Pink Martini at The Orpheum

On Wednesday, November 3rd, I caved in though my finances weren't in the best of places and got tickets to see Pink Martini at The Orpheum.

My golden ticket

I had written the concert into my datebook the moment I knew they were coming into Boston.  But I really held off, just feeling that I didn't really deserve to go until I found a job.  As the date neared, I could feel the anxiety creep up on me.  I needed to go, and so I went.

For some reason, some of the information was incorrect, and the band was already playing Ravel's "Bolero" when I walked in through the door.  The second they directed me to where my seats were, I bolted up the 2 flights of stairs and found my seat.

Word of advice to anyone who hasn't been to The Orpheum.  The seats are horrible.  I'm relatively short, but my knees were already knocking against the seat in front of me and I had to sit somewhat sideways and twisted to be comfortable.  My seat was also up against a wall at the end of a row of people already sitting.

But the second I sat down and got settled (though not really comfortable), I was so so happy to be in my seat.

It's interesting to me that the majority of people in the audience are much older than me, but it's nice to know that Pink Martini has such a diverse following.  Perhaps due to the diversity in their music, the crowd is usually full of different people.

Another fun thing about Pink Martini concerts is that you can really learn a lot more about their music than any website can tell you.

At one point, Thomas Lauderdale, the pianist and conductor of the band, introduced the song Ninna Nanna on their most recent album, "Splendor in the Grass."  It's a song sung in Neopolitan, and apparently, it's sung by a mermaid to a sleeping sailor!

When he said that, I basically had my mouth open in shock for a couple of seconds, shocked that I hadn't looked up the lyrics beforehand to realize that.  This website is a great resource for Pink Martini lyrics:
Alwaysontherun.net and here is the song via YouTube.

Though their concerts never seem to last for too long, it's always quite a satisfying experience.  This is my 4th time seeing them, and I really hope that there will be more opportunities to come.

Brazil for the Encore