Friday, June 09, 2006

cK Parties With Rockstar Sy Boccari

cK and friends go on an exclusive night with a rocker.

It was a night where everything was kinda last minute and spontaneous. After attending the 'Harmony 06' banquet, Bo Wen asked if I could give her a drive down to college street where she would be a backup dancer for the band "Naked Highway". I was like sure, she also said that she could get me and Vinh into the venue.

The venue was happening at The Bagel. Cover was $8, but we bypassed that because we were *with the band*. That night, The Bagel was one of a whole bunch of other places that night that was part of the "North By Northeast" concert series.

Once I was in, we were introduced to Sy - the lead singer of "Naked Highway". He seemed really cool and excited that we came to see him perform. The Bagel had a moderate crowd and the people were entertained by his music.

Vinh and I were having a good time. Here are some pics from being live at The Bagel:



Sy's full band was not present to help him on the vocals or live music, so he had to represent them with an Ipod. You can watch a sample of his performance as well as BoWen dancing below:



After his performance, Vinh and I were planning to club hop the other clubs around the area - we had special VIP bracelets that allowed us to go in and out of venues. Sy asked us to join him at his next performance happening the same night at The Grapefruit. He also wanted me to give him a lift.

Sy, being a New Yorker had no idea how to get to where he was performing next. He was totally lost in Toronto. So, I thought nothing of it. I'd give him a drive... and he wanted us to join him as well. He said that he'd get us in with no waiting in line.

The time is about 11pm and we get to the club. Just as he promised, we got in, no cover, no waiting in line. Even though there was a lineup of people stretching around the block waiting to get in.

Not only do we get entry --- we are treated VIP! We get access to the dressing room --- which had every amenity except the star on the door. There was a plush couch, our own personal bathroom, fridge.. it was all hooked up! Here are some pics of what it was like:

BoWen and Sy	BoWen and Vinh	cK, BoWen and Vinh in VIP!

We also got to meet the DJ's in their booth. They gave us a whole bunch of free drink tickets, and told us to come back when we run out. EXCELLENT!!!

Vinh talking with DJs	One of the DJs	FREE DRINK TICKET!

Soon, Sy had to get ready to perform. I did a quick mini interview before his performance to ask him the hard hitting questions that people want to know!

Vinh, BoWen and cK	Crowd at Grapefruit	Sy on Stage

Sy performed to the Toronto crowd. Doing one of his songs and then a Madonna cover song. After his performance, Vinh, BoWen and myself went to the dressing room to congratulate Sy. We all walk in and meet the next act going up. After a quick conversation, I realized that the lead person looked strangely familiar. It turned out, I went to high school with him!

He was doing a performance based on a Saturday Night Live skit where Winona Ryder portrays Bjork on Jeopardy parody with the outfit Bjork wore to the 2001 Oscars. The SNL skit is hilarious, you can view it here.

The SNL skit	The Performance at Grapefruit

You can see the performance at Grapefruit here.

All in all, that was it. It was a great night. We met a lot of interesting people as well as hung out with 2 entirely different crowds. Sy had to catch a plane back to NYC in a few hours and we went back to our homes. You can go to the band's website to learn more about Sy's band and listen to more of his music here.