Absolutely, you do!
It is everywhere we want to look in our lives.
Art is what separates work from joy, happy from sad, mundane from magnifico!
Art very much defines who we are as individuals.
Could we even imagine a world without art?
No thank you! We see it, we feel it and we taste it. In all aspects of our living, art is what gives so many of us joy. Some will say that there is no life without art. No living without it.
Imagine for a moment, a day bereft of anything creative or the very hint of beauty. A life without song. No musicals, no melodies, no sounds other than those created by machines or friction. How dreary!
I can imagine someone right at this very moment, watching a musical or play and being moved to tears by the art of song married with story. It is what defines our humanity.
So when Carl and I were asked to entertain at the fiftieth anniversary of the Anton Art Center’s gala fundraiser event in downtown Mount Clemens, we were beyond honored.
We were a little skeptical really.
It seemed to us that events like this are used to entertainment that was a bit more “background music” than we are. We may not be any good, but we don’t think of ourselves as elevator music either.
We aren’t exactly head-banging loud, but then again we do want to play with enough volume to be heard.
So it was with some skepticism that we met with two lovely ladies from the art center last spring when they approached us about entertaining at their event.
The two of them met us at The Three Blind Mice to listen and discuss how our music would fit their event. They were so nice that after a short while we felt as kindred spirits discussing music, art and the city of Mount Clemens.
That evening flew by, and they ended up listening to us again at Bumper’s Landing a month later before making the final decision to hire us for their event.
Once secured, we then needed to simply wait until September to make it a reality. All summer they prepared, connected with people and tended to the fine details of putting an event this size on.
When Thursday, September 26th finally arrived, everything was ready. All Carl and I needed to do was to show up, dress up, (be magnificent) and above all else don’t forget to be on our very best behavior!
Honestly, most of that was pretty easy to do.
For an event like this, we really needed to arrive early so that we could find our way in, navigate to the stage, and set up while the sound company had time to work with us.
In past events, the sound had been too loud near the entertainers, and not able to be heard at the places in the long tent.
This year, with the addition of Mad Habit Creative, all the sound issues could be dealt with by tapping into our sound output and spreading the sound to the other parts of the tent with the addition of satellite speakers.
Many of the restauranteurs were also arriving with the best of their fare to be sampled by tonights’ guests. Macomb County was well represented as the best and brightest entrepreneurs lined up to support this worthy cause.
When it was truly time to kick off the event, we eased ourselves into the evening by playing some well loved first set favorites. You know, some Jimmy Buffet, Smokey Robinson and some Otis Redding.
Right from the beginning we had many people stop by and tell us how much they enjoyed our sound.
The art of performance, at work.
We mixed it up significantly during our inaugural set at the Art Fair Fundraiser; playing folk, pop, rock and country favorites.
After only a few songs we received plenty of congratulations from both vendors and patrons of the arts in attendance. For all the angst we had about “fitting in”, we seemed to have delighted everyone within earshot.
After the first set, we had only a very few moments to chat with the guests and find out if they were enamored with our music. All good there. They were delighted and offered several suggestions that might make their evening even better.
Our second set was as eclectic as the first but with music that might be danced to. It was really packed at this point, and we dare not slow things down, just yet.
Able to play several patrons’ requests, Carl and I felt even better about our invitation to entertain at the Art Centers’ fiftieth gala event.
Our third set kind of whirled past us, as the nights’ tempo and energies melded into a crescendo of musical moments.
We sang everyone’s favorites. We played all the classic music that let everyone feel special. And above and beyond it all, we not only played everyone’s special song, but performed music from nearly every genres.
Our music is our art. We never try and upstage the melodies. We don’t try and outshine the song by overshadow the words or structure to show everyone how talented we are.
To us, it’s never about that. We stay true to our music. To our art.
In that way, we know that our performances with endure. Maybe someday, we will have a 50th anniversary . . .
( . . . honestly, it will be here sooner than you think!)
Rb
