Although the official title is the “Sundance Film Festival”, Sundance features more than just films. On Thursday afternoon I made my second visit to the ASCAP Music Café. (The first was a performance by Simon Townshend.) There, musicians - many from festival films - perform short sets and chat with the audience in a casual atmosphere.

I originally went to hear Glen Hansard and Marketa Iglova. I loved their movie “Once”, and their brief performance following the movie screening left me hungry for more. I was not disappointed, and I’m sure you won’t be either when you listen to the exclusive performance that they gave for HP.

As great as they were, my true Sundance surprise came when I arrived early and caught the performance of Dana Parish with her writing/performing partner/husband Andrew Hollander. I took piano lessons for 8 years and have always said that if I could have one talent in the world, I would love to be able to belt out a song. In Dana and Andy, you get the best of both worlds. Andy is an amazing pianist. He scored the Adrienne Shelly film “Waitress” which premiered at Sundance and was just picked up by Fox Searchlight. He also scored “Gray Matters”, a movie starring Heather Graham, Sissy Spacek and Molly Shannon, which premieres in February 2007.

Dana has a voice that will fill the crevices of your soul. Her high notes are unbelievably strong, and her low notes are more intimate than a whisper. I’m not an expert. I’m not a critic. I just love beautiful music, and I found Dana and Andy to be mesmerizing and engaging. Check them out for yourself in their private performance at the Riverhorse on Main.

For more information or to purchase Dana’s debut CD “It was Beautiful” go to http://www.cdbaby.com/danaparish or visit her MySpace.

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