A case of mistaken identity
So, Nina and I went to see Vienna Teng at the Annapolis Ram's Head (I've raved about her music before). Great show. The Tavern is a nice little venue, set up more like a jazz club than anything. There are assigned seats, so we were no more than 8-10 feet from the performers, and they have waitresses come to serve drinks and food if you order it. Much more relaxed atmosphere than some other venues, especially given that Nina and I seemed to be the youngest people there.
Her opener was a little husband-wife team named Ellery, who were good in their own rite. They complimented Vienna well, and sounded a tad like Over the Rhine, so I grabbed their album during the intermission.
Then Vienna came out. She opened with an a cappella version of Green Island Serenade, the hidden track in Warm Strangers, then switched back to Waking Hour with Gravity. She had a nice healthy mix of music in there from both her albums, including a Damien Rice cover of Cannonball, and about 4 or so songs that are due out from her upcoming album. Which led to this little moment:
Vienna: So I sat down to write this album and I figure I have a pretty good life, so I didn't really have anything to write about. I mean, no body's broken my heart or anything, no one's died that I really cared about... *audience laughs* ... that didn't come out right at all. I mean, no one that I really care about has died... "Vienna Teng: callous bitch."
Made me laugh, anyway. So she went on to do a nice audience participation version of Soon Love Soon with Ellery, and came back for an encore. Overall, a great show. But then something funny happened.
She went over towards the outside of the venue, near the merch area, and was signing autographs. I figured this was pretty cool, and I don't own a version of Warm Strangers for myself anyway, so this was a pretty good opportunity. I went over, got Ellery to sign their CD, and then moved on down the line to Vienna. I was complimenting her show and such, and then she looked at Nina.
When she looked over at my fiancee, she said "oh, HEY!" and reached her arms out for a hug. Nina hugged back, of course, not really knowing what was spurring this on. As far as we can figure, Vienna mistook her for someone she knew and realized somewhere during or after the hug that she was hugging a complete stranger. Neither really talked about it, Nina just complimented her show and she said thank you while she was signing my CD. So now she has a little bit of awkwardness, and we have a funny story: Vienna Teng hugged my fiancee. But hey, her CD is called "Warm Strangers."
Her opener was a little husband-wife team named Ellery, who were good in their own rite. They complimented Vienna well, and sounded a tad like Over the Rhine, so I grabbed their album during the intermission.
Then Vienna came out. She opened with an a cappella version of Green Island Serenade, the hidden track in Warm Strangers, then switched back to Waking Hour with Gravity. She had a nice healthy mix of music in there from both her albums, including a Damien Rice cover of Cannonball, and about 4 or so songs that are due out from her upcoming album. Which led to this little moment:
Vienna: So I sat down to write this album and I figure I have a pretty good life, so I didn't really have anything to write about. I mean, no body's broken my heart or anything, no one's died that I really cared about... *audience laughs* ... that didn't come out right at all. I mean, no one that I really care about has died... "Vienna Teng: callous bitch."
Made me laugh, anyway. So she went on to do a nice audience participation version of Soon Love Soon with Ellery, and came back for an encore. Overall, a great show. But then something funny happened.
She went over towards the outside of the venue, near the merch area, and was signing autographs. I figured this was pretty cool, and I don't own a version of Warm Strangers for myself anyway, so this was a pretty good opportunity. I went over, got Ellery to sign their CD, and then moved on down the line to Vienna. I was complimenting her show and such, and then she looked at Nina.
When she looked over at my fiancee, she said "oh, HEY!" and reached her arms out for a hug. Nina hugged back, of course, not really knowing what was spurring this on. As far as we can figure, Vienna mistook her for someone she knew and realized somewhere during or after the hug that she was hugging a complete stranger. Neither really talked about it, Nina just complimented her show and she said thank you while she was signing my CD. So now she has a little bit of awkwardness, and we have a funny story: Vienna Teng hugged my fiancee. But hey, her CD is called "Warm Strangers."