Singing for the Mayor of Orlando

Saturday night I performed for 600 people in a roast of the Mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer, in a gigantic ballroom at the Portofino Bay Hotel. (here's the invitation) I'd have pictures, but they didn't allow cameras or video taping. There was a silent auction, a live auction, some roasting of the mayor and... us: a group of five singers opening and closing the show with parody songs like the Capitol Steps written by a writer from LA skewering the Mayor.




The highlight for me was singing a solo sung to the tune of "Stay" by Jackson Brown, asking a committee to keep the Orlando Magic basketball team in Orlando. I started the song shoulder to shoulder center stage with the Mayor. When I got to the main chorus, I was supposed to jump offstage, walk to a specific table and start singing to the actual committee I was singing about. When I got to the chorus, the audience cheered because they "got" the humor of the song and I was already walking to the table, scoping out where and what I could do (lay on laps, hop onto chairs, play with silverware). When the cheering started, I just assumed it was for something happpening behind me back on the stage. But when I asked the director what was going on onstage behind me that got the big reaction, he told me it was me and the song and the funny lyrics.

So, now me and the Mayor are like "this!" (fingers knotted) Not really, but if we ever crossed paths again, maybe he'd recognize me as the guy who jumped off stage and begged a committee to keep the Magic in Orlando for him in song.