June is coming to an end

To finish our weekend my wife and I went to the Camera Obscura concert at the Wexner Center last night.

Last month we found out from her friend Lisa that their mutual acquaintance Francois would be playing with the band. Emma sent him an email, which he did not receive.

After dinner at Bento we headed to Bernie's for a beer before the show and looking into the window at Jimmy John's was a slight figure.

"That's Francois!"

She calls out to him and he blinks and does a great double take on High Street. Introductions are made, he's looking for a salad, we give him recommendations and make a vague plan to meet by the tour bus after the show.

Turns out he moved from percussion to bass after the group's bassist had a death in the family and had to head home in the middle of the tour.



He switched to guitar for one song.



The show itself exceeded expectations. They're all very good musicians and their performance had some unexpected energy. Plus, they did Razzle Dazzle Rose, which made me happy. I'd never seen a show at Mershon when it's standing on the stage. The sound was good even if our backs are getting too old to stand for a couple hours straight. The opener was a singer named Anni Rossi, who did some interesting things with a viola, including a cover of In Between Days.



When I get my mediocre camera into a show I do not like using a flash because it draws attention and because security took my batteries at a Springsteen show years ago.

Afterwards we looked over by the bus and a couple of band members, including Francois were headed back into the Wex. One member was graciously talking to some fans and being very cool. The fanboy in me took over.



We talked a bit, told her she knew Francois and when she was done talking, signing and posing for pictures with the dozen or so fans gathered around she went in and got him. We talked a bit more, told him Pittsburgh was a cool city. The group liked the venue, said it had cool lighting and good sound and that's how the night ended.