25 Songs for 25 Years, no. 24

There was a stretch of years when we used to host a cookout on the beach for our friends who attended the San Diego Comic-Con, back before it became the lumbering behemoth it is today. A bunch of us would all stay at one of the local campgrounds instead of paying a fortune for a hotel room, and in the evenings we'd hang out around the fire, toast marshmallows and sing songs. One of the regulars was a guy we knew as "Punchy," who happened to be a professional musician, a bass player.

A couple of years later, we had become fans of Steve Tyrell, a singer who was getting popular after having had a song featured in Steve Martin's remake of "Father of the Bride." We were regular listeners of the "Standards, Swing and Big Band" station in LA that is now gone from the airwaves (it lives on online as Martini in the Morning), which regularly played his music. One day, I called into the radio station at the right time, and won tickets to see Tyrell at the Catalina Bar. We were sitting there enjoying the show, when Terri gestures toward the bass player and says "isn't that Punchy?" And indeed it was. He put us on the guest list for a number of subsequent shows over the years, and he remains a friend.

The Way You Look Tonight.

By the way, "Punchy" is better known as Lyman Medeiros. You can find him at LMBass.com. You can also order his superb CD, "The Funky Supervillain" while you're there.