Relative Something

Last night was a festive dinner and a [somewhat] holiday-ish concert at the Dakota in Minneapolis with our friends, the Wilkuses. Singer/songwriters Karla Bonoff and Livingston Taylor performed a mix of their solo pieces with duets and a handful of Christmas songs.

It is such a treat to hop in the car and find ourselves transported from the rural countryside to the downtown streets of the big city within an hour.

Tall buildings!

Highlights include the delicious deviled egg bite followed by a chicken sandwich and fries. Food and flavors that matched my desires perfectly on this occasion.

I was greatly entertained by one of Livingston’s songs where his lyrics sort of break a fourth wall if that can be applied here. I’d never before heard his song, “Railroad Bill” in which the main character, Bill, gets into an argument with the songwriter, Livingston.

Karla performed each of the songs that I wanted to hear in addition to her renditions of the holiday tunes and duets with Livingston, frequently backed by the very effective guitar artistry of Sean McCue.

The one thing missing that I truly enjoy in live concert performances is a blending of voices and spot-on harmonies, to put it in as gentle a way as I can think to say.

Despite that minor gripe, the show and audience contributed to a pleasant dose of holiday cheer. Getting in and out of downtown was a breeze, for which I, as the driver, was very pleased. It didn’t hurt that the weather was unseasonably gorgeous with temperatures well above average.

It felt more like October than December, which made it only a little bit weird to be reveling in the season of having ourselves a merry little Christmas now.

.

.