The sing-a-long was lots of fun and quite enchanting. A WTJU DJ brought two of her friends for a surprise Christmas outing. Two friends from NYC planned their holiday trip to Charlottesville around the event. A taxi driver pulled over in front of the Garage and joined us for a bit. Overall, there was quite a bit a of Christmas cheer, gratitude, and singing!

Thanks to Rob Jefferson for this lovely photograph.

The Garage’s debut in its new dressy outfit was a hit! The opening was a ton of fun…and Joe and Dusty put on a wonderful show. I was baffled each time I looked up during the concert and remembered that they were playing inside of a building that was completely wrapped in fabric.

Putting the dressy outfit on the Garage was a strange experience. I was expecting people to stop, take a second glance, smile, maybe even ask what all this was about. There was definitely a good bit of that, but I was also stunned to see how many people passed right by…not even looking up. If they did see the fabric-covered Garage, maybe they didn’t think it was all that strange. Perhaps a Garage getting a little dressed up isn’t as big of a deal as I thought it was.

Either way, I definitely smile (and often laugh out loud) each time I walk down the street. The Garage will be wearing its outfit for as long as possible…hopefully all month. Check it out on 1st Street across from Lee Park anytime.

I thought I’d take a minute to provide some context on all that’s happened at the Garage this summer. It’s amazing how much the Garage has grown up over the past three months.

We had our first trial concert in June when we found out that a friend had friends in a band who were coming through town from Grand Rapids, MI and were hoping to play a show in Charlottesville. We jumped on the chance…not really even knowing if a concert at the Garage was possible.

Ben and Bruno and Small Sur arrived the afternoon of the show, and we proceeded to act like we knew what we were doing. We eventually let it slip that this was the first show at the Garage. Peter, Karis, Matt, and Bob were so kind and low-key and actually seemed excited to help us christen the space.

We told a few friends and sent out a few emails and to our surprise about 50 people showed up. I had expected people to sit on the floor of the Garage…huddled right underneath the band; however, people slowly migrated to the hill in the park across the street. And so began the stadium-hillside seating that now marks a Garage concert.

The Hill and Wood played their first show ever to open the night. The term “garage band” seems so fitting when I think about how many times Sam and Chris had played those songs in the Garage with the door wide open in the previous days. All you need are a few friends, and suddenly you have a show.

After the Hill and Wood, Peter, Karis, Matt, and Bob played several of Bob’s songs as Small Sur and then switched around instruments and played a set as Ben and Bruno. It was incredible. Such intimate, ambient, chilling music!

We all fell in love with the music and the band members. We ended up taking them for a late night swim in a nearby creek and harmonizing to Fleet Foxes with the windows down (and way too many people in one car) on the way there. It was quite a night and quite a show. I am deeply honored that Ben & Bruno was the first band to headline a show at the Garage. We couldn’t have found a better band to kick things off.

Check out the music of Ben & Bruno and Small Sur online!