Columbus concert

Last night was the concert season opener for the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. Chuck was introduced on stage by the music director, David Bowden. The maestro made the mistake of handing Chuck the microphone to say a few words. After expressing his excitement about being a part of the CIP organization, Chuck started making wisecracks about his new boss!

We had free tickets to the concert, and all of the people sitting next to us were excited to be sitting next to Chuck, the "celebrity!" We also had to go to the post-concert reception with all of the orchestra big shots at a fancy nearby restaurant. We are learning the art of shmoozing, and getting used to staying up WAY past our normal bedtime!


Here is a picture of the front of the fancy blue "Rhapsody" Steinway piano sent from New York for the concert. The piano and bench were blue, with small white mother-of-pearl stars all over it. Even the hammers inside of the piano were blue.

This morning I played at a church in Indianapolis where one of my friends and colleagues at work is the music director. It was a very different kind of service, called Taize, and very meditative. Chuck has his youth orchestra rehearsals today, and I think they are already starting to work on their Christmas music! I can't believe it's October already - the leaves are all just starting to change here, and it's getting very pretty. The drive between Bloomington and Columbus is a great place to go leaf-peeping!

Because of the concert, I didn't get to see the Ohio State-Penn State game, but I probably would have just been upset anyway. The good news is that IU won its Homecoming game. We saw Coach "Hep" in the parade on Friday. Lenny seemed to enjoy the parade a lot - despite the fire trucks - he actually watched the different groups going by very attentively!