At Home: A House Concert!

A couple of years ago, Rick decided he would like to host a house concert, featuring a classical guitarist friend. He put out an alert on Facebook and emailed some others. About 30 people came and a tradition was born! Last month he hosted his fourth house concert and again, it was great success. 

This time, the "act" was the Grand Rapids Guitar Duo, who performed mostly classical guitar selections along with a jazz arrangement and some original pieces. The members were Brian Morris and Jonathan Marshall. 

A Little Night Music

All aboard for an early evening cruise on the Michigan Princess riverboat!

And here's a bit of night music to enjoy on our cruise! The classical guitar and cello duet, "Light Blue." (the composer, Giorgio Mirto, is heard in this playing.) Cue the music!

We arrived in time to stroll around the deck before the concert began. It was a perfect summer evening!

The Michigan Princess has been around for a long while. I was pleased to learn that a former high school classmate was now its owner/manager.

Inside, it has been beautifully appointed with numerous tables on its three decks to accommodate parties and a dance floor as well. I loved the details like the inverted acorn finials on the stairwell.

The view from above was lovely. This is Michigan's Grand River, which runs through much of the state.

I wouldn't want to swim in it, but there are plenty of fishermen and boaters and on this evening a number of them were enjoying the warm temperatures and sunny skies.

As we moved along, we could see some lovely homes along the riverbank.

Show time!

The evening included five pieces by Boccherini, Vivaldi, Paganini and Mirto and was a beautiful combination of guitar, violin, cello and viola.

We especially loved hearing our friend Giogio's piece beautifully played by Igor Cetkovic on cello and Matthew Cosgrove on guitar. Igor had been the cellist at the world premiere of this piece with the Saginaw Symphony last winter during his visit to Michigan.

As I listened it reminded me of  many wonderful times. When Rick was at music camp recently, he, too, took on the guitar part of this duo. (But I actually think the way it's written, the cello is the star. Which, I might add, I think is very generous for a composer who is a guitarist to do.)

It was a beautiful venue for classical music and a wonderful evening.

We were sorry to have it end.

For those in the mid-Michigan area, the next classical concert, an all-Vivaldi evening, will be on Thursday, July 12.

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A Day of Music

This and other posts are part of the "Paris Tour" party on Anita's blog, "Castles, Crowns and Cottages." The links are at the bottom of her lovely post HERE.) 

One of Rick's big dreams for his Parisian vacation was visiting the luthiers and guitar shops, with an eye toward choosing a new guitar for himself.

The district in Paris where there are multitudes of shops is a street called Rue du Rome and some of its sidestreets.

So, on another rainy day, we were off!

The streets in this area are named after the capitol cities of Europe -- it's no surprise that the Metro stop was called Europe.

 

The first shop we visited was one he'd heard of from the luthier we met on our first day, but they were closed for lunch.

So, we moved to the next one, where a lovely shop owner showed Rick many guitars, all of which he played.

Then we asked the shop keeper to play one, which was quite delightful!

After visiting the first shop, we were ready for lunch. The cafe on the corner looked nearby and inviting. 

Called La Lutetia, we were to discover a totally decadent and delicious omelet there! 

 

I love how dogs are present in cafes, restaurants and stores of Paris!

After lunch, we returned to our original destination. The shopkeeper was in the back, playing.

 

He invited Rick to do the same. While he played (and played and played), I made good tracks in my journal, settled into the comfy sofa in the front of the store.

 

Rick left that store with some music, but no guitar. The price ($10,000) and the thought of customs duty was a little bit overwhelming.

 

We window shopped around the area, finding a variety of fascinating shops.

 

A music shop offered some good deals on the sidewalk.

 

Inside, it was simply enormous, packed with sheet music.

 

Max Eschig was a publisher who was noted for his guitar publications. His company had once been at 48 Rue du Rome -- so of course, we had to take a photo!

All in all, our time at Rue du Rome was delightful -- if you are a serious music fan, you could do worse than spending all or part of a day trying out instruments.

And if you're a beginner, another version of the franchise could be found here, along with terrific CDs and sheet music.

After, we walked down toward the opera, where we would go tomorrow and did a bit of window shopping.

The displays were fabulous!

But we opted to spend our money at our favorite department store, BHV, located near Jerry's apartment. It's not inexpensive, but it's less than the others and the merchandise is as lovely.

 

Jerry fixed us a nice dinner and we had to agree that despite the rain, we had a lovely day!

Lessons from Paris

If you are planning a day like this -- interesting to one person, less so to the other, be sure to pack a book or journal. That well could be your only time to write in it -- or postcards, for that matter -- and your time will pass quickly.

Just because you window shop or even go into a grand store, remember, you may be able to get quite similar merchandise less expensively -- be a smart shopper and don't let the fabulous displays or emotion of the moment get in your way!