Gigging with Michele Van Kleef

Crazy story how I met Michele... we've actually lived a 2 minute walk from each other for awhile now, but met just in this last year because our kids attend the same preschool. At one of the first parent/teacher gatherings, it was very cool to meet another performing musician in such a small group of parents.

Then, come to find out, Michele was the real deal - she was the girl lead singer in the band Calobo! When I was in college at the University of Puget Sound, I was a Calobo groupie. And Michele remembered the packed concerts at the UPS Student Union Building.....I was a little star struck for a sec there.....

So we became friends, our kids became friends (actually, her daughter has already decided that my son will be her husband someday), and we got some gigs on the calendar.

Rehearsing was a bit of an issue because of having children around all the time, but we made it work. With one child napping upstairs and 2 children dancing around us at most of the rehearsals, we got 14 songs ready! With background vocals and all. Her songs, my songs, some covers, jazz standards, it was quite the mix.

We played 2 shows: the Heathman Oct 8 and The Allison in Newberg Oct 9. Bill Athens joined us on upright bass. There was quite a crowd! It was so fun playing for such an enthusiastic and supportive audience.

Michele has an amazing voice, and harmonizing with a good vocalist is so much more fun than singing solo! She also brought her guitar and added some really nice layers to the instrumentation.

A few of my favorite moments from the gigs:

- Michele's song "Paint you red". What a beautiful song! Very cool chord changes. And the blend of piano, bass, and guitar was magical.

- My song "Love on a rainy day". Michele added a lovely low duet part to the choruses and bridge.

- During the song "Lucy in the sky with diamonds," this strange guy got up in front, sang it with me at the top of his lungs, and twirled his girlfriend around in front of the piano. The whole room was cracking up, and by the final chorus everyone was singing along.

We hope to get more duo gigs on the calendar.... stay tuned!