During my first visit to Lovitt Restaurant, I was enchanted by the modern relaxed furnishings and unexpected size of the dining area. Lovitt has shaken the confines of your standard cramped, noisy evenings usually associated with live acts and has found a beautiful balance between a warm, homey, feeling and the lively bustle you hope for from evening entertainment.
On this night I was greeted by a tickling of enticing traditional Celtic music from a talented trio called Half Six. With no elevated stage to distance the performers, the three musicians could have almost been considered part of Lovitt’s appealing décor. Behind the performers an upright piano was pushed up against a faded concrete wall. The music that flowed from their fingers that night certainly elicited a special response from within all who listened.
That night, as I sipped at my beer, I closed my eyes and let the music envelope me. Before me stretched flowing fields of wind-rustled reeds. Gentle hills obscured the horizon as herds of sheep rambled around a series of archaic stone walls. The sheer artistic power of music has the ability to turn a simple dining experience into a journey across the planet, through time and through the mind.
As a few of the 30-ish patrons finished their meals and made their way back into the cold night I could, without turning, feel as they paused at the door letting one final wave of music cleanse them temporarily of whatever ailed them before they arrived.
Thirty minutes of my life had rolled past me and I barely noticed. I was lost in a new world where I almost felt like I truly was somewhere else. I was briefly pulled away from my thoughts of fields of green by a voice as it entered the musical fray.
We are taught to view pieces of music that lack singing as “instrumental,” yet as we listen we find that instruments have a voice all their own and that vocals blend as if they are an instrument themselves. Really, vocals are usually a tool to carry a melody and deliver a story that is accompanied by the voices of the instruments. For a musician, discovering the melody for a song can be even more difficult than writing the lyrics to go with it. Yet as a listener, when a melody truly hits, you feel it. Songs can conjure desire and quench the thirst within one chorus and leave you feeling warm, or shaken.
The voice I heard that night pulled me from my dreams, an immediate reaction occurred within my heart long before I processed the spoken message. That message, the story brought to me by the lyrics, went deeper than what was said. In music, especially traditional folk music, the stories in the song are often told as much through the instrumental accompaniment as they are told through word.
So engrossed was I by the musical tales of lost love and life that it was not until I raised my empty glass to my lips that I realized I had finished my first beer. I think if all dine-in entertainment was able to achieve that level of profundity, we would all be eating out a little more often.
As the night went on and I extended my expenditures from liquids to some more substantial sustenance, I noticed that after each song finished, there was a delay before the applause. Silence before applause can sometimes be a sign of a poor performance or general disconnect between the performer and the audience. However in this case, the silence was actually a sign of the exact opposite. The musicians invited to play at Lovitt know their craft, know the venue and are adept at learning the crowd. The momentary silence in this case is a testament to their ability to blend with their environment. Instead of overpowering your dining experience and making conversation impossible, the acts that Lovitt book will provide the perfect backdrop for your night, like they did for mine.
A lot of the credit for this can go to Jan Peters, the man who was brought on to do the booking for Lovitt. Jan is known around the Bellingham music scene as a member of the Irish traditional band, Gallowglass, and was performing this night with Half Six. He may be one of the most knowledgeable members of Bellingham’s local Celtic/Irish and Folk music scene and can draw on his wide range of contacts and acquaintances to book some truly remarkable acts. Jan is also deeply connected to the jazz scene and is inviting our finest to come play at Lovitt such as trumpeter and WWU Jazz Dept Head Kevin Woods, Guitarist BJ Block and others.
The month of December is bringing some exciting and talented musicians to Lovitt. Among the acts is the masterful Seattle based Flamenco guitarist, Bryan Douglas. Bryan will be playing December 23 and hopefully 22 as well. The performers can be found on Lovitt’s Facebook page and are soon to be listed on Lovitt Restaurant’s website.
On January 26, Lovitt will be hosting a riveting Western Canadian Celtic fiddle player, Jocelyn Pettit. Even at her young age, Jocelyn has already been wowing listeners around the globe for years with her unique and highly distinctive blend of Celtic traditional music. She’ll be with her five piece band which includes her parents and two other world class musicians. The show starts at 8:00 p.m., $10 at the door.
Every performance at Lovitt is a unique and involved experience. Setting aside a Friday or Saturday evening for a combination of delicious local food and breathtaking local talent will renew your appreciation for the beauty in this world. The weekend dinner music is from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. in the winter time, and special engagements like the Jocelyn Pettit Band will be happening on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.
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