I attended a great new program at the Mississippi Museum of Art last night known as Music In The City.  It is a series of free concerts one Tuesday a month at St. Andrew's Cathedral and the Mississippi Museum of Art.  Last night was a cheerful evening of Chamber Music for violin and piano featuring Marta and Danuta Szlubowska.  Marta, a native of Warsaw, Poland is the Concertmaster of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and Danuta is her mother, both teach music at Millsaps College as well.  The event was held in the Trustmark Grand Hall at MMA and the program consisted of the Sonatina in G Major, Op. 100 by Antonin Dvorak, Mediation from "Thais" by Jules Massenet and concluded with a rousing Zigeunerweisen (Gipsy Airs) Op. 20 by Pable de Sarasate.  This piece brought back a recent memory of Marta's performance at Bravo Two, when MSO took on Astor Piazzolla's The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires with great flare and success!  This Music In The City program was delightfully conceived by John Paul and finely delivered by the Szlubowska women. 

The next performance will be Tuesday, January 13, 2008 at MMA featuring John Paul and Sibyl Child visiting songs of Claude Debussy.  For more information call the Museum at 601 354-1535 or go online at www.msmuseumart.org

Sophia's Restaurant at the Fairview Inn furnished lite snacks that were tasty and seasonal. MAC Commissioner David Trigiani and I were partial to the holiday cheese straws that came with a nice zing and a nutty sesame flavor.  

It was a wonderful way to spend a Tuesday evening in the fading light of winter's sunset and support the vast artful offering of our capital city.  

Bravo!

Christmas in Bude

Yesterday, I was most honored to be the Grand Marshal of the Franklin County Christmas Parade -- not Santa, but the Grand Marshal. According to Franklin County native and former Chair of the Mississippi Arts Commission, Melody Maxey and Editor of the Franklin County Advocate, Mary Lou Webb, I was the first ever GM of the parade that was not a politician. Some would argue that point, but I was, nevertheless, the GM. I was typically under dressed and had to borrow a pair of green gloves from Melody and an overcoat from the Superintendent of Education. I walked the two blocks of downtown Bude well-clothed and confidently waving and wishing the residents a Merry Christmas. The local children called from the curb, "Who are you?, Where is Santa? and Why don't you have any candy?"! I kept a positive outlook in spite of these distractions.
The best news is that we made many good contacts with school, community and local business leaders. We have long worked to get an arts foothold in SW Mississippi and this outing was a great start. The Holiday Luncheon that preceded the parade was an amazing spread of good, homemade foods prepared by the locals and stretched across three rooms of Melody's gracious old home just a stone's toss from the shore of the Homochitto River. There were two dessert tables, one full length dinning room table just for relishes and two roaring fireplaces. Talk about good. There was pork roast, dressing, green beans and FOUR different styles of devilled eggs. The hundreds of folks who attended the gathering ranged from High Schools kids to State Senators. And then there we were.
Malcolm