We try to do everything with love and treat everyone with love, siempre. So, on a sunny afternoon in April, whenDawn and Hawkes sang, “Have you ever let a stranger become someone you love,” it felt like a serendipitous understanding of one another. As though we were raised at the same table, on the same values. From that moment, Chris Hawkes and Miranda Dawn felt like newcomers no more, but people we loved, como familia.
And, like family, we were delighted to gather around them and listen to their stories. They told us the story of how they met at a bar, when Chris asked Miranda to dance (she said yes, “thank god!”); the eventual moment Miranda fell in love with Chris, while he was the star student in her music class; the soundtracks of their childhoods (think: The Beatles and The Chantays); and their early introduction to music through family. We also got to see little vignettes into theirdaily life—waking up to “New Slang” by the Shins, and playing their folk, singer-songwriter music with Senorita, Chris’s guitar. “She’s a sweet lady,” he joked about his bargain-bought instrument. Not least of all, they shared their dreams. Miranda spoke about wanting to remind people that “we are all sitting around the same big table,” and wanting to fill the beams of her and Chris’s house with lyrics, “so [their] house can hold music.”
Even better than we had dreamed, they shared three beautifulsongs from their album “The Other Side” with us: Promise Land, Battlefield, Penny Arcade. Miranda thanked us for giving them a place to share their “quiet, sensitive songs,” but we were truthfully so delighted to lean in and listen. Upon special request, they played The Beatles “I’ve Seen a Face,” a song that has woven a special place into their history playing music together, and helped lead them to “the sweet spot”—their lovely and lyrical life together.
We lingered together until our bellies were full of lunch, and then a little longer, as families do when finally together. We are so grateful for our time with Chris and Miranda, and the way they shared their time, memories, and dreams with us. Thank you for being guests at our table and cafe, and for inviting us into your beautiful songs and stories.
