Blackout

Yup, it's been the trip of drama. We were eating dinner in our dressing room about an hour before our concert at the beautiful Mitchell Museum at the Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mt. Vernon, IL when the lights and air conditioning suddenly clicked off. Because the weather earlier had been totally dry, we were a bit surprised when we peeked outside and saw a huge storm raging.

The torrential rain and violent wind lasted less than 10 minutes, but as we got closer to the scheduled concert time, the lights stayed off. As optimistic audience members began to gather in the lobby with flashlights, we discussed our options with the presenters. When the news trickled in that a transformer was down and the entire grid would be out for a while, we decided to relocate to a nearby church where they reportedly still had power. The piano wouldn't be as good, and nobody was completely sure there wasn't another event going on there that night, but we and our most persistent audience members drove over anyway.

Upon arrival we spent a few frantic minutes dragging the piano, chairs, and music stands into position, convincing a band rehearsal to finish early, jumping into our dresses, and trying to calm down and refocus. When we finally sat down to play, it was a great relief to concentrate only on music.