Event 3/4

On Friday, November 19, 2010, I went to It’s a Grind coffee shop in Carlsbad to see MandoBasso perform. I had gone to the coffee shop on Saturday, November 13th, only to find out when I had gotten there that it had been rescheduled. On Friday, when I arrived around 8pm, Bill Bradbury and Gunnar Biggs were socializing with a lot of the people in the coffee shop, and I recognized several people from class. At around 8:30, MandoBasso began performing for the next 30 minutes. I think MandoBasso is a good twist on words of mandolin and bass. I knew what a mandolin is, which Bill was playing, but I had never heard one before, so this was an interesting experience for me. The three or four songs that they played together during these 30 minutes included an arrangement of jazz, Irish, blues, and classical music. At some points during their performance, I felt like I was in medieval times, or somewhere in the Irish countryside because of the music that was being played. I heard one of the titles of their songs, but I failed to make note of it, and I could not hear the others because, surprisingly, it was pretty noisy inside the coffee shop. The baristas were nice, and it was neat that one of them happens to be friends with my boyfriend, so we talked with him when he wasn’t busy serving all of the people coming in. This was a nice mix-up for me, compared to the past couple events I’ve gone to, because this setting was much more laid back, and it was nice lounging in comfy chairs, sipping a warm chai latte, and sitting cozy next to a fire place. It was relaxing to listen to this type of music too while I was talking to my boyfriend, his friend, and one of my classmates. Usually, I can’t stand any music that comes anywhere close to the “jazz” genre, but because MandoBasso’s music did not have the incessant saxophone, flute, or trumpet, it was nice listening to their music. I hope the next time they are playing in the area, I’ll be able to catch more of their set.