Saturday night was dinner out followed by a show by Pat Donohue, a folk/blues guitarist and songwriter. Half the band were regulars with Prairie Home Companion, and talented musicians all - my goodness, could they play! And did they ever, from blues to bluegrass, from gospel to swing, from classical (a bach gavotte!) to jazz, they did it.
And they played for 2 1/2 hours in the Fitzgerald Theatre, which is owned by Minnesota Public Radio, and hosts the PHC radio show each week. Cool old place.
The special guest was a favorite country singer of mine, Suzy Bogguss. She is just as cute as can be, and has one of those voices that makes a guy want to put his arms around her and take care of her. :) To top it off, the girl can yodel! I mean, what more can a man ask for in a woman? At least.. one that's on stage that he's paying $30 a seat to see. At that price, she ought to be able to yodel. ;)
Sunday afternoon was the St.Paul Chamber Orchestra in the Great Hall at Bethel, with a program of baroque music, including a great little suite by Telemann, and both a Violin Concerto and one of the Brandenberg Concertos by J.S. Bach. I've always preferred Telemann to Bach. Bach is incredibly complex and precise, but.. after a while I get tired of all that counterpoint. Telemann, to me, seems to have more humanity in his music - more warmth and life. :) Anyway, D loves the Brandenbergs and I love Telemann's work, so it was great...
except that we each spent 5+ minutes out in the hallway during our favorite pieces on an extended coughing jag! :( Yuk. But then we got the tickets for nothing, so.. who can complain? Just - never go to a classical performance when you have a cold. Courtesy just demands that you leave, and of course once you're out of the hall you can't go back in until the piece is over. :(
At least at a rock concert nobody cares if you cough yourself silly. They couldn't hear you anyway. So after a run to Culver's for custard (medicinal reasons only - for our sore throats), I squared my shoulders, took some ibuprofen, rubbed my aching ribs, stuffed some cough drops in my pocket and headed out for the rock concert Sunday night.
Carbon/Silicon was the lead act, but I really went for the opener, Matt Pond PA. I have his CD, Several Arrows Later, which I reviewed here some time back, and liked a lot. He also has a new one out, which got great reviews, so I picked that up while there. Plus, it was a favorite venue - The Varsity in Dinkytown.
Boy, does Matt Pond ever sound different live than on his recordings. Four guitars and a drum, and really just straight up rock and roll, man. :) Nothing emotive about this guy tonight. No sir. Leave the string section for the studio, baby. And man oh man - he had absolutely zero personality on stage. Just wind him up and he plays, I guess. But I do like the new CD. :) Review to follow. Sometime.
Carbon/Silicon turned out to be why the crowd was a bit older tonight. I've never seen so many 40-somethings (and older) with straggly shoulder length hair and shades. And I don't mean the women. This act paired up two aging punk-rockers, Mick Jones from the Clash and Tony James from Generation X.
And it took exactly one and a half songs until I remembered why I never got into punk rock. Yikes! It has all the lyrical disappointment and despair of emo, but suppressed and covered over by angry and loud music with the focus squarely on minor chords. Eww. I beat it out of there while I still had my happy face on. :)
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