Seattle and Beyond

Seattle was fantastic. Andy Gilbert wrote a really nice article about me and my music in the Seattle Times that significantly helped to attract customers to Bake's Place--particularly for the Saturday night concert. Bake's Place is such a beautiful jazz club. The most challenging thing about it is that it is located within a gated retirement community. A lot of people are put off by that fact and don't want to go there. But if they could just get beyond their own perception of what that must be like, they would realize what an awesome place Bake's Place truly is. The acoustics are wonderful, the environment is very intimate--it only seats 72 people, and the musical experience is probably like no other in Seattle. Many of the people that came out this weekend had never been to Bake's before. It was because of the article that they came (power to the press!!). I was very grateful and happy to have such fantastic audiences both nights. I made some great new fans and the band, as always, played spectacularly. Traveling with Murray, Peter and Paul is so much fun. They all have such great senses of humor and we all get along very well. I was also happy because the hotel I chose for us to stay in this time was close to the Sound and so we were able to walk down to the water and explore a different part of the Seattle area. While down at the water we saw a couple walking their cat on a leash! Peter got video of it--I'll see if I can post something here soon. So bizarre.

The whole weekend was a huge success. The Jewish Film Festival concert was completely sold out to the point where people had to be turned away. What a thrill that was. And the septet played beautifully. We are all now settling in to this new music and it is beginning to take on a life of its own. That is when the magic really starts to present itself. Even over the weekend in Seattle we played some of the Sephardic songs. As a quartet it was a little more of a challenge for the band, but we figured it out and created some new and interesting sounds around the songs. I guess for me it just really doesn't matter in what context I get to perform--I just LOVE to sing and any and all opportunities are a blessing and a treat for me.

Now I have a month to prepare for the La Peña concert on Dec. 21. The artists are submitting their artwork for the art exhibit by Nov. 30. the art gets hung in the lobby on Dec. 3 and the art reception will be the night of the concert. I also have to contact all of the JCCs in this area to drop off flyers for the concert. The goal is to sell out for this event. I think it will be a truly special evening of art and music and I need to make sure it is well organized and as wonderful as I am envisioning!