Thoughts On The 7/17 Dudley Manlove Quartet Gigs
Last Friday I performed twice with The Dudley Manlove Quartet: we did an afternoon show in Occidental Park (Seattle), and another that evening at Woodland Park Zoo. Our daytime show was part of the “Out To Lunch” concert series and was attended by a good sized crowd. Many wonderful friends from my current job and my former job were there, along with some of Seattle’s obligatory colorful characters – including “Scarf Guy” (see picture). Scarf Guy is a fixture in the local art / music scene and seems to always be full of exuberant joy. I just can’t approve of the blatant display of color (since my wardrobe is 100% black) but then again he seems pretty comfortable with it. We did a pretty good variety of material for the day show, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Definitely a great time.
On Friday night we played a wedding reception at Woodland Park Zoo. The bride and groom were both in resplendent garb, and they provided wonderful food for guests and band alike. Among our specific instructions for this gig was “don’t spook the owl”. Apparently an owl was being brought into the reception area in order for the guests to enjoy an up-close encounter with a winged predator equipped with flesh-ripping talons. Nothing says “happy wedding” quite the same. We were billed second to the owl and told to wait until it had exited the building before we began our portion of the night’s entertainment. It’s good to know where the band falls in the prioritization of things. In Spinal Tap tradition, we wondered whether the owl had a bigger dressing room than we did.
Both shows were a blast and continued to provide opportunity to polish our presentation of the music. Working with DMQ is really forcing me to learn a lot of new material and to constantly be on my toes musically. It’ a great time and I look forward to the next gigs.