VD24

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day, dirty foreheads and all, some of you. Mine was wonderful, although it didn’t start well.  Unable to tell my wife when that Kerrytown Cabaret show started, I went looking for the tickets and couldn’t find them anywhere.  I dashed off a frantic e-mail to the concert house, but it was 7:30 AM and they don’t open their office till 1:30.  With the afternoon melting away and no response, I broke down and called.  They often do their tickets will call, so maybe they were waiting for me.  Nope, no tickets for that name, but a few tickets remained, which I snatched.  As Kathy found out, nothing adds to the romance of a wife’s Valentine’s date like hearing her husband spell out his credit card number over the phone to pay for the tickets.  She’d gotten a taste of that same feeling the night before at Kroger’s as I paid for that bouquet of red roses along with the rest of the groceries.

Next would be the romantic dinner.  Kerrytown is several blocks north of Ann Arbor’s restaurant row on Main Street but has a few nice places close by.  Of course, all of those would be crowded with couples working to squeeze as much romance out of the evening as possible in spite of the mediocre food.  Fortunately, I’ve got Kathy convinced that the best kitchen in town is right here at 1611 Harbal.  So, when I quoted Dave Frishberg and said “Let’s eat home” (sung here by Rosemary Clooney (1)), she was all for it.   It’d be a simple repast: angel hair pasta with meat sauce, salad with homemade Italian dressing, and the nice Barolo on which we’d splurged.  I had a bunch of my own ragu (Italian for meat sauce) frozen away and spiked it with an Italian sausage and some mushrooms.  Kathy’s in charge of salads, and decided to try a more elaborate Italian dressing, which was very nice. 

Spotify’s “Valentine’s Day 2024©Ultimate Love Songs©Romantic Songs” provided the soundtrack and the fireplace the ambience.  Almost hated to leave the house.

Kerrytown Concert House is about 3 minutes from our house.  Right across from the Farmers’ Market, it’s an old white frame house with what used to be a big living room and dining room converted to a concert space, seating maybe 50 at most.  They feature a wonderful array of jazz, classical, and folk (2).  Last night’ s show sounded both unusual and fun when I first spotted it a couple months ago (3).  Tyler Driskill is on faculty at the UofM music school, as were 2 other performers.  The 2 ladies on strings piece together a living by giving lessons and performing with various groups.  The husband-and-wife singers – the Bogarts – are both seasoned Broadway vets.

If you weren’t in the mood already upon arrival, the (free) offerings of 3 different champagnes and many different little cakes set up in the side room en route to the coat rack sure helped things along.  Professor Driskill kicked things off, solo on the piano, with 4 fairly obscure gems from the Great American Songbook*.  After the Cole Porter we all recognized (“From this Moment On”), the ladies with violin and cello came on to kick our brows way high, Driskill accompanying.  After 3 numbers, the ladies were replaced by the Bogarts.  Just to make sure there was no doubt about the hard shift, they opened with a Queen song, before settling into more GAS* classics.  Jessica brought down the house with her rendition of “I Cain’t Say No”.  All were songs about love, for Valentine’s Day, of course.  I recognized them all but one, “How Much Love”, a moody, brooding, compelling song by Michael John LaChiusa, an NYU prof 10 years my junior known for his daring off-Broadway work (4).

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who entered the night air with a warm glow.  And it wasn’t just the champagne, which they continued to pour throughout the show.

I know Valentine’s Day 2025 is a long way off, but if you’re gonna be anywhere near Ann Arbor then, I highly recommend this show, which they do every year.  I can’t think of a better VD date.  I know Kathy and I will be there, God willing.

References

1. Rosemary Clooney – Let’s Eat Home (written by Dave Frishberg).  YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBDUV0xDtRI

2. Kerrytown Concert House. February 2024.  https://kerrytownconcerthouse.com/events/

3. Kerrytown Concert House. Kerrytown Concert House Valentine’s Day Cabaret 2024 https://kerrytownconcerthouse.com/event/valentines-day-cabaret-with-pianist-tyler-driskill-friends/

4. “How Much Love?”//REQUIEM FOR WILLIAM. Transport Group. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10vEkNLYlxs