Gold 'N Joy

I made my husband accompany me to a little concert in Olympia last week.  Marvin Goldstein and Vanessa Joy.  Vanessa was an Olympia resident until moving to Arizona.  While there, she was discovered by Marvin Goldstein and he snatched her up and has taken her around the world.  How sweet that would be.

They entertained us with humor, show tunes and costume changes.  We were totally blown away with the way Marvin's fingers danced across the piano keys.  Vanessa's voice was very powerful and clear.  My favorite song that she sang that night was "Rain On My Parade."  It struck a cord with me and she delivered it with a lot of passion.

Part of the show was a group of local kids doing some songs from different musicals they had performed.  My niece, Haley was part of the group. It was fun to see her up on stage.  She couldn't stop smiling.  I think she really enjoyed herself.

After the intermission, we changed seats and got a good view of the hand work.  We could have listened to him play all night.  He did medley's of "Fiddler on the Roof,"  "Man From Snowy River," "Phantom of the Opera," and a "Star Spangled Banner" kind of medley (along with others).  His humor really made the show though.  It was subtle, not over done and just made me giggle.

We had the opportunity to meet and talk with Marvin afterwards.  Vanessa was a little bombarded with long time friends, so we didn't have the chance to meet her.  The upper picture, he is actually standing on his tip-toes.  He almost stood on the bench behind us so he wouldn't look shorter than me.

I really love being able to go to things like this.  To hear people's stories and understand a little more of who they are when I listen to their music.  It was a lovely evening that ended with eating way too much food at Applebee's.