Sunday Jazz

After the last couple of weeks of solid crunching away on various projects, it was nice to spend a relaxed Sunday with Gabi; generally Sunday is the one day off a week where we're both home, and it is time we jealously guard. Typically, we see if there's a movie playing at the Raymond Theater.

The Raymond Theater dates back to the 1920s, and apparently had fallen into disrepair some years ago. The town purchased the theater, and have hired a local woman and her husband to caretake the facility; the new manager's first job ever was working in the theater, and it is clear that she adores the place, and it is easy to see why.

There are elaborate wall decorations, amazing chandeliers, and these fabulous oak doors with brass fittings; the whole place is still "in progress" but is still making visible progress toward restoration.

Among the renovations are, in this tiny little 200-300 seat theater, a Dolby DTS sound system, a new screen (albeit a very small one); plans are afoot to add a digital projector.

I love this theater, I truly do.

To offset what have to be comparatively meager ticket sales, the theater also rents time out for folks to use the big screen to play -- on one occasion -- a Halo 2 tourney; there's also a bluehair program called "Sunday Afternoon Live," where music acts are brought in.

I'm a minor jazz fan, not a hugely knowledgeable one or anything, but I like a fair range of jazz material.

Imagine my surprise when I walked down Main St. in Raymond and saw on the movie theater marquee, "Pearl Django, Jan. 25."

Pearl Django, if you are not aware, is a Puget Sound-based jazz quintet--a national touring act--that performs "Hot Club"-style jazz, in the same vein as their namesake, Django Reinhardt.

Tickets were a measley ten bucks. So, Gabi and I went out on a date. For jazz. 

I was pleased to see the show more or less sold out--very few empty seats in the theater--though mostly an older crowd.

After a brief, folksy intro from a retired middle school principal, the show began, and for about two hours, the band was just astoundingly good. Perfect volume, wonderful tone, amazing guitar and violin work.

The encore was a bit hokey -- La Vie En Rose -- but the Pearl Django version is quirky, uptempo and not at all saccharine.

All in all, just a terrific afternoon. And, though it usually closed on Sunday, the Chinese restaurant next door to the theater was open to accommodate the turnout for the concert, so we got to check it out for the first time. Great food; Gabi's sweet and sour and crispy chicken combo was extremely tasty, and my szechuan beef was delicious as well.

Rounded out the evening with some badly needed couch cuddle time and bad comedy movies. It is very rare to see Gabi really relax and I tend to treasure those moments.  Hard to imagine a more perfect way to spend a Sunday.