Monday, May 27, 2013

Paramount Theater Peekskill...

Haley had a blast yesterday afternoon performing with The John Whelan Band at the Paramount Theater in Peekskill, NY. What a beautiful theater! I love old buildings and this theater was recently renovated but they left all the beautiful details like the painted ceiling and the carvings on the end seats.

We arrived at the theater around noon for a sound check which took a long time. I am only beginning to understand all that goes into sound with a band...having the right mix of sound in the monitors for each musician then the house sound with everything controlled in different places. Ugh!

After the sound check we went up to the green room which consisted of one main room with pizza and drinks then a number of dressing rooms. Everyone fueled up then there were a few run-throughs of some songs being sung by guest performers and a quick discussion to make up a set list.



In previous performances, Haley's job was to come up at some point during the show, perform a tune with John on accordion then do a solo and stay on stage for the rest of the performance. This time, she was onstage for the entire performance. She knows most of John's tunes from his CDs and listening live. There were a couple tunes on the set list I knew she didn't know...I don't think the audience could tell she stepped back from the mic a bit and bowed smaller. She quickly learned each on the fly and by the second go round was back up close to her mic and bowing confidently.


There were a number of special guests invited onstage. An accordion player, a singer, and the special guest above, Joanie Madden, from Cherish the Ladies and Pride of New York. They did a set of reels and a lovely rendition of The Sally Garden completely unrehearsed. I will post a few videos soon.


Here is a picture that shows how much Haley enjoys performing. When we got into the car after the show she said, "I didn't ever want the show to be over." (This was after performing for nearly 3 hours!)


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