The shoes make the difference

Last night my wife and I went to a Tonic Sol-fa concert which benefited the red cross. Tonic Sol-fa is one of our favorite musical groups and we’ve probably been to at least ten of their concerts in the last 5 years. They are quite unique as they don’t use any instruments other then their four voices and the occasional tambourine. What is amazing is how polished they sound together. As good as they are musically, they are also fun performers to watch. We recently saw them at the State Fair (which was fun, though they had a lot of technical problems). Last night’s concert was a whole different experience though as there couldn’t have been more then a couple hundred people there and we were in a much smaller (and indoor) space. I much prefer this more intimate setting. Even though I had seen them perform most of their songs at prior concerts, some of them seemed as if I was hearing them for the first time. Maybe it was auditorium or the way they sang the songs. Maybe it was the audiences reaction or my own outlook or maybe, just maybe it was....their shoes? You see after the concert my mother-in-law, who was also with us, had the group autograph her new CD and we overheard her ask, “Are those bowling shoes you guys are wearing?” To which one of them replied, “I think I’ve been known to bowl in them before.” So there you have it. It’s all about the shoes.