Friday, May 2, 2014

Re: March 28 Tucson – Amazing ‘80s (from Andrea)



March 30, 2014

My head is still spinning after returning home from glorious Arizona, where singers Stephanie Martin, David Blamires, Gavin Hope and I performed alongside the Jeans n Classics band and the incredible Tucson Symphony Orchestra.  


The show was The Amazing 80's, and the songs were out of this world!   (U2, Tears for Fears, the Bangles, The Police, Prince, Cindy Lauper, the B52's...wow!)  The Tucson Symphony were seriously impressive under the precise and very playful baton of conductor Keitaro Harada, who embraced the theme of the night with 2 fabulous costume changes.  Keitaro, the orchestra and the TSO administration were absolutely delightful to work with.  Kudos to all of them.

Tucson is a funny gorgeous place.  The lovely hot air, the dangerous spiky plants, the sandy mountains calling out to you from all around the city...it's a place that asks you to just start walking, because around every corner there is another feast for the eyes, and another interesting character to chat with.  (I understand why people visit here and never want to leave.)  But one of my favorite aspects of Tucson...is it's darkness.  With a strict light pollution policy, the city uses light sparingly so that there's little interference with the myriad of telescopes that call the city home.  The scientists get to stay up all night hoping to understand the secrets of the universe, and the rest of us get to remember what a "star studded sky" actually looks like.  (Here's to hoping those scientists share the occasional bottle of wine in their observatories... 

All the stars were certainly aligned for our show.  It was so much fun to sing - we smiled till our faces hurt - and the audience made us feel right at home dancing, and singing along.  What a wonderful crowd!  Thank you Tucson.  We fell in love with you all...



I feel so lucky to be part of the Jeans and Classics crew.  Sharing the stage with so many gifted people, and being able to sing my heart out...is one of the finest things in life.  Looking forward to the next great adventure!

-AK


(Photos by Andrea, Gavin and Stephanie)