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A Tale of Two Shows
Oct. 14th, 2019 01:40 pmA week ago Erin and I went to the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis to hear Judy Collins perform, and for someone who is now 80 years old Collins singing was enchanting and beautiful, all the more so for not being as perfect as it was when she was young. She accompanied herself on the 12-string guitar nicely along with a pianist playing with her, and sang a few of the old songs, both better and lesser known, and some newer ones too that were as good. She also did a turn at the piano herself and her playing was amazingly fluid and precise and lyrical, which would make her childhood piano instructor proud, I'm sure. Along the way she also took time to just recount stories from the past, like how she first heard of Leonard Cohen as a poet, not a songwriter, and then heard his song Suzanne and helped get Cohen noticed by covering it. Collins was and still is quite the free spirit and Erin and I were glad to finally hear her live in person in such a lovely venue. I'd missed two previous shows of hers and it was wonderful to finally get to one this time.
Then last Saturday Erin and I went to Charlie's Pub in Stillwater to hear Lojo Russo play, and of course we had a great time as Lojo took about every opportunity she could to interject "BRAIIIINS" into her performance because she loves Halloween. Erin and I have known Lojo since first hearing her out at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival with Gallowglass and we've be happy to hear her many times before and it never gets old. What was nice this time was that for once the crowd in the bar was actually listening to her and getting into it as well. It didn't hurt that at least 2/3rds of the seats were filled with people who had come to hear Lojo play. We stayed for all four sets from 7:30 to past 11:30 and we never stopped laughing and singing along the whole time. Oh, and we drank a lot too since naturally Lojo had to keep switching instruments due to getting lots of requests. One bit of sadness was Lojo relating that she'd been to a wake for another musician she'd performed with out at the renfest that day, Joe Smith, before doing one of the old Gallowglass songs by request. Here's to the good times.
Then last Saturday Erin and I went to Charlie's Pub in Stillwater to hear Lojo Russo play, and of course we had a great time as Lojo took about every opportunity she could to interject "BRAIIIINS" into her performance because she loves Halloween. Erin and I have known Lojo since first hearing her out at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival with Gallowglass and we've be happy to hear her many times before and it never gets old. What was nice this time was that for once the crowd in the bar was actually listening to her and getting into it as well. It didn't hurt that at least 2/3rds of the seats were filled with people who had come to hear Lojo play. We stayed for all four sets from 7:30 to past 11:30 and we never stopped laughing and singing along the whole time. Oh, and we drank a lot too since naturally Lojo had to keep switching instruments due to getting lots of requests. One bit of sadness was Lojo relating that she'd been to a wake for another musician she'd performed with out at the renfest that day, Joe Smith, before doing one of the old Gallowglass songs by request. Here's to the good times.
