World Connections Choral Concert

Monday night we attended the "World Connections" choral concert and solo recital at the UW-Manitowoc University Theatre. My daughter, Jesse, was singing in the group Choir Erasing Borders, while the groups Ten-or Eleven and the Maritime Chamber Ensemble also performed. There were also a couple of solo performances on the program, both vocal and instrumental. This was an outstanding, totally awesome evening of music. The choral groups performed flawlessly, the song selection was wide ranging and uplifting, and the theme of world unity encompassing diversity was inspiring, while the intimate space of the University Theatre was perfect for a program like this. I can't say enough good things about this event and I would like to see it repeated. We would benefit from more of this sort of thing in our community, and we ought to support the arts with our time, dollars and voices so that these kinds of happenings take place more frequently. Kudos and congratulations to the folks who put the show together.

PS: Our daughter, Jesse, was the best on the stage that night...that's right! That's her, top row third from the left.

Prom Night in Two Rivers

Last night Kerry performed, prom dates danced together, people sampled Russian beer, and the evening weather was fantastic. Another fun, relaxing and beautiful evening of music and friends at Stumpjack.

Two Rivers' Prom was last night and we had some finely attired couples enjoying the space and coffee after the dance. Kerry was great and played a few slow tunes to dance to. Ahhh...amore'...pretty cool to see.

We are going to be experimenting with our beer list a bit more frequently, adding and trying out some unusual brews from time to time, and right now we have three new Russian beers on hand (in addition to the fantastic Sleeman beers that have become our mainstay). I'll write more about them in a different post, but since we brought them in a couple days ago people have been sampling them and the critiques have been very good.

Kerry played one of his new compositions for us last night, a lovely though somber ballad that reminded me just what a fine songwriter he is.

We've got a pretty full schedule of weekend entertainment next month (3 weekends in a row right now), so check back in a day or two when I post the calendar here. Ciao!

Live Music Saturday Night

Kerry Michaels will be bringing his songwriting and guitar playing talent to the Stumpjack this Saturday evening at 7:00. Be here or regret it brother!

Pick and Squeeze

Another full house, standing-room-only at the Stumpjack tonight for "Pick & Squeeze" (Greg and Andy Pagel). What a fun time tonight and what an age-diverse crowd...it never ceases to amaze me what a range of ages we attract and even more amazing and cool is how absolutely courteous, thoughtful and respectful most everyone seems to be to one another (this is worth some ink on a future post). Andy and Greg are very skillful musicians with a wide and deep repertoire, a great sense of humor and a rather unique style that blends jazz, folk and ragtime into their own funky neo-retro sound. We're having the guys back sometime in early June. Here's a few pics from tonight.

Happenstance last Saturday night

Last Saturday (March 31st) a full house enjoyed the mellow guitar and vocals of Happenstance. With every seat taken people stood and sat on the floor. This is the second gig for the acoustic duo of Becky Markvardt and Debbie Kimmes at the Stumpjack.

Kim and I were hopping all night, working like a well oiled machine. And neither of us got frustrated with the other even once during the night...amazing! We must be jellin'. We finally rolled home at around 2:30 in the morning after emptying a couple bottles of wine and telling indelicate stories with Sandy and Terry until 1:30 or so. A good night...and I think we all paid for it a little Sunday morning.

Tres Amigos
(why does everyone have old to-go cups here?...oh yeah, it was the mineral water thing...)