Dan Navarro House Concert

Dan Navarro House Concert

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for September 15, 2013

On Sunday it was still nice enough to get in a boat ride after watching the Vikings lose.  Will this be our last boat ride of the summer?  Judging from the scared looks on the kids' faces, they just might not mind if it is!

The weather has definitely been cooler this week.  Minnesota really didn't feel like we had much of a summer this year.  I'm sure the blizzards are going to be starting for us again in a couple weeks or so and we'll be right back into the thick of winter!  One of these days, I'm moving South.

On Friday night, we had a pleasant visit from our old friends, Jason and Jen.  Naturally I had to make them pose for a picture on the front porch with my family before we left for the evening.  Jason made fun of me like this isn't a normal thing that people do.  What does he know.

Mystic Lake Casino has become a much rowdier place since they started selling alcohol earlier this year.  Jen could barely walk by the band before she was kidnapped by some guy who danced up a storm with her.  That kind of stuff didn't ever happen when it was Booze Free.

On Saturday, we were invited to a house concert by our good friends, Mark and Heidi Wojahn.  It was raining outside, so the concert was moved into the garage where we could all get cozy together and listen to an afternoon of incredible music.

Rick Soule and Tom Pavek were the opening act and played a bunch of great songs including Tin Man which was originally recorded by America.  I forgot how much I enjoyed that song and their version was awesome!

The featured performer and birthday boy was Dan Navarro.  Dan was accompanied by two incredible Minnesota musicians named Dan Scrwatz and Doan Brian Roessler.  Dan Navarro shot to fame in the early eighties by writing the song "We Belong" for Pat Benetar with his long time writing partner Eric Lowen.  Lowen and Navarro went on to release several records of their own and toured together until 2009 when Eric had to stop performing due to complications he had because of ALS.  Lowen died in 2012, but Dan shares his spirit with those of us who never had the chance to enjoy hearing him play live by performing many of their beautiful songs and reminiscing about their days touring together. 

This was the 5th year in a row they did this house party.  I've met the hosts, but don't really know them very well.  They seem like very nice people who have followed Lowen and Navarro for many years based on the photos and memorabilia they have scattered around.  They also have one of the coolest garages I have ever seen in my entire life!

This was my second year in a row attending this concert, but I think I really appreciated it a lot more this time around.  Dan shares so much about his life while performing and I really started to admire him and the others that were accompanying him on Saturday.  These guys rock.