Arts & Leisure
Seven area students perform in recent Music Hall show
YORK - Local musicians were among those performing with Dan Zanes when he returned to The Music Hall for a recent concert-turned-dance party.
"Last year when I came to The Music Hall, I did a show," said Exeter, N.H., native Dan Zanes before the May 5 performance. "This year I want to party."
Everyone - from toddlers to grandparents - took him at his word and jumped up to dance to the Grammy winner's tunes, according to the event's organizers.
However, it was eight lucky students from the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center who were invited to play wind instruments onstage with Zanes in his Cinco de Mayo fest.
Performing "Down By the Riverside" were Kyle Dunn on the trombone; Alanna Eaton on the clarinet; Matt Eaton on the trumpet; Berkeley Elias on the trombone; Sean Horigan on the alto saxophone; Shawn Nuttall on the tenor saxophone, and Tim McMahon on the trumpet.
As Sean put it after the show, "This was one of the best days of my life!"
Music Hall Executive Director Patricia Lynch described the event as a "fun family dance party" and a fitting installment in The Music Hall's KidsRULE! series.
Zanes and his band, she said, "threaded up and down the aisles mixing with the children, parents and grandparents. It was a delight for everyone in attendance!"
Dan Zanes and Friends, this year's Grammy Award winners for Best Family Album, were in Portsmouth for two KidsRULE! shows at The Music Hall on Saturday, May 5, while touring behind the new album, "Catch That Train," which includes songs with Nick Cave, Natalie Merchant and Kronos Quartet.
Event sponsors included BayRing Communications; Louis F. Clarizio, D.D.S. PA - Oral Surgery & Dental Implant Center; Dos Amigos Burritos; Northeast Credit Union; Ocean Properties; The Lollipop Tree, and WERZ 107.1.
