A concert canceled leaves us wanting more...

Determination comes in many forms.

For example, it comes in the form of the determination to run a race in Trinidad.

For another example, it comes in the form of working ones arse off over the course of a weekend, and getting only about 2 hours of sleep before starting the weeks worth of night shifts, in order to finish the patio.

But I have gone on way too much about these two topics as of late.

So, in a final example, its comes in the form of two people working like mad, and spending ridiculous amounts of money, just to see a person in concert.

This is one heck of a long story, really, so I’ll be breaking it into three parts.

And here begins the story that spans the better part of the last year….

One night, D and I were in bed together (now before you go thinking about the appropriateness of the upcoming content, remember we have children who read all this; you dirty minded people, sheesh). We were actually watching an Indigo Girls concert on HDNet. For those of you unfamiliar with HDNet, they broadcast all sorts of concerts, all day long; and the Indigo Girls are one of our favorites.

About half way through the concert, they brought out a special guest, a singer/songwriter/guitarist named Brandi Carlile. Brandi looked unassuming, but when we heard her playing with Amy and Emily, strumming out some of our favorite tunes, we were instantly hooked.

The next day I started looking for music on iTunes, and was pleased to find a large catalog of available music. About twenty dollars later, I had all sorts of new music to add to my play lists. And the next day, I found myself checking out BrandiCarlile.com. A click o the tour link listed a whole slew of concert dates. One of these was in Petaluma, at the Mystic Theatre.

A quick lesson in geography: Petaluma is only about a three and a half hour drive from Eureka. Google maps actually clocks in at 4 hours and 17 minutes. But a little math quickly tells me that computation is based on a 55 mph traveling speed. When the speed of travel actually averages at about 70 mph, the travel time is quickly recalculated at 3.5 hours, a far more accurate estimation.

And so it was, we booked a room, and traveled to Petaluma in March. The weather was a little chilly that night, but it was clear and crisp outside. We parked in a public parking garage and walked a few blocks to get in the lengthening line of fans awaiting admittance. We went in, ordered a couple of drinks, and settled in for what promised to be an evening of excellent entertainment.

The opening act came out, playing a sort of bluesy rock, which was entertaining, but certainly not what we had come to see. And after a small intermission, Brandi and her crew hit the stage.

Together, the combination of Brandi, and her twin guitarists, Tim and Phil Hanseroth, acompanied by their drummer (who was a female of unknown name) began by together singing a song a capella. For the life of me, I can’t remember what the song was, but they sounded fantastic. Then, another song, a little more lively, and little more energetic. Again, I don’t remember what the song was. I was a rookie at this point, unfamiliar with all of Brandi’s catalog.

And then she abruptly left the stage. There was a brief respite, then the twins took the stage, by themselves. Together, to the tune of a single guitar, they sang a cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence.” It was so good. They were right on, and rocked it without ever raising their voices above the one crescendo that both Paul and Art so masterfully ascended to when it was written in 1963. Sadly, this song is not an option on the iTunes catalog, nor is it anywhere, that I can find. For reference, it was so good, I would happily donate a kidney to a person were they able provide me with a copy of said song in trade. (As of yet, no one has answered to this offer in the affirmative. I think I should consider myself lucky, though I would still love to have a copy of this cover.)

When the brothers wrapped up their performance, together they left the stage, to the sound of… not silence, but a standing ovation.

(Sadly, this was the look of the empty stage, after it was completely deserted)



It was about 10 minutes later when it was announced that Brandi was sick. She had hoped she could muscle through the performance, but in the end her illness won out and the concert was canceled.

According to the news given, this had never happened to Brandi before. She had never missed a performance (remember this fact, as it will be playing into part two of this story).

Further, we were told if we waited a few minutes, we could receive a ticket that would get us into a concert to be rescheduled. And so we waited, we got our tickets, and picked up some pizza on the way back to the hotel. The next day, we drove back to Eureka with our tales between our legs, instead of lasting impressions left by an amazing performance. But we took it in stride, and simply planned to make the rescheduled date.

Sadly, the reschedule date conflicted with D’s trip to New York City with eight, fourteen and fifteen year old girl scouts. And so we gave our tickets to a friend who, in company with her daughter, would enjoy such a show. Together they went to the Mystic Theatre, together they saw a kick-ass show, and together they drove home with nothing but lasting impressions of a very entertaining night.

In our next installment, we revisit the idea of seeing Brandi in concert, we travel to Vegas, and Sheryl lets us down.. Big time. Stay tuned.