Did I ever tell you guys the story about shaving my beard? This will be a vignette in my book.
I had recently joined the Trio and we were playing at The Palamino Club out in the Valley, north of LA (home of the infamous Valley Girls of the last century.) I sported a full beard at the time and Shane persisted in giving crap about it, saying it made me look old. So I was out in the parking lot of the hotel on the day of the show and Shane and Tom Green drove up, returning from a cigarette run. Shane looks at me and says, "You really otta shave that beard, man. It makes you look really old."
So, I'd had enough of his BS (Bob Shane) and I went back into my room and proceeded to shave only the right half of my face. Later we all went over to the show and when Shane saw me he just laughed and said, "Oh, that's cool!" Well I was playing the thing like nothing was out of the ordinary and some of the guys noticed and got a good laugh, but oddly, apparently Ben Schubert was oblivious (I think I was pretty invisible to him anyway.)
Well, we went on stage with my half-shaved face and I'm sure the audience was wondering, "Wha-the...???" But hey - it was LA, so maybe it was a like a normal thing to those folks. Well, as the show went on I made a point several times to turn around and talk to Ben, and he never reacted.
The time came in the show for Shane to do "Scotch and Soda" so George and I left the stage. I went to the dressing room and shaved off the other half. When I came back on stage the audience reacted to my new look and Shane made a comment about it. I turned around to Ben and he finally saw me. He reacted with surprise, but when I told him later about walking around all day and doing the first half of the show with a schitzo face, he couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed. Man - we got a good gaffaw outa that!
In a related story, I'll tell you about the Palamino Club itself. Nah - not now - you'll have to buy my book.
By the way, Ron - thanks for getting the ball rolling here. I've thought about posting something several times, but my life right now is all about being the new President of our Homeowners Association (a job from hell) and, although I do plan to write a book about this experience too, I didn't think anybody outside my neighborhood would care. So, it's good to write about the good old days instead.
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