When I lived in Manhattan, I thought I was at the center of the cultural universe. So did everyone else I know. But the cultural center moved west with me. I could be out and about almost every night -- and that's without crossing the bridge to St. Louis.
Tonight, I face a quandary. On my calendar is a free Dixieland concert outdoors at the World Tallest Man Statue in Upper Alton. But each Wednesday I've been promising myself to stop by Jazz on Broadway to hear Gigi Darr and Ralph Butler, no cover charge. My upstairs neighbor Linda Miller just invited me to join her at the St. Louis Botanical Garden to hear Miss Jubilee and the Humdingers play on the lawn.
I'm opting for Gigi and Ralph and not just because Gigi is my new piano teacher. I already have two outdoor concerts on the books this week -- tomorrow night's band concert in my neighborhood park and Saturday the Alton Symphony Orchestra plays "In Harmony with Nature" at The Nature Institute on the bluffs. The 50-year-old Alton Symphony, by the way, is considered one of the premier community orchestras in the Midwest. Take that New York Philharmonic and your Great Lawn concerts.
Tonight, I face a quandary. On my calendar is a free Dixieland concert outdoors at the World Tallest Man Statue in Upper Alton. But each Wednesday I've been promising myself to stop by Jazz on Broadway to hear Gigi Darr and Ralph Butler, no cover charge. My upstairs neighbor Linda Miller just invited me to join her at the St. Louis Botanical Garden to hear Miss Jubilee and the Humdingers play on the lawn.
I'm opting for Gigi and Ralph and not just because Gigi is my new piano teacher. I already have two outdoor concerts on the books this week -- tomorrow night's band concert in my neighborhood park and Saturday the Alton Symphony Orchestra plays "In Harmony with Nature" at The Nature Institute on the bluffs. The 50-year-old Alton Symphony, by the way, is considered one of the premier community orchestras in the Midwest. Take that New York Philharmonic and your Great Lawn concerts.
