I’m making a very easy and gradual transition into fall this year. Between the weather (it’s supposed to get up to 100 here today!) and a flurry of fun activities over the past few weeks, I find myself still very much in a laid-back, summertime mode even as the schedule starts to fill up with work and volunteering commitments, meetings and new projects. That summer vibe was ably nurtured by the two concerts I attended in the past few weeks — I’m not sure why, precisely, but concerts and summer seem inextricably linked in my mind. The first found me in Portland with my daughter Jenny and sister Robbe, seeing Brandi Carlile perform with the Oregon Symphony at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland’s Cultural District. “The Schnitz,” as it is fondly referred to by Portlanders, is the old Paramount Theatre, a beautifully restored Italian Rococo Revival theater built in 1928. (I remember going to see Mary Poppins there when I was just a little girl.) The interior of the performance space is grand, elegant and ornate, and the acoustics are great. Our seats, six rows from the stage, gave us a wonderful vantage point from which to enjoy the concert. We ladies had enjoyed a Carlile performance a year earlier, at the outdoor amphitheater at the Britt Festival here in Southern Oregon (a lively, fun show), so I was curious as to how this show might differ. Brandi usually performs at least a couple of shows a year with symphony orchestras (the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall as well as the Oregon Symphony) and likes to challenge herself with mixing up the venues in which she performs. Later this year, in fact, she and her band  launch a “Pindrop Tour” on the East Coast in small, intimate spaces with no amps, no mics (a taste of which we got on the final encore number). Our show opened with a solo performance by cellist Joshua Neumann, who was then joined onstage by Brandi and fellow bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth, providing vocals and guitar and bass, respectively. For 30 minutes they “opened for themselves,” as Brandi put it, performing audience requests without the orchestra. Their second number, a rockin’, no-holds-barred cover of Johnny Cash’s “Fulsom Prison Blues,” made it clear this would not be a restrained, toned-down concert within the refined confines of the Schnitz. Indeed, we thoroughly enjoyed the depth and richness which the symphony provided to familiar (and a few new) Carlile tunes. It melded well not only with the quieter, more introspective ballads she has penned but also added impressive power to the works that are more rock than folk-blues-country. I enjoyed watching the symphony artists’ expressions and postures as they played, clearly relishing this opportunity to play outside the classical zone. My husband and I attended the second concert at our favorite local venue for the last performance of the season. Packing up our picnic dinner and a few bottles of wine on a hot, smoky evening (wildfires are unfortunately ubiquitous at this time of year in this part of our world), we headed to the grassy hillside at the Britt. On tap: Creedance Clearwater Revisited. The band, formed by original Creedance Clearwater Revival members Stu Cook (bass) and Doug “Cosmo” Clifford (drums) in 1995, performs one great CCR hit after another, and all the musicians perform at their peak. We’ve seen them twice before and always enjoy the music and the memories it stirs up. The evening ended as a blood-orange three-quarter moon rose up through the smoke, a bad moon rising, indeed, on a great evening. Not a bad way to end the summer! — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor