My Job is better than Ice Cream
As I turn the calendar over to August and start working on my editorial pieces for September, I got to thinking about how fun this summer has been here at TMH. As we start to wrap up our summer programming and ramp up for the fall (friendly reminder that Telluride by the Sea titles will be out in a matter of weeks!), I was amazed at the number of shows that we’ve had so far, and how great they were!
I always treat the monthly onsales as my way to increase my music education. This summer I was introduced to KING over at the Loft, an all girl R&B group that was lucky enough to be mentored by Prince; we also welcomed Mariachi Flor de Toloache, the very first all female mariachi band; and who could forget Margo Price, who according to her Instagram is spending most of her summer hanging out with Willie Nelson.
As my regular blog readers know, I view our Writers Series as my own personal book club, and this summer has been packed full of great reads and some major fan girl moments. As a lifelong reader of Judy Blume, I’m not sure it would be possible to be more excited about meeting her. Add in the fact that I got to talk to her and get what could be her last long novel personalized, I’m not sure that’s a moment that I will be able to top. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Lauren Weisberger, the author of The Devil Wears Prada, posted a picture of us on her personal Instagram, while she was here with her newest book The Singles Game.
I promise that I try to play it cool when I’m in the theater, but as our production team will tell you, there are times that doesn’t really happen, and thankfully, John Moreland seemed amused by my excitement to welcome him back to the Loft (if you have a chance to see him, take it, trust me). Also, I’m not sure how I managed to get this far into the blog without mentioning that THE Sarah McLachlan performed SOLO for the first time EVER on our stage, and she played all of her hits, including “Ice Cream.” I watched from the wings with Allison Crosscup, our Deputy Director of Programming and Elaine Manning, Artist Hospitality, two of my favorites to watch concerts with.
While I love the shows that we bring in, I also love the work we do in the community. This year we opened up the Historic Theater and asked all of you to help us once again Fill The Hall and because of you, we collected seven tons of food. This food went to provide local school aged children healthy meals during the summer while they don’t have access to school lunches as part of the Seacoast Family Food Pantry’s Summer Meals 4 Kids program. We also worked with Portsmouth Music and Arts Center to bring a group of jazz students to meet with Kamasi Washington. They talked about all things jazz, then stayed to hear his sound check, and a few even came back for the show. More personally, it has been an amazing experience to work on the #MyMusicHall Series, as I get to hear from a wide variety of people what The Music Hall means to them.
It’s been a busy, fun, crazy summer, and I know there are many things that I have forgotten to mention and some I left out as this blog as I would have to write a novel to cover all that’s happened this summer here at TMH. It’s been full of fun Music Hall shows, a few ventures out to local venues (I can’t not mention the 90s dance party and the Tallest Man On Earth), and from what I’m hearing, I might have to institute a Full of Fun Fall or maybe a Laugh too Hard Autumn.