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Quadruple Show Week

This past week was a great one, and I had a lot of fun playing for so many shows!

The week started with the Trio playing a wonderful private event. With pans, vibes, cajon, accordion, and flute loaded up – Matt, Christina and I headed out to Elmwood Park. Here, we set up inside the living room of Alice, our 52 year old guest of honor. Alice has been battling breast cancer for 6 years, and the chemotherapy has stopped working. Her family has been hugely supportive, and her sister Mary contacted us. Alice had mentioned that she would love to see a steelband performance, so in came Potts & Pans. Alice got a private performance for her and a dozen of her family members. We played calypso, jazz, and some German polkas! Mary had brought apple cider and cookies (further instilling my love of this season). The room was filled with smiles and cheer. It was so beautiful to see how loving this family is, and I was left with some truly remarkable memories of the joy and laughter our performance was able to bring into this home.

Our week didn’t stop there, next the trio was out in at the Park Ridge Public Library for an educational performance. We love doing these as we not only get to share our art, but we get to talk to people who are interested in learning more about its rich history. The library hosts a huge amount of events each month, and we were thrilled to be a part of their schedule. Best of all, if you want a better idea of what an educational concert looks and sounds like, you can watch the show on the P&P Ustream Channel or catch it on YouTube 😀

My week ended with the Betty Bash! I’ve been able to play for many fundraisers and they are always super fun. In true fall fashion, the temperature dropped 16 degrees as I turned off the highway and headed toward the lake. I did not mind one bit, as I was too busy taking in my surroundings. I soon reached Lake Forest College and was stunned by it’s beauty. If they buildings aren’t extremely old, they had wonderful architects who made it seem like they were. The campus was small, but after my time at THE University of Dayton, that appeals to me. Inside, they had left a large area for me to perform in the middle of the wonderful green, red, and yellow decorations. I was prepared for this with my green shirt and red pocket square! All the guests of the Mothers Trust Foundation were very fun and appreciative of the music. As the night went on, I was surrounded by more and more women who wanted to be closer to the music (that can’t be a bad thing!) Then, once the silent auction ended and my time to perform came to a close, I was further thrilled with the huge tables filled with donated food for the event. Since I was invited to partake, I did, and it was delicious.

Matt did a solo wedding for show four – stay tuned to hear some more about it.

All in all it was a great week. Remember to keep up with all my activities over at AJHvibes.com and keep checking back here for more P&P news.

–AJH

Oktoberfest in Lake Geneva

It is a surprisingly short trip up to Lake Geneva from our shop in Woodstock, and this past Sunday Matt and I made the trek though beautiful fall weather. Everything about Oktoberfest is right up my alley; the cooling temperatures, the abundance of cider and spices, and a plethora of sausage and pretzels! The festivals around this time, in my humble opinion, are only made better when I can provide some live music. Matt and I performed on the main stage for the Lake Geneva Oktoberfest last year, and our return this year was another success. We brought our pan & vibes duo, but ever the outward thinkers, we couldn’t stop there. Matt provided some accordion, and I got to spend time teaching some of the audience children about African drumming. We played pan/vibes, accordion/vibes, pan/drums, all drums, and every piece was as received with joy and applause.

As we were getting set up, we struggled to fit our umbrella in a way to appropriately protect the pans, but we finally were able to get the pans shaded. The vibes were less of an issue getting set up, and their sound rang through the performance area beautifully. I was trilled to share the stage with our good friends Felix and Fingers who took the stage a few acts after us. Once our performance was done, we were able to stroll the main street which was filled with hot apple cider, apple cider donuts, and black bean soup (all of which I eagerly partook). There was also an array of potato pancakes, bratwursts, turkey legs, bacon treats, and more than I can remember. The street also sported inflatable slides and a small pony ring for the kids.

All in all, it was a wonderful Sunday. Any day with a performance is a great one, but a repeat performance at such a nice outdoor venue is especially pleasant. Stay tuned for more show recaps!

–AJH

Blog, Wedding Matt Potts, Wedding

Wedding at Gamba Ristorante in Merrillville, IN

Recently, I had the privilege of performing at a wedding “pre-ception” in Merrillville, Indiana. The event was for a couple that was going to get married in Punta Cana but wanted to have a reception for friends and family before they went down. It was a great event and was held at a great location. The Gamba Ristorante in Merrillville, IN was a great setting for an event like this.

Not only was the inside well decorated and sophisticated, but there was a beautiful enclosed courtyard in between the event hall and the restaurant. The day I was there, it was a little chili so people did not spend much time out in the courtyard, but I can see this being an excellent option for anybody thinking about planning an event where they would like to have two distinct areas that are connected yet still allow for separation.

This courtyard also played into how loud the music could be played during the reception. Even though there was a restaurant on the other side of the building, with the amount of space in between, I was quite impressed at the minimal sound leakage. I think DJ K Ceaser could attest to this too. Although he was not able to max out his system, he was still able to pump out a lot of sound without disturbing the restaurant side. I have not had the opportunity to work side by side with many DJs (usually we are in separate areas) but DJ K Ceaser did a great job with handling introductions and was great to work with. The two of us worked together to make sure there was always music going and that we fit in special tunes and announcements. He was great to work with and I wouldn’t mind doing more work along side him in the future. Along with having a DJ and steelpan there, the happy couple also had some a couple samba dancers from Planeta Azul. The two dancers were great and even taught the guests how to samba! You can check out their Facebook page here.

Another great person involved in this wedding was Chantal from Chantal’s Wedding Planners. Starting a few days before the event, Chantal contacted me about the details of the day. Upon arrival everything went quite smoothly and her personality made it seem like we had worked together for years.

To summarize:

Gamba Ristorante was beautiful and very friendly

DJ K Ceaser was killer and great to work with

Planeta Azul was super entertaining and even taught guests how to samba

Chantal was very personable and a joy to work with

Blog CAM, community group, residency, toys for tots

Residency with Culture, Arts, and Music

Culture, Arts, and Music is a 501(c)3 organization based in Woodstock, IL that specializes in educating people about world cultures through music. Potts & Pans is very proud to say that we have accepted a residency with this new organization to help teach steelpan and Trinidadian culture. If you are interested in contributing to this organization please feel free to contact us. In the mean time, watch for announcements on classes being offered such as our community steelband program that starts up on September 4th!

The course is open to everybody (no experience required) and meets on Mondays and Thursdays. Students are only required to attend one rehearsal a week, but they are certainly welcome to attend both sessions. This semester will be building towards the annual Toys for Tots benefit concert. Come learn how to play steelpan and help support Toys for Tots.

Blog

New Website!

The title pretty much sums this post up, we have a new website! Also, we now have pottsandpans.com in addition to pottsandpans.org. We are having the .com site be for the professional group and .org site for the community group.

We feel that this will help separate the community group from the professional group and make it more clear for potential clients to check out what the professional group does without being confused by the community group. This will also allow us to focus some energy on the community page and start really developing that into the informative and educational hub that it is meant to be.

Continue to check back often as things will be changing a lot around here in the near future.