A belated happy birthday America

Our friends Bill and Sarah Gann invited us to The Cleveland Orchestra performance at Blossom Music Center on July 5. It promised to be just like the 4th of July concert but without the John Phillip Sousa. Who doesn't like Sousa? I bet everyone who ever played in a highschool marching band remembers playing Sousa. If they don't remember or don't like Sousa, there's a place in Cuba for you. I mean who doesn't remember a young Robert Wagner playing some guy in that old black and white movie about Sousa. Well, I'm getting off track.

The performance we experienced was the Cleveland Orchestra and full chorus playing those all American 4th of July favorites like Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, Polovtsian dances by Borodin and the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky. You all would know these pieces if you heard them. I get a chuckle when I hear the 1812 Overture at Blossom. It's the adverticement for puffed oats. Akron's only a few miles south and that's where Quaker Oats started. I wonder how the Polish nuns from St. Mary's grade school would feel about celebrating America's birthday with a German and two Russkies.

The music was absolutly wonderful. The chorus gave all three pieces a power you don't normally get to hear. Thank you Bill and Sarah for a wonderful time.