The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC

June 6, 2006

On June 6, 2006, the Trio performed at The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in Washington, DC.  What a fantastic experience!  Anyone who has been to The Kennedy Center knows what a magnificent building it is…gorgeous and exciting and elegant.

The Trio was there to perform for the VSA’s “Start with the Arts” Festival.  The festival ran for most of the week and into the weekend, showcasing music and art and dance and all forms of “the arts” performed by talented artists who have various challenges in their lives.  The Trio had 3 performances scheduled.  They were the kickoff act for the week at the Kennedy Center, they performed at Farragut Square later in the week, and they were scheduled to perform at Union Station at the end of the week.  Matt had an additional solo appearance scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill.  

The Kennedy Center performance was terrific.  The Millennium Stage area was PACKED with what was apparently the largest audience turnout they’ve seen there in the past 7 years.  All the chairs were taken, there were people standing rows and rows deep in the back and all along the sides, and rows of teenagers sat on the floor directly in front of the stage.  Lots of school groups were there in addition to regular concert attendees.  One of the groups seated on the floor down front was a music class from a high school.  Matt couldn’t really see them, but they were right in front of me, so I enjoyed watching them.  They were your typical teenagers.  But when the Trio started to play they sat up and their mouths dropped open and they were amazed.  After a bit, Matt played a slow tune, so the kids lay back down and relaxed.  That is, until the band played “Blues in 33/8”.  Remember, this was a MUSIC class.  When they heard the NAME of the song, their ears perked up.  When the band started playing it, every kid was sitting straight up and listening intently and some of them were trying to count out the time signature, which they couldn’t, and laughed in amazement.  The Trio also played “Seven Up” later in the set (in 7/4 time), so the kids on the floor were the first to jump up for the standing ovation.

The guys in the band had a lot of fun performing at the concert.  The energy of the audience was contagious.

And here is the BEST news:

You can listen to the performance yourself on the Kennedy Center’s web site!!!  They keep videos of past performances at Millennium Stage.  All you have to do is click on this link and you can see the performance.  Unfortunately the mixing doesn’t sound great.  In the hall itself, it sounded perfect.  But the way that was achieved was to not use the drum microphone.  Otherwise the drums overpowered the other two instruments.  So the drums were not hooked into the mixing board.  The sound levels vary such that at times the bass is too quiet.  And there was no audience microphone at all, so although Matt tells a few jokes to the audience and the audience claps a LOT, you can’t hear any laughter or clapping, which is a bit strange.  You can’t even tell there is an audience, really, until the end, when they stand up for the ovation.

But these are minor issues that happen when trying to record a live concert.  It’s still a wonderful video, and for those of you who have been clamoring for in-concert video of Matt, here it is.  When you follow the link, you have to scroll WAY down to the bottom of the page.  The videos are organized by date, and the concert was on June 6th.

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/archive_month.cfm?month=6&year=2006#

The folks at The Kennedy Center and the VSA were so terrific in making the band comfortable and making everything run smoothly.  We felt so thrilled and honored to perform there and have a slew of friends there now for NEXT time we perform there.  If you haven’t been to The Kennedy Center, you really have to go.  The venue itself is amazing, and they always have fantastic performers there.

Farragut Square  6/8/06

 The band also performed two days later at Farragut Square.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, so there was a large lunchtime crowd.  The band had a lot of fun.  The crowd was dancing and grinning .  It was a great day.

The final performance was supposed to be at Union Station on that Friday, however the area was hit by severe thunderstorms and the concert had to be cancelled.

We would VERY much like to thank the folks at the VSA and at The Kennedy Center for making this wonderful week possible for us.  We were supporting a great organization, had a LOT of fun, and made many friends in the process.