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"How about a little
Mozart sorbet? Are you up for it?" - Doug Montgomery,
pianist extraordinaire! having just ended a brilliant
medley of Beatles tunes.
Vanessie
434 W. San Francisco
Santa Fe, New Mexico
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Stepping inside Vanessie, we are
covered in notes that have spilled off the piano and float through the
air like bubbles too enchanted to burst.
Montgomery - a Patrick Swayze look
alike - glances at us, smiles and
nods without missing a beat. His fingers roll over the keys as
though they are attached, and without hesitation he shifts the tempo from
dreamy and romantic to a spirited beat. |
| Our friend, who has brought us here
asks if we have a song as it's our tenth anniversary. We say
"something in the Sleepless
in Seattle album" but at the moment we can't remember the
title. She whispers those very words in Doug's ear and tells him
"the most romantic song" and soon he's playing "When I
Fall in Love" as though he knew us because that is our
theme song! Well, actually, Dub says it is "Stand By Your
Man", but he's wrong - it's the other one. |
| The evening
continues this way with requests from the audience interspersed
with whatever inspires Doug to play.
Eventually talented locals join
him, taking turns singing show tune solos, some with rich and
trained deliveries, others with playful abandon - are we
supposed to be here? We didn't buy tickets or even pay a
cover! |
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Doug Montgomery - made me ponder "What makes people famous?" I think it should be people who touch your
heart and make you shiver or feel alive and bring up memories of things
past and present and make you fall in love. At Vanessie we
capture those feelings because there's a right-at-home comfort and an
I'm-so-proud-to-know-ya aura engulfed in outstanding talent - as though
appreciation and applause make everybody part of the act.
I think people
like Doug have chosen not to go New York or Hollywood, they have
each chosen to be big fish in small ponds, and it just may be
that they have it all in a much bigger way than those we perceive to
have it all.
Unless you have insider information -
as you do now, of course - Vanessie might remain a local secret because
it's tucked into a quiet neighborhood street, but just around the corner
from the El Dorado hotel, and for those of you who love piano, it's a
treat you shouldn't miss.
Vanessie
434 W. San
Francisco Street
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More
Santa Fe Nightlife
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