With the help of family and friends, community members shoveling snow out on the walk and others braving slippery roads, Aidan and I had an awesome time giving the Capstone concert for our grant project this past Friday evening at the Northfield Depot. I feel so proud of both of us and so grateful for our family and our community.

We have been working really hard on this since early October. As part of the grant project (see flyer below), we gave 14 mini concerts for our local assisted living center, and will give one final performance for them this coming Thursday. This past Friday’s performance was the culmination of all of our work to this point, and this coming Thursday’s event we’ll repeat our set. (It’s open to the public — come join us at Three Links Care Center Chapel, 2pm Feb. 20.)

Each performance had a nearly unique set list of about 10 songs from the 40’s, 50’s, 60s and 70’s. In total, we learned over 100 songs. This means we practiced individually who knows how long, and rehearsed together over 140 hours, schlepped and set up our audio and music equipment 14 times — through all kinds of weather. In the process, I faced down intense stage anxiety, and met menopause mind where it felt like I couldn’t absorb new material or remember what I already knew.

I was in charge of coming up with the songs and Aidan took almost everything I threw at him and gave his all. In some situations, he found ingenious ways to help me learn some things where I was rhythm challenged (it’s my achilles heel). He stretched his own idea of what he could do vocally and sang the lead vocal on some of the songs. Together we found intersections between our different interests and styles and built a foundation that I’m excited to explore more in time.

Through it all, the Three Links staff were extremely helpful and accommodating, and residents were so wonderful to connect with. There’s a feeling of deep care, commitment and even love in the space. That made it even more worthwhile.

We didn’t think it would be possible to get good live audio and video of the performance, and didn’t want to try to build that into the program; however, miraculously, few hours before our concert on Friday, my wonderful husband Michael figured out how to get our concert on zoom, and recorded. Thank you Michael! (watch the whole thing here)

One thing that really made the whole thing so magic was the event venue: the historic Northfield Depot, which has been renovated and is now used for events like this one (wonderful acoustics). I was blown away by the level of service and kindness in making this space available at a rate we could pay while staying within our grant budget. Volunteers helped clear the snowy/icy walks, helped us get the wifi turned on, and came to help us close up after it was all over.

Bottom line, this was HARD, and it was a HEAP of fun, and a lot of folks pitched in to make it possible. I’m grateful grateful grateful.

FYI we are available for hire — message me if you’d like us to play at your house concert or other in-person event.