What a variety of music we had on our stage last Friday night! I heard from many people how they thought this might have been the best Open Door line-up EVER! It went like this:
First up was Virginia Rubino on the keyboard, and we were happily surprised to see Fred Sprague and his beautiful bass join her onstage. Ah, the smooth, full jazz sounds they made together!
The Hickory Horned Devils (or 3/7ths of them anyway) made their debut at The Open Door and wowed us with their traditional sounds. Brit on the fiddle, Will on mandolin and vocals, and Larry on guitar (too windy to try to manage bringing his stand-up bass!) livened up the place with their fast-paced tunes. We hope they will want to come back again!
The third act to take the stage didn't. They performed in front of it. A handbell duet (Barbara Daley and Sam Bradley) started off the set with a beautiful tune artfully played. Then they were joined by Jon & Heather Daley for a couple of elaborate and lovely handbell quartet pieces. Wonderful!!
Next was Just Desserts doing a bouquet of love songs and we were thrilled that Laura Troian agreed to join us on "The Rose" to sing the high harmony parts.
After intermission came the Feature of the evening, Myschyffe Managed. This a capella group has been with us several times now and never fails to bring great music well sung, as well as humor to our stage. They always leave us with fond memories and a warm, light feeling in our hearts. Bruce Hoskins (the only boy in the group!) suggested they close the evening with a surprise encore, which they did and I'll describe later in this post.
Laura Troian climbed the couple of stairs to the stage for a second time that evening for her own set and wowed us again with her lovely, clear voice and incredible range. We're very happy she has become part of The Open Door family!
The next set belonged to Greg Gage who brought along a couple of friends. Chris O'Connor, barely recognizable in his hat and sunglasses (not to mention his full beard!) played harmonica and lent his voice to the set. Dave Wilkinson played percussion and also sang some back-up. It's always fun to have Greg play for us and the addition of Chris and Dave only added to our enjoyment. If you want to see more of Greg Gage and Friends, he's going to be the featured act at the Round Room Coffee House in Mont Vernon on Saturday, 2/9!! Congrats, Greg!
And last, but not least, came the promised encore. Myschyffe Managed performed a lovely rendition of a song from "The Lord of the Rings" called "Into the West" and Pam Stohrer accompanied this usually a capella group on her beautiful Celtic harp. A totally magical ending to a wonderful evening!
Thank you to everyone who performed, to each person who brought something for the refreshments table, and to every person who showed their appreciation of all we do by being a valued member of our audience at The Open Door! We couldn't do this without any of you!
If you took pictures and want to post them, and/or have any comment at all to add, please click the comment link below and go for it!! We love to see your photos and hear what your experience was at The Open Door!
The next coffee house will be the second Friday in March, the 8th, same time and place. We have a fun line-up in store for you, so you won't want to miss it!!
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