Opening Notes
Posted at 6:00 AM on December 31, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(20 Comments)
It's New Year's Eve. Start 2010 off right!
Radio Heartland has tickets to hear Beausoleil at the Cedar Cultural Center on Saturday night, January 2nd.
Enter the drawing!
Obey the rules.
Good Luck.
If you can't get out to a concert this weekend, we're going to bring one to you!
Sunday evening, Radio Heartland offers the first installment of a monthly series of live performances from the Americana Showcase held at the Civic Theater in Rochester, Minnesota.
Organized by Brandon Sampson and the band Six Mile Grove, these shows bring together musicians from southeastern Minnesota, the Twin Cities, Nashville and beyond. The January installment features Brandon along with Dezi Wallace, The Flatwheelers (Martin Devaney and Jake Hyer), and Chris Knight. The Americana Showcase is on Radio Heartland Sunday, January 3rd at 6pm, and it will be repeated Wednesday afternoon, January 6, at 1 pm.
Toast to the Posts
Thinking about concert-going reminded me of this post from elinor the morning after Leonard Cohen played in Minneapolis last spring. She was responding to a previous comment by Dawn, who also had lovely things to say about the show. Dawn mentioned that Cohen had skipped off the stage at the end:
The Leonard Cohen concert was everything I had hoped it would be. It must be a really odd experience for a person to be that loved everywhere he goes (he received his first standing ovation when he arrived on stage). All the musicians in the ensemble were artists, and Cohen demonstrated humility and appreciation for their talents. His abilities as a writer and poet were really demonstrated in his appreciations of them as well as in hit songs. He was funny and charming, and, of course, his music was lovely and amazing. He certainly did skip onto and off of the stage! I don't think I've attended a better concert in my life, but, of course, I haven't seen Tom Waits (yet).Posted by elinor | May 4, 2009 6:35 AM
Such polite insty-reviews are always welcome on Trial Balloon.
If you knew you would be setting the tone for 2010 with a night out tonight, what would you do, see, hear?
Comments (20)
we're cheap and boring, i guess; this will be the 37th quiet NY Eve at home for us.
hoping that all you bloggers have a happy, healhty and safe 2010. thanks to Dale and Mike for keeping things going.
I suppose if you are up and active at 6 a.m. you have dull evenings. Same here, Barb. I think we last went out on NYE about 35 years ago.
I guess the "what" wouldn't matter as much as the "who" - an evening with friends and family. Perhaps an evening of dancing with abandon - eyes closed, sweat down your back, grinning ear-to-ear, laughing loudly abandon. The sort of dancing that you know at the end of the evening you may regret the next day (save for the invention of Tylenol or Advil and a good ice pack), but wouldn't have missed for the world.
Wishing everyone a swell end to 2009 and a grand 2010.
I'm lurker but I wanted to wish all Heartlanders a wonderful 2010. I look forward to reading the blog every day but don't get to it until late afternoon, usually. I, too, am waiting for HD radios to fall from the sky. Thanks Dale, Mike, Jasper and all the bloggers for the great entertainment and for being here for us to enjoy.
Anna - such a great description of how i imagined past NY parties to be and how they didn't turn out :-)
i really enjoy your imagery
i was sweating down my back yesterday while trying to trim Marjority's weird horn that is threatening to grow into his brain. uffda. needed a little Advil after that too!
welcome and thanks, Barb in Starbuck!
Good Morning,
I will be at home, but if I had my wish I would go out to a live performance. My greatest wish would be to hear the Jazz great, Ornette Coleman, but I would be happy to hear one of the excellent twin cities bands.
It would be very nice to hear Dean McGraw. I hope he is recovering from his medical problems. I would be particularly nice to hear Dean sitting in again with the Orange Mighty Trio.
I just remember that I should wish everyone a happy new year.
its amateurs night out as far as the party hardying. but anna i like the attitude. i ma stting the tone by being home where my focus is and where my heart is and i will make my resoloutions for the year and hang with those who matter for a night of contemplation.
thats the thought, we will see about the reality. sometimes it works out differently. its nice to be back in minnesota where the seasons are correct and the years and people are as they should be.
happy new year to you all. best of 2010.
where the heck was i when leonard cohen was here. i mised it completely. i hope not to miss too many more like that in 2010.
Barb in Blackhoof - The description of the dancing is much like a group of my women friends dance when we dance together - with abandon and laughter (and here in MN). A good group of ladies - and lucky me, we have an excuse to go dancing in a couple of weeks. It sounds like Majority's horn is perhaps a "fei da" or even an "ish da", to borrow my grandfather's progression of things, not just an "uff da." Advil all around I guess!
And welcome to our other Barbs posting today.
Answering the question as it was asked:
I would go to Dean McGraw with Jim.
My choices would be concerts by, in order of preference, to set the tone for 2010:
Annonymous Four
Greg Brown
Chieftains
New Gospel Quartet
Mostly I would wish my wife and I could attend concerts.
Related topic: I got an MP3 player for my birhtday. I have been putting some of my albums on it, to use bike riding for one thing. I have put all the RH sort of music on it that I have. I still have room left. So, what CD's should I pay to put on it?
Good morning gang,
I also love Anna's comments - to dance unabashedly would be a fresh welcome to the new year. I know economists all over are saying the recession is, in a way, a good thing because Americans all over America are finally, for once in their lives, living frugally, but for me it's just more of the same old same old. I've lived within my means for a long time now and frankly there's really nothing very special about it. So this NYE I would like to shake things up - do something garish and provocative, but what, WHAT? I need Dr. Heartlander! Maybe there's a mechanical bull in this town somewhere...
Clyde - So many to choose from. I'd get Emmylou Harris, Wilco, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong for starters.
Clyde -
My favorite bike riding music includes the Quebec band La Bottine Souriante (particularly if you can find their "Dances with LBS" album)and lots of New Orleans jazz--pretty much anything by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band or the Rebirth Brass Band will do the trick. Caveat: This is for stationary bike riding, where I want a pretty consistent dose of high energy that's also interesting enough to distract me from a pretty boring activity. I've never seen the appeal of being plugged into something while I'm riding outdoors, not to mention the safety issues.
If I could pick a night out, I can't imagine anything better than the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's concert in Vienna's "Golden Hall."
"To a Child dancing in the Wind"
W. B. Yeats
DANCE there upon the shore;
What need have you to care
For wind or water’s roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
Being young you have not known
The fool’s triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
Nor the best labourer dead
And all the sheaves to bind.
What need have you to dread
The monstrous crying of wind?
Thanks Don and donna.
Any more out there?
Don--stationary riding--dull, dull, dull!! I listen to books indoors. Hobbit anf LoftR evey winter.
Outdoors, I have the advantage on you. I ride mostly on trails and very quiet streets and sidewalks. The little bit on busy streets, I turn it off.
Greetings! I'm not sure I ever went out NYE -- but I did work in a disco and a 24-hr restaurant on NYE when I was young. Totally weird. I really dislike seeing people drunk -- you're really not as charming and funny as you might think.
I've always wanted to go to a grand ball, elegant dancing, tasteful drinking/partying and stay in the gorgeous hotel for the night and wake up to bagels, cream cheese, lox, fruit, eggs, etc. On the other hand, I would also enjoy a meaningful, contemplative ritual to close out the year and begin fresh.
Anyway, I'm really hoping for the free tix to see BeauSoleil at The Cedar. That would definitely start my year out right! Happy New Year to all wonderful RH listeners and TB bloggers!
Clyde, I think you could find plenty of music to add to your player from among the large number of good MN musicans. There are many good gitarists, lead by Dean McGraw, who Dale plays from time to time. Tim Sparks is outstanding and, of course, Pat Donahue. Then how about all the singers, Connie Evenson, the Steels, Ann Reed, etc., etc..
Dale really does a good job of playing various MN musicans and then you could hear many good musicans from other places that I like on American Routes on Saturday night on MPR news stations
It goes without saying that I would recommend the Orange Mighty Trio. .
Clyde - I'd be sure to have some Marcia Ball, Betty Lavette, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Dave Brubeck, maybe a little Johnnie Cash, KT Tunstall or Neko Case (discoveries from the 89.3 playlist), Three Mo' Tenors (a mix of opera and gospel), maybe some Mavis Staples...
Both Anna's "evening of dancing with abandon" and Joanne's "grand ball, elegant dancing, tasteful drinking/partying" sound absolutely perfect for a New Year's Eve. I stay in, but eat dinner in the dining room and use the good china.
Clyde,
Until getting some regular exposure to Frank Sinatra's classics on RH, I'd never added any of his music to my collection. I now have three excellent compilations, including Classic Sinatra and Classic Sinatra II from his Capitol years, and Nothing But the Best from his Reprise years.
- Become a Member
- Member Connect Accounts
- Leadership Circle
- Sustaining Members
- Member Discounts
- Become a Sponsor
- Tax Information
- Planned Giving
- Vehicle Donation
- Donate Stock