Audrey

On a cool Saturday night, Audrey and I enjoyed some cool Brazilian jazz at the Stanford Jazz Festival. Anat Cohen on Clarinet was joined by Marcello Gonçalves, playing the 7-string acoustic guitar. It was a magical evening. Anat plays very lyrically, with a full range of emotion. Marcello played the role of the orchestra, conjuring bass, rhythm, and percussion from his guitar. They played music in a range of styles, closing with a spirited version of Leonard Bernstein’s song America, from West Side Story. ...

Jon Anderson’s angelic, timeless voice filled the historic Warner Theater in downtown Washington, DC, defying his 80 years of age. Indeed, his spiritual energy and genuine warmth throughout two sets lasting about two and a half hours was amazing. Although many of the songs were recorded by Yes in 1970s, they sounded perfect today. The set began, in classic Yes tradition, by playing Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite through the speakers as the Band Geeks took the stage. Recently, Anderson has been touring and recording with this mob from Long Island. The Band Geeks were a bit bored during the pandemic and started challenging themselves with homemade recording of the super-challenging Yes classics. Their covers were posted on YouTube, where I and many others found them to be wonderful. Jon Anderson found them too and asked them to play with him. ...

On Memorial Day weekend, Karen and Kayla came to visit us in Washington. The weather o Sunday morning was gorgeous with cool, dry air and blue skies. We drove about 40 minutes to see Glenstone, an indoor and outdoor museum outside of DC. Split Rocker The most memorable sculpture is a flower-and-plant-covered wireframe of a rocking horse, which sits on top of a hill. You can see it from every direction. The artist is Jeff Koons. ...

On opening night for Porgy and Bess at the Kennedy Center, Audrey, Karen, Kayla and I had perfect seats about a half dozen rows behind the orchestra pit. Close enough to see the beads of sweat on Porgy after his climatic fight with Crown. Audrey made me swear not to sing along to “Summertime” and anyway, as an amazing soprano was in the lead, I didn’t even dare try. Before the show, we toured the Kennedy Center, checking out the museum exhibit about Kennedy and the arts as well as the great view from the fourth floor terrace. There was also an extensive museum exhibit about Porgy and Bess. ...

Our friends Rob and Jane took us to see one of their favorite bands, Guster, at the Kennedy Center. For this two-night stand, Guster was backed by the National Symphony Orchestra. We had great seats among the Guster fanatics, who were up and dancing whenever possible. It was fun. For the song “Hello Mister Sun,” fans in the audience had rainbow hats. Some danced in front of the the stage. The lead singer put on a hat to join in the spirit. Audrey wanted his jacket. ...