Summer Music Miscellanea

I have mid-summer brain right now, which makes it difficult to muster the effort required to write a well-researched blog post.  But the blog must go on, so here are some updates on the summer musical doings in the family.

• Louisa returned June 29 from a fabulous trip to a the Pacific International Children’s Choir Festival in Oregon with the Northfield Youth Choirs.  She blogged while on the trip (click here to see the posts) and was full of stories about the experience, in which the singers grew musically and got a glimpse of college life (they stayed in dorms on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene).

Louisa, on right, with her fedora twin, Synneva.

The choir did some sightseeing before and after the music festival.  Here’s a link to a video clip of the choir members singing “Bring me Little Water, Silvy” while visiting the fish market in Seattle’s Pike Place Market (Louisa’s way in the back, wearing a black fedora):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/northfieldyouthchoirs/5890691439/

• Sebastian has started tech rehearsals for 13, the Northfield Arts Guild’s summer show.  It’s a high-energy musical with an all-teenage cast that ran on Broadway a few years ago.  Seb plays a boy named Richie and also plays a rabbi (and gets to sing in Hebrew).  The show opens Thursday, July 14, and runs for two weekends.  You can order tickets online here.

The poster for 13.

• Louisa, Elias and I attended the Justin Roberts concert Wednesday night in Central Park, sponsored by the Northfield Public Library.  Roberts is a Chicago-based performer who once taught preschool in Minneapolis.  Steve and I were introduced to Roberts’ catchy, parent-friendly kids’ music by our friend Becca when Elias was a baby.  Roberts first performed in Northfield about 10 years ago and has returned almost every summer.  He was nominated for a Grammy this year, and I interviewed him for a NorthfieldPatch article in February.

Jungle Gym is the latest album by Justin Roberts/photo by Todd Rosenberg

Louisa was pretty sure she was the oldest non-adult in the audience.  It was strange to scan the crowd of parents and young children and hardly know any of them.  In earlier years, I would recognize almost all the concert-goers.  I guess that’s what happens when your kids grow up.  It didn’t matter, though, because Roberts is a great performer, and his music is enjoyable for anyone who’s ever been a kid.

• I can’t end the post without mentioning Steve’s great musical accomplishment while we were on our Mediterranean cruise last month.  He won a prize, a fetching Royal Caribbean travel wallet, for being among the top three finishers in the Finish the Lyric contest.

He and our friends Donna and Tiny also distinguished themselves by kicking off karaoke night with their rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”  I did not take any video of their performance, so you’ll just have to imagine the crowd’s enthusiastic applause at the conclusion of the six-minute song.