The music ignites the night with passionate fire.

This past weekend, I took a second trip to Pittsburgh, this time with Jen and our parents to see Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova in concert. If you've seen the film Once, you know what amazing musicians they are. And if you haven't seen Once, you are a fool who needs a Netflix subscription.

To start the evening, Mom and Dad treated us to dinner at their favorite place in the theater district: Tambellini's, a charming little Italian place that is a Pittsburgh classic. Tambellini's is the place where they invented fried zucchini. Oh, so delicious! They do it in a tempura batter with a wonderful horseradish sauce on the side. I am spoiled for fried zucchini anywhere else.



Then it was on to the Byham. After a not-so-enjoyable opening act, Glen and Marketa emerged and started the evening with their wonderful cover of Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic." Then they played their Oscar winning song "Falling Slowly." Oh, they sounded so terrific, just as brilliant in person as they do on their CDs. We had great seats in the first row of the balcony, and the Byham is such a nice, small theater; it was perfect for this type of concert. In fact, at one point Glen walked to the edge of the stage and performed "Say It To Me Now" without a microphone or anything, just him and his guitar, and his voice echoing off the theater walls sounded so amazing. Here's one of the clandestine pics I took. It didn't turn out so well in the low light. If only I'd had my D40, they'd have been awesome.



Glen is so charming and funny. He was telling little stories and jokes all evening, and he and Marketa were telling the stories behind the songs and what the songs were about. And they kept asking us to sing along, and the crowd was just wild for them. It was so much fun. Julia was not pleased that we took her mother away for the evening, but I know she will forgive me. She is such a generous little pumpkin.