Mackinac Island Performance

Today we woke up at 7:00am after a short night of sleep and drove to catch the 10:00am boat to Mackinac Island. After a getting our luggage and music equipment we took a nice mosey on the horse drawn taxi up to Sue and Bruce Miller's cottage (parent' s of our musician friends Tess Miller and Scott Harding). We had just enough time to get ready and practice a bit before the concert at 2:00pm at St. Anne's Church, the oldest and most visible church on the island.

It was a break through performance for our group, probably because it was our first time really playing in a concert setting. We usually play for dancers where a lot of other things are going on, and where the main goal is to keep bodies moving on the floor. It was so nice to have an attentive audience, there were about 50 people, and the acoustics in St. Anne's were great! We could really play with the dynamics of our pieces, especially with Desde el alma and Andrew's arrangement of Buenos Aires Hora Cero.

Milonga in Traverse City

Carmen:

Today we woke up in the rain. We hung out until we could make a fire and then made breakfast. Homemade tortillas on the fire and curried pinto beans. After that we drove to a picnic shelter to practice for the gig at Gallerie Medici, a beautiful art gallery and tango studio owned by painter and tango dancer Cindy Carlton.

It was great to have lots of friends and family from out of town for the gig that night and Avik from Ann Arbor joined us on bandoneon! As a quintet it was lout and biting. Check us out below!

Tango, Wine, and Music

Carmen:
Friday the 13th! Second day of the band retreat. Today we woke up to a sunny day, ate oatmeal and drank perfectly brewed loose leaf oolong made by Andy. We spent the good part of the morning playing: a new version of Felicia, Nueve de julio, Francia, Silueta portena, Andy's arrangement of Buenos Aires Hora Cero, and Oblivion, all pieces for our Mackinac Island Concert the following Sunday.

We went to Larry Mawby's for a sparkling wine tasting and ate a delicious goat cheese, avocado, arugula, tomato, red onion sandwich on the way. We ended up getting a flight at Mawby's with the best three of his sparklers: Cremant, Talismon, and Blanc de blanc.

After that we went to John and Jo Crampton's, friends of ours who own Willow Vineyards in Sutton's Bay. We ended up giving an impromptu concert in the tasting room for John and Jo and all the visitors that day. Everyone thought it was a real treat and we got some really good practice for our upcoming concert.

After we left Willow, we ate doughnut peaches that I had left sitting on the dash. There were hot from the sun. They tasted like warm peach pie! Then, we drove the back roads to get to Sleeping Bear Dunes and took a secret entrance to get up to the good views. As usual it was a strenuous hike up and a quick run down. We stopped for coffee in Glen Arbor and then listened to some awesome music in the car on the way back to camp. I was the DJ-- Assad Brothers with Najda Solerno-Sonnenberg, Dave Douglas, Andrew York, Radiohead, Stefon Harris, and Mike Stern.

A kitchen sink pasta dinner--tomato, shiitake, rainbow chard, arugula, onion, garlic sauce over rigatoni.

Beginning of the Retreat

Carmen:


Today our Tango Folias band drove up to Traverse City for a 5 day band retreat. Dean, Debbie, me, and Andy packed more stuff that we did for a month long tango tour. We drove the short two hours to Interlochen State Park, our home for the next few days, and then went to the Traverse City Co-op to buy some serious goods for our camp meals. On the way home we stopped by Left Foot Charley's, a new winery in the Traverse area that is housed in a building on the old State Asylum! A lot of the old buildings are still there, white and abandoned. Kind of a spooky place for a tasting. Good thing the wine was so good!

When we got back to our campsite (#332, a very lucky number for tango musicians) it was about to rain. We quickly gathered our instruments and slid them into the tent along with ourselves. Within a few seconds it was absolutely pouring rain. We each found a sleeping bag to prop ourselves up on and then we practiced: Derecho viejo, Felicia, La cumparsita, Nueve de julio, Silueta portena, Desde el alma, Francia, Corazon de oro, and Oblivion. All from memory! Or course since we could barely even sit with our instruments, let alone find room for the music.

About halfway through Nueve de julio Debbie and I looked at each other at the same time and burst out laughing. A simultaneous recognition of how ridiculous the scene was. Debbie was all crunched up on her rolled up sleeping bag, he head titled almost 45 degrees so that when she moved her bow it wouldn't poke through the top of the tent. Accordingly her glasses where edging closer and closer to the end of her nose. I on the other hand played piccolo because my flute wouldn't fit in the space. Kind of a funny scene playing, especially the Piazzolla tunes on piccolo with thunder crashing down every minute.

Luckily it stopped raining and we were able to get out and make a delicious dinner:

Coconut Milk Stir Fry with Vegetables and Golden Tofu











16 oz locally made tofu (from Traverse Co-op), drained and cubed
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and diced
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp crushed coriander
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 package thick rice noodles

1. saute the cubes of tofu in olive oil, lightly salt to taste
2. Saute spices, garlic and ginger 30 seconds over high heat
3. Add pepper, stir fry 1 minute
4. Add coconut milk and heat
5. Meanwhile pour boiling water over rice noodles and let stand for 5 minutes
6. Before coconut milk mixture heats add rice noodles, then serve