1  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!

For my family's first encounter with live music in a proper theater, we took the girls to see Dan Zanes and Friends for a rockin' Saturday morning concert in UCLA's Royce Hall.  It was a fun show from the first moment the band entered the theater, strolling down the aisle, all singing with mandolins, to the last moment when the band left the same way.

Grammy Award-winner and former Del Fuegos frontman, Zanes is a regular interstitial feature on Playhouse Disney.  His most recent CD Catch That Train was co-released by Starbucks/Hear Music, so latte-regulars might have seen it at the register now and again.  I picked up the album one day and took it into the car with my mocha (decaf, no whip, foamy), and I'm so glad I did.

Zanes' songs have become a staple in our family, for both long car rides and dancing-in-the-living room extravaganzas.

This Los Angeles Times article does a nice job of explaining Zanes' music, and Zanes himself posts some news on his website.  Both do a nice job of conveying the homey, family spirit behind Zanes' music.  (Note that Zanes' website encourages families to enjoy music together and with other families.  He even shares lyrics and chords from his CDs so everyone can play and sing along.)

This is the same friendly and music-loving spirit that infused yesterday's performance.  More than once, Zanes, in a bright orange blazer and sporting his trademark wild hair, encouraged the audience to stand up and dance.  Just about everybody took him up on the offer at some point during the performance.  Watching some moms get their groove on in the aisles while managing large toddlers on-hip, I wondered at times who was having more fun, kids or parents.

Somehow, Dinah managed to fall asleep, so Dwayne, not really a dancer anyway, was happy to hold her, at least until his leg fell asleep.  I took Djuna down into the kiddie mosh pit for a few songs, and despite her initial protests, she ended up singing along as we got a close-up look at the action.

We played on the lawn after the show for a little while.  When we went back into the theater to pee, Zanes and his fellow band mates were still hanging out in the lobby, talking with fans.

We thanked drummer Colin Brooks, violinist Elena Moon Park (click here for the bios of Zanes' band) and Zanes for their music.  Dinah and Djuna, in their first concert T-shirts, hugged Dan Zanes around his knees.