One more time for Yesterday Once More

I enjoyed Yesterday Once More when the show was here at the Woodlands in April of 2010. I enjoyed the show as much if not more last night as part of the Concerts Association season.

The romantic music of the 70s populated my high school proms and still is an integral part of my life. This is my music and I enjoyed the walk down memory lane. Although many members of last night’s audience weren’t born in the 50s, didn’t learn to crawl under their school desks in the 60s with duck and cover or dance close to these tunes in the 70s, they all enjoyed the familiar music.

Audience members not only enjoyed the show, they became a part of it with lots of clapping and hand waving. It looked like a giant Richard Simmons exercise class with everyone’s arms above their heads swaying to the music. Later on, it was heads bobbing side to side. Rows and rows and rows of bobble doll heads moving side to side instead of back and forth. Everyone had fun.

Last time I saw Yesterday Once More I headed home to my ipod and downloaded many of the original artists featured in the show. I got lost in Karen Carpenter, Billy Joel and Neil Diamond.

Mac Frampton, pianist extraordinaire, Vincent Talarico, drummer and vocalist and Lisa Balkwill, female vocalist, entertain like the long-time showbiz participants they are. They bring years of experience to a show we saw in its premiere in 2010. The musical selections are right on for the most entertainment value. Frampton wrote the arrangements to show off the talents of Balkwill and Talarico. Both singers were able to channel the performance styles of the 70s artists. Balkwill’s Karen Carpenter and Talarico’s Billy Joel were spot on.

I was lucky enough to see Carpenter and Joel at the very beginning of their careers in small venues that afforded interaction with the hungry performers. Carpenter was a fresh faced young woman dressed in a clean white t-shirt and pressed blue jeans. She gave her drums a workout and her voice was like honey. Balkwill was able to capture the beautiful low tones Carpenter was known for. I saw Joel on LSU’s campus in a small student union performance room before The Piano Man took off. Talarico mimicked Joel’s sound and non-stop energy.

Still a favorite part of the evening for me was The Television Remembers as Frampton and his very percussively talented band played through several television theme songs of the 70s. The medley started and ended with the theme from All in the Family, also touching on themes from Happy Days, Love Boat, Mary Tyler Moore, Mission Impossible, Hawaii 5 0 and MASH.

Audience members were instructed to clap when they recognized a song from a medley. Throughout the evening there was a lot of clapping going on.

Time flew because we were having fun. The group’s second half was just as good as the first. Stand outs were Talarico’s time on the drums for Copacabana, loved the glow in the dark drum sticks, and Balkwill’s nod to disco, Last Dance. This was a high energy performance from beginning to end. Balkwill sang her heart out and danced all over the stage.

Joining Talarico, Frampton and Balkwill were members of the incredible support band, Eric Frampton on keyboard, Todd Woodson on drums, Steve Florczkowski on bass, and OBU professor Dr. Ryan Lewis on percussion. Lewis was the only stand in for the band, the others are regulars. Lewis made Arkansans proud. He stepped in and stepped up.

The audience ovation urged the performers to an encore. The group rounded out the evening with its renditions of You’ve Got a Friend, Imagine and The Long and Winding Road. The perfect way for this 70s girl to end the evening.