I had to attend UWW's String Ensemble and University Chorus Spring Concert Friday. The price was right, (free) it was easy to get to, and it's the last concert of this school year. Though the audience could have been larger for this great performance, those in attendence were appreciative and enthusiastic.

Spring was the theme among the twenty or so pieces, split between the violin trio and chorus, some going back 500 years. While many folks have difficulty just singing in English, this finely-tuned choir sang equally well in French, German and Italian, as well as English. With ten sopranos and only three altos the higher voices really carried the songs. Everyone seemed to enjoy being part of such an amazing and pure performance and there were plenty of smiles on display.

Though the String Ensemble was amazing, especially in their last piece - Pachelbel's Canon in D, I didn't much care for the one piece the men's chorus performed. Maybe it was the piece itself, but their version of Toller's A Red Red Rose seemed to lack enough feeling to match the lyrics of the song.

Having all year to practice together as a chorus really paid off. This was their finest performance of the year by far. I'm so glad the rest of the audience enjoyed it as much as I. We gave them a well-deserved standing ovation and called them back for a very fun encore of Passereau's Il es bel et bon.

Because director Brian McLinden chose to not have an intermission, I was back home less than two hours after I left. I seriously wasn't even missed. How unfair is that?

I have my ticket for today's Waukesha Choral Union production of Mozart's Requiem at St. Joe's. If I enjoy it half as much as UWW's concert it will be money well spent.

I share this machine with two teenagers and a cat, so that could explain why I haven't been doing a lot of writing lately. Fortunately, Pepi just stays put where it's warm atop the monitor, or I'd still be waiting. Now that I have the time though, thought I'd talk about what I did last weekend.

Much of what I do on weekends I hear about first on WaukeshaNOW, and last week was no exception. I find that the site's community events description is a little more in depth and easier to access than the alternative.

I went to the UWW play God Willing: A Twology not because I'd heard it was good or even because I'd heard of it before. I checked it out because it promised to be different. Two avante-garde plays in one with seating on the stage for the audience. I won't try to describe it because I can't. I can't relate it to anything I've seen before. It was entertaining, serious and thought-provoking. It was intimate and dark, quiet and loud. I guess you could say it was a good play for the university because they tried something outside "normal" and it was a good experiment. 

Saturday morning I joined my confirmation group for a service project at Jeremy House, a homeless shelter for individuals with mental issues on Moreland Blvd. We prepared breakfast for the guests and learned more about the facility. It was a worthwhile experience for all of us, and fun too.

After mass last Sunday I interviewed candidates for confirmation to see if they had any thoughts, good or bad, on the whole process and to make sure they grew spiritually in this last year of preparation. Tomorrow is confirmation rehearsal.

Later Sunday I attended Waukesha Choral Union's production of Handel's Messiah while not realizing what I came to see and hear. I penciled the Carroll College event on my calendar because WaukeshaNOW made it sound good and, the best part, it was free. I arrived after the last of the programs had been handed out and, because I've never been to "Messiah" before, didn't recognize it. Bumping into a friend at intermission, I mentioned how religious all the pieces were. "Well, it is Messiah. The whole concert is related to the bible, starting with the Old Testament and ending with the New." She showed me the program and every aria, recitation and chorus was straight from a bible verse or psalm. Up to this point the one thing I knew about "Messiah" was the Hallelujah Chorus. Two and a half hours after the start of this concert I was much better informed. It's a monumental production with orchestra, pipe organ, soloists with community members joining the chorus. The concert was fully funded by donations from individuals and businesses. It was director Gregory Carpenter's last production of Messiah. His last production with the Choral Union will be in celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday: Mozart's Requiem at St. Joe's Church in Waukesha, May 4th, with orchestra and soloist. I'm going to pencil this one in too, and hope I don't forget why.  

By now Mrs. Lee is wondering if I'm seeing someone because of being gone so much last weekend. (The family is always invited, but my tastes often differ from theirs.) I later attended Vespers, or evening prayer, at St. William. It's something I've not done before and my family wouldn't have enjoyed either. It was an interesting mix of hymns, readings, reflection and incense. All the prayer without the hassle.

After Vespers I joined 80 to 90 others from my parish to learn about Judaism and Jewish traditions in a Seder meal, something I've wanted to try but never had the chance. I felt this Lent was a good time to understand the roots of my own faith and this was a wonderful way to do it. The nicest Jewish couple, Sherry and David, led us on this trip to the past. Seder, the Passover meal, is full of lessons and history, details, ancestors, special diet and ways of preparation. I'd have to say everything had meaning and relevance and the meal was history come to life. Everything was performed in order, involved the oldest to the youngest, was entertaining and lasted about 2-1/2 hours. The education we received and meeting Sherry and David was wonderful. This meal was far more involved than any other meal I've shared, and I would happily do it again.  

The theme of the weekend seemed to lean toward religion. Not a bad thing with Holy Week beginning tomorrow.

Within the last week and a half I walked, drove, rode a bike and chased a hot air balloon to the University of Wisconsin Waukesha.

A week ago Saturday was the last time I crewed, possibly for the season. All three balloons that took off together from a park on County K in Pewaukee landed together on the north parking lot of the university. Distance of travel; about five miles. It was fun landing in my own neighborhood for once.

This last Friday I attended the free Fall Instrumental Concert featuring the UW-Waukesha Handbell Choir and the Symphonic Band. Really impressed by the music and little stories behind the music. This was the first year of playing for five of the six handbell choristers and they did a fantastic job. The Symphonic Band took on more than one challenging piece and played extremely well also.

Sunday the university offered free hot chocolate and fireworks after the parade. Friendly volunteers had tables set up to do craft activities with the many children there. It was the second day of the second annual Festival of Trees, a fundraiser for the UW-Waukesha Foundation, a group that supports and promotes students and programs at the university.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the current photo exhibit in the Fine Arts Center on the south end of the campus. The gallery, open just 10:30 to 1:30 M-F, is currently showing 20 or so large, beautifully mounted and arranged photos by Janica Yoder.

Today I enjoyed even more meeting photo artist Janica Yoder during a Visions and Expressions lecture at the university. We saw many slides of her work and she commented on every one. She told us what camera she used, where her models were from, what she was feeling, where she took the photos, how she created certain effects... I found several of the things she said very interesting. First, she loves to photograph at Paradise Springs, the same place I was taking pictures at Thursday. Also, she always uses film, not digital cameras and she exclusively uses natural light for all her photos. We all enjoyed learning how her photos were created as much as seeing the slides themselves. But one of the nicest things of the afternoon was viewing the exhibit once again after learning how the photos were done. Janica's talk gave a lot of substance to the exhibit and I appreciated even more.

The free Friday Night Live concerts in Downtown Waukesha don't start for another month, June 1st, but it was hard to tell on a recent Friday that it hasn't already begun. A week ago Friday evening, when the weather was nice and doors were open, I found myself downtown with about an hour to spare so I explored. I was pleasantly surprised by the many musical offerings at bars, a coffee shop and bookstore. I stopped by Martha Merrell's Books and Norm told me there's going to be a new stage near Rochester Deli this summer with the added possibility of live radio remote broadcasts by The Fish. Norm is a big promoter of the Friday concerts and doesn't quit when summer's over. Martha Merrell's continues to host groups on Friday nights and has already scheduled Mike and Kathy of G-Man Music, Bill and Lin O'Connor, Tom and Barb Webber, and Spring City Grass for Fridays in May.

Downtown Waukesha isn't the only place to find good music on a Friday at no cost. I thought about going to UWW's Spring Concert this last Friday because I live a couple blocks away, because it was free, and because the Handbell Choir was performing. I love handbells. I forgot about the concert, though, when I read on WaukeshaNOW.com about the "Gathering of Cultures," another event at UWW. It sounded pretty good - free ethnic food, a band, a jazz and blues singer, Latin dancers, a pinata and more. I expected a couple small samples of food but got a plateload, probably my only chance to taste food from Speen Queen BBQ and Mardi Gras. Not bad.

It looked like the blues singer was going to be a no-show so, after the pinata but before leaving, I wandered the hallways and came across the ad for the Spring Concert, which had already started. I walked fast to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in time to hear and see the Handbell Choir perform, a stroke of luck. At concert intermission I wandered back to the Commons to see how the setting up of the band was coming, then back to the Theatre for the Symphonic Band. The Symphonic Band is unique because it consists of students from UWW and other schools plus members of the community. I had a few minutes before the symphony took the stage so viewed some fantastic student art in the gallery outside the theatre.

After the final bow, it was probably around 9:00, the Reggae band, Mountain Lions International, had started. The crowd had thinned because of the no-show jazz singer, which is too bad because this band rocked. The remaining 25 or 30 of us, some dancing, had the time of our lives. The band truly enjoyed singing and dancing, drumming and strumming till past midnight. I was amazed by the songs, none of which were offensive, and I loved the upbeat tempo, too.

Mountain Lions International have an interesting story to tell, and not just through their music. The Lions got their start in 1997 when two students from Sierra Leone, West Africa, met at UW Whitewater and discovered they had similar tastes in music and a flair for song writing. They later formed the makings of a band with bass guitarist Jon, lead guitarist Chris, both from Wisconsin, and drummer Juan, from Mexico.

I'm fortunate to be able to partake in many local events and try to keep expenses to a minimum. These two free UWW events were among the best I've been to and it shows how well WaukeshaNOW.com works. I saw it there first.