Coming Soon to the Moore!

No, it's not the real Rat Pack. Imagine all the trouble they'd have reanimating Sammy Davis Jr. No, this is a nostalgia show, plain and simple. There's nothing wrong with that; it's just that, y'know, the original Pack of Rats was probably more worth seeing. This all reminds me of a gig I played at the White Center Eagles five or so years ago. We played for their Sunday afternoon dance. I think the youngest person there was 80. We were just a quartet, but our audience wanted us to be a big band. They asked for all this stuff we didn't have and couldn't play. What could we do? Well, we just played lots of standards. Once they realized that I couldn't simply pull "In the Mood" out of my ass, they began to complain. We were playing too fast, too slow; the tunes were too long, too short; we were playing too many latin tunes, not enough latin tunes. And on it went. Lord, there was just no pleasing them. After we were done, one of the regulars around the place explained that most of the folks at the dance had gotten in on the so-called "Legends Show" the previous evening. He told us that they were tremendous. They had all kinds of top-notch impersonators: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and many others. He even managed to videotape some of the second half of the show. He showed us the Frank & Dino segment. It was just awful. They sounded nothing like their subjects. Their shtick was stale and I kept mixing them up with each other, because neither of them looked their part. The audience was completely enthralled. And that is why they were so hostile, the guy told us, because they had gotten this world-class show the night before. I couldn't say anything. I collected our pay and left. Now, I think this traveling Rat Pack-dealie is probably two or three cuts above the "Legends Show," but still, there is great promise of terribleness. I predict guys acting drunk, running around in shiny suits and calling women "broads." As for the singing, it should be OK. If you haven't seen the original guys, this should be a pretty enjoyable show.