Day 16: Washington DC
Welcome
Yesterday we performed a lunchtime concert in the offices of National Public Radio.
I began my day with a breakfast of Marmite on buttered toast. In Aotearoa there are wide-ranging opinions on what is the proper amount of this potent yeast-spread to apply, and how much butter should form the foundation layer. It is with much trepidation that I share this with the world. My Marmite story.
The bus was laid up outside a motel in west Arlington, across the Potomac from the Capitol Building and all the other important government bits. Rob had done a huge 9.5hr stint from Boston and was now enjoying a well-earned rest. Vocal warm-ups accompanied cups of tea in a bustling bus lounge as we tried to get our bodies ready for an earlier than usual performance.
It took two Uber XLs to get us and our equipment over to the NPR offices. On arrival we had to complete a covid test before being let into the building proper so we were ushered into a room filled with desks, exercycles, and the all important nasal swabs to get that job completed. Bob Boilen came down to meet us when we were done. Bob is a well known NPR host and creator of the Tiny Desk concert series in which musical artists perform a short acoustic set for the NPR staff. These concerts are filmed and released on Youtube and are extremely popular; they often offer a unique experience you wouldn’t find in a full production show.
We took our time getting everything set up perfectly. A fair amount of thought and research had gone into how to best execute this performance but even the best simulators aren’t the real thing. Bob had shifted to a different desk because we were set up behind his usual workstation. The remainder of the office ticked along as usual while the recording engineers shuffled microphones about. Once things were in place Bob got on the intercom and delivered an advertisement for our lunchtime concert.
At 12.30pm we did a full run-through of the set so the camera crew could see all the best bits to capture. Bob said we sounded great. People began filing into the room shortly after 1pm. Apparently these concerts used to be much better attended but now a large part of the office works from home. It still felt like a lot of people for an office concert, though. To make sure no one misses out there is a live-stream that NPR staffers can watch from home or elsewhere in the building.
This was the most nervous I have felt about a performance in years. As began to play I noticed how all the ambient office noise was gone and you could hear every texture and detail in the music. I focused on smiling, relaxing, and taking big breaths before I sang anything. Tristan played some stand-out glockenspiel in our first song. We had built a travel-sized glock for him to play which only has five notes. I played Clarinet on our second number which was scary. Somehow I made it to the end without contributing any squeaks. Jon played some gorgeous piano on two of the songs, getting to enjoy the same Yamaha upright that Randy Newman used on his famous Tiny Desk performance. Liz held us all together and delivered brilliant vocal performances.
We all relaxed into the performance I think but it was still a huge relief when it was over. It was a really fun format to play in, though. Singing acoustically is a real joy and there is so much space to play dynamically and be very expressive on your instruments.
There are many pieces of memorabilia that line the shelves behind Bob’s desk and afterwards we poked our noses around for a few minutes to find the best ones.
Randy Newman’s coke can.
Alicia Keys straw.
Taylor Swift’s water bottle.
We got back to the motel as the sun was beginning to set and Golden Sparkle Face was catching a handful of refracted rays. There was no evening show so we enjoyed going out a leisurely dinner and following it with an early night.
