………... Or not.

We had some time to kill before the show started, so we had dinner at a nearby restaurant. Across the street was the Titan’s Coliseum where they were performing a butt-whooping on the Jacksonville Jaguars. We could look to the left and see the stadium, then look to the right and see the stadium on TV. Yee-haa! Talk about some fun. ……. Still full from our Krispy Kremes, we chose a light dinner, Mr. Ivory and I had dinner salads, really nasty ones, and Kalisa had a ten foot tall pile of nacho’s. I’m not kidding, it was really ten feet tall. She actually had to get them to bring her a ladder to eat it. Mr. Ivory and I picked at our salads and Kalisa ate about three chips and we killed enough time so that we finally were ready to make our way to the Wildhorse SA-loon. Leaving a pile of glitter and a tip for our waiter, we made our way down the street.

Now it’s been warm lately, still in the 70’s, but good old Otis, in a fit of jealousy, had managed to somehow cause a nor’easter to blow in from Canada to make our walk from the restaurant to the Wildhorse REALLY uncomfortable. I know it had to be Otis, after all, he can make the season’s change just by waving his hands, right? I looked up at a sign that gave the current temperature and it said that it was 40 degrees below 0. Hell hath no fury like a Temptation scorned!


continued........

[Ivory Fair]

Yep, 'tis all the truth DSF. Would I tell a lie?

[Ivory Fair]

We made our way into the Wildhorse Saloon, home of the longest running country dance show in TV history. None of us had any chewing tobacco, (well, Kalisa had some, but she’d left it her other purse) but they were kind enough to let us in anyway.

When we got there, we learned that there were to be three other “Motown” acts there that night. The Marvellettes, (all of whom were younger than me ) the Contours, who were dressed very snazzy, the legendary Martha Reeves and her tambourine and the feature act, Brother Dennis Edwards and the Temptations Review!

We missed the Marvellettes, so I can’t tell you a single thing about them. Use your imagination.

The Contours were VERY good, the main-most Contour (sorry, don’t know his name) really sang his behiney off and some of them even came down into the audience to perform. They were dressed really nicely, cream colored suits and really did a good show.

Martha came out and she and her sisters did their Martha Reeves thang. I doubt she has any triangle skillz, but that woman can slap a tambourine! I’d also give the ladies the “best” shoes award for the evening. Pretty and sparkly silver ones.

In between these acts, the DJ (who apparently was the lead singer in some kind of quasi Country/Motown band) kept spinning the hits. Mr. Ivory, in his ever-gregarious way, managed to make buddies with the DJ who played everything that Mr. Ivory requested. It’s so exciting to be so close to a man with such power! LOL! And as the DJ spun the hits of yester-year here would come the folks out onto the dance floor that was directly in front of the stage to do a line dance. I tell ya, when a bunch of drunk white folks get together to line dance to Motown hits it’s a beautiful thing. They were ALMOST moving in sync.

A couple of hours, one more Tom Collins, a Long Island Ice Tea and a Cosmopolitan (because I am SOOO chic! ;D) later it was time for Dennis and the gang to do there thang!

[Ivory Fair]

The band warmed up and just like teenage groupies, Kalisa and I ran over to the stage leaving a trail of glitter behind us. The curtain pulled back and out came Dennis and the Review wearing lemon chiffon colored suits with epaulettes on the shoulder. On their feet were some pretty jazzy mustard shoes and on each man’s left breast was a rhinestone pin. At first I thought it said, “I Love Kalisa and Ivory” but upon further inspection, I realized it said, “I Love Jesus.” Well, you can’t fault the men for that!

When they started, Kalisa and I were the only two on the dance floor, standing just over on the right hand side of the dance floor, pressed up against the stage. But after just a song or two of Dennis and David doing what they do best the crowd, who had previously sat in their chairs for all the other acts, joined us and began to tear up the dance floor! Kalisa and I stayed right up front, doing our thing as the sixth and seventh Review member, singing the lyrics to all the songs and doing all the choreography. After a few songs, I started feeling sharp pains in my left foot and HAD to take my boots off. I suspect that my darling O-cephus had called in a voodoo expert and the two of them were sticking pins in the foot of a little Ivory Fair doll. But of course I have no way to prove this. So off my boots went and I joined Kalisa, who had gone barefoot a long time ago and we kept on dancing through the night.

The group did all the hits, “Standing on the Top,” “Ball of Confusion,” “Aint Too Proud to Beg,” and more including some wonderful renditions of songs that the Tempts DON’T do in their show, “Beauty’s Only Skin Deep,” complete with adorable pirouettes, “Don’t Look Back” which had a WONDERFUL choreography to accompany it and a few others. David Sea lead a very stirring rendition of “Lady Soul,” which now has me craving hearing a head to head duel on the song between he and the dirty hugs man (Ali) himself!

Dennis reminded us that “FOUR members of the original Temptations, Paul Williams” (everyone cheered) “Melvin Franklin” (everyone cheered) “Eddie Kendricks” (everyone cheered) “ and David Ruffin” (everyone cheered) had gone on to their reward. At this point I wanted to tug on his near-by pant leg and point out to him that not only was David not an original Tempt, but he had left out Al Bryant, but knowing this would invite a stomp from him on my hand and a punch in the arm from Kalisa, I thought better of it and kept my mouth shut. He followed this with a very stirring rendition of “God Bless America.” But I have to admit I was disappointed at not hearing “Try To Remember” which is what he has sung at that point in other shows.

[Jonel]

;D This is GREAT!!! Almost better than being there and having a raspberry filled with extra glitter. I'm loving this.

[Ivory Fair]

All of the guys had a lead song and Chris and Bernard really did a great job with their songs. But Mike, in perhaps an effort to insure he got a starring role in THIS review, did a little special something during his rendition of “Rainy Night in Georgia.” About middle way through the song he came over to me and squatted down. I thought for a minute he was just doing it to say, “excuse me Mam, but you’re getting glitter all over the stage,” but instead he reached for my hand and took it and looked into my eyes and sang. After a few words, he started to tug on my hand to pull me close, kind of looking at me as if to say “come over here,” well, I would have been more than happy to do that, but my legs locked and I couldn’t move! (More Otis voodoo I think) Finally I got my body in motion and there we were looking into one another’s eyes with a big spot light on us. After what seemed like about five hours, he let go and I crawled back into the darkness. Kalisa said, “oh! I should have grabbed your camera!” and I turned around to see Mr. Ivory back at the bar behind me, laughing his butt off!

I think the best performance of the evening came from David Sea (duh!) I had heard him do “Wish It Would Rain” via video tape before, but that was nothing compared to hearing it live. The man is amazing and it’s almost a shame that he’s walked in the shadows of so many great singers because I think he’s probably one of the more underappreciated vocalist of our time. All I could do was shake my head and wonder why Otis never called the man back!

Dennis started on the “My Girl” medley which included some other songs in the middle. One of which was “Stay,” which, last I checked, was recorded by the Temptations. Kalisa and I kind of looked at one another and laughed as I covered my ears and tried to run for cover for fear of being struck by lightening for committing such a sacrilege of ME listening to the Review sing “Stay.” I felt that they shouldn’t sing the song before I’d heard them (to protect their own best interest) and I’m more convinced of it now. It’s not that they did a BAD job of it, but there are so many OTHER wonderful songs they could do instead. It was the ONLY negative part of what was otherwise a WONDERFUL show.

All too soon the show was over and the guys were taking their bows. They all came to the edge of the stage to shake hands and the crowd pressed up against Kalisa and I to get an opportunity to touch a living legend. They waved goodbye to the crowd and walked backstage, with a little bit of copper glitter on their suits.

Kalisa had a VERY early flight the next morning, so we had to quickly drop her off and hug and kiss her goodbye. I didn’t like to see her go, but I knew this would be the first of many shows we'd do together. Hopefully next time she’ll be the one saying she didn’t like to hear the Tempts sing “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” or something. We’ll Sea ………… the best is yet to come!

~The End~

[Ivory Fair]

Jonel, that's my ONE regret, that all of y'all weren't there with us! .......... From now on, we must make a point to attend concerts that have dance floors! It's everything you'd dream it to be!!!

[kalisa2]

(((Ivory)))...what fun it was!!

Thank you for giving appropriate credit for why it only took half a block walk for frostbite to set in...LOL @ "I can make the seasons change...." at least Otis is not guilty of lying!!

And for not mentioning how my blond roots were showing at paying a fried-chicken-eating "parking attendant" who probably just came from the Titans game and was most likely going to his own car and saw opportunity on the hoof...LOL, leave it to a naive small-town girl!!

(((DSF))) yes, two KK's passed my lips...yummm they were good. I don't know if my non-sugar system could have handled the traditional "Sun Drop" (is that what its called, Iv?) beverage, so I stuck to water to wash 'em down.

Dennis is truly an amazing entertainer. I could have sworn the audience was packed with wax statues during the earlier shows (except for the aforementioned line dancing during the breaks LOL) but that ain't happening when Dennis takes hold and gets ya going, and then DAVID SEA starts in with Ain't Too Proud To Beg!! Unfortunately, being on a bill with 3 other acts, we got the short show, and no "Try to Remember", nor "A Song for You" (with Memories sprinkled in there), nor <<<sob>>> "Naturally"....***huge sigh*** nor DAVID SEA singing "You'll Lose a Precious Love"...guess I'll have to get to still ANOTHER show!!

Just for (((you))) nay-sayers on "STAY"...hmphh they did a great job for the teensy bit of it they sang, and the lyric "Temptations sing" was changed to "Temptations REVIEW" so there!!

Well I need to get busy picking the copper glitter out of the backside of my black pants (my reward for saving Iv's chair at some point in the evening)...I'm sure those who weren't quick enough to beat us to stage front were treated to a sparkly view of my wigglin' behind while we danced our little tushies off!