Me & You At Red Square Saturday July 11, 2009

Words by Tim Lewis.

I went to Red Square to meet up with friends to talk work, politics and to have a couple of drinks. We were set to meet at 5 and it rained like crazy for my whole walk downtown. I arrived at the Square and within minutes so did my friends and we grabbed a table.

We chatted about work for a bit when I noticed Marie Claire setting up. Oh right, she does the Me &You show with Brett Hughes a lot. Cool, it’s a great excuse to hear her sing and play. I love her solo songs so much I am compelled to go every time she plays. Her set of classic country with Brett doesn’t do it for me, so it’s harder to get motivated, but that doesn’t mean it’s not nice to hear when I do catch it. Since I was there anyway, I thought it would be a nice soundtrack to the afternoon.

I was terrible and talked as Brett played some nice mellow tunes on guitar. I was terrible when Marie joined her voice with his and added in the keys. They sounded nice but I was in another world.

That changed when they pulled out a version of her song Poison. I’m used to it with just voice and keys. Brett’s guitar added nice flourishes to the song. They played a couple of more songs and my friends remarked about how good they were.

We had moved from work stuff to politics when they left the stage. We were getting ready to wrap up when Marie Claire took the stage alone. Could it be? Yes, it was. She began playing one of her songs, that I have not heard for a while, yet still have imprinted on my soul from hearing so many times. It filled my heart as she kept playing those glorious songs I love so much. It wasn’t a long set but each moment was magnificent. Our conversation had passed and we were all listening close. After a bit my friends had to leave. They stayed for Marie’s cover of Crazy but left before the magnificent Couch Sleeper that ended her set.

Burlington is so cool. Sometimes just going out for a drink can lead to a fantastic musical experience.

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.