Music, Music, Music

It was a weekend of the local Tinner Hill Blues Festival in a local park, two-incredibly talented rockers at Verizon Center, a classical music farewell party for the beloved high school orchestra leader of the last 14 years (and a 42 year inspiring career in the area), and the Ultimate Doo-Wops at Wolf Trap. For variety and quality of music, it was hard to top.

At the blues festival, over a couple of hours, I saw a group of well-heeled blues rockers--Curtis Blues, Deanna Bogart, Daryl Davis First Ladies of the Blues, Angela Hill, Stacy Brooks, Ruby Hayes, Nadine Rae and the All Stars, and Sheryl Warner and the Southside Homewreckers with Gregg Kimball, Warner Williams. A couple of hours later, at Verizon, I saw two of the best of many years, Clapton and Winwood, effortlessly weaving their magic and enjoying their catalog of wonderful music.

The next afternoon, I saw and heard a wonderfully talented assortment of students from over a great 42-year career of Ms. Gretta Sandberg, sharing their playing, conducting, and composing. It was a great living legacy for an outstanding educator, who had a great and easy (and a natural humor-laden) way of working with students.

And lastly, I saw some veterans and newer replacements from the following veteran groups: The Drifters; Jimmy Beaumont & The Skyliners; The Contours featuring Sylvester Potts; Willie Rogers & The Soul Stirrers; The Clovers featuring Harold Winley; Randy & the Rainbows featuring Randy Safuto; The Marcels; The Edsels; and The Blue Suede Orchestra. The enjoyment of the performers. and their talents on display fueled an appreciative and lively audience.

The range of music, the talents and the enthusiasm of each of the artists for the music, and how each style of music relates to modern life made it noteworthy and particularly interesting weekend.