{"id":1790,"date":"2017-03-02T00:25:58","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T00:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/?p=1790"},"modified":"2017-03-02T02:58:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T02:58:39","slug":"singing-in-the-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/singing-in-the-rain\/","title":{"rendered":"SINGING IN THE RAIN"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The CC Strummers are waiting to start the show<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those of us who live in sunny, drought-stricken California were supposed to get slammed with rain. LAST YEAR. But it didn\u2019t happen. Little did we know Mama Nature was saving up. For the big wet party in 2017 that, unfortunately, drooled all over us\u2014The CC Strummers and me\u2014as we performed at Culver City\u2019s\u00a0Screenland 5K Race<\/a>\u00a0of The Century. My adopted hometown is celebrating 100 years of \u201cbeing here\u201d on this small parcel of land. Five square miles squeezed into the map of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s HOORAY time in the neighborhood with various celebrations going on all year. And why not a little foot race too? Around our historic downtown, passing the Culver Hotel where the Munchkins stayed during the filming of The Wizard of Oz, through Sony Studios, past the old MGM sound stages, east to Culver Studios, the sacred ground of Desilu, I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show. Yes, Culver City is really\u00a0Mayberry\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Our CC Strummers — The Easter Bunny & The Giraffe (also known as Lillian and Mollie)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The runners are invited to \u201cdress\u201d as their favorite MGM movie characters. Or\u00a0whatever<\/em>. So are The CC Strummers. But as I frantically log onto\u00a0weather.com<\/a>\u00a0for the latest hour-by-hour updates I\u2019m thinking that I\u2019m coming dressed as \u201can electric blanket.\u201d Thank goodness they are putting up a tent for us.<\/p>\n

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Lots of little ones making the run.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Looks like “Dorothy” got knocked up…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The show begins at nine-freaking<\/em>-o\u2019clock in the morning. Academy Award Sunday. Our hearty band of weather-tolerant ukulele players arrive early. The tent does not. The race crew delivers chairs.<\/p>\n

A guy drops off an electric generator for my amplifier and then runs for his truck. because\u2026it\u2019s raining. I snatch him back and say \u201coh by the way, how do you work this thing?\u201d He points, turns dials, pulls a cord and bolts. \u201cOh no\u2026nuh-uh.\u201d I make him watch ME turn it on\u2026and off. That\u2019s the only way I learn. By doing it. Not watching someone else\u00a0do it<\/em>. I feel empowered now (no pun). I can turn on a big machine…well besides the washer.<\/p>\n

But none of this is putting me in a good mood. It’s freezing. Okay…\u201cSouthern California\u201d\u00a0freezing<\/em>. I am wearing fingerless gloves which are rapidly becoming nothing more than a \u201cfashion statement.\u201d We try to tune our ukuleles. Let\u2019s put it this way… You don\u2019t want to use the words \u201cukulele\u201d and \u201crain\u201d in the same sentence. I\u2019m cabled into \u201cthe electricity.\u201d What a lovely thought. Getting fried just as we sing \u201cDon\u2019t Worry, Be Happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

No tent.<\/p>\n

Plastic sleeves and all, my music got soaked.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

None of us knows what to expect. We are situated at the U-Turn of the course. The city has placed one volunteer, Haley, an exuberant high schooler, a few feet ahead of us to ward off any stray runners who might plow into our front row of players. Three thousand people have signed up to run, speed walk or just mosey. It\u2019s our largest audience ever. But they are\u00a0moving<\/em>. And we figure they will take a quick glance at us and head towards the finish line. Our own Emerald City. Also known as Trader Joe\u2019s.<\/p>\n

We\u00a0warm up<\/em>\u00a0(that\u2019s a joke) with \u201cHound Dog\u201d then wait for the first runners to emerge from Sony Studios and gallop our way. I can\u2019t feel my fingers. All the fancy licks I\u2019ve been woodshedding? That ain\u2019t gonna happen today.<\/p>\n

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Schmoozing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The elite runners show up first. They are stone-ass serious, grimacing mightily as they make the turn, until one hottie raises his arms and cheers us on. And we\u00a0whoop it up<\/em>\u00a0right back at him. Carmen Miranda appears, wearing fruit on her head, a colorful flowy frock and expensive running shoes. We yell \u201cYay Carmen!\u201d And she yips and waves back. Suddenly Dorothys and Tin Men, Beetlejuice, moms, dads, little ones, the delicious melting pot of humanity that makes Los Angeles such a spectacular metropolis, they stop and gather round us. Singing and dancing along, aiming their smart phones at us and applauding. It\u2019s raining. It\u2019s cold. And we are having the best time!<\/p>\n

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Who cares if it’s raining. We’re having fun!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have a set list but this is the first show I\u2019ve done for an audience that is in motion\u00a0and changing, literally every moment. So I end up calling songs out of order so we can amp it up and do “Jailhouse Rock” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Rock Around The Clock” (all Culver City related songs) when people stop and cheer us on. \u201cSinging In The Rain\u201d goes over really well\u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so proud of The CC Strummers. They are such good sports as we soldier on. Music pages are flapping in the wind but eventually everyone catches up or just mute strums, sings and smiles at the audience. It\u2019s all good! The Three Stooges thank us at the end.<\/p>\n

And no tent.<\/p>\n

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This is how I’m staying hydrated…open wide<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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We sing to them coming and going…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The amazing thing is you can actually watch all this unfold because Moshe, a very sweet man who is married to Ilana, one of our newest CC Strummers, captured the whole show, runners and all with his video camera. He did some dandy editing so it actually feels like YOU are right here, with us. Cold, wet and soaking up all that ukulele joy.<\/p>\n

Watch the video on YouTube by\u00a0CLICKING HERE<\/a><\/strong>. Thanks for sharing the \u201cYellow Brick Road\u201d with us. Now go make some music and add a little sunshine to someone\u2019s rainy day.<\/p>\n

The CC Strummers are rocking it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A bouquet of “thanks” from The Three Stooges with our pal Bob in the middle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I had to wipe water off my ukulele, amp, all my power cords, wireless mic and receiver and use the hairdryer to dry my music…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those of us who live in sunny, drought-stricken California were supposed to get slammed with rain. LAST YEAR. But it didn\u2019t happen. Little did we know Mama Nature was saving up. For the big wet party in 2017 that, unfortunately, drooled all over us\u2014The CC Strummers and me\u2014as we performed at Culver City\u2019s\u00a0Screenland 5K Race\u00a0of The Century. My adopted hometown is celebrating 100 years of \u201cbeing here\u201d on this small parcel of land. Five square miles squeezed into the map … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentry"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2,"label":"blog entry"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Cali Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/author\/crbauthor\/"},"comment_info":3,"category_info":[{"term_id":2,"name":"blog entry","slug":"blogentry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":138,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":138,"category_description":"","cat_name":"blog entry","category_nicename":"blogentry","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1790"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1815,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions\/1815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}