Elvis Memorial Garden, Memphis, TN, November 2015

When in Memphis (and I missed posting this page), we took an early morning visit to Gracelands to see the memorial gardens where Elvis is buried. The house and gardens were at there best. And interesting to view the  memorial gardens.

Gracelands at dawn

The memorial garden

The memorial garden

Houston, Texas, November and December 2015

From New Orleans we headed due west to Houston. In the week after Thanksgiving, things were pretty quiet and we took it rather easy, going to the gym and three movies. It is the Oscar season, so too many good movies to see. Houston is a huge metropolis with ridiculous freeways and interchanges. Oh, and no town planning. But still interesting to visit for a few days.

We did take in a concert at The Match is a brand new $25m venue in Houston. Michel Doneda on saxophone & Tatsuya Nakatani on percussion. New music in Houston, of all places. Tatsuya does incredible things with the percussion. On the Sunday of Thanksgiving there were still sixty or so in the hall. The Match is obviously going to be important in the performance life of the city with several flexible halls for music and theater. 

  

Preservation Hall, New Orleans, November 2015

Preservation Hall is the Mecca for lovers of traditional New Orleans Jazz of the early 20th century. I had visited Preservation Hall in the 1990s and was keen to go again. It is just a tiny room where you are packed in, close to the players and the rest of the audience. I'm sure the hall has not seen a lick of paint in the last half century. But the music is not to be missed. We lined up on one night but could not get in and so went another night, queuing for an hour to listen to one of their one hour long concerts. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band travels widely, but there is nothing to compare with listening in the Hall itself.

On the street

Waiting for the musicians

After the concert.  

New Orleans, November 2015

We made our way from Memphis to New Orleans, a long drive in the truck. We like to be in to the campground by dark and we just made it. It was Thanksgiving, so not much was on -- but the French Quarter was very busy as always. We were able make several trips in what was a pretty quiet time for us. We had a good look around the Lower Ninth Ward -- in fact our (excellent) RV park was only a mile from the Lower Ninth Ward. We were able to join in to the Nine Times Social Aide & Pleasure Club's annual second line parade in the Upper Ninth Ward (I will post photos).

Particularly enjoyable was to take the trolley from the terminus of the Saint Charles line to Canal Street via the Garden District. It takes nearly 45 minutes to run the complete distance but to see the 19th century homes is a must see.

New Orleans is the most European of cities in the USA .. and all the best for that. These shots were taken at Jackson Square in the French Quarter .. there is, of course, music everywhere in the city. 

Andrew Jackson statue

Basilica

Memphis, Tennessee, November 2015

From Nashville, on to Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis is famous for the blues and the home of the blues is Beale Street. We visited Beale Street on a quiet Monday .. but the music in each of the several Honky Tonk bars we went to was just too loud. Does music in a bar with 10 people have to be so loud that you could hear it in Nashville? Interesting to visit but not to listen to music, unless you have earplugs -- or are aged under 30.

We ended up at the Withers photography collection, which is right on Beale Street. Ernest Withers was a black news photographer who  photographed current events in Memphis over 60 years. The photographs are both interesting and challenging. Some of the photographs were taken in Beale Street right outside the collection at a time that it was often used for civil rights demonstrations in the 1950s and 1960s.

Beale Street on a quiet evening

The Station Inn, Nashville, Tennessee, November 2015

Nashville is also the home of bluegrass music. And the principal venue for bluegrass music is the Station Inn. We had an excellent  dinner next door at the 404 Kitchen prior to the show.

The concert was by The Boxcars, one of the great bluegrass bands. A great night out!!

Octopus Terrine at 404 Kitchen

Rabbit stew .. yum

Chicken -- perfectly cooked, at 404 Kitchen

The Boxcars

Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, KY, November 2015

From Lexington in Kentucky, on to Nashville, KY. This is the home of country music and the center of country music is the Grand Ole Opry. Fortunately for us, at this time of the year it is at the Ryman Auditorium. I have always wanted to visit the Ryman and also the Grand Ole Opry. Having them together was a bonus. We are not really country music fans, but to be able to see some of the very best performers in the field was a high point. 

The Ryman Auditorium was a baptist hall originally. Every seat has excellent site line to the stage, which is very close. You sit on the original pews, so bring your own cushions.

The Grand Ole Opry started as a radio show in the 1920s. It still has this flavor.

The High Line, NYC, October 2015Th

We have been to the High Line in New York City on several occasions. We always enjoy walking on this elevated park, running on the old elevated railway in Chelsea. Today, it was just magic with the Fall/Autumn colours.

The Standard Hotel

The way the original line has been integrated is just great.

Looking towards the IAC Building from Frank Gehry

Some of the original line, where the "new" line starts.

Alexander Graham Bell Museum, Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, NS, September 2015

Alexander Graham Bell and his family have very strong connections with Cape Breton Island. They bought several properties at Baddeck on Bras d'Or Lake in the 1880s and built a large summer house. There Bell and his wife conducted many experiments with flight and hydroplanes. The first powered flight in Canada took place on the ice on the lake in 1909 by the Silver Dart. The Bell descendants still own the house and the land although, as might be expected, it has become divided over the years. Parks Canada has built an excellent museum at Baddeck. There is a replica of the Silver Dart and both the remnants of the HD-4 hydrofoil and a replica.  

The Silver Dart replica

HD-4 remnants. It had been left on the beach at Baddeck until the 1950s!

Replica of the HD-4

The original engine of the HD-4 is in place on the replica. A straight 12.

Gaelic College, St Anns, Cape Breton Island, NS, September 2015

The Gaelic College at St Annes on Cape Breton Island is a very important element in the Gaelic life of the island. It has a variety of music and language educational programs, particularly during the summer. And in the Fall/Autumn is the base for the Celtic Colors festival -- which, unfortunately, we missed. 

There is a strong connection between the College and New Zealand. An important minister in the early Gael settlement of Cape Breton Island was the Reverend Norman MacLeod. Many followed him to St Annes, and were known as Normanites. He and his followers moved first to Adelaide and then, amazingly, to Waipu in New Zealand. The College is built on the MacLeod land and there is a stone to his memory on the grounds of the College.

The grounds of the College. The memorial stone to the Reverend MacLeod is on the right.

Memorial to the Reverend McLeod

Ceilidh on Cape Breton Island, September 2015

We stayed at Englishtown near to St Annes on Cape Breton Island for nearly a week. There is Gaelic music everywhere on Cape Breton Island and on our first night we went to ceilidh (loosely translated as kitchen party) at the Red Shoe Tavern in Mabou. Three hours of amazing Cape Breton fiddling.  

Summer Theater, Prince Edward Island, August

Given the population of PEI -- only 140k -- the summer music and theater is amazing. We passed by the old favorites of Ann of Green Gables (in its 51st season) for the 39 Steps at the Harborfront Theater in Summerside and Bittergirl The Musical at the Charlottetown Festival in Charlottetown. The 39 Steps was very innovative -- four actors playing 100+ characters ably assisted by innovative sets and equally innovative lighting. It was an homage to Hitchcock and to noir, more broadly. With some more recent references thrown in. Unfortunately, on the night we went there were less than 20 in the audience for a theater that can seat 300+. It stuck largely to the storyline of the John Buchan book (which I read when I was about 12 I think) but played completely for comedic effect. Not high art but great fun.

If Bittergirl The Musical comes to your town -- and it was the world premiere in the Festival -- rush out and see it. It is all about being dumped by crass boyfriends. The musical draws on the music of Rock and Roll and Motown  with many old favorites. The musical has been selling out each night and you can see why. Universal themes, great acting and singing, innovative staging and music wrapped around a very loose story line. The musical is based on a comedy from the mid-2000s but probably works better in this format. It deserves a wide audience beyond Canada.

Talking of high art, we also went to listen to "Music from the Sistine Chapel" featuring Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal at the Indian River Festival held in the lovely St Mary's Church in (no surprise here) Indian River. Magical church music of the renaissance sung a capella. This is obviously a fine group.

An Acadian stop, Edmundston, New Brunswick, August

Just into the New Brunswick border from Quebec are the towns of St Jacques, Edmundston and Saint Basile. This area is 95% francophone. Most are coming from the Acadians of Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick who were expelled by the British in 1755-1764. Many went back to France or New Orleans but others went into the hinterland. We stayed at the campground in Saint Basile -- one of the best campgrounds we have been on the trip thus far. Most staying at the campground were there for the summer season and were locals from the region. Every Saturday night they have music in the camp meeting house -- the particular night we were there was "Halloween." Yes, I know, Halloween is in October but they celebrated a camp ground Halloween before the camp closed for the summer. The music was largely traditional Acadian but there was an 83 year old Elvis and a Johnny Cash lookalike!! A great night ending at 11pm. Everyone at the campground was very friendly and welcoming -- we stayed an extra three days.

Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Ottawa, August

Chamberfest is 15 days of intensive chamber music, broadly defined. We had not just traditional chamber music, but also traditional Persian songs with Nexus Percussion, Scandinavian folk tunes and Broadway standards as well as new music. Concerts can start at 10am and end at 11:30pm for Chamberfringe.

Over six days we attended 17 concerts! Highlights were;

• Canadian soprano Suzie LeBlanc with Constantinople
• Montreal Guitar Trio
• Danish String Quartet -- these young guys are just world class
• Night of tribute to Beethoven
• Israeli Chamber Project
• My Turquoise Gaze -- love those traditional Sufi songs of love

Montreal and California Guitar Trios at Dominon-Chalmers United Church

Danish String Quartet played a regular concert and then went on to play the Chamberfest fringe at 10pm. An hour of Scandinavian Folk Musi

My Turquoise Gaze at the Fringe

Performers at the Beethoven Concert. Final piece of the evening was Ode to Joy in piano transcription. At times, James Parker's fingers were flying so fast it was impossible to see them. Magic.

Audience at Dominion-Chalmers United Church

A Sunday morning concert at Beechwood, National Military Cemetery

Beechwood