Valentine's Shenanigans

My fiance and I agreed a few weeks back to have a low key Valentine's Day. The idea of rollerskating was suggested, but when we realized our best option was hanging with THESE GUYS, we decided to pursue other options.

The plans began to escalate and eventually our Valentine's Day ended up being less laid-back and pretty soon we had a full evening of plans. First, we checked into the Lake Natoma Inn in Old Folsom. The hotel was quaint and relaxing. We dropped off our stuff, and headed off to our dinner reservations. This is where our night jumped up a notch or ten...

We went to the Balcony Bistro for our 7:45pm reservation. My fiance had made the reservations because she thought it would be a nice place to eat (I had never heard of it.) They mentioned on the phone, "That will be a great time for you to eat because we're going to have great live music!" We had mused that it could be anything from a jazz group to a harpist to a guy doing similar schitck to myself.

Upon sitting, there was a piece of paper on the table where the menu normally would be. It explained that there was a limit set menu for the night, it was $50 per person, and that Eric Tillman of the Temptations would be providing the musical entertainment. After debating about whether or not Mr. Tillman was really in the Temptations, we made our limited choices from the menu and got drinks. We caught one song before he went before he went on a break.

Once Eric Tillman was done with his break, we were already through our salads and soup. I'm not quite sure how to explain the scene other than to start off by saying it was entertaining and hilarious. Maybe a fair comparison is a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie- I totally appreciate the skill involved, it's fun to watch, and unintentionally comedic.

When the next set started, Eric Tillman began in rocking fashion. His setup involved a massive synthesizer keyboard that had all the arrangements pre-programmed into it- I believe he called it the Till-estra. In addition to that, he had a key-tar. Yes, I said KEY-TAR. Guitar/keyboard on a strap that was huge in the 80s was the instrument of choice. I'm going to be honest, he rocked that key-tar like nobody's business during "Oye Come Va." He did the entire guitar solo while his synthesizer provided an entire ensamble. He also kept calling his glasses "sexy glasses." The looked like regular glasses, but I'll take his word for it.

Since the restaurant was about as big as a one-bedroom apartment, crowd participation was key to helping the show succeed. And while everyone was singing to "Oye Como Va" and "What I Say Part 1," nothing compared to when a middle-aged blonde lady went up to where the former member of the Temptations touring band was performing "Rock the Cashbah." She helped out on the back-up vocals and dance moves (shown in the picture.)

Mr. Tillman then covered some Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and a few others. He told stories about some of these artists like he knows them, and I'm pretty sure he does know them. He mentioned that he votes for the Grammys, which I thought was pretty cool. Overall, he clearly is a great musician, but the drum-machine programmed tracks were out of control at times (dial back the drums my man!)

We ended the night with our dessert and complimentary champagne (debatable that it was complimentary...) As we got up from the table, and began to walk out of the Balcony Bistro, we could hear "Bennie and the Jets" playing and we laughed a realized this will be a Valentine's Day we'll remember forever.