The ground hog saw his shadow, at least here in McCook. If he were up on stage with us tonight, he definitely would! In contrast to yesterday’s state of the art theatre, today is an improvise day at a very old venue. There are metal folding chairs on the audience floor and stadium seating around the edges. As we were setting up, it looked like there was a seniors walking club going around and around the big shiny wood floor. I tried the piano, a beautiful nine-foot Baldwin, and broke into “Chariots of Fire” for them. It put
a spring in their step. They said they would walk for longer if I kept playing. Maybe some of these folks will be at the concert tonight. Tech and lighting here is minimal at best, and we have no sound or lighting person tonight!
OK, battle plan: we’re using the gold netting we brought with added little white lights for the stage. No drum tracks tonight.
Usually on our drive from place to place we discuss our show and keep refining it.
Frank and I were thinking the same thing: Let’s try it without the drum tracks tonight! As we’re getting more and more comfortable on stage, we’re finding that they are limiting our freedom. Frank sweats it every time he pushes the play button, not to mention they’re a pain to set up, with extra monitors, and varying volume levels, etc. for the sound person. We knew today at our venue that we’d have to practice without the drums and see how we felt about it. Would we lose some of the variety in the show?
No problem! With this venue situation it was meant to be. It’s a funky old auditorium, but with lively acoustics and a fabulous instrument to play on. I was looking forward to our newfound freedom tonight!
Next, the stage. We closed in the red curtain a bit, and cozied it up by making the stage shallower with a black curtain behind the piano. Now for the gold netting that worked so well in Rhinelander. Cindy, our contact person, went home and got us little white Christmas lights and I weaved them with the netting all across the stage front and stage back. Voila!
There was quite a commotion tonight with people arriving 75 minutes early saving blocks of seats. They saw me running around in jeans with no makeup.
Cindy announced us. She also gave me a credit for the beautiful stage, comparing it to a nightclub!
The concert was extra fun tonight. What people didn’t know what was missing, (the drum tracks) was made up for in a thrilling new energy up there. This was the first time I was even out of breath! The audience roared at our antics, and the piano sang. We had a good crowd and the lobby was packed with people sticking around to meet us and have their CDs signed.
We went out for a bite to eat with Cindy and her friend Nancy at a local place that kept the kitchen open just for us. Frank ordered his usual salad, trying to be good, while us ladies were indulging on enormous pieces of mud pie. Frank ordered oil and vinegar, a cup, and some Dijon mustard for his salad. In front of us he whipped up his vinegrette. We all laughed, and I told them he probably missed being in his kitchen.
At least I get a decorating fix on the stages at each venue. It will be interesting to see if this will influence my tastes at home. Let’s see… enormous red velvet curtains and multi-colored spotlights!
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1 comment:
Truly enjoyed the concert! While I wondered how bass guitar would fit it, such blended, complimented. Wish more of our younger folk partake of this quality & uplifting music.
Yes, our facilities here are not the best, at least by big city standards- There are beautiful churches with excellent instrumentation available- but perhaps that wouldn't work either.
-- Merwyn
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