Sing a Song

Last night my friend Carol and I went downtown to Lumiere Place. Not to the casino, though we had to walk around its smoke-filled perimeter to get to where we were going, which was the Lumiere Theater. One of Katie's friends, Mary Claire Zimmermann, was the opening act for a local group called "Fresh Heir". At the time I purchased tickets I thought that Katie would not be allowed in due to it being in the casino area, and I also thought that Jim would be up in Iowa helping his family prepare for his mom's open heart surgery. So I had invited Carol to go with me and we would have a girl's night out. It ended up that kids were allowed in the theater, and Lorraine's surgery got moved back due to an Iowa blizzard, but the show was sold out by the time I discovered these facts.

Anyway, Mary is a super kid and very talented. She composes much of her own music and accompanies herself on the piano or keyboard, depending on what is available. Last night she played her keyboard. She did a great job, even attempting a Lady Gaga song which she taught herself the day before. She blew a few of the words, but hey some of our superstars can't even sing the National Anthem correctly, so no biggie. I give her lots of props for being onstage by herself in front of several hundred people. Way to go, Mary!

The second group I was unfamiliar with, but I did check out their My Space page and listened to a bit of their music before Saturday night. It sounded like something I could a) stand to listen to and, b) not be disgusted with the song lyrics. As it ended up, the band had just released their first CD, and we all received a free copy. I did end up enjoying the music, though it is hard to describe. I would say it has its roots in jazz, but with a bit of gentle rap and some Chicago thrown in. They wanted to create their own sound, and I think they succeeded. I will definitely listen to the CD.

More fun than watching the band, though, was watching the people in the mosh pit. (I only know what a mosh pit is because I have a teenage daughter. Carol did not know what one was.) I thought the point of a mosh pit was for the audience to be able to dance and get into the music. And sometimes body-slam each other, but this wasn't that kind of music. These moshers were dead, if I do say so myself. I think I moved my foot to the music more than most of them moved at all. The exception was a later arrival, whom I believe to be the mother of the trumpet player. She had her hands in the air and was gyrating to the beat. I thought she got a little carried away when she flicked her Bic and began to wave it around, however. The latest cool thing to do is to wave your illuminated cell phone. Doesn't she know anything?

So Carol and I stayed until the bitter end, which is more than the 73 other friends and family of Mary did. We elected to skip the after concert party as we did not want to be the oldest people in the room. Besides, after walking around the casino we needed some Fresh Heir.