Last night we went to hear Jon Schmidt in concert. You know, J
on Schmidt of "Love Story meets Vida La Vida" fame...one of my all-time favourite songs. I would even go so far as to say that it is my theme song for this summer of 2009.
The concert was at the Central United Church, in the older part of downtown. Across the street is the Hudson's Bay Company store, where we could see naked manikin bums in the second storey window.
The Central United Church was built in 1906 and is a lovely old sandstone building. The sanctuary built in a dome and the acoustics are lovely. Schmidt did not have the piano miked and the sound carried beautifully.
Schmidt was a very humble down-to-earth individual. He played all kinds of music, classical, old rock and roll hits, compilations he's invented. It was almost like an evening lesson in music. He played with his feet, upside down with his hands backwards, with his nose, his head, his elbows and his whole arm. For one song, entitled "dumb song," he said he had to wear a padded wig in order to protect his head from bruises. He pulled it off well.
At the end of the show, he took requests for songs to play. When someone asked for a song he couldn't remember how to play, he asked the audience if they had the sheet music for it (he writes and sells the sheet music to his songs). Sure enough, someone did, and he played the song from the book.
And one final note, one of my brothers was recently complaining that the city of Calgary is so unfriendly and I was arguing against him. Last night at the concert we saw two girls from our local coffee shop, and two families from Lacombe. How's that for life in the big city?
And a final final note, our big plan for the evening was to walk from the church down along the river and end up in Kensington at Higher Ground for dessert. Except that it was pouring rain (who ordered that?) Nevertheless, we braved the rain, me in my birkenstocks, cotton shirt and skirt, and walked down through along the lamp-lit path, smiling at how other pedestrians were enduring the downpour as well. It was a lovely though damp end to the evening.
The concert was at the Central United Church, in the older part of downtown. Across the street is the Hudson's Bay Company store, where we could see naked manikin bums in the second storey window.
The Central United Church was built in 1906 and is a lovely old sandstone building. The sanctuary built in a dome and the acoustics are lovely. Schmidt did not have the piano miked and the sound carried beautifully.
Schmidt was a very humble down-to-earth individual. He played all kinds of music, classical, old rock and roll hits, compilations he's invented. It was almost like an evening lesson in music. He played with his feet, upside down with his hands backwards, with his nose, his head, his elbows and his whole arm. For one song, entitled "dumb song," he said he had to wear a padded wig in order to protect his head from bruises. He pulled it off well.
At the end of the show, he took requests for songs to play. When someone asked for a song he couldn't remember how to play, he asked the audience if they had the sheet music for it (he writes and sells the sheet music to his songs). Sure enough, someone did, and he played the song from the book.
And one final note, one of my brothers was recently complaining that the city of Calgary is so unfriendly and I was arguing against him. Last night at the concert we saw two girls from our local coffee shop, and two families from Lacombe. How's that for life in the big city?
And a final final note, our big plan for the evening was to walk from the church down along the river and end up in Kensington at Higher Ground for dessert. Except that it was pouring rain (who ordered that?) Nevertheless, we braved the rain, me in my birkenstocks, cotton shirt and skirt, and walked down through along the lamp-lit path, smiling at how other pedestrians were enduring the downpour as well. It was a lovely though damp end to the evening.
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