Kristen

Wanda Degen and Doug Berch, The Cappuccino Café, East Lansing, MI: June 7th, 2008

The Cappuccino Cafe in East Lansing is one of my favorite little places for listening to live music.  Yes, the musicians have to compete with the sounds coming from the service counter at times, but the counter is clear on the other end of the Cafe from where musicians set up and is partially blocked by a wall, so the sounds aren't particularly intrusive.  Plus, the majority of the Cafe patrons on a live music night are there to listen, so talking is generally kept respectively low and to a minimum, making the listening experience more pleasurable than some might expect in a busy coffee house near a college campus.  I find it ironic that I enjoy the Café so much when I'm not a coffee drinker, but they also have water, soda, soup and sandwiches, and plenty of sweet treats to tempt, so I never sit with an empty table in front of me.  The atmosphere is very warm and inviting as well, so I always look forward to the times I can attend a concert.

This past Saturday, The Cappuccino Café played host to musicians Wanda Degen and Doug Berch.  Both call the greater Lansing area home.  I’d seen both of them play on separate occasions in the past, but this was my first time seeing them perform together as a duo.  It was a great time!  Wanda alternated between playing autoharp, hammered dulcimer, and mountain dulcimer, while Doug also moved between the hammered and mountain dulcimer in addition to playing one memorable song on the accordion.  Both also sang.  Highlights for me were an instrumental called Simple Gifts, an instrumental version of Waltzing Matilda, and a gorgeous piece where both Wanda and Doug played mountain dulcimer.  I think someone said the latter was an old English tune, but I don’t remember any more details than that, just that it was beautiful and a very unique sound to hear two mountain dulcimers being played at the same time.  I wasn't familiar with dulcimers at all, mountain
 or hammered, until the first time I saw Wanda play one a little over three years ago, and now I really enjoy listening to their sound.  In addition to playing dulcimer, I learned Doug also builds them, and that he was playing a mountain dulcimer he had previously built that very evening. 

Both Doug and Wanda also talked about new CDs they have been creating.  Doug is working on both a hammered dulcimer CD and a mountain dulcimer CD.  Wanda's project, called At Home, is nearly complete.  I've heard a couple of tracks live already, and I look forward to hearing the rest.  I've read the CD contains four vocal songs and five instrumental pieces, and that it features autoharp, dulcimers, flute, guitar, harmonica, saxophone, and vocals – definitely an intriguing combination!  The CD release concert is currently set for mid-July in Okemos.  Barring the unforeseen, I plan to be there, so be on the lookout for a report!

The evening was highly enjoyable, but wound up with a twist I hadn’t been fully expecting when leaving home at the start of it – the weather.  Very bright, frequent lightening began to flash outside the windows behind Wanda and Doug performing during their second of three sets, and during the break between sets two and three, I noticed it was raining hard and the wind was picking up.  At the precise moment I went to leave the Café once the music had ended, the power in The Cappuccino Café went completely out.  The storm continued to rage outside, and I took the lack of electricity as a sign it would not be a safe idea to try and drive home at that moment, and decided to wait out the worst of the storm with those still left in the Café, including the employees, the musicians, and a handful of patrons.  The employees produced candles for the still-occupied tables and flashlights to aid the musicians in packing up their gear, and everyone pitched in
 to do what they could to help everyone else.  The feeling was a little eerie, and yet somehow cozy all at the same time.  After about 30 minutes of waiting, the storm died down enough that people began leaving, and I headed for home, where I was very grateful to discover my electricity was still fully functioning.  Many in the surrounding area have not been so lucky, with damage suffered from downed trees and power lines, etc.  Here’s hoping everyone reading this has power, either because it never went out or because it’s back on in the wake of a weekend of very strong storms.  On the bright side (or on the not so bright side, literally), and least the power didn’t go out during the actual performance!

Thanks for reading!  Until next time…