I had been looking forward to the Ellis Delaney show for a while. Then the night of her show turned out to be the same night as my good friend opens a homeless shelter (Elim Strong Tower Shelters). So I tried my best to be in two places – and it was worth it!
Ellis is the sort of person you just want to be your friend. She has an easy and gracious manner on stage. She’s thoughtful enough to have sign language interpreters on stage to make the show more accessible. She played with the OK Factor (Cellist Olivia Diercks and violinist Karla Colahan) and JJ Jones (on drums) and when it was time for any of those three women to lead, Ellis stepped back. She had poet Desdamona on stage to read a poem. Ellis took the chance to shine and shared it and the quality of everyone on stage just lifted the bar for them all.
Her voice is clean and strong and so pleasant to hear. If you had a pick one voice to listen to all day long, Ellis would be a good choice. (A bonus would be to add some harmonies with the women of OK Factor.) Listening to her music on a road trip would make you feel like she was on the guitar in the passenger seat telling you story after story. The trip would be a little better. There’s something wholesome about her voice – as well as the uplifting nature of her songs.
I Think About You is clearly about someone (assuming a parent) who has passed away but not forgotten. Pie for Breakfast could be my anthem, if you replaced pie with chocolate chip cookies. Her songs are about everyday tiny miracles that we often don’t notice.
A highlight of the night was Ordinary Love; it’s a celebration of that love that seems to easy, seems to usual to those who have it. It’s a glimpse of the little things we do with and for someone else so easily it just happens. This on a cold, cold night when I have been volunteering at the grand opening of a homeless shelter. I have been working with a team of extraordinarily thoughtful and generous people. The sort of people who not only serve a hot meal on Valentine’s night to people experiencing homelessness – they throw in a heart-shaped box of chocolates to everyone. And I’m talking to people with extraordinary lives – they work but have fallen ill, they spent the night before getting attacked but tonight they are warm and safe and well fed. These are the extraordinary people who wish for and wait for the Ordinary Love. Made for a poignant moment when Ellis encouraged a singalong and everyone sang Ordinary Love. It was the perfect backdrop to my night!
Mostly Minnesota 