Frederick D.
Yelp
This is the first time I visited The Studios of Key West. I came here to celebrate Nicole's birthday ending in a zero so it was a special night. Having arrived from Miami via jet, and spending the night across the street in the Artist House, we knew the icing on the cake was going to be tonight's performance.
The studio itself has a new feeling and has different exhibit halls but tonights main attraction was set up for a musical performance with American singer, song writer Todd Snider---one of Nicole's favorite musicians today. If you aren't familiar with Todd Snider, he plays solo a few times year but also plays on a band called Hard Working Americans. American folks singers such as John Prine and Jimmy Buffet took him under their wings, advancing his careeer and today Todd has a strong following. In turn, Todd also has taken to grooming his own protege: touring with him is, Rorey Carroll who started for Todd, and who similar to Todd, plays decent guitar and adds her own witticisms in between to some well written and melodic songs. Rorey also has a beautiful voice.
The venue at the Studio of Key West was very intimate for no more than 150 guests, who hollered whistled and honored the two artists in a very welcoming way on their first of two performances in Key West. Right outside was a table selling merchandise from both Artists, and we posed with Rorey during intermission after she penned her name to a CD we purchased from her. There was also wine and beer for sale. Nicole and I had a couple of glasses of wine during each segment.
Todd played several of his original songs and also played a few covers which were great. Also when you come to Todd's solo performances you typically want to hear his stories of his journeys through his American experience. Personally, I think one of the best things I like about Todd is that he is self deprecating in some of the most hilarious ways, for example, when he explained that he lost all of his friends in a single sitting during a presidential debate because he blurted out "I love both of those guys". He keeps the comedy alive but also had satirical messages that make you question life and the ways of our dysfunctional society.
When the show was over, Todd was thankful we treated him well. And we were glad to have spent the evening with him too. When I come back to the Studios, I will come to visit the art exhibitions.
