Lisa and I were sitting at a picnic table at the Italian-American Festival eating funnel cake (to hell with Atkins!). Lisa pointed out a little old man who was walking toward us. “Oh, Donna, look at that little old man– all dressed to the nines– a true Italian!”
“You are right , Lisa, that little old man is cute, all dolled up and — wait– THAT’S SAM BUTERA!”
He walked right over to the funnel cake stand and bought a coffee. Lisa pushed me to go over and ask to have my picture taken with him but I resisted. Later Lisa said, “It’s too late now but he would have been so happy to have a girl ask for his picture AND you would have been able to add it to your collection of famous old-fart pictures” Why did I hesitate?
The show was great. Sam Butera and the Wildest played mostly Louis Prima songs and he mentioned some funny moments with Louie. He had a trumpet player that looked like Wayne Newton circa the late 70’s when Wayne wore the little mustache. Wow! Why don’t guys like that sign up for eHarmony? I guess they are too busy shagging Vegas showgirls.
I started a round of applause. During the introductions of the band members, Sam said, “We play old music– none of that horrible new stuff…” Well, I couldn’t help myself; I was just started clapping and hooting and the audience followed my lead— they started waving around their canes and applauded! Yeah, it was a fabulous night!