Friday – 23 June 2010
It’s the weekeeeeeeeeend, baby!
Hello, 9/80 Friday off.  I’ve missed you.

I’m not a big modern Country Music fan, but Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet sum up my attitude about the weekend in this song:

Last night, SaraRules and I went to Park City to see Imani Winds perform as part of the Deer Valley Music Festival. It was, simply put, fantastic. Seeing musicians of color – and especially African-American artists – performing classical music is still somewhat rare… or at least uncommon. Seeing five of them perform together, even more so. But, this quintet is an excellent group of performers. It was very easy to see that they not only enjoyed their jobs, but they enjoyed playing with the others in the group, as well.

Something that SaraRules and I noted: It was interesting that even though flautist Valerie Coleman appeared to act as conductor/timekeeper for the group, there was no real “leader,” so to speak.  Everyone had a part to play – including some lovely solos – and each of the members took a turn at presenting a piece of music.

Their performance consisted of modern compositions, two of which were written by members of the quintet. I enjoyed first half of their performance, but the second half was the stand-out half for me. The performance closed with a klezmer piece that had been arranged for wind quintet and featured clarinetist Mariam Adams, who completely knocked it out of the park.

If Imani Winds perform in your area and you have a chance to hear them, I strongly encourage you to do so.

Workout
Thursday’s step count: 3,507

Stray Toasters

Time to hit the road, so I can hang out with Perry and the kids for a while.

I might even swing by Pin-up Girl for a morning pick-me-up…

Namaste.