House Blend Band concert exciting in more ways than one

This month's House Blend Band concert on Saturday July 20 started out pleasantly warm at 6 p.m. with a few wispy clouds overhead, but ended in a sudden rainstorm.

Shortly before the concert, the House Blend Band's saxophone player, Greg Worthington, was diagnosed with COVID so Paris Tomich, who is usually the band's lead singer, filled in on the horn parts during the performance.

The band's set list included covers of "The Girl from Ipanema" by Antônio Carlos Jobim, "I'm So Happy" by Chicago, "Burning Down the House" by The Talking Heads, "Philadelphia Freedom" by Elton John, "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin, "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John, and "Hotel California" by the Eagles.

As usual, The Old Oak Coffeehouse's legendary spaghetti and paninis were available, as well as produce from Kilt Farm, topped with chipotle honey dressing from Raza Fresa.

Ninety minutes into the three-hour concert, a four-minute long flash rainstorm caused roughly half of the crowd to rush for the cover of nearby awnings, and the performers in the House Blend Band hurried to cover up the equipment on stage.

In spite of the interruption, most of the audience stayed to see the rest of the performance despite the darkening sky and threat of more rain. Unfortunately, the concert was interrupted again in the middle of Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" due to a brutal wind and rainstorm highlighted by flashes of lightning in the deepening gray sky.

The performers scheduled to play at this month's concert were also delayed by the torrential rainstorm. Patty Machen, co-owner of The Old Coffeehouse and co-founder of the House Blend Band who is also an accomplished violinist and mandolin player announced, "We were supposed to have a youth band play, but they canceled due to the chance of rain. They'll be back to play during the August and September performances from The Niwot Gig, which should be fun."

Michael Tomich, the other co-owner of Old Oak and co-founder of the House Blend Band who plays keyboards, guitar and sings, had scheduled his granddaughter, Evelyn, to sing at the concert. Her performance was also postponed to the August concert. She is scheduled to perform during the first half of the concert so that it will be less likely to be interrupted by rain.

"It was a concert of dilemmas," said Tomich. "When the rain came, it came down really fast and hard. We were originally just going to cover the equipment, but it started pouring, and we had to take it down. It was a community effort - 40ish people helped break down the stage."

What had taken all day to set up on 2nd Avenue, the band and audience members managed to quickly take down without any damage, in spite of the torrential rain.