Fur Ball was Fabulous

Elvis was in the building Saturday with The Cheeseburgers!

A SHOW IS as good as the people enjoying themselves. We can play flawlessly and not miss a note. But if nobody is there, or if they are all sitting around a campfire 100 yards away and ignore the band, well .... it doesn't work.

The Cheeseburgers are coming off three amazing gigs in a row after last Saturday's Fabulous Fur Ball benefiting the Quincy Humane Society. Gosh, what fun. It took place at the Town & Country Inn & Suites, a great place to put on an event. I'm glad we sent Don Van Dyke off with some good gigs, and we are now off for a while ... we'll need it to recover!

Best cowbell ever, Rajah!

I knew the Fur Ball would be good when Kris Kutcher called Saturday at noon and asked if we needed a stage. No, we don't. I hate stages. Most of them are rickety and confining. Put us on the floor in front of the people. We aren't the Rolling Stones in a football stadium. We're a good-time party band, nothing special, and we like being right in front of the people. I like the room to roam around and interact.

The Fur Ball is a social event. They set up gaming tables in the hallways, and people are there to mingle and have fun. There was a group into the music right from the start, and it predictably grew as the night went on.

We did a few things most bands won't. First of all, Sally Westerhoff of the Quincy Humane Society asked us to play "Mustang Sally." I've played it a million times. It is what it is. We played it toward the end of the first set, and Sally and her friends loved it and danced like fools, and it set the tone for the rest of the night.

Then we had Michael Mitchell come up and sing Hound Dog by Elvis. It's been years since The Cheeseburgers played it. But like Harlan Howard said, all we need is "Three chords and the truth." Michael (er, Elvis) was magnificent. The crowd ate it up.

Then came our Cowbell Medley and the lovely Rajah Maples tearing it up. And then .... it all came ingloriously unglued.

Kathleen loves rock and roll too!

Cori Lyssy of HartLyss came up to sing a few songs. Kathleen Bursic said, "I wanna play cowbell too!" Now, I don't know Kathleen all that well, but I have figured out that if she wants to do something, you better just get out of the way. Kathleen used to sing in bands and has a great voice, as does Cori, so they belted out a couple of songs. One, Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll," has never been played by The Cheeseburgers. We all sort of know it. So we played it.

The place went nuts. Kathleen fell down. I think she gave me the mic back, eventually. What. Great. Fun.

Look. You can be pretentious and think you know it all and worry about people crashing into your stuff and look down on everybody, or you can go with the flow and hope it doesn't completely careen out of control. Or that it does.

So the Rock & Roll Bus just ran us over again, and two days later I still can't move. Fur Ball, you were more fun than should be allowed! Thank you again, Mike Sorenson of Bad Wolf Media, for capturing it all on camera.

I love rock & roll. Put another dime in the jukebox, baby. Or come see The Cheeseburgers, and we'll do it again!

Cori and Kathleen Git Cheesey .....