"Packed" doesn't even begin to describe it...

[tfabris]

I've spent the entire day in a mostly vegetative state. But in the good way.

Saturday night I played about three hours' worth of concert. The Vixy & Tony opening set went fantastically, with Betsy and Sunnie absolutely oudoing themselves and blowing everyone away with their awesomeness. Vixy, despite the fact that she's still recovering from a cold that recently settled in her lungs, sang wonderfully, the consummate professional that she is. I think my favorite part was Betsy and Sunnie's chamber-music intro to our cover of re: Your Brains. We'd actually rehearsed that a couple of weeks ago, but I'd completely forgotten they were going to do it until the moment they began playing it, so it was almost like I'd gotten to hear it for the first time myself.

Then I got to play another two hours with Marian Call, which is always a privilege, but having Sunnie also playing with Marian made it just amazing. If that weren't enough, her drummer, Colter Lemons, was pure hammered awesome, and put the energy of the show right through the roof, with his precise playing and hilarious antics with hand bells. (By the way, did I mention, that's the very first time I've ever played with Colter?) Then, as icing on the cake, Marian's friend David George Gordon joined us on harmonica, adding to the awesome.

The end of the set list came, and we didn't have anything ready for an encore, so Marian just came up with something on the spot. We did an impromptu call-and-response cover of what I think she said was "Honeyed Out" by Kris Delmhorst. All it required of me was one chord, so that was easy. Between Colter's antics and the improvisational fiddle and harmonica work, it just blew the doors off the place. I loved it.

One of the best parts of the show was the fact that so many people got to see it. About half an hour before the show, I tweeted that Wayward was packed. It turns out, that at its peak, the number of people in the place was literally double what it had been when I'd said that. There were more people in Wayward that night than I'd ever seen before. It was amazing. For everyone who came: Thank you for helping make it such a magical evening.

I'm a little sorry that I didn't get to spend as much time talking to everyone as I would have liked. There were so many people, and so much for me to do, that I barely had time to do more than wave at some friends. Some people were stuck back near the entrance and couldn't even get up close to the stage, it was that crowded. Betsy had to leave before the end of the evening and I didn't get a chance to say good night to her. I hope everyone had a good time, regardless.

Here are some pictures of the night: (1), (2), and here is Sunnie's account of the evening. If anyone has any other pictures, video footage, or blog entries, please let me know so I can link them here.

Coming up this week, our beloved Sooj returns to us, and she will be doing some Palimpsest-related shows in the area this week and next week, as well joining us for my birthday Kitten Sundae show at DanceWorks Studio this coming Saturday. Have a look at her calendar for all of the dates and times.

And now... I crash.

VixyAndTony.com
Vixy & Tony's Schedule