The first time I ever heard cello music was at a screening of the Chinese film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Although the movie featured astonishing cinematography and mystical martial arts scenes set against a background of exquisite Chinese landscapes, it was the music that made my jaw drop. I stayed for the credits; I had to know more about the haunting score. I never forgot that music, nor the artist who performed it, Yo-Yo Ma, so when I discovered the famous cellist was scheduled to give a solo recital at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida I immediately purchased a ticket.

I had no idea Yo-Yo Ma would be performing three of Bach’s Six Unaccompanied Cello Suites until I walked into the auditorium this evening and opened my program. Inwardly I groaned; I am not a fan of classical music, and Bach is one of my least favorite classical composers. Still, It was Yo-Yo Ma; I settled into my seat with an open mind.

From the very first note, I was mesmerized. The movements were at times dark and threatening, conjuring images of shadowy figures slinking through alleys, at other times melancholy or Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I spent a few days in the Tampa Bay, Florida area before traveling north to Illinois to visit my family for the holidays. One of the attractions I visited was the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where injured dolphins are rescued, treated, and released back into their natural environment. I watched in fascination as the resident dolphins jumped from the water on command, twirled in circles with half of their sleek bodies above the water line, and even jumped completely out of the water and balanced on the trainer’s platform.

I have long been fascinated with dolphins. While we know that they are extremely intelligent, there is still much about these gentle creatures we don’t understand. One of the more fascinating behaviors they exhibit is the ability to generate bubble rings by forcing air through their blowholes, as seen in the following video:

As if by magic, the dolphin does a quick flip of its head, generating a silver, donut-shaped ring in front of its nose. The ring doesn’t Read the rest of this entry »

So, I’m on the road again. Headed north. Which is crazy, because I hate the cold weather. But my entire family lives in Illinois and I travel back home for Christmas each year, so it is what it is. This trip, however, has presented a few challenges.

Things started to go wrong while I was still in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. On day three the temperature plummeted to 57 and the wind kicked up. The next morning I awoke with my annual sinus infection – a behind the nose raw kind of hurt that made it difficult to swallow. Usually, standing under a hot shower helps a lot, but this was the morning that I had no water in that lovely hotel in Clearwater Beach. I needed new sinuses and a shower that worked.

By the following day I had reached the home of friends in the Atlanta area, who always let me stay with them when I am traveling to Chicago because it is a very convenient midway point. Atlanta’s cold, gray weather ruled out any extended outdoor activity, however I had to wash my car, since it was covered with salt spray from the beach. Within an hour of putting the finishing touches on my now sparkling car, it began to pour rain and it didn’t stop for two days. Spending an hour at the car wash in the cold weather made my sinus infection worse and Read the rest of this entry »

As I travel north to visit my family for the holidays, I decided to stop the Tampa Bay area. This is one of the few areas of Florida that I had not considered prior to moving from North Carolina to Florida and I thought a tour of this area was long overdue. Among the many criteria I have when searching for a place to live is the quality of the beaches, and so this is where I began my investigation.

St. Pete Beach has a lovely strip of sand and clear water, but the town itself is very touristy. The sand is nice but not the pure white, sugar-fine stuff that can be found at other locales around Florida’s Gulfcoast.

St. Pete Beach

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I’m on the road again, traveling for another month. At the moment I’m wandering around the Gulf coast of Florida and checking out some of the lovely beaches on this side of the state. By day, I’m soaking up the sun, but by night I’m checking out some of the many Christmas events offered in the area.

It was an Old Fashioned Christmas in Dunedin, Florida last night, complete with twinkling lights, Santa Claus, and yes, even snow! This small town on the northern end of Tampa Bay attracts thousands of visitors for its lineup of Christmas events each year. Festivities begin with the Old Fashioned Christmas event, held last night, and continue through the month of December. The lineup includes a Holiday Boat Parade and Mistletoe Craft Market (both on Dec. 6); a Holiday Parade, complete with floats (Dec. 13); a Holiday Chorus (Dec. 14); Santa’s Calling, when Santa Claus telephones children from his Workshop at the North Pole (Dec. 17); and a Holiday Band Concert (Dec. 18). Read the rest of this entry »

Jason Mraz is the real deal. The whole enchilada. The complete package.

I discovered Mraz two or three years ago as I was flipping through the TV channels in a hotel room during one of my ubiquitous trips and landed on Austin City Limits. The show featured a live concert by this young guy I’d never heard of. The more I listened, the more astounded I became. In his music I heard elements of jazz, blues, bluegrass, reggae, rap, ballads, and more, all rolled up together to produce a sound unlike any I had previously heard. He even incorporated scat into his music, a technique made famous by Louis Armstrong in the 1920′s that involves singing random vocables and syllables without words at all: Be-be-de-bop-bop-bop-boo-ah.

In an interview on that same TV show, Mraz explained that because his parents were divorced when he was five, he split his time between their respective houses. When he stayed with one parent he was Read the rest of this entry »

John Mayer is tired of his own music; that much was obvious at last night’s concert at Tampa’s Ford Auditorium.

Mayer’s was the first concert I have attended in quite some time. The previous one was a joint Kiss/Aerosmith concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City in, I believe, 2001, and before that was a 1994 James Taylor concert in Indianapolis. James Taylor has always been one of my favorite artists. His music is timeless and he does not disappoint, despite the fact that he has been doing this for many more years than Mayer. Kiss and Aerosmith? Although they are performers from my era, they are not exactly my favorites, but I happened to be in NY when they were scheduled to appear, and so I went just for kicks. Again, their show did not disappoint.

During the past couple of years artists like John Mayer and Jason Mraz have gradually climbed to the top of my all time favorite list, sharing honors with the likes of James Taylor, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, and Seal. So, last night, with previous concerts as my frame of reference, I was prepared to be blown away by Mayer. I got to the amphitheater two hours early and stood on line for more than an hour, undaunted by the steady rain that eventually soaked through my hip-length raincoat and drenched the back of my jeans. Forty minutes past the scheduled opening time, Read the rest of this entry »