The Great Northwest Part VI: First Concert

We were lucky enough to be in Portland at the same time that Elizabeth Mitchell was in town for a concert. She is one of Elina's favorite children's artists. B and I have to admit that we also love her music. It's not the usual kiddie stuff. Her music is folksy and just plain great. Her husband sings backup and plays guitar and her daughter, Storey, does as well. We were also excited to take the kids to their first concert. How cool is that?

We didn't know anything about the group that was putting on the concert. We just knew that there would be some other kid-oriented events along with the concert. We had no idea what we bargained for. The group who sponsored the event is Time-Based Art (TBA). They promote and show contemporary art in the Portland area. That alone should have tipped us off. Modern art + Portland vibe = something strange.

The first thing they put on was a compilation of independent kid films, essentially short movies that kids made. It was neat, but some of it was sort of weird. The first film kinda scared Elina, so I had to stand outside with her for the duration of the films. It seriously seemed like forever. Then after the films, they had this modern dance group come out and do a performance on jealousy. Elina agreed to watch it, but it gave me somewhat of a creepy vibe, too. Then a woman named Anna Oxygen came out to sing and get the kids to move around and dance. I was actually a little excited because it sounded like fun. First of all, I don't know if I would call what she does "singing" and "dancing." Secondly, while she "sang" and "danced," there were these strange videos playing behind her in the background. Nothing sick or violent, but just strange. Like 2 people dressed in 70s workout clothes doing exercise. Huh?? And I felt like some of her songs were inappropriate. She had one where the chorus was, "I don't wanna be your rebound girl." Ummmmm, I really don't want to explain to my 3 year old daughter what a rebound girl is, ya know? Can't I have that talk later??

So when it was time for Elizabeth Mitchell to come on, we were super-excited. Finally, something normal and familiar. I was tired of feeling awkward and out of place. I mean, we were watching all of this stuff in disbelief, but all the other parents didn't seem that phased. Are we the ones who are strange? I'm all for independent films and modern art, but I think there's a time and a place. When the majority of your audience consists of toddlers and preschoolers, you might want to just cut to the folksy concert. We're lucky that Elina is well-behaved and relatively patient because if she were a typical 3 year old, she would not have made it waiting through all the films and dance.

Luckily, Elizabeth Mitchell and her family put on a wonderful show. They sang a lot of songs we knew. Elina danced, sang, and had a blast. So in the end, the long wait was totally worth it.

Here are some cute videos of Elina enjoying the concert--