 |
| photo: Charles Stonewall |
It’s now two weeks after our debut at Grünaer. –Success! - everyone really stepped up and gave it their all. I was amazed at the efforts people made to help us with this project. Shay’s family and friends were unbelievable. They came into the bar like a bee swarm and transformed the venue into a very convincing casa de fado. I think there must have been over two hundred candles.
 |
| photo: Charles Stonewall |
Musically I couldn’t ask for more -highly prepared, solid performances of all sixteen songs. I personally didn’t feel the nervous jitters of a debut performance. I was more like a giddy little kid all day before the event (a rare occurrence indeed). I suspected that performing this music would be a very intimate situation but one could hear a pin drop in the room. The acoustic qualities of the room are just fantastic and the European vibe suited the music perfectly. We had around fifty people in attendance which is about all that room can handle comfortably. Apparently they drank well judging from the many empty wine glasses on the tables after the show.
 |
| photo: Charles Stonewall |
During and before the two sets we projected images of Lisbon and famous fadistas behind us on a large screen. We also projected English translations in real-time during the performance of the songs. My wife Zhanna was gracious enough to practice this aspect of the show in advance and operate the computer during the performance. All for the price of two glasses of Spanish Grenache! Many in the audience were grateful for this aspect of the show.
 |
| photo: Charles Stonewall |
We received many compliments and honest feedback from the knowledgeable patrons in the audience. My good friend Mary Posses (fantastic flutist) brought along UMKC professor of conducting, Steven Davis. He is a dedicated aficionado of fado and lived in Portugal. Steven was seemingly enamored with our presentation and very encouraging.
 |
| Honoring guitar maker, Dave Bucher, photo: Charles Stonewall |
KCUR (89.3 fm) was there to document and record the process for a future segment dedicated to our project. They sent out one of my favorite photographers Julie Denesha to photograph. Julie is a really brilliant artist and I’ve been following her work with the Roma for many years. http://www.juliedenesha.com/
 |
| photo: Charles Stonewall |
Our good friend and amazing artist Charles Stonewall was also there to photograph. Charles is known for his work in the dance community and is participating in Artist INC II with Shay (The photographs in this post are his work). http://www.charlesstonewall.com/
The following Sunday we had a private performance at The Ship. Jori Sackin shot video and Giuliano Mingucci recorded the audio. Hopefully we’ll be posting these work samples in a few days.
- Beau
