What a fabulous week I had! It was a great week at the Opera, great week with the fella, and great week of music.
I went to Petterino’s for open mic on Monday. It is always cool to see new performers get up and give it a shot. But, better still, when someone gets up there and they are a complete pro…well, then you are truly being entertained. That was certainly the case on Saturday night, when a group of us went to the Boombala Reunion show, out in Oak Park.
Cheri Coons, Mark Hawbecker, Megan McDonough and, of course, the amazing Denise Tomasello; they are pros that everyone would be blessed to see. And if you haven’t, shame on you, get out there and catch one of their shows!
The evening was special, though, because of a woman who got up and did a mime. Ok, I know how some of you feel about mimes, but this was amazing. She did a skit called “Appendectomy of a Fat Man”. She was so committed to what she was doing. And you know mime, there was no talking. What was even cooler was that she used to do this at Boombala, which was a bar/supper club in the 80’s. Do you know how quiet the room would have to be for something like that to NOT bomb? Even if one jerk at the bar started talking to order a drink, the mood would be broken and there would be no getting the audience back. The audience on Saturday night was mesmerized. Not a word was spoken; everyone in the room was in rapt attention.
This was a great lesson for me, too often in my shows I feel like I must be making noise at all times. She reminded me that even silence can be attention getting. I need to trust that my audience can handle the quiet and in fact, might even enjoy it.
