Cyndi Lauper / B-52's
We may not have the glam of Hollywood, and we may not be the upper crust of New England, who can trace their ancestry to the Mayflower, but in the Pacific Northwest, we sure do know how to throw a party! On July 2nd, at Deer Lake Park, in Burnaby (adjacent to Vancouver) Canada, music fans gathered in the late afternoon and stayed until dusk for a celebration of music, performed by some of the last three decades’ most prolific artists.
Gypsy Soul
During Gypsy Soul’s sound check, I overheard one half of the musical duo, Roman Morykit describing to the sound engineer the type of intimate stage presentation that he and Cilette Swann (the other half of Gypsy Soul), wanted to achieve during their performance. Morkykit and Swann, who were joined on stage by two other fabulous musicians, cellist Traci Hoveskeland, and percussionist T.J. Morris, put on what can only be described as a spectacular performance at Seattle, Washington’s The Triple Door on Saturday, June 7th.
Paula Cole
From my vantage point in the front row of Seattle’s The Triple Door, it was difficult to tell if the crowd’s response to Paula Cole was louder when she first walked onto the stage and opened her concert with “Comin' Down,” from her current album Courage, or if the deafening roar from behind me was greater, as she sang one of her encore songs, “I Don't Want To Wait.” On July 4th, Paula Cole gave a very special performance, and left her fans with the kind of memories, that are frozen in time.
Jeni Fleming
Summer got off to a great start for you on June 28th, if you are a jazz fan and live in the Issaquah Washington area. Bake’s Place, a nicely appointed dinner club, hosted vocalist Jeni Fleming and her ensemble. Fleming who would just as soon not have her music pigeonholed into any one genre, presented two sets which consisted of a combination of jazz standards, bossa nova tunes and swing music.
Loni Rose may not be Paula Cole, the main act that she opened for on June 4th at The Triple Door in Seattle, Washington, but for about forty minutes, the young Americana singer / songwriter lit up the stage and pumped up the audience. Rose whose long, straight blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders, was dressed in a brown and beige checked blouse, a white, ruffled, vintage skirt, brown cowboy boots and was wearing big gold hoop earrings.
Great Big Sea
Like the fierce Norwesters that Great Big Sea so often sings about, and that blow in off the coast of Canada’s eastern most province Newfoundland, the rock band from a province affectionately nicknamed ‘the rock,’ (how fitting is that?) blew into Vancouver on June 27th, and put on a spectacular concert, consisting of twenty songs.
The band set a furious pace to this concert, which matched the brisk tour that they were on to promote their new album Fortune’s Favour, recorded on the Warner Music Group label.
