Colin Hay: Perhaps it doesn’t get any better than this
On Sunday night Larry and I, along with our friends Scott and Jeanne, headed to Santa Monica to see the insanely talented Colin Hay perform. Never heard of him? He used to be the lead singer of Men at Work…I see you smirking as images of goofy Aussie's bounding around the desert go run through your head.
He has since moved on to a solo career of singer/songwriter greatness. The kind of greatness that has, sadly for him, gone largely unrecognized, but lucky for us because we got to see him at Santa Monica College in an intimate 100-seat venue.
So up-close and intimate, that at one point Hay looked into the crowd, pointed at me and said "I see a little red light there. Are you taping this for YouTube?" [at this point Jeanne moves as far away from me as physically possible] Oh, Colin, you know me so well.
Here's one of the videos I uploaded–yes, to YouTube–of him signing one of his most beautiful songs "The Melbourne Song.'
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UcnNGTXb8o&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1&w=500&h=405]
Hay also has the gift of telling a brilliant story. Partly because he is Scottish, I suppose. Here is one of my favorite stories he told about Russell Crowe and drinking. I was awfully fond of his story about Sting's shoulders as well, but I was busted and had to put my camera away before I got that one on tape.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k94MxkZVYYI&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1&w=500&h=405]
This reminds me a little of this story from my other favorite Scotsman, Craig Fuguson.
After the show Hay signed CD's and graciously greeted every adoring fan. Including us…
This is one of my all-time favorite songs. If you've ever had a dream, and waited for it to come true…and waited…and waited, "Waiting for My Real Life To Begin" will speak to you.
