A Crooner Called Connick

I was listening to old jazz standards on my parents’ record albums from the time I was born. They played the music and I listened and very much enjoyed. Soon enough I’d be choosing the songs and singing along and as much as I truly loved growing up to the music of the 80s, I have always loved music from many generations before. Nat King Cole, Sara Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack. Anyone who sings a song by George Gershwin or Cole Porter gets my attention and usually wins me over. Someone who kept that old magic alive throughout his career and these modern times, is Harry Connick, Jr. Early descriptions had him compared to Frank Sinatra and although true to an extent, he’s much more musically diverse than Ol’ Blue Eyes ever was. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy Mr. Sinatra’s music as much as the next gal but Harry is a true musician. 

I can’t quite remember if I first saw him on the “It Had to Be You” video for the When Harry Met Sally soundtrack or his appearance on the Phil Dohaue Show. I remember falling in love with him, his voice, his personality. Soon enough my cousin Corin had started gifting me what was basically my fan club starter kit we both started collecting VHS tapes of his music videos and concerts with his big bands. Next, I was watching his Christmas Specials on tv and watching him in movies. HCJ kept expanding his body of work and we were ready to consume all the creative output.

In 1994 Harry Connick, Jr and his band came to San Diego at SDSU’s Aztec Bowl, open air theater. My cousins and I all got tickets, I was so excited. I wore the little black dress that I was loving at that time, and probably paired it with some pearls or something more elegant than my usual concert attire. This was going to be special, a night of HCJ on his She tour, live in our city! I think my cousin Gary took some pictures of us that night but it was so long ago who knows if he’ll ever find them. This was 1994 so definitely way before we all carried mini personal computers with high quality cameras in our pockets at all times. Gary was basically our family documentarian for so many years and in return he now gets the lovely designation of being hassled to search the archives for photo evidence of some of these fading memories. I think he secretly loves the important position he’s in, not to mention the honor of knowing he inspired a new generation of family photographers to carry on the  tradition in memory keeping. This was the first of many big group concert outings I had been to with my cousins. This makes the event all the more significant as they were and still are my favorite and most fun group of people to hang with.

Once the show starts we’re all vibing and just feeling it as we sang and danced to the magical performance and all of the sudden security comes over and moves us closer to the stage. At the end of the show security once again approached and asked if I would like to go meet Harry and the band. Seriously, what?! Would I like to go meet Harry and the band? If you’re reading this and you already know me, you might be laughing to yourself right now knowing how ridiculous this question is because, duh! I brought the whole crew down with me and we met Harry and the band. This would be the first of many Harry moments where I was just left dumbfounded. Harry was so sweet and approachable and I just told him my name was, “Cristina with no H”. I thanked him for the autograph and then kept moving. What on earth happened to my brain and why didn’t I try to say a few more words, maybe a compliment specific to the show or his albums or anything at all? Next, we met the bassist who I think was most likely responsible for calling us down there in the first place. Tony Hall was so nice and traded numbers for any future show hook ups and I’m realizing this as I type that using the phrase “hook ups” here might not be the best use of words but instead of changing it I’ll just clarify in case anyone questions, I definitely mean as in free tickets to a future show, backstage passes etc hook ups. I have lots of backstage concert stories but none of them involve any true groupie situations. Not that I wouldn’t have partaken in them had George Michael been interested but unfortunately I never made it backstage to one of his shows so he never had to let me down easy as they say. Anyway, Harry was already in love with the stunning Jill Goodacre by this time so he was obviously very professional and gentlemanly and Tony was just as friendly as can be and I’m sure he appreciated watching some real fans getting really into the music and actually dancing to the fantastic music coming from these amazing musicians. 

Fast forward two years, Harry is coming back. He’s touring for Star Turtle now and one of the local radio stations is giving away a limited number of invitations to a pre-party where attendees will have a chance to win tickets to the show at 4th & B. First step, win the invites to the “party”. I heard the question asked on the radio, I was the right number caller and I knew the answer was “Memphis Belle”. Ok, not too bad, pretty easy or pretty lucky but first step complete. Second step, play games set up by the radio station hosts at the party to win the actual concert tickets. I should have been super confident with Corin and I as a team and our history of all in good fun, competitive nature and having just breezed through the first round but I had a plan to make us the winners before the games started. I called Corin and told her we had to walk in that place and prove we were the biggest fans and most deserving of winning the grand prize. I reminded her that between the two of us we could basically set up a Blockbuster size display of Harry merch and memorabilia. We would pack up our stash in bankers boxes, and even made a trip to the hardware store to get supplies for our poster display in picket sign fashion. We set up shop with VHS tapes, CDs, posters etc and waited for the games to begin. I wish I remembered if we actually won the challenges or by biggest fan default, I think it was both but I know we walked out with a pair of HCJ concert tickets in our hands and smiles bigger than the Mardi Gras parade on our faces. We arrived at the show as giddy as could be and danced the night away. We end up backstage again and talk with our old friend Tony who informed us that there was a pair of tickets waiting for us at the Box Office all along. All that effort and we could have just grabbed them at the venue. Where would all the fun have been had we gone that route. The thrill is in the chase in my opinion so I guess I’m glad we didn’t get the message in time. Meeting Harry for the second time, I graduated to a new level of interaction when I congratulated him on the recent birth of his daughter, Georgia. It was kind of a blur, I almost passed out, I basically choked again but in slightly better fashion. Corin and I decided to keep the party rolling at the best possible after party location, Patrick’s II in the Gaslamp Quarter. Suddenly some of the band members started showing up at the pub and we couldn’t believe it but next thing we knew, Harry himself was at the entrance waiting to be let in. It seemed to be taking some time and we noticed something going on with the bouncer and then Harry’s bandmates going to investigate. Turned out, Harry got denied because he wasn’t carrying his ID!!! How on earth could this actually be happening?! Corin and I were just stunned and nearly in tears with this news. We were SO CLOSE to getting a VIP party experience to beat all others. Harry was staying at a historic hotel very close by (which I won’t name here in case he still stays there when touring) but he didn’t return once he had to leave and I didn’t blame him. Corin and I couldn’t help but wonder if the bouncer that didn’t let him in would get in trouble for not recognizing him and making an exception. These days Patrick’s is a fun place to catch all genres of up and coming local bands, but back then it had a better reputation for being a live blues music spot and it just seemed so wrong that Harry was turned away.

In 1999 Corin and I went to Come By Me at the San Diego Civic Center but no backstage shenanigans were to be had on this night so I will skip to the next tour stop in the story.

July 2004, Corin and I were once again partners in crime on our date to see HCJ. This time it was his Only You tour at the Embarcadero Marina Park South, Bayside Summer Nights series. Only You consisted of covers of songs from the 1920s to the 1960s. It has been said that this album’s song choices were geared toward Baby Boomers and from the looks of the crowd they succeeded. I mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of old music and I’ve always been a big fan of old people as well come to think of it. However, at this specific concert with it’s combination of specific set list and mostly older crowd it lent itself to become one of those sit tight, stay quiet kind of shows. We of course didn’t let that stop us from having a great time. Suddenly Harry and the band switched gears and started playing “Mind On the Matter” from his Star Turtle album. Looking around, nobody in the crowd seemed to know this song. I, on the other hand was thrilled to hear it. I had been obsessed with both She and Star Turtle in the recent years ahead of this show. The funky music he had been recording and performing was so energetic and life giving and those newer albums had been on heavy rotation at my house. I was so excited to be there for this live performance of this upbeat New Orleans style song. This song actually features Tony Hall on lead vocals instead of  Harry on the album recording. During the show it was Harry and the famous Lucien Barbarin front and center and when the moment came for the song title lyrics, I just belted out very loudly, “Got my mind on the matter”! Because of that previously mentioned quiet audience and my loud enthusiasm it was easy for Harry to hear me. Well, he kinda stooped the whole performance to talk to me. I’ll never forget it, he turned to Lucien who mirrored his expression after dropping his trombone from his mouth. They both opened their mouths so big it was like the cartoon characters when their jaws fall to the ground. They both turned to face the crowd as if they were shocked but they were so in sync it almost felt rehearsed. Harry said he needed to see who it was that sang out. The whole band stopped and people in the crowd started pointing and yelling to him that it was me. It was surreal. After multiple stumbles on my part when trying to complete basic sentences for him I was now about to have a conversation in front of the entire concert crowd? I actually didn’t have to talk, he did the talking. If you have seen him live before you know he’s very funny and charming. He made a joke about how he felt like Dave Matthew’s Band or something and that this sort of thing doesn’t happen to him. He asked if I could go backstage after the show and they would have something for me. I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the night or week or longer even. Once the show ended we went backstage to meet with someone who ushered us to a VIP section with cocktail tables while we waited for Harry to arrive. He came to introduce himself not knowing we’d met twice before. Thank goodness for that because that would be embarrassing, I swear I’m not an actual stalker. Harry gave me a canvas tote bag with his tour logo, a fleur de lis and his monogram stitched on the bag and it contained all sorts of great swag: a tour t-shirt, a water bottle, tour program, a teddy bear with a HCJ t-shirt on. He signed our VIP stickers and chatted with us and thanked us. I don’t remember how badly I might have botched this specific encounter. I think I was too deep in euphoria to process or at least store the details to memory. One of the most fun nights and concerts of my life.

I should probably end this blogpost here but I might as well add that my worst of all the Harry convo botches had yet to happen at this point. We made it this far, I might as well tell you how that went. My cousins Gary and Gina invited me to join them on a road trip to LA for a taping of American Idol and yes, Harry was one of the three judges at this time. We had great seats on a balcony above the judges table. I was cheering for Harry when Ryan Seacrest asked me if I was a fan and then what my favorite Harry song was. I choked. I choked bad, and it’s so weird because I feel like I’m so not a shy person but in that moment or in this fourth moment, again, I was tongue tied or mute or something. In my defense, it’s such a hard question. It’s almost like when someone asks you who your favorite child is. I mean nobody really asks that except maybe your own children but you know what I mean. Do you want to know what I would have said had I had a second to compose myself? If you subscribe to this blog you might be reading this while the answers are still up on my Instagram stories. Hurry, go check!