Life of Wry

Oh my, what a fun evening we just had. I joined Sabrina and Bill and we headed to Sonoma State’s Green Music Center for a completely fabulous concert in a stunning venue. Not my pic, but it shows the setting..

A huge percentage of the seating is at tables “on the green” where you can sit and eat food brought or bought. There is open grass seating around the perimeter, and inside that building is a theater (open to the rear) and the actual stage; you can buy tickets to be inside (probably a lot more expensive). Our outdoor table seats were 50 bucks.

Here are a couple shots I did take …

Eating at tables, so civilized!

There are restrooms inside the building, and if you go in to use them, you can sneak a peak inside the theater (gorgeous).. and get a closer look at the stage.

This was before the concert started:

This is the stage when Nickel Creek was playing..a picture I took when I went inside mid-show.

A quick word on the concert… it opened with a woman named Monica Martin.. incredibly lovely voice, a bit saucy and damaged, but loved every song she did (with another woman who played the guitar and did harmonies).. (they projected video on a large screen since we, outside, could not see the stage).

I am just blown away by Nickel Creek, though. They have been together since 1993, played consistently through about 2006, maybe 8-10 albums, a bluegrass grammy, lots of nominations for same, plus Country Music Award nominations, then took a break, and reunited sort of recently. Violin (Sara Watkins), mandolin (Chris Thile) and guitar (Sean Watkins). There was also a guy in back who played bass.

Bluegrassy, folk, roots, country… I was just drop-jawed through a whole bunch of it and totally sucked in for all of it. Some super high energy, some deeply lulling and affecting. All hugely engaging. Definitely a fan.

This guy, Chris Thile, is the center of the universe. Incredible mandolin. He is also the person who took over for Garrison Keillor when he left A Prairie Home Companion.. 6-7 years ago? Wish I had taken a better pic.. he had such stage presence! (Google him.)

Sara Watkins is shockingly talented… (again, not a great pic)

And her brother Sean, the third guy, was slightly more background, but a key player and incredibly impressive. I think all three were regular guests on Prairie Home Companion all those years ago…

Not kidding. It was just amazing, a great night of music. So glad I went.