In June, I had a fortuitous adventure. I went up to Mueller Park for a run, and my old boss just happened to be at the trailhead at the same time I was. I talked with him for the first few switchbacks before I ran off. The following week, he called me and offered me to work for him again, and I accepted--so this week I begin working on his projects again. While I've loved my projects of the past year, especially the opportunity to work with more people, I'm excited to get back to his projects. He credits that happenstance meeting on the trail as a catalyst that made him consider me again, and the timing was right--although I do wonder if he would have thought of me even if we hadn't met that day.
In frivolous fruit news, the first grapes of the season are getting ripe, and our plums are the best I can remember. And to think I didn't used to like August, the month of monsoonal thunderstorms, fresh fruit, and popsicles and shave ice!
Since 2009, I have been a big supporter of local singer-songwriter Cherie Call. I thought I had all of her songs (not counting hymn covers), but recently I learned about three I don't have, so as a super fan, I still have two more I need to get. Unfortunately, they're only available on girly, churchy compilation CDs that I don't particularly care to have. But I guess I have to get them, because the only other way is iTunes, and I've heard horror stories about iTunes.
Anyway, she recently teamed up with another local singer/songwriter, Lyndy Butler, to produce a "children's" album. It's not up to par with her previous work. But yesterday she had an album release concert at This Is the Place State Park, so to be a supportive fan, I took my family to see it (my mom is also a fan, thanks to me). The park was technically closed, but we walked around and saw a one-antlered deer.
Anyway, the concert was, well, awkward. It was very low attendance. I've seen Cherie Call, I don't know, about a dozen times, and this was the worst attendance I'd ever seen (except for that one time at a radio station on a weekday morning), even though there were two of them performing. I had the feeling that we were some of the only, if not the only, people there who didn't know the performers personally. So the low attendance was awkward, and depressing. But the show didn't actually get started for twenty minutes, because they were off feeding Jimmy John's and cookies to their families. And then they decided to start the night with another singer. I'm not going to humiliate him by calling him by name (also, I don't remember it), but he was not very good. His first song was all falsetto--and not a deliberate Adam Levine, Jason Derulo, or even Frankie Valli falsetto, but a genuine "I wrote a song that's too high for me" voice. It was painful. He also sang some educational songs (he's a teacher) that were the kinds of songs you'd teach a class to help them remember, not perform in a concert. But his stage presence was just awkward. Imagine if I were on stage at a concert. That's how awkward it was. I kept hoping for his turn to be over, but he sang five or six songs.
The rest of the concert was good, but I just felt bad for them for how low the attendance it was. It was certainly uncomfortable. But I felt better about being there since there were so few people, so I could show support. It was a great venue and a beautiful evening. Just not a great circumstance.
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