On Sat. Apr. 12th, 2014  I’m returning to the gorgeous Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, MA for a solo show as part of my album release series.  The Shalin Liu is about 45 minutes north of Boston, where I live, and as soon as I saw this picture of the theater, I couldn’t wait to play there:

Shalin Liu Performance Center - Interior

Shalin Liu Performance Center – Interior (Photo: RobertBensonPhoto.com/)

I’m no architecture expert, but I know that sense of place plays a huge part in how we experience music – whether we’re on the stage or in the audience.

I’m not just talking about acoustics, although I know that’s a factor. It’s also the sense of romance about where we are and what we’re doing.

For me … theaters are ROMANTIC. 

Sometimes it has to do with how they look.  And sometimes that romance has to do with their history. Two weeks after I play the Shalin Liu, on Sat. Apr. 26th, I’ll be at the newly renovated “Dreamland” theater in Nantucket, a building with so much history, I can feel the resonance from here, a 2-hour drive and a ferry ride away.

This building was actually FLOATED across the harbor twice – once in 1883 and again in 1906 – to where it now stands in Nantucket.dreamland-historical-w-600p-sepia

When I play in theaters with HISTORY I feel like I’m in two ‘eras’ at once and I can feel them.  I feel the other people who walked the stage, I hear the resonance of their voices and it adds richness to my own.

It’s like a Luscious Quantum Double-Entendre – in a literal sense – a sound with two sounds – a resonance between two things.

When I saw that first photo for the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport  I experienced a similar Luscious Quantum Double-Entendre, even though that theater is very new.

This time it was spacial: the experience of being inside-and-outside at the same time. It looked like the architects had designed it to give the audience the double-experience of what ‘s happening INSIDE on stage and where we ARE OUTSIDE right now: on the cliffs of Cape Ann, overlooking the ocean.

I love this double experience!

Think about that. How often do we get to integrate the outside of a concert hall into our inside-the-concert-hall experience in an artistic way? Sure, in a heat-wave, we’re grateful to be in an air conditioned theater but that’s an escape from the outside. What immediately struck me about the Shalin Liu is that the outside seems to be brought in to the artistic experience as an enhancement.

And that means it will enhance my experience of the show as well. And that is a recipe for heightened experience – art upon art upon art.

Join Me:

1. Rockport, MA – Sat. Apr 12 (8:00 pm)

So if you’re anywhere near Rockport, MA on Sat. April 12, 2014 (8pm) please come spend the evening inside-outside-inside with me at the Shalin Liu.  I’ll be unfolding my new album that night and, if all goes well, I’ll have the first hand-hewn copies of the “EP” (a limited edition CD with 5 tunes from the album) to sign. Buy Tix Now.

To call the Box Office (Mon-Fri 10AM – 4pm) 978.546.7391

2. Nantucket, MA – Sat. Apr. 26 (7:30 pm)

And if you’re near Nantucket on Sat. Apr. 26th, 2014 (7:30 pm) come spend a night of history in a place of history with me on the Main Stage at Dreamland.  If all goes well, I’ll have my new album in hand that night!! Buy Tix now.

To call the Box Office (Mon-Fri 9AM – 5pm) 508.332.4822

3. Livestream  Online – Sun. Apr. 6 (4:30 pm EDT)

If you live too far afield to join me in person, meet me online at my ConcertWindows show via “DHC-TV” on Sun. Apr. 6th at 4:30 pm EDT and get a FREE download of the 3-song Preview from my new album during the show!  Buy Tix Now


[This post was originally created in 2012 and has been updated for the 2014 shows – so if you have a sense of deja vu reading it THANK YOU for being a long-time reader of my blog!]

Shalin Liu - Exterior View

Shalin Liu Performance Center – Exterior (Photo: RobertBensonPhoto.com/)

 

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