The Knights of Monte Carlo

Chuck Norris plays the Sax??!

What do you get when you have a keyboardist who looks like Chuck Norris, a bassist who plays with a tobacco pipe in his mouth, a drummer and a bongos player, plus a show equipped with a horn, saxophone, triangle, chimes and even a cowbell?

The Knights of Monte Carlo!

Although when we walked into the Viper Room around 11:30 p.m. and I was asked who I was there to see, I accidentally said “The Count of Monte Cristo.” Oops!

I saw them before at The Key Club a couple months ago, and I knew I would have to see them again. They were such a campy-looking act: 6 men dressed like Mr. Howell from Gilligan’s Island and handing out roses to the ladies, quite an appropriate look for the music they themselves call yacht rock. It actually is soft rock, with songs whose names always escape me but with lyrics everyone knows:

…I got such a long way to go (such a long way to go), To make it to the border of Mexico, So I’ll ride, ride like the wind…

…As he rises to her apology, Anybody else would surely know, He’s watching her go, What a fool believes…

…You go back, Jack, do it again, wheel turnin round and round…

And so many more really fun songs. One of my favorite parts of the night was when they transitioned from the end of the song “How long, has this been going on?” and the lead singer said:

“You know, I don’t know how long this has been going on, but I can tell you how long it will go on… ALL NIGHT LONG!”

Of course, they then sang Lionel Richies “All night long, all night, all night long…” They even did the whole Caribbean chant thing perfectly (Tam bo li de say de moi ya…)

It was so much fun! There were a lot of people there and everyone was dancing and singing along. The energy was fantastic, and it wrapped up perfectly with the last song of the night:

…everybody here is out of sight, they dont bark and they dont bite, they keep things loose they keep it tight, everybody’s dancing in the moonlight…

By that point, everyone was dancing, singing, and smiling. You know what, it actually was like a party on a yacht out on the Carribbean Sea. Just a great energy.

I wasn’t ready for it to end, no one was, but it was 2 a.m. and time to leave. I was so energized from the whole thing that I ended up just walking home from the Viper Room, a full 5 miles that just flew by.

They’ll be playing at the Viper Room every Saturday in October, and I’ll be sure to try to make more shows out there, but I’m really looking forward to November when they’ll be doing a show just down the street at King King. I can’t wait!

Here’s a very sucky video I took with my camera phone of “Do it Again.” I was moving and dancing the whole time, so excuse the poor directing skills, and though my phone distorted the sound a bit, you’ll get an idea of what they’re like: