Musical Month

When I say there is exceptional music in Texarkana, I'm not exaggerating.  I just counted. I've been to six concerts since April 6th. And I haven't gone more than 5 miles from my house. 

In reverse order: 

May 5th. Soul Fest

The Texarkana Chorale held their final concert of the season. It was at a Baptist church on the Arkansas side of town. Marty commented when we walked in, "I don't think I've been to a Baptist church before." 

I replied, "This is the second one I've been to in 24 hours." But more on that in a moment.

If you will please think of every stereotype that involves a Baptist church in the South and the words, "Soul Fest," and you have the general idea. Now then, scrap the stereotypes. Imagine little old men wearing suspenders, in their 90s of white, brown, green and purple skin standing up, raising hands and singing along. The music was blow-your-socks-off amazing. And I'm not just saying that because Polly is a Soprano I. In fact as I write this post, Polly is standing behind me in my bedroom and singing "Total Praise," one of the songs they belted out. 

Imagine these folks singing and dancing
(to everything but the National Anthem, which they did sing)

May 4th. Josh Wilson 

This was held at the Beech Street Baptist Church. Though I hadn't heard of him until Corona Ruthie invited me, Josh Wilson is a pretty big name in the Christian Rock circles. I say this because there had to be only 75 people at this concert. And boy did they miss out. The guy was multi-talented and hilarious. 

Twenty dollars for a semi-private concert.  

Beech Street Baptist Church, built in 1904
and right across the street from St. Ed's--built in 1903 (the Arkansas Catholic church).

April 25: Polly's Recital

I almost didn't make this one. My plane from St. Louis landed in Little Rock that afternoon and I got home at 4:30 for the 5 p.m. concert. Polly performed a song she wrote which included lyrics and piano accompaniment. 

Texarkana College recital. Many are also in the Chorale. 

April 17: Dueling Pianos 

Tessa bought tickets for Leah, Deb the Queen of the Coronas, and me to see the Dueling Pianos. I'm often accused of knowing "everybody" in town. But hey! If you start by knowing nobody, everyone is a friend (unless they work for Tessa's brokerage. Then, they hate me.). The pianist I took the picture of is my pal Toni's brother. They look alike and he's probably just as cool as she is. 

April 13: His Harmony 

The Church of Christ hosted His Harmony, an acapella group. They've been together for thirty years and tour around the country. What I truly find fascinating is apparently the Church of Christ doctrine forbids music. Or maybe they forbit musical instruments. I'm not exactly clear on this. Sometimes I don't think they are either. At any rate, I find it interesting they hosted a concert. I find it even more interesting that Deb and Leah are so into music given their religion isn't big on this. I went with Tessa and Deb.

His Harmony

My birthday present from Deb, the Queen of the Coronas.

April 6 Pink Floyd-ish

I told Marty this is what I wanted for my birthday. ONLY this. The night of the concert, Marty found out I knew the words to every Pink Floyd song. EVER. This "Pink Floyd" was a cover band from Ontario with the Texarkana Symphony playing accompaniment. They did not disappoint. The reason I wanted Marty to go was because I had a boot on my foot and couldn't drive. Plus, this wasn't the Church of Christ crowd kind of music.  However, the Church of Christ crowd doesn't know what they are missing.

Trivia: I saw Roger Waters in concert,
(7th row, center stage) on my 17th birthday.

This was the best concert of all of the ones I saw.