Last night, I attended a fundraising event in Napa Valley. VH1 Save The Music’s Musically Mastered Menu merges the music and culinary worlds for an intimate evening of raising funds to restore music programs in public schools across America.
In the more than 19 years that Save The Music has been around, it has brought more than $52 million total worth of instruments to 1,964 public schools in 233 districts in the U.S. In 2015 alone VH1 Save The Music donated 1.305 instruments to schools impacting 3,900 students and securing 53 teaching jobs. Is that impressive or what?
The Musically Mastered Menu kicked off the 2016 season with an event at the gorgeous Napa Valley resort, Solage in Calistoga. Matt Nathanson, “Come Get Higher” singer-songwriter who lives in San Francisco, headlined this intimate sold-out event.
It was such a beautiful venue, styled with stunning chandeliers and colorful lighting.
The tables were set with gnarly driftwood, flowers and fresh greenery.
The first hour was spent checking out the silent auction items, mingling, ordering a cocktail at the bar and enjoying some delectable hors d’oeuvres.
Event sponsors include Avnet, Charbay Distillery and Winery, Beringer, Lindsey Rion Designs, Food and Wine Magazine, and more.
While guests enjoyed themselves, Chef Brandon Sharp, a Michelin-starred talent at Solbar, was preparing for dinner. Chef Sharp created a menu inspired by Matt’s music.
In fact, the two spent some time together in the Solbar kitchen yesterday afternoon.
The three-course menu included Lake Pontchartrain blue crab appetizer, loin and shoulder of Emigh’s lamb for the entree, and a decadent sugar pie pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. It was delicious! I especially loved the crab appetizer!
After dinner, Chef Sharp got on stage, thanking guests for contributions to VH1 Save The Music. He spoke of the importance of keeping art education in our schools before introducing Matt.
The first song Matt performed is my favorite. “Adrenaline” is on my playlist and I find myself hitting play over and over again! Matt sang several songs to a delighted crowd.
In between songs, Matt talked about what music education meant to him while growing up saying it “saved my life” and added, “The world was super beautiful and magical when you had a soundtrack to it.” A true lover of music!
It was a night of fantastic music and fabulous food – what a wonderful event for a good cause! It kind of makes me wish I had stuck with those guitar lessons when I was a kid.
The event raised over $15,000 last night (amounts are still being tallied today) enough to buy two pianos for a local school. More events will be announced later this year in other locations across America.
Now for the fashion part of the evening! I decided I wanted to carry my new Rebecca Minkoff clutch and wear a new dress from the soon-to-be-released Early Spring 2016 Collection at Stella Carakasi that I just received this week.
I am crazy about this dress! It’s made of luxurious “art silk” which is buttery soft fabric I adore and the cut is not only architecturally interesting but it’s versatile too. And it has pockets. You will be seeing this dress often here on the blog this year!
It was a chilly and rainy day so I added a water-restistant jacket, also by Stella Carakasi, black tights and wore my much-loved water-proof booties from Aquatalia. I added some silver jewelry by Metal Pointus and Vince Camuto.
Stella Carakasi’s Early Spring Collection is not to be missed! Look for it to debut Friday, February 5th. Subscribe to be the first to know.
Reminder! The deadline for submissions to be featured in the next How I Wear My is February 1st…that’s this coming Monday!
February’s theme is Rose Quartz or Serenity, the two Pantone colors of 2016. Send a photo of you wearing one or both colors to howiwearmy@yahoo.com and please be sure to include a description of your look.
See the How I Wear My page for more information. Jill and I can’t wait to see how you wear these gorgeous pastel shades of pink and blue!
Make it a rich day!
XO,
Adrienne
Disclosure: My ticket to the VH1 Save the Music’s Musically Mastered Menu in Napa Valley was given to me in exchange for coverage. The Stella Carakasi pieces I am wearing in this post were also given to me. All opinions, as always, are my own.
Looks like a fun event…and the clutch is great! Would be perfect to use during Fiesta in San Antonio!!
That clutch is so much fun, makes me smile when I see it. The event looks so beautiful – really everything done to perfection.
Adrienne, What a beautiful venue…looks like a great time! I started listening to Matt Nathanson years ago when Amanda was still living at home, because she really liked his music a lot. I didnt know he had a new CD out last fall…ha ha remember when he performed on Ben’s season of “The Bachelor”?
Hope things are going well.
Linda
xo