A Brush -- Nay, a Spray Can -- With Fame

I know I'm almost a week late in posting this, but I did have to put the old bragging rights out there. For the second time in six months, I've been in the presence of an old rock star. This time, it was at last week's 150th Anniversary of the Academy of Music Ball in Philadelphia. Along with the star-studded cast of locals (Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia Singers, Dongwon Shin, and Angela Brown), we were honored with the presence of Ben Heppner and John Lithgow, with Tom Brokaw emcee-ing for the night.

But nobody seemed to care about that when I would tell friends and acquaintances I was singing at the Academy Ball. All they cared about was that A) Prince Charles and Camilla were attending, and B) Rod Stewart was going to be singing. Rod frickin' Stewart. And I got to be a backup singer for Rod Stewart, singing "Forever Young" with him. Hey, he even gave the chorus a thumbs up while he was dancing around the stage.

So here's the thing: as you might be able to tell, I'm not a huge Rod Stewart fan. There was a time when Rod was cool, he was rock and roll, and he was all those things, and I was four years old, but then he came out with "If You Want My Body," and I'm pretty sure that finished it for me. And he never changed his hairstyle. Ever. Oy.

And the fact that he showed up to rehearsal with a gaggle of giggling bimbos didn't do much to raise my opinion of him. But even I felt sorry for him at the concert when he was dancing around on stage in front of an audience of the Philadelphia society elite, who didn't know what to do with him. They were mostly just quiet...deadly quiet...until I think at one point or another near the end of the song, they started clapping to the beat. But it certainly wasn't a stadium filled with screaming fans, which I think would be a more appropriate setting for him.

After the concert, Their Royal Highnesses condescended to come backstage and shake the hands of the conductors and soloists. Prince Charles turned around and acknowledged the chorus and orchestra with a wave of his hand. Since we were about 60 feet away, it was hard to tell if he was smiling, but I'd like to think he was. All in all, it was a very nice experience, and hey, not a whole lot of people can say they were a backup singer to Rod Stewart. Or maybe most people don't want to say it.