Friday, May 5th, 2001 -
The Ground Round -
Pete, Jeff, & Ron of the Badlees
Friday, May 5th, 2001
The Ground Round
Pete, Jeff, & Ron of the Badlees
http://www.badlees.com
http://www.petepalladino.com
http://www.echotown.com
Ariba! Happy Cinco de Mayo! Arriving at the Ground Round 3 hours early (7:00), we sat down
with Shannon's parents at a table, and checked out the menus. We had picked up two Fly magazines
on the way in, so we read that while waiting for Greg and Ann (friends of Shannon's parents)
to arrive before we could order. Melanie felt chilly and decided to do something about it, unlike
Shannon. Melanie wore Shannon’s mom’s jacket over her shoulders all night long. Pete, Jeff,
and Ron arrived soon after Greg and Ann. We were both eating our chicken cordon bleu sandwiches,
when we were surprised to see Logan, Gwen, and their friend (sorry, we forget his name!) walk into the
room. They said that they didn't know we were going to be there, and we said the same. It was a
pleasant surprise! Two other guy pals of theirs ended up coming a little bit later, as well as their
mom, who decided she couldn't miss out on all of the fun (they had been talking to her on their
cell phone).
Pete and Shannon's dad were talking a bit, and Shannon's dad came up to us and said that
Pete wanted the link to this here site Shannon wrote down the link and handed it to Pete
a little later on. She told him how suspenseful his website was because it said "coming soon,"
all fancy. Now the website is alive and kicking at www.petepalladino.com. While setting up
the speakers, Pete told our whole table that he was sorry for how loud the speakers were going
to be, and we said that it was fine (we're most likely immune to blaring music by now). Shannon
was directly next to the speaker the whole time and she is still hearing fine. Pete even came over
and handed us earplugs, just in case the speakers blew out our eardrums.
The first set soon started and Pete announced that they were "Los Trios Fabulouso!" It was
quite amusing, because he kept shouting out random Spanish gibberish, due to it being Cinco
de Mayo. He asked if any of us high schoolers had taken Spanish and he spotted Logan with
her hand raised (Senorita Melanie had taken 4 years, but her hand wasn't up! Heehee). Pete
decided that Logan would have to come up with their new Spanish band name. With a smile
on her face, she went to find a pen and a piece of paper. She gave him her final decision for
their band name during the set break, but it was too difficult to pronounce for Pete, so he just
decided to screw the new name. "Los Trio Fabulouso!" would do just fine.
During the break after the first set, Shannon's mom gave Pete a napkin with what we thought
was just a normal request. You'll find out what it really was after reading a bit more, patience
my child!! Shannon's parents had told her that they did a cover of "Champagne Supernova"
(Oasis) when they last saw them, so Shannon walked up to Pete and said "You know you
want to play Champagne Supernova!" and he smiled and said that they would. After that,
Shannon's mom practically dragged her over to the table where Pete's wife Paty was sitting,
to introduce her to Shannon (her mom and Paty had talked previously at another show).
Being the shy gal that she is, Shannon hid behind her mom and said "hi!!" in a jolly tone.
Shannon's mom told us later on that Paty was surprised that Shannon was so shy, because
of how outgoing her parents are. Glancing over at Melanie, Shannon felt bad that she didn't
come over too, for the introductions of Pete's family and friends. Shannon's mom then went
over to Jeff to talk a bit about this wee local music site of ours (that you so nicely visited)!
She mentioned to Jeff how we've done CD reviews, and Jeff said to Shannon, "If I give you
this CD (his Echotown album) to review, make sure you only say nice things!" Shannon
happily agreed and thanked him for the CD. She and her mom returned to the table a few
minutes later.
Soon taking the stage were two gal representatives from the Alzheimer Fund. During the
first set, they had been going around to each table, asking if anyone wanted to buy raffle
tickets. Shannon's parents and their friends had all gotten some. After they drew a few
tickets and gave some odd prizes away, the second set began.
This set was an interesting one indeed. During one song, Pete was getting all absorbed in
singing, and he threw his head back and hit it hard on the TV that was hanging behind him.
He then sang "Ow! Ow! Ow!" to attempt to relieve the pain. His head probably got a huge
bump from it…poor guy! Everyone who saw it was looking at each other, sharing pity. A
few songs passed, and Pete announced that he had a few birthdays to announce. He pointed
to Shannon and said that he would like to wish a happy birthday to her (Shannon's mom wrote
Pete a message about it on that napkin! Sneaky son of a…). She was quite shocked. Her
birthday wasn't for about 4 weeks (May 31st) so she thought there must have been some kind
of mistake. Pete said that it was on May 31st, and that he wasn't any good at singing happy
birthday, so he relied on his comrade, Jeff to sing Shannon a special surprise. Can anyone
say embarrassing!? Haha, basically his whole song was about how he knows how her dad is
(protective), and one line went something like "I hope you get some,” (*long pause*)… “Cake.
Cakeee," continued Pete. Shannon curled up in a ball and hid from all of the beady little eyes
out in the crowd that were probably watching her. Shannon's dad's face turned into a tomato tint.
It's always a good thing to embarrass him, though. Rock on Jeff!
After the amusement of the second set, we both decided to order a lovely apple crisp dessert.
The raffling was going on once again and everyone at our table was laughing at the prizes.
They were giving away windbreakers, (that Ann and Shannon's parents were hoping they
wouldn't win), little tote bags, and the funniest is yet to come. Well whaddyaknow, they pulled
one of Ann's winning tickets and she received an excellent, extra-extra large, purple windbreaker.
The next ticket was pulled, and it was another one of Ann and Greg's. This time it was a prize that
they actually wanted, tickets to see the Harrisburg Senators. After a few more give-a-ways, the
Alzheimer gals whipped out a gaudy, floral comforter! The crowd cringed at the "prize," and
who won it other than *drum roll* Shannon's parents!! Her mom and dad seemed quite
amused (and let down at the same time!) about their gift. But hey, it was free! Shannon's
dad plopped it by his wife who was still chatting with Paty. They were giggled over it.
Pete laughed, saying that when he saw they were going to give it away, he was thinking,
"Why the hell are they giving away a comforter? That's like giving away a humidifier!"
We received our apple desserts, and Shannon picked at hers for a while (she didn't like it)
while Melanie ate hers up like a good girl. * Note from Melanie - Shannon, you like apple
pie (if you don’t I’m telling your oh-so-wonderful-apple-pie-baking-father). You like vanilla
ice cream. Why didn’t you like your dessert?! * .Shannon made her daddy happy and gave
him her mushy ice cream and her severed apple pie. Our gym teacher from school, Mr. Bedard
walked up to us to say hello and ask what he missed. We see him at almost every Badlees-related
event that we go to…he's such a good little local music supporter. Well, at least a Badlees boys
supporter.
The third set started, now with a not-so-large crowd. Mr. Bedard had requested "Zachariah's Cattle",
so before Pete began, he explained that their good friend "Todd" was there, and he mentioned him
being a teacher. We realized that he was talking about our very own "Mr" Bedard. Mr. Bedard said
something about two of his kids being there (us), and Pete asked if he meant us and we nodded.
He asked us if we called Todd "Mr. Bedard" and we said yes. Then he laughed and said that we
were his cattle. Hee hee…maybe you had to be there…They soon did a wicked cover of The Band's
"The Weight" and Logan, Gwen, and the gang were all dancing…we just bopped in our seats.
Some of the waitresses had been shouting "Champagne Supernova!" so they were obviously fans
of Oasis as well. Pete said that they were going to play it for us (pointing to our table), and they
went on to play an awesome cover. The set ended with the hit that everyone should know by now,
"Angeline is coming home." A crew of people were dancing, and we were surprised to see Ann
showing off her dancing moves, barefoot and all.
Everyone slowly dispersed when the set ended, but we stuck around for a bit. Shannon thanked
Jeff for the special birthday song, and she also thanked him for embarrassing her father
because…well…it's fun. She explained to him that her father isn't as tough as he likes to
think he is, he's really just a "sissy boy." Jeff seemed amused about the whole thing.
We got hugs from Pete (aww, the love!) and then headed out for the car. It was definitely
a memorable Cinco de Mayo!