Flashes of creativity?

Two of my favorite musicians, Tom Breiding and Patti Spadaro, both Washington Countians, have been joining forces onstage every once in a while.

On Saturday night, they combined acts at a venue called Scooby's in South Fayette Township. Tom opened with an acoustic set, followed by the Patti Spadaro Band playing its second-ever show.

Patti and Tom played one song together, at the end of Tom's set, performing "The Balladeer's Son" from his album "Happy Hour in the Round Hotel." They previously had done the tune as a duo when Tom played last month at the Inspiration Cafe in Washington.


Scooby's has an area set aside specifically for enjoying music, complete with a sofa and a few comfy chairs. It's a nice atmosphere, with one minor drawback for the videographer: not-so-strong lighting. That's fine for the musicians and audience, and I thought it would be OK for my camera; it looked OK as I filmed it. But I ended up toning the finished product to up the brightness, and the end result looks a bit grainy.

During a good portion of "The Balladeer's Son," I was wondering around taking photos on an aging Nikon CoolPix. As a result, the video captures a series of flashes during the performance. What to do ...

It was a no-brainer to drop the resulting stills into the video at the appropriate spots. But to make the effect distinctive, I superimposed the stills over an old-fashioned, 35mm-film-type image. (Technically, I guess I should've rendered the stills as negatives in that case, but that would've looked truly bizarre.)

Anyway, if nothing else, the music speaks for itself in this video version of "The Balladeer's Son"