Quick note on visit to Serbian Orthodox church

This was pretty unusual - one of the members (or maybe it was a spouse of a member, I'm not recalling) of the Arizona MusicFest chorus died, and the word went out looking for volunteers from the chorus to perform at the funeral.  (Actually, it wasn't the funeral - it was some pre-funeral ceremony held the day prior.)

Not at all sure how the "Serbian Orthodox" church rules work in relation to funerals or anything else.  But by happenstance we had performed the Bogoroditse Dyevo (or Ave Maria) from Rachmaninoff's Vespers  in 2013, so we at least knew something suitable for the location. (Learned later that the church wouldn't have permitted non-Orthodox works.)

I mention this because the experience was pretty unusual, and pretty compelling.  The church was thoroughly nondescript from the exterior, thoroughly interesting and delightful inside.  The prayers and music from the clergy, congregation and regular church choir were great to listen to.  Our piece - at the very end of the ceremony - went quite well also.

Very glad I had the chance to be part of this.

Earl Klugh's Weekend of Jazz (Colorado Springs)

Earl Klugh with the birthday girl . . . just a couple minutes into her b'day.

This sounded like it would be quite excellent - top jazz musicians, generally pitched to our age group, lovely resort setting in Colorado Springs, small venue, with the musicians mixing around the property over the weekend.  And: it coincided with PJ's birthday weekend.  But while we had a lovely trip, expectations weren't really met.

Q&A with Dave Koz, Eric Darius, Earl Klugh

Easy flight to Denver; weather was "seasonal" throughout the weekend i.e. not that great.  We weren't really taken by this part of Colorado.  Found a couple interesting brewpubs in Colorado Springs, but overall the town wasn't that impressive.  The Broadmoor resort is fine, but we really prefer settling into hotels in the midst of an active downtown area.

Dave Koz's show

Dave Koz is an amazing talent - I don't even like the saxophone, but he made the concert experience just completely enjoyable.  Earl Klugh is an amazing talent.  Also some guy from South Africa (Jonathan Butler) was very compelling.

Light snow as we did a quick tour of Air Force Academy