She still lives with her mom outside the city
Down that street about a half a mile
And all her friends tell her she's so pretty
But she'd be a whole lot prettier if she smiled once in a while
-From "Lullaby," by Shawn Mullins
Over the weekend we had a surprise 50th Birthday Party for my uncle. He's a big shot in this town, and has does business with or helped a lot of people over the years, so the party was packed.
My cousin's boyfriend (who is a chef) contributed some of the food: chateaubriand. My friends, there is no way for me to describe the incredibleness that was this thing. I have a picture, but it just doesn't do justice to the slices of heaven.They were served cold, on platters, and I added mine to cheese slices (first swiss, then muenster) and rolls. There was horseradish sauce my mom went nuts over, but I wanted nothing masking the chateaubriand.
It was as if God had a cow.
With the possible exception of Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa this is the best beef I have ever eaten. (And I ate about 7 pounds of it.)
Incidentally, the next day my brother Achmed and I were arguing over whether the spread (which also featured several dips, special fried rice, fried wontons, shrimp, chicken legs and a host of other foods) constituted a meal or just hors d'oeuvres. My brother strongly averred it was just heavy hors d'oeuvres, and just because people could eat a lot did not mean dinner.
I, on the other hand, pointed out the juxtaposition of rolls, cheese, condiment and the chateaubriand clearly meant and implied sandwich, which I also think would be a great band name. I think if you have an implied sandwich, you have a meal.
The reason I write about all this, though, is the special guest. My uncle has a nightclub and a recording studio, and over the years has helped many bands and singers get started. One of those Buddy helped give some breaks to paid back the favor by showing up as a suprise: Shawn Mullins. You may remember him from that breakout hit "Lullaby" back in the '90s. Mullins is the kind of guy who never wanted to be monstrously huge, and has kept to playing smaller venues all over the country on his tours, while continuing to make great music.
It was pretty sweet to have him suddenly appear, and he played a short set in really cold weather (we were outside), which the crowd just loved. It made me sort of proud of my uncle that he meant enough to someone as big as Shawn Mullins that he would come play at a 50th birthday party.
And it got me to thinking. Let's say you had a birthday party, and you're a big shot, which means a loved one is going to surprise you with a band to play a private concert. It doesn't have to be someone you helped get started or anything, but
if you were going to be surprised by a singer/band at a birthday party, who would you want it to be?
Leave you answer in the comments, and I promise that no one will make fun of you unless you pick one of the following:
Menudo
Babs
Milli Vanilli
Starlight Vocal Band
Jem and the Holograms
As for me, I asked my mom who she would get, and she thought about it and said Nora Jones. That's a pretty great answer, and I would love it if she played. But if it were up to me I would like Garth Brooks out of retirement (that would be a sweet private show), or else Boyz II Men. I think that would be a sweet private concert, especially if they were all a cappella. (Chicks like that stuff.)
I leave you with the video from Lullaby. It featured a then unknown Dominique Swain: you can see why she went on to be a star. Great song. Great night. And hella-great chateaubriand.
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