With John Waite, Arcanas had a pretty good wedding singer

Image
John Waite, middle, with members of his band and Steve and Dana Arcana.
Courtesy Dana Arcana
John Waite, rockin' it at the Arcana nuptials on Oct. 3, 2005.

John Waite, rockin' it at the Arcana nuptials on Oct. 3, 2005.

Steve and Dana Arcana used to neck to this music.

“Back on My Feet Again,” “When I See You Smile,” “How Did I Get By Without You?” “Missing You,” those songs, and many more, sung by John Waite, who headlines tonight at Railhead at Boulder Station.

“When we were dating, we would just go on dates, and he would have the John Waite greatest-hits CD in his car,” says Dana, who went by her maiden name Dana Olliges in those days and spent years with PR Plus and House of Blues. Her family also owns the Friendly Ford and Team Ford dealerships in Southern Nevada.

“It was very romantic, and we’d listen to it while kissing in the car.”

A Taurus, we guess.

So it could be said that the former vocalist for the Babys and Bad English was largely responsible for sparking the Arcanas’ courtship, given the unlimited possibilities vehicle necking presents. The Arcanas were indeed married on Oct. 3, 2005, and Waite’s music was prominently featured.

That’s because he and his band performed it -- live.

Arcana, today an executive at Golden Gaming Inc., was with Stations Casinos at the time. Waite had played Green Valley Ranch, a show booked by Stations Entertainment Director Judy Alberti, who made a call or two to arrange for Waite to make an appearance at the Arcanas’ wedding reception (hint, Alberti is not a bad person to include on any wedding invite list).

It helped immensely that the wedding was being held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Kauai, coinciding with a Waite concert in Honolulu.

“He was already there, it was quite a bit cheaper to pay for the flight for the band from Honolulu,” Dana said. But it was not, in fact, cheap, by any measure, to hire Waite. To put it in Ford terms, Dana says the effort cost “quite a few Tauruses.”

Waite and his crew hung out for a couple of days, enjoying time and scenery at the hotel pool and attending something billed as “The Martini Bikini Party” the night before the ceremony. A party of 80 enjoyed quite a show as a rainstorm attacked the front of the hotel but left the back expanse, where the wedding itself was held, safe and dry.

“We’ve seen him twice since,” Dana said, “and he always says, ‘I can’t believe you two are still married!’”

Hey, five-plus years isn’t that long, is it?

The couple plans to be in the audience tonight at Boulder Station, too, basking in some romantic nostalgia.

If they duck out early to hit the parking lot, don’t bother following.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow "Kats With The Dish" at twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.

Share
Photo of John Katsilometes

John Katsilometes

Get more John Katsilometes

Previous Discussion:

Top of Story