Valentine’s Day 2009
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009Carrie and I had the opportunity and sincere pleasure to perform in Springfield, Illinois this past Saturday with our friend Gus Gordon. He organized a Valentine’s Dinner & Concert with himself as the front man and The Jane Hartman Trio providing the music. The venue was the Hoogland Center for the Arts which also operates under Springfield Center for the Arts. Maybe it’s the Springfield Hoogland Center for the Arts? I don’t know. I do know it’s a neat facility in downtown Springfield, just a couple blocks south of the old State Captiol on Sixth Street. Always something going on there, too, so check it out if you live nearby!
Well, Friday I started feeling a bit heady - coldlike, a bit of rasp - just very mild, but I could tell something was coming. This was much to my dismay and, really, surprise. I like to think I am very careful about hygiene. Indeed, I think I’ve turned my daughter into a “germaphobe.” Anyway, I woke up Saturday morning at 3 o’clock, and I wasn’t going back to sleep. What a way to start a day that is supposed to end with a concert! It didn’t look so good. I came downstairs and…hmmm…I don’t know what I did. Carrie came in about 6, so she hadn’t had the best of nights, either. I sort of napped between 7 and 8 am and again between 2 and 3 that afternoon. Of course, all the while the head and nose congestion are coming on stronger. I forced fluids, which I swear by. It might not make things go away any quicker (you know, a virus just has to run its course), but the symptoms are certainly alleviated. So by the time we had to leave, we were doing okay, considering.
It was 8 pm before the concert started. It was something over an hour total, with songs ranging from love to love. It was valentine’s day after all, so there was sappy love and playful love. One tune was sung by another guest group called Simply A Capella. Think female barbershop. They were great and had a fun rendition of a number about waiting for a guy for 18 years and he still hadn’t come around, so they were going to wait another 18 years, but then that was it! Funny.
I sang “I’ve got the World on a String,” which went pretty well. It was great to sing with Jane and the boys. Jane had backed me a couple years ago when I was on one of Rob’s gigs in Jacksonville, but I had never sung with her own trio. I am tickled and blessed to have the caliber of musicians that I do on which to call. The second song I did was our favorite Gershwin tune, “Embraceable You.” Now the first time I ever heard this song, Carrie sang it to me. I tell you the truth that it was the sweetest thing I had ever heard to that date. So pure and clear. Obviously, she loved me, so that just upped the stakes, so to speak. It is no surprise that I think of her every time I sing that song - it’s basically “our song” - but I don’t think I have ever done it so well as she did the first time I heard it.
Avoiding further sap, to speak clinically about it, I find it is harder for me to sing slow tunes. I must be very careful with pitch and I find that my focus is much more concentrated on a slow tune than for an up tempo number. Combining that with the compromised sinuses, etc., it went off pretty well. I probably did it just a bit too slowly, but it was pretty, I think.
Carrie joined me for a duet, then. We did a medley of “Whispering” and “You make Me Feel so Young.” Then later in the show, Gus called us back up. I sang a duet of “Summer Wind” with him and Carrie and I did “Almost Like Being in Love,” which we’d never performed as duet before. It lent itself pretty well, though.
All told, it was a fine evening. A good evening. The event was sold out and we were able to pitch the upcoming Mother’s Day Concert which will be held at the same place. Check my calendar page for details as they unfold around that event.