Back to catching up

I started this month (May) by seeing my one of my favorite singers, Colin Hay. I hadn't seen him in more than a year and he has a new album so I was very excited.

To make it even more exciting he was doing an acoustic set and although I think his shows are always great, with a full band or not, he is particularly stunning when it is just him and his acoustic guitar. As always he was fantastic, his wife who joined him on the last five or so songs is a nightmare, I'll address that soon. As usual I went early and waited to be first in line. It was seated, but general admission so to be sure I would get a good seat I needed to be first. My craziness paid off and I was front and center as usual. An added bonus, I ended up talking to the promoter before the show and found out that Colin will be back in July so I am looking forward to seeing him again very soon.

All in all it was a great show (I'm still blocking out the songs with his wife), he told some new stories (he is quite the talker on stage) and played a nice set that covered a lot of ground.

Now the wife...

Just to be clear, the reason I can't stand his wife is all about her being a total and utter freak. Although I have been an avid and dedicated fan of Colin's (Men at Work early on of course) since about 1982 I never fancied him in "that" way. This isn't like some crazy thirteen year old saying "oh my god, I hate that Yasmin for marring Simon LeBon, he was MINE!"















His wife is Cecilia Noel, the "Queen of Sal-Soul" which is some contraction to explain her particular blend of music (salsa and soul, get it? clever right?) Her band is called the Wild Clams, that should be reason enough to prove that she is annoying, but there is so much more. Why she has put aside her "career" to tour with Colin and ruin his shows I am not sure, but I do know I am not alone is my deep hate for her antics. They can be heard all through the lobby after a show.

Her antics can best be described as mime. I kid you not. She basically stands next to him, sings a little back-up (which I could take if she stood still) and acts out the lyrics of ALL the songs. You become acutely aware of how simple Men at Work songs were lyrically when there is someone literally acting out the song Down Under word for word. She runs in place, acts out swimming, stands on one leg in semi-yoga-esque poses and plays a lot of "air" instruments. I'm not talking your traditional air guitar, I'm talking air flute. This last time she kicked it up a bit by scatting (you know like jazz scatting) the flute solo in Down Under. It was so long and so bad it was shocking.

She also likes to try a lot of stuff to get the crowd going, if you know what I mean. Running around, arms up in the air or out-stretched with forced clapping motions at everyone in the audience punctuated by "whoo", "come on!" and "alright". You know the kind of stuff I'm talking about.

You might think this could be funny in a odd sort of way, but I can assure you it is nothing but painful. To add insult to injury she wears a lot of sheer dresses over belly exposing tank tops and low-slung pants. She doesn't look bad for her age but she could look a lot better if she stopped dressing like like she was fourteen.

The worst, and I keep trying to deny it, but I have been assured twice by a friend who has been there and seen it, she now recognizes me and waves directly at me.

I really don't get it, people are making fun of her left and right, Colin has got to know. She isn't a bad singer, but as a performer she is so ridiculously annoying you don't even notice her singing. I'm glad he is happy and clearly smitten with her but I just wish he could keep his wife off stage.

If you would like to experience her wacky sal-soul action please feel free, it starts out with music so if you are somewhere quiet beware.