In a political fundraiser that few other congressional candidates across the country could pull off, Dayna Steele used her 101 KLOL relationships to bring in a Grammy/Oscar winner and a Rock Hall of Fame member to Houston in a show of support.
Monday night, The Steele-workers showed up in force at the Scout Bar in Clear Lake to support their Texas’ 36th Congressional District seat candidate and watch Grammy winner Melissa Etheridge and Rock Hall of Fame legend David Crosby of Crosby, Stills & Nash perform together and separately.
Each performer, both of which would usually play the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, sat on the Scout Bar's smaller stage and gave a pavilion level performance for the packed room of Steele supporters. It was just the singer with their acoustic guitar.
Crosby admitted he usually uses a teleprompter for his performances like many singers do these days. Etheridge was tuning her own guitar stating she didn't bring her usual team of guitar techs.
The event started with a VIP reception in the bar space above the club where donors were able to mingle and take photos with the rock stars.
To kick off the performances downstairs at the Scout Bar, Steele, Etheridge and Crosby sat down in chairs and did the type of musician interview the former "Houston's First Lady of Rock and Roll" was so famous for.
Crosby took the stage first and played hits through his career spanning from The Byrds to CSN.
He told the crowd it's time for women like Steele to run the country. Crosby added, they couldn't do any worse than the men who have traditionally run the government.
On a musical aside, Crosby told a story about the time The Byrds played England. He says the young band was nervous to play in the UK because they were so influenced by The Beatles and didn't want to run into the Fab Four that started the musical and style revolution that changed the 1960's.
As his band was playing what he called a tiny and rat infested club, Crosby looked up and saw John Lennon watching from the back of the club. If that didn't cause enough stress for the young American band, guess who Lennon was talking to? Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger.
Turns out The Byrds and The Beatles got along swimmingly and even hung out after that.
As Crosby sang his final number, the stage became re-energized by Etheridge who came out and belted out hit after hit. The stage wasn't full of a backing band and big production elements like her usual performances, but Etheridge didn't look any less arena ready.
In a rare stage break, Etheridge who famously asked Crosby for help in having children with her partner, told an amusing story about going to a record store with her son, Beckett. As Beckett was looking through the Vinyl, he found the Woodstock '69 album.
He asked his famous mom if this was the Woodstock she played (Etheridge performed at the 1994 version of Woodstock) or the one his dad played? She recalled with amusement watching the record store clerk's "head explode" in amazment to that one.
Even though the person of the night, Dayna Steele, had supporters passionately chanting her name, much like they probably did back in her KLOL days, she was clearly in awe.
Admitting she couldn't believe David Crosby was sitting across from her at dinner the night before, even though they've known each other for decades. And she couldn't believe there was Melissa Etheridge performing in front of her campaign sign. A lot has changed for the former Houston DJ who first saw the emerging singer Etheridge play Houston's Tower Theater and fought to have the female artist played in regular radio rotation.
Steele closed out the night bringing her husband, Charlie, and former Houston mayor Annise Parker on stage. She asked her supporters for donations, to volunteer and get signs in their yards.
The biggest item Steele asked was for supporters to come out of the shadows as she aims to win the March 6, 2018 Democratic primary.
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