CONCERT REVIEW:

Last night I attended the concert at the }Haller Lake Community Center", in North Seattle. It was a fine evening"

The first performer was Bob Antone with Matt Marsden backing him up on mandolin. Bob's music is an amazing blend of old, older, and new music. He introduces himself by explaining that he is the 6th generation of musicians in his family. And indeed his choice and blending of music reflects just that. He's a fine singer with a very good vocal range, as well as an excellant guitarist, and lightening fast violinist. He honered with forebearers by telling quite delightful stories of his Grandmother's and Grandfather's very early days in this region. His Grandmother was the very first trained nurse to arrive in the early logging area of the Snoqualimie Valley. Her first assignment to to assist a dying elder of the Yakima Indian Nation. While she did her necessary nursing, she was surround by members of the tribe singing chants and songs. She remembered those events, there were several, and passed them on to her Grandson. Bob incorperated these sounds in his music. In fact, I was quite amazed as he sang a verson or "Pretty Polly", and you could hear the Indian drumming on his guitar.

Matt Marsden's mandolin skills were breathtaking. Several times, he kept up, note for note, with the very fast fingers on Bob's guitar. He is a recent transplant from Phildelphia ... I expect we'll see and hear a lot more of him soon.

After the intermission, we were delighted with Mike Pryor, backed up by Jim Chekerlla on guitar. Mike writes his own material with a kind of sardonic humor, reflecting and poking a little fun at modern Seattle and life in general. I think he loves to "poke" people who take themselves too seriously. His song: "I Want To Go To Yakima" is a real winner. He has a very pleasant voice and is a solid guitar player. He was simply a delight.

Jim's guitar playing added much to the performance. He's one of those very able players, who knows the upper frets on the guitar well ... the kind of player that makes me want to cut off my own fingers and take to playing the radio!

I want to make a final comment on the performance hall and the audience. "Haller Lake Community Center" seems to be a perfect performance venue. Large enough for a sizable audience, yet remaining small enough to be warm and inviting. I enjoyed the mix of people in the audience. Everything from the oldsters, to the teenagers, and even some infants ... AKA rugrats. All in all, it was a delightful evening. Bob Nelson