Saturday, June 30, 2001 -
Pete Palladino at Borders
Saturday, June 30, 2001
Pete Palladino at Borders
Sliding into a seat, I wondered why Pete was playing in front of the
Service Desk and not in the Arts and Architecture section. (I say “I” because
Shannon is on away on a long trip, so the result is a story solely by Melanie.)
Two teenage guys sat in the front row chatting and I missed Shannon to make
comments to. Beside those guys was a younger teen that videotaped Pete’s
performance with his father randomly popping up behind him to watch his son tape.
Before Pete could begin, an employee from behind the desk made an
attention-Borders-shoppers announcement to let everyone know that if they wanted
to “rock,” to come see Pete perform in a few minutes and give him a “warm welcome.”
The announcement was so cheesy. One person in the crowd made a K-Mart reference
and asked, “Where’s the blue light?” Soon enough, Pete opened with “Elena on the Wall.”
Turning the performance into a VH1 Storyteller’s episode, Pete told stories such at the
one about his first instrument and “Lay Beside You.”
Pete talked about when he had his drums and a Farrah Fawcett poster in his room.
Winking and making the cheek-sucking “chick” sound, Pete said he still had the
Farrah poster and bet a lot of other guys did too.
Pete did the wink and cheek-sucking “chick” sound again after he said,
“Hey Buzz and Ruth,” to a non-existent TV camera. Buzz and Ruth were the
NASCAR loving neighbours Pete lived next to while song writing in Selinsgrove.
He would write late at night, and did not want to wake his neighbours who
shared a wall. Pete said that is why it is a quiet album. One day
Buzz told Pete he had heard him playing a song the previous night.
Blowing Pete away, Buzz said it wasn’t bad after Pete apologized for being too loud.
Between songs, the same employee who made the cheesy announcement
earlier grabbed a handful of Pete’s “Sweet Siren of the Reconnected”
discs and waved them around from behind the desk. Everyone burst into giggles!
Conflubbered, Pete followed his audience’s gaze and realized why we
were laughing. Deciding it was ad time, Pete told us to all buy ourselves
a cup of coffee at the Café.
Being so chatty, Pete thought he’d make today’s performance
more interactive and ask for questions. Only one woman behind
me raised her hand and began making requests. The requests were
for Badlees’ songs he could not perform by himself. No one else had
anything to add. (I couldn’t think of any questions off the top of
my head.) So Pete played “A Fever.”
Ending the set, Pete sang “Cruel to be Kind” and the Borders desk
employee took the PA system mic again. He told shoppers they
could purchase Pete’s CD at the counter and have it signed in the
music section. I already have the CD from Shannon’s dad, but before
I left I did go to the café to order a smoothie!