The Live Music Project turns three! Join us as we celebrate with an evening of improvisation – in space, and on the stage.

Former NASA astronaut Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn-Piper has flown on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-115 and STS-126, and has logged more than 30 hours in spacewalks. What happens when things don't go according to plan in space? We'll find out!

Then, in Flights of Fancy, Aaron Grad takes the stage with six beers, fourteen strings, and no idea what he's going to play. Taste along with Aaron as each Naked City brew launches a fresh improvisation on his trusty electric theorbo, an instrument he designed and built himself (with inspiration from an oversized lute).

Come early to hang out and grab a drink, dinner, and a table.

Tickets $15 online or $20 at the door (limited availability).

Approximate schedule

6:30pm-7:00pm – Food, drink, mingling

7:00pm-7:45pm – Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper: When plans go awry

7:45pm-8:00pm – Celebratory surprise!

8:00pm-8:45pm – Aaron Grad & his electric theorbo: Flights of Fancy

HEIDEMARIE STEFANYSHYN-PIPER

Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn-Piper is an American Naval officer and a former NASA astronaut. She has achieved the rank of Captain in the United States Navy. She is also a qualified and experienced salvage officer. Her major salvage projects include de-stranding the tanker Exxon Houston off the coast of Barbers Point, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and developing the plan for the Peruvian Navy salvage of the Peruvian submarine Pacocha.

Stefanyshyn-Piper has received numerous honors and awards, such as the Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals, and two Navy Achievement Medals. She has flown on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-115 and STS-126, during which she completed five spacewalks totaling 33 hours and 42 minutes. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidemarie_Stefanyshyn-Piper)

AARON GRAD

Composer and guitarist Aaron Grad merges his rock and jazz roots with his classical training to create music that The Washington Post has described as “inventive and notably attractive.” For his evening-length song cycle with countertenor, Old-Fashioned Love Songs, Aaron created the world's only electric theorbo in 2012. Next season the instrument will be featured in Strange Seasons, a concerto commissioned by the Seattle Baroque Orchestra. In his other life, Aaron writes program notes for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Seattle Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and many other ensembles. (http://www.aarongrad.com/)





Photo: Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (top) and Shane Kimbrough, both STS-126 mission specialists, participate in the mission's second scheduled session of extravehicular activity as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 45-minute spacewalk, Piper and Kimbrough continued the process of removing debris and applying lubrication around the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, replaced four more of the SARJ's 12 trundle bearing assemblies, relocated two equipment carts and applied lubrication to the station's robotic Canadarm2. (2008) (Source)