A truck driver asked if I was gay when I was a kid hitching a ride home in Wyoming. “I’m pretty happy” I said, “as happy as anybody else.” Girls and playing ball were all I ever thought about. What did I know?
“Pants &Shoes in Concert” at Historic Everett Theatre last weekend confirmed it. I was as savvy as any other kid who hadn’t seen much of the world.
“Pants &Shoes”?
“Pants” for men, showoffs, “Smartypants.” “Shoes” for ladies, down to business, “Sensible Shoes.”
“Smartypants &Sensible Shoes” — in case you don’t already know — are choral ensembles recruited from Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses. They sing; brother, do they sing. Sister, do they sing.
Pop, gospel, jazz, blues, rock, country, contemporary to classical; you name it, “Pants &Shoes” sings it.
They sing it under direction of Eric Layne Barnes. They sing it accompanied by piano, and they sing it the “gay” way, in both senses of the word.
“Cheerful, bright, pleasant, showy, sunny” define “gay” in the dictionary, first definition. “Homosexual;” generally, “male homosexual” is the second definition. “Gay” is a fair description of “Pants &Shoes,” the songs they sing and the style they sing in.
Who’d a thought it? “Cheese” as the hope of universal peace? “Pants” makes the case. These guys ham it up.
Or eat wrong, and let yourself go. It doesn’t matter. “Pants” will sing you a sell you on “Vita Q,” miracle pill for whatever ails you. Swallow “Vita Q” tongue in cheek. That’s how they sing it.
Or who can’t be a little more understanding of people taking love in hiding for fear of being ridiculed? No one, not after hearing “Pants” do the heartbreaking loneliness of “Foreign Affairs.” You’d have to be made of stone.
I’m still making up my mind about “Candy Sandyman,” a dreamy, crooner’s lyric that’s either satirizing or commiserating with a guy, jilted, who can only get back his lover in his dreams. Sophisticated fun or heartbreak hotel? Not sure.
“Pants” are “Smartypants.” They are funny, clever, self-indulgent, off base and off the planet. They are also on target, feet on terra firma and straight from the shoulder. A little adolescent off and on? Definitely. Always entertaining? You bet.
As are the gals, although I’d say they are aptly named “Sensible Shoes;” meaning, not likely to spiral out of control.
Remember Paul Simon’s “Sound of Silence?” The expression of grief the nation suffered when Kennedy was assassinated? “Shoes” brings it back; but with universality that is meaningful whether you lived through the Kennedy tragedy or not.
Or how about the good old days necking in the back seat at a drive-in movie? Well, “Shoes” sings what it was like for the gal who got a hickey from Vicky having a quickie.
Willie Nelson twangs “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to cowboys.” “Shoes” one-up’s him with “Mamas, don’t let your babes grow up to be cowgirls.” Why not?
Ever lie, saying “I’ll be fine,” when you felt lousy? “Shoes” got the down low, down pat.
Straight or gay, everyone knows what it’s like to be used. “Shoes” belts it out, hard-edged.
Think ’50s doo-dahs, arpeggios piling up one after another, harmonies that won’t quit, street sense and a high-minded style that can make fun of itself without sacrificing integrity. Do that and you’ve got a fair fix on “Pants &Shoes in Concert.”
Pretty happy, I’d say about these folks, as happy as anybody else; that, and they can sure sing.
Reactions? Comments? E-mail Dale Burrows at entopinion@herald.net or grayghost7@comcast.net.
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