The Jayhawks at the Palace Theatre, St. Paul, MN 3/11/17

It felt more like January last week as my friends and I waited outside for the newly opened Palace Theatre in St. Paul to open its doors. After what seemed like an hour, it was only about 20 minutes, we were let in to what is sure to be a popular venue and headed up to the balcony to grab some seats (the seats were not reserved for this concert and the floor area is standing). We sat as far down as we could, and I liked the open sight lines to the stage. Promptly at 8:00, local band The Cloak Ox opened; I had not heard of them before, and they didn't introduce themselves until the end of the set, and I thought it was "Cold Cocks" which seems incredibly inappropriate. I'm going to estimate that around 8:45 or so The Cactus Blossoms, another local band, featuring brothers Page Burkum and Jack Torrey, came onstage, and right away, my friend looked at me like, oh my gosh, what is this (but in that really good way, like, why haven't I heard of them before). The sound (to me) was like The Everly Brothers or if Hank Williams Sr. had a brother act, it was a 1950s/1960s retro sound, with gorgeous harmonies. Some songs were covers, others originals, but they all had the same 'flavor'. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for them to return to the Twin Cities. I am not going to lie, but I was getting tired, and I looked at my watch and it was 10:00 and The Jayhawks hadn't started yet, and that little part of me that gets irrationally irritated was starting to appear. You're only as old as you feel, and at that moment, I was about 80. BUT, once St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman came out to welcome us and introduce The Jayhawks, I was starting to perk up again (this was also Daylight Savings weekend and I was dreading losing that precious hour). The band kicked off with "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" and proceeded to deftly mix the old favorites, lesser known gems and songs from the newest release Paging Mr. Proust. The newest member of the band, Chet Lyster, was unable to make the show due to a personal/medical situation, but the band was joined by John Jackson (almost an honorary member at this point) on mandolin, fiddle and guitar. Drummer Tim O'Reagan sang lead on "Tampa to Tulsa" and "Bottomless Cup". Mayor Coleman came out on guitar for two songs "Waiting for the Sun" and "Two Hearts". The sound was so good from our seats, I felt I could hear the keyboards played by St. Paul resident, Karen Grotberg, so much clearer than in other performances. I think the keyboards tend to get overlooked in favor of the guitar parts and the harmonies, but I think they are just as important. Former Jayhawks member, Kraig Johnson joined the band for three songs, returning for the encore, and that made me so happy. I just love watching him dance around; he seems to have the best time out there (my review of Gary's solo performance from a few years go); I loved listening to "Blue", among others, and wished Johnson stayed on through "Save it for a Rainy Day", "All the Right Reasons" (two of my favorites). Similar to the show at the Minnesota Zoo this past summer, Gary came back out solo for the first part of the encore, and did "Settled Down Like Rain"; then he and John Jackson did "Angelyne" and "Broken Harpoon", perhaps one of their lesser known songs from Smile, and one of my favorites (it may be easier at this point to tell you what I don't like). The rest of the band came out for a couple more songs before Marc Perlman, who is usually on bass, switched to guitar for their cover of Grand Funk Railroad's "Bad Time", featuring some dance moves by Kraig Johnson (now on bass) and kick ass backing vocals by Karen Grotberg and Tim O'Reagan. We had passed the midnight hour about a song or two ago, but they kept going, and ended with a Golden Smog song "Until You Came Along". As tired as I was, I would have stayed for another hour. What an amazing night: a 'new' venue to hear bands, two 'new' opening bands, a stellar performance by our band, and really good sound (to my ears). The Jayhawks will be hitting the road in April, and I'm seriously considering heading to Madison to see them again. You should definitely see if they are coming to your town. You will not regret it.

An Evening with Kristin Chenoweth and the Minnesota Orchestra

After spending the previous four weeks trying to watch as many Oscar-nominated films as possible, it was time for a break So it was that I spent a delightful, Spring-like evening with a good pal and Kristin Chenoweth at Orchestra Hall. I've been to many performances at Orchestra Hall, and I prefer to sit in the rear balcony, but the only tickets available were the side balcony seats. In theory, we were there to hear her, but I like to see what's going on, and you miss any action happening closer to the edge of the stage. But that's really just a small quibble.

Kristin Chenoweth entered the stage and grabbed her large beverage cup from a nearby Super America ('SA' as it's popularly called here). It wasn't anything spectacular, but that combined with her hilarious attempt to get to Target via the skyway only to be distracted by the 60% off sale at Macy's helped to forge an immediate connection with her adoring audience (that would be us).

She opened with "Que Sera Sera" and she let her big voice do all the work, backed by members of the fabulous Minnesota Orchestra. Chenoweth introduced songs with stories of when she first heard it, or performed it, or perhaps some awkward family moment; often referring to her Oklahoma roots. She sang, she twirled, she flirted with the cellist, but most of all she sang. Classic Broadway and film tunes like "I Could Have Danced All Night" (My Fair Lady), "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (The Wizard of Oz), "Moon River" (Breakfast at Tiffany's), "The Man That Got Away" (A Star is Born), "Bring Him Home" (Les Miserables), which was very emotional. Of course, she also performed "Popular" from her role as Glenda the Good Witch from Wicked. I felt a similarity to Judy Garland in so many ways, from the petite size to the big voice and the interaction with the audience; I never saw Judy Garland live, but my father had her live album "Judy Garland: Live at Carnegie Hall" and he played it all the time (or so it seemed to my annoyed teenage self). I must admit, begrudgingly, that I miss that album, and really loved it. Chenoweth also sang songs with which I was not as familiar, including "Taylor the Latte Boy". It seemed like the second half of the show went by all too quickly, even though it was way past my bedtime. As the evening wound down, she brought out eight students from one of the University of Minnesota's singing groups to join her in two songs. As Kristin was praising them for following their dream of pursuing music, seven of the eight singers had to disappoint and shock her by revealing their majors were neuroscience, history, urban studies, among others; only one music major, getting her Master's in Opera. They hugged. I apologize for not recalling the names of the songs, but they did a great job, and everyone on stage seemed to enjoy the experience, including Chenoweth. These two songs ended the show and the singers and musicians received a standing ovation. She came back on stage and her very last song was "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin. I had been thinking during the whole evening that Kristin didn't really need a microphone, she was barely using it (or at least not smothering it like other singers), and the acoustics are so good in the hall, and for "Smile", she put the microphone to the side and sang with only piano accompaniment. It was gorgeous. I was really sad for the evening to end, but so glad I was there. Next time, though, I'll aim for better seats.