House Concert Review of Marina V and Nick.
Santa Cruz, CA
We were blessed to have Marina V and Nick be the guests of honor our 2006 Holiday Cocktail party. Almost everyone invited never heard of Marina before. Many people checked out her site and listened to some of her music and were excited to see the show. We also opened up the guest list to some of her fans in the area, and one fella even came all the way from Las Vegas.
Marina captivated the audience, with her wit, charm and beauty. Just about every one that came for the show or the cocktail party was at one point entranced by Marina and Nick, her cool/funny stories about Russia, to how she created this song... Marina is a true professional, a very talented artist, a wonderful person to be around, and a great musician!
We were so honored to have you and Nick at our humble abode, We Love
you guys and are always welcome in our home and hearts...
Kevin & Teresa Maguire
Don & Joelle Adkins of Redondo Beach, CA, share their memories of Marina performing at their house concert.
Marina V House Concert, Redondo Beach July 23rd, 2005 by Don Adkins
www.donadkins.com
In addition to photographing many major L.A. Arena shows for various publications and record companies I also try to keep up-to-date on the emerging artists on the LA Music scene. A little over a year ago I saw Marina V at the Knitting Factory as an opening act. She immediate caught our ears with her sound check as we heard this angelic voice warming up in Russian.
After the warm-up we went over and got some seats near the stage and watched Marina’s set. She wound up doing this show in English except for a single song in Russian. In both languages her music is great. After buying a CD and meeting her we then got on her mailing list and have been going to her shows ever since.
In the year that has passed we’ve seen her following grow a little bit with each and every show. Now her shows are sell-outs at popular local clubs as word of mouth spread and as she released her second CD. In her shows she usually gives us a treat by doing a song in Russian which we always love. We can’t understand the words, but we sure understand good music. Back in April I figured it was time to see if Marina would do a house concert. We’ve hosted 3 of these events previously with other artists and now was the time for Marina. I talked with her about the idea and we agreed on July 23rd as a date. For our house concerts we do it all via Evite. A few weeks before the show I sent the Evite out and within 20 hours we’d sold out, filling our courtyard concert setting to the max. In the meantime many of our attendees listened to samples of Marina’s music on her web site which added further to the anticipation.
On the evening of the show Marina and Nick arrived early and we went through sound check rather smoothly followed by a small meal with the two of them plus my wife Joelle and I.
After a brief introduction Marina and Nick hit the stage at 7:30pm. A couple of weeks before the show Marina had asked if we had any special requests and the thing that popped out of our mouths was “Russian”! Marina obliged and her first set consisted of a mix of songs that included beautiful Russian folk songs. Again, we don’t speak the language but the songs (with titles too hard for English speakers to pronounce) sound absolutely great. Plus the emotion she brings to bear is something special. Along with the Russian tunes Marina did songs from her second release “Simple Magic” and even threw in a special Beatles treat with her own version of “Here, There and Everywhere” from the Revolver album. Unlike the faster paced venue shows Marina is able to spend a great deal of time verbally setting up the stories of her songs. Even though we’ve seen her a half-dozen times we wound up getting more insight in this single show than all of the previous shows. We then broke for intermission so our forty guests could refill their wine and food. For our house concerts our guests get pre- show instructions that say “pretend you’re at the Hollywood Bowl” which they take to heart with wines, cheeses and the like. For us this is better than the Bowl with the ability to host a great LA artist in the most intimate of settings.
After intermission Marina then hit the stage with “IPOD”, their “3rd musician” for a high energy version of “In My Head”. The rest of the evening weaved beautifully through a selection of songs from both her “Simple Magic” and “Something Of My Own” albums with yet another Russian song mixed in for good measure. In addition to the special treats of Russian songs and the Beatles Marina whipped out one more surprise this evening with her own version of Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again”. This is a song that I’ve always had a “take it or leave it” attitude with, but thanks to marina now I love it, or should I say her version of it! The evening flew by and before we knew it the concert ran its’ course.
We were all treated to a very special evening with Marina and Nick and I know that I’m not alone in thinking it was great as over the next two days I received a flood of e-mails and had attendees from the show coming by my office at work to tell me what a great show they’d seen. Marina’s LA gigs are always fun but this house concert had it all, thank you Marina!
Santa Cruz, CA
We were blessed to have Marina V and Nick be the guests of honor our 2006 Holiday Cocktail party. Almost everyone invited never heard of Marina before. Many people checked out her site and listened to some of her music and were excited to see the show. We also opened up the guest list to some of her fans in the area, and one fella even came all the way from Las Vegas.
Marina captivated the audience, with her wit, charm and beauty. Just about every one that came for the show or the cocktail party was at one point entranced by Marina and Nick, her cool/funny stories about Russia, to how she created this song... Marina is a true professional, a very talented artist, a wonderful person to be around, and a great musician!
We were so honored to have you and Nick at our humble abode, We Love
you guys and are always welcome in our home and hearts...
Kevin & Teresa Maguire
Don & Joelle Adkins of Redondo Beach, CA, share their memories of Marina performing at their house concert.
Marina V House Concert, Redondo Beach July 23rd, 2005 by Don Adkins
www.donadkins.com
In addition to photographing many major L.A. Arena shows for various publications and record companies I also try to keep up-to-date on the emerging artists on the LA Music scene. A little over a year ago I saw Marina V at the Knitting Factory as an opening act. She immediate caught our ears with her sound check as we heard this angelic voice warming up in Russian.
After the warm-up we went over and got some seats near the stage and watched Marina’s set. She wound up doing this show in English except for a single song in Russian. In both languages her music is great. After buying a CD and meeting her we then got on her mailing list and have been going to her shows ever since.
In the year that has passed we’ve seen her following grow a little bit with each and every show. Now her shows are sell-outs at popular local clubs as word of mouth spread and as she released her second CD. In her shows she usually gives us a treat by doing a song in Russian which we always love. We can’t understand the words, but we sure understand good music. Back in April I figured it was time to see if Marina would do a house concert. We’ve hosted 3 of these events previously with other artists and now was the time for Marina. I talked with her about the idea and we agreed on July 23rd as a date. For our house concerts we do it all via Evite. A few weeks before the show I sent the Evite out and within 20 hours we’d sold out, filling our courtyard concert setting to the max. In the meantime many of our attendees listened to samples of Marina’s music on her web site which added further to the anticipation.
On the evening of the show Marina and Nick arrived early and we went through sound check rather smoothly followed by a small meal with the two of them plus my wife Joelle and I.
After a brief introduction Marina and Nick hit the stage at 7:30pm. A couple of weeks before the show Marina had asked if we had any special requests and the thing that popped out of our mouths was “Russian”! Marina obliged and her first set consisted of a mix of songs that included beautiful Russian folk songs. Again, we don’t speak the language but the songs (with titles too hard for English speakers to pronounce) sound absolutely great. Plus the emotion she brings to bear is something special. Along with the Russian tunes Marina did songs from her second release “Simple Magic” and even threw in a special Beatles treat with her own version of “Here, There and Everywhere” from the Revolver album. Unlike the faster paced venue shows Marina is able to spend a great deal of time verbally setting up the stories of her songs. Even though we’ve seen her a half-dozen times we wound up getting more insight in this single show than all of the previous shows. We then broke for intermission so our forty guests could refill their wine and food. For our house concerts our guests get pre- show instructions that say “pretend you’re at the Hollywood Bowl” which they take to heart with wines, cheeses and the like. For us this is better than the Bowl with the ability to host a great LA artist in the most intimate of settings.
After intermission Marina then hit the stage with “IPOD”, their “3rd musician” for a high energy version of “In My Head”. The rest of the evening weaved beautifully through a selection of songs from both her “Simple Magic” and “Something Of My Own” albums with yet another Russian song mixed in for good measure. In addition to the special treats of Russian songs and the Beatles Marina whipped out one more surprise this evening with her own version of Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again”. This is a song that I’ve always had a “take it or leave it” attitude with, but thanks to marina now I love it, or should I say her version of it! The evening flew by and before we knew it the concert ran its’ course.
We were all treated to a very special evening with Marina and Nick and I know that I’m not alone in thinking it was great as over the next two days I received a flood of e-mails and had attendees from the show coming by my office at work to tell me what a great show they’d seen. Marina’s LA gigs are always fun but this house concert had it all, thank you Marina!