The Donavon Frankenreiter Concert

Last night my family and I went to see Donavon Frankenreiter play at the Sheriden Opera House, which is a small, historical theatre in downtown Telluride.  He's one of my favorite artist. Frankenreiter is a professional surfer, as well as a musician, so he plays really mellow and relaxing music.  Needless to say, I was inspired and grabbed my guitar and uke and spent the afternoon busking around the theater.  I played his music, Jack Johnson's, Ben Harper and plenty of others.  At about 5:30, a black car drove behind the Opera House dropping off Donavon and his band for their sound check. It was pretty cool because one of his band members noticed me and hung outside for a while - it looked like he enjoyed the music I was playing. When we got to the concert, standing in the lobby of the Opera House was Donavon and the band member that saw me playing. We talked for a while and then Donavon asked me if I wanted to play with him for the encore song - I thought he meant the guitar.  He asked me where I was sitting and then my family and I went into the theatre.  At the end of the concert the security guy told me where to sit and the band left for the encore. When they came back on, he said, "I'm looking for someone to help me out with this song." He looked around the theatre, spotted me and threw me the mic...he expected me to SING! With over 300 people starring at me, including one my music idols, I didn't want to- playing the guitar would have been way more in my comfort zone. After what seemed to be a lifetime of cheers from the crowd, I finally sang along.  The upside of this awkward misunderstanding is my new street cred because when we finished, Donavan said to everyone, "This kid has been busking all day, a true musician." I'm sure that half the town was there and everyone will remember me when they see me playing tomorrow, which hopefully means, well, more dough!

Jack