Every now and then I have a day where everything just comes together and makes for a truly memorable chain of events. Saturday was one of those days. I headed downtown to Second City to watch my coworker (Barbara) on the main stage - she's been taking classes for a while now and at the end they get the chance to perform on one of the most famous comedic stages in the world. Funny thing is that she's never even seen a show there... so the first time she's even in the main room, she's actually on stage!
Then it was off to meet my friend Robin for dinner and a concert at the Park West. The show was incredible! We have been long time fans of Chris Trapper and have seen him solo and with his former band, The Push Stars, on many occasions. So to have him open for Colin Hay was an extra bonus. He played for an hour, just him and his guitars. His songwriting is fabulous and I love his voice too! He's actually got songs in several movies and TV shows - but he's so humble you'd never know. We got SO lucky to see him just hanging out in the lobby after the show and hustled over to get a photo with him. It's a terrible photo - only having the iPhone in this kind of a situation is unfortunate as it does not work well in low light (that flash is a joke) and when you hand the phone to someone else to take a pic they have no idea how to focus. Ah well, just so happy to have gotten anything with him. He was so nice and talked about how intimidating it is to play in a big room like the Park West - his usual spot is at Schubas and it's much more intimate.
Colin Hay was A M A Z I N G !! Everyone knows him from Men at Work, but he's made a solo resurgence thanks to the Garden State Soundtrack - that's where I got hooked!! (Thank you Zach Braff!) Colin is a true singer/songwriter - his voice is genuine, no need for fancy sampling machines and post production. I loved that it was just him and his guitars and the stories he shared of his glamourous life. He told us about his family, the Beetles, his old band and sang a great mix of old and new songs. It was three hours of fantastic music. I think I've even got Robin hooked on him now too!
Just found a great review of the show too! Check it out!