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Rosie Thomas, Attucks Theater (Norfolk, VA), 10/13/07

by Lauren Hoessly
10/18/2007

Rosie Thomas is an enigma. Her speaking voice is quite the opposite of her singing voice and her comedy routine is just as good as her songs.

I saw Rosie Thomas this past weekend at a local venue named Attucks (after the first man killed in the Boston Massacre). The venue is located deep in the heart of Norfolk and serves as a new venue for blues, jazz, and contemporary artists. Walking into the theater, armed with a friend and a camera, I arrived an hour early, and in this case it was a very wise idea. Attucks is not your normal rock club with a concrete floor, but a theater with plush red velvet seats, intermission, and candy on sale for a dollar.

The first act was a young man with dark hair in his eyes. He played acoustic tunes with a bass player and pianist. After a few songs he brought out a banjo, capturing my full attention. Apart from some deserved shouting (on topics like the Holocaust and drug abuse), his voice was whispery, yet powerful.

The second act, Christopher Denny, was very interesting. He and another guitar player made their way on stage with some jokes and a not-so-tuned electric – giving the audience time to enjoy Denny’s jokes. After intense yodeling and what seemed like eternity, Denny finally sang the song that has made him known -first to Paste Magazine- outside of bars in Arkansas.

After a brief intermission, I was ready for Rosie. The show was her first on “These Friends of Mine” tour and she appeared with her brother, Brian Thomas, and a water bottle. With a grand piano, guitar and chair on stage, Rosie introduced herself and I giggled immediately. On, “These Friends of Mine” there is a track where Rosie is talking and although it is brief and faint, Rosie’s unique voice is laughing (which unbeknownst to me, is her specialty), and so when it was confirmed that that is, in fact, her voice we all felt pretty happy. We felt even happier as she began to play piano, opening with “Kite Song” off of These Friends.

Brian Thomas, Rosie’s tall brother also plays guitar, piano and sings just as beautifully as Rosie. His voice carried with hers for most of the night and allowed Rosie to stand in front of the microphone, with full attention for songs like “Guess It May."

Rosie loves to laugh. During a brief break, Rosie sat down and introduced the audience to her grandfather’s small Kansas town’s paper (I think the city is Colony?). Headlines about missing books from the local library cover the paper’s pages and Rosie’s smart, quick and intelligent humor had the entire theater laughing for thirty minutes. During her song, “Say Hello” (co-written with friend Sufjan Stevens), Rosie and Brian gazed into each other’s eyes and made comments such as “gross” and “ew”, while Rosie randomly burst into an aerobic routine to distract Brian and consequently, the audience too.

Rosie talked about her love of music and thanked us repeatedly for listening (ending every song with, “thanks very much”). Not only did Rosie sweep me away with chords of romance, notes of humanity, and a voice that destroys everything that is not beautiful, Rosie Thomas was humble. Near the end of the show, Rosie explained that she loves making gifts for people and that there were homemade aprons on sale (I was the first person out of the theater to buy one).

After the encore, Rosie immediately came to greet the crowd. As chance would have it, I talked with Rosie, hugged her, took a picture with her, and now look for reasons to wear a Rosie Thomas apron.

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