A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of seeing GustaferYellowgold perform at Jammin Java. At almost 2 years old, this was Orion’s first
concert. I wasn't sure if he would be too young to enjoy the show but this
doubt soon turned out to be unfunded even though he did seem to be the youngest of the
mobile babies (there were one or two infants).
We paid $39 total for 3 tickets and then I spent $20 on a plush
Gustafer and a plush Slim the Eel and it was worth every penny.
When we arrived, Orion was asleep in the car so we hung out
in the parking. Doors opened at 10am
with the show starting at 10:30am. I have
been to many a show and know they never start on time. We woke him up at 10:30
and went inside. I had never been to
Jammin Java before which has a coffee shop up front with tables and benches taking up about
¼ of the space. Behind a heavy curtain
is a large room with chairs, a stage, a small merch nook, and an area with
table and chairs. Orion wanted to
explore and quickly decided that up front climbing on the benches was the place
to be.
I noticed the merch area and the plush dolls which I never
knew existed. Even though I was very
much in the not going to buy Orion anything because his birthday is coming up,
I had to buy him a Gustafer and then Slim looked so cute, so done and done. Orion was happy to hold his new friends, one
for each hand. It wasn't until the
gentleman who sold me the toys got on stage that I realized he was Gustafer, Morgan Taylor.
Orion wanted to explore and ended up climbing the stairs all
the way to the top to say hello to Jimi. The show was about to start and I did
not want to miss anything. The last two rows were empty and some tables as
well, there was also space to sit on the floor in front of the stage. Patrick took a seat in the back, I attempted
to get Orion to sit on the floor with me but he would not be contained. When the music started it seemed to startle
Orion. He sought comfort in his father’s
lap clutching his new friends until he figured out what was going on. This made quite a cute sight!
I have lost a bit of hearing during my early concert going
years and have a hard time hearing a person if they are not facing me. The volume was not too loud and the sound was
really quite good. I have to say I think
he sounded better live that day than when we listen to him on Pandora. I really like his voice and you could hear
the texture it had, good job sound guys!
The music is mellow and he asked who was “ready to soft
rock” which I thought was very cute.
One reason I thought Orion would enjoy the show aside from
his love of music and dance is that Morgan Taylor is an illustrator and all of
the songs have very cute illustrated videos.
Orion loves TV almost as much as he father does and if a TV is on he will usually watch it. We have
watched the Mellow Fever DVD a few times (checked out from our local library!)
and it has held his interest.
The music is very cute and sweet with a great sense of humor. Mr. Taylor did a great job interacting with the crowd, asking
questions, waiting for replies, telling little anecdotes, and even did a live
commercial for eel chow (so cute!). It did not take
very long for Orion to warm up and climb down from daddy’s lap. He started to walk closer to the stage and
then I was able to sit on the floor with him in my lap. Eventually he got out of my lap and stood
closer to the stage and danced a bit. He
also wanted to explore the cables on stage and the tall tripod with the
projector on top. Thankfully is was easy
to redirect him away from these things and he did not cry about it. He was the only kid who wanted to explore
these items, I was amazed by how good everyone acted!
The show was about 45 minutes (or so) which was about the
perfect length as lunch time was fast approaching. Mr. Taylor raffled off an original handmade
GY drawing which yours truly won! Which
Orion immediately creased and I still need to get framed. Orion seemed very energized after the show
and since the place was emptying out, I let him run around. I wanted to get
a picture with Mr. Taylor and wanted to wait for the line to be nonexistent. He was really nice about getting a picture
and apologized for butchering my name and Orion’s when he announced the raffle
winner.
It really was a wonderful outing which I highly recommend. Orion might be too young to remember this outing but I will and we have pictures to prove it! He is playing tomorrow in McLean but we will
not make it because we have the great Cloth Diaper Change and I do not want to
come off as a Gustafer Groupie (even though I am). I hope we get to see him again when Orion is
a bit older and might remember the experience. Now I really need to own
all 5 of their DVD/CDs which might become my standard birthday gift
for a while.