Residents and passersby at two of Port Townsend’s senior living facilities found themselves treated to live music on the afternoon of May 4.
The musicians were Matt Sircely and Jonathan …
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Residents and passersby at two of Port Townsend’s senior living facilities found themselves treated to live music on the afternoon of May 4.
The musicians were Matt Sircely and Jonathan Doyle.
The retirement communities for whom they played were Avamere at Port Townsend, at 1201 Hancock St., and San Juan Commons, at 3300 San Juan Ave.
The organizer of this on-the-spot concert was Matt Miner, whose official job is music performance manager for Northwind Arts Center, but he emphasized this impromptu performance has no connection with Northwind or any other organization.
“I started out wanting to get the musicians on a flatbed truck to play in the neighborhoods, but that didn’t get much interest,” Miner said.
Both Sircely and Doyle had expressed an interest in doing some kind of public performance a few weeks before their performances in the Avamere and San Juan Commons parking lots on May 4.
Miner subsequently reached out to the nursing homes and received permission a week before the performance.
According to Miner, continuing such performances will depend on further interest from the musicians and the homes. While planning for the event, he said, “I suppose if we get some smiles and waves from the windows and maybe an invitation to come back, I’d consider that a success.” Miner said he would welcome being able to continue the retirement community tour “at any and all of them in town.”
Miner added, “Before the shutdown, I produced the monthly ‘Arts to Elders’ concerts for Northwind Arts Center, rotating among the five nursing homes here in Port Townsend, so I have a working relationship with all of them.”
The performance started at Avamere at 2 p.m., and moved on to San Juan Commons.
When asked ahead of time what sort of music folks in the area would be in for, Miner said, “Probably quite an assortment.”
True to Miner’s word, Doyle opened the show by bringing his skills as a jazz clarinetist to bear, while Sircely played a range of styles on the mandolin and guitar.
As Miner had promised beforehand, the musicians made sure to be considerate of everyone’s health and safety by “keeping (their) distance.”
