The Wedding Singer

We're less than 4 months away and one of the phenomena I am witnessing is the people who are strongly hint at or outright offer to sing at our wedding.

What puzzles me is the offers from people we are only somewhat acquainted with. What motivates them to offer their services? I suspect it's not about us but rather that these are folks in search of a stage. On certain days when the moon is just right- I can relate.

Reaching back in my own past, I was even more of a transgressor and individualist (that's a polite word for it) in this same vein. I didn't ask or offer in advance to sing, I just did it. I was a little more Id driven 5 years ago, admittedly.

The wedding was in Laughlin, Nevada (an armpit of a place- also thought of as so by the bride and groom- but there was a charm in that they were going for). It was the wedding of a I was work colleague's for a long weekend in August. The DJ was spinning Aretha Franklin's "Spanish Harlem." It's just one of those recordings that gives my throat flight. Looking back in the context of the present, I have to wonder- was kidnapping the microphone for the song welcome? Was it entertaining to people who were there?

The bride's crowd was a gaggle of thin, beautiful and well cared for SoCal women that spoke in that high-pitched, raspy little girl--Shirley Temple a la Carol Channing voice that characterizes so many of the women from that area of the country. They seemed to be women who were all about Laura Ashley dresses and sipping champagne at the right times until the point when a few of them got drunk enough that their wild sides came out.

The men each of them was married to or involved with matched perfectly--though even then, I was getting my first glimpses of metrosexuality without having a word for it. Nice people, but also quite fascinating in the cultural norms they presented and which ones came out when varying degrees of sobriety appeared.

I also seem to remember something from the weekend that involved me playing finger cymbals at another location- was it the night before? How rude of me! Also that weekend, people began to gather when I sang with the Elvis impersonator. Too much gawkin'! I scattered after two songs!

As we talk to people, the need for "open mike" seems apparent for some of the things our guests are planning. The best idea I've read (a clever preventative against potentially rude performer types folks like myself --I didn't sing it badly!) is an idea we came upon this past weekend. Instead of that inane glass tinkling of silverware on glass (ha ha! they won't be able to anyway because it's a stand up reception- mostly) is to ask groups of 3 or more people to sing a song with the word "love" in it. That's the kind of participatory, rowdy reception I'd really dig. In the example, apparently one of the songs that got sung in exchange for seeing the couple kiss was J.Geil's Band's "Love Stinks."

Now that's my kind of wedding day- not all trapped in cloying sweet and light and perfection and mudlessness. Yeah yeaaaaah!