Sal Spends a Perfect Summer Evening at Blossom Music Center

Summer is almost over, and Sal and I haven't done a fraction of the things I hoped we would do.  Last night, however, we did something pretty awesome.  We went with our friends, David and Tom, to Blossom Music Center for a wonderful concert titled Cole Porter and Friends.  The inimitable Cleveland Orchestra would be playing, and soloists would be singing songs from several composers/songwriters:  Gilbert and Sullivan, Victor Herbert, Ivor Novello, George Gershwin, a couple of others, and finally by Cole Porter himself.

We started the evening with a delicious picnic prepared by Tom.  We sat in a shady spot on the lawn to enjoy our repast.

Before we could dig into the yummy picnic food, Sal had to come out of her case and have her picture taken with our music-loving companions.

By the time we finished eating and chatting in the lovely cool breeze wafting over the hill, and returned the picnic things to the car, it was almost time for the concert to start, so we took our seats.  I wanted to take some Sal pictures, but David and Tom thought waiting for intermission would be a better idea.  It is fortunate that I listened to their wise counsel, as latecomers were greeted with much ribbing from the conductor, the extremely entertaining Bramwell Tovey.  This gentleman also made humorous and informative commentary on the pieces being performed by the orchestra and soloists -- soprano Laura Whalen and baritone Hugh Russell. 

At intermission Tom and I walked to the front of the stage and I began to take pictures of Sal there.  Tom suggested turning around and taking a shot to show how big the crowd was, too.

Sal hanging out on the edge of the stage during intermission.

Tom helpfully holding Sal for this shot showing the big crowd filling the pavilion and much of the lawn.

As I continued taking pictures from various locations along the front of the stage, a cellist appeared.  Of course I brashly asked if he would pose for a picture with his cello and Sal, and he graciously agreed.

The cellist, named Alan, posing with Sal and one of her much larger relatives.  I wonder if this cello has a name?  Because of lighting issues, I did some iPhoto messing around with this picture.  I really like it!

I like how this shows the underside of the massive pavilion roof -- and the crowds returning to their seats.  Intermission was almost over -- and nobody wanted to be the object of the conductor's humorous reminders that being late is a no-no.

Blossom veterans know that there is no point in rushing to one's car and trying to make a quick get-away, because there are many cars and not many roads out of the maze of parking lots.  It is best to hang out for a while and then stroll to the car to avoid a frustrating traffic jam and retain the lovely musical glow of the evening.  I decided to take the opportunity to get some shots of Sal, showing the pavillion with lighted stage and empty seats.  Of course we had to wait until everybody left the area.

David and Tom patiently waiting for me to finish taking Sal photos so we could go home.  ;)

Sal's final portrait of the evening.  I did so many things to this picture on iPhoto that I don't remember what they all are.  I wanted the picture to have a warm evening feeling to it, and I think it does.

After this we strolled back to the car, retrieved our dessert --  Fudgy Oatmeal Bars  -- from within, and partook of this treat at a picnic table before enjoying a traffic-jam-free drive out of Blossom and all the way home.  It was a truly lovely evening -- great picnic, wonderful conversation, fantastic music, perfect weather!  Can't wait 'til next summer when we can go back to Blossom to see our incredible Cleveland Orchestra in this beautiful venue again!

(I've also been inspired to get my violin out of the closet.  I haven't really played it since high school -- which was a looooong time ago -- but seeing other people playing violins always makes me want to try it again.  Perhaps I should take a few lessons and see what happens.  I have discovered that there is a fiddling class nearby...  I would have to take refresher lessons first, but maybe next time fiddling is offered...)

Take Sal Out to the Ball Game!

Last night Sal and I went to an Akron Aeros game with my son, Christopher.  The objective was to get a picture of Sal with the team's mascot -- Orbit.  This idea popped into my mind as I remembered a sunny day last summer when I attended a game played by this team.  During that game, Orbit was walking around the stands posing for pictures with lots of people.  Since Sal likes to have her photo taken with famous (and not-yet-famous) people, it recently occurred to me that it would be fun to get a shot of Orbit holding Sal.  We ended up going last night, which was perfect -- considering that it was Beatles fireworks night -- and George Harrison is widely known to be a lover of the ukulele!

After a bit of a GPS snafu, we finally arrived at the ballpark.  As I approached the ticket window, a woman came over, asked if we needed tickets, and said that she had two extras.  Not being a regular attendee at baseball games, I wasn't sure if she was offering them for free or trying to sell them to us -- and didn't know how to ask.  After a bit of confused conversation, I decided to just buy some tickets from the ticket seller -- who was waiting throughout this exchange.  (Later Christopher told me that he thought she was trying to give the tickets to us for free.)  As I began the purchase process, a man approached and offered us two free tickets.  It seemed that we were fated not to purchase tickets from the patient man at the window, so we accepted the freebies and went in. 

As soon as we entered, we saw a Beatles cover band -- Hard Day's Night -- hanging out and taking pictures with some people.  I went over and asked them to pose with Sal.  I asked that "George" be the one to hold Sal, since the real George was such a uke guy.  "George" began to strum Sal and the whole group began to sing.  :)

Thanks, lads!

We took our seats and began to watch the Aeros versus the Reading Fightin' Phils.  After a while, I decided to take some Sal shots with the game in the background, so I went to the front of our section and put Sal on the wall.  I was taking several shots in hopes of getting one with a good play going on, when a girl asked me to move Sal because she (the girl) couldn't see.  I guess there are several ways of looking at this.  One is that Sal was blocking the girl's view and it was rude of me not to notice this.  Two is that if the girl had scootched a little bit to the right in her seat or sat up straighter instead of slouching down, she could have seen just fine.  Overall, I guess I should be glad that this young lady is being raised to be assertive, but politely so.  I of course removed Sal immediately and went back to my seat. As you can imagine, I didn't attempt to take any more photos of Sal on the wall -- at that location or any other.

The offending ukulele blocking a person's view of the field.  :(

Later in the game, Christopher helped me by taking pictures as I held Sal up in the air to get the shots below.  I didn't want to make anybody else mad at me by using the wall as Sal's foundation, so to speak.  (It is very possible that a different fan might have taken a more hostile tone if he/she felt offended by Sal's position in his/her line of sight.)  There were no people sitting near us in our row at various times during the game, so I don't think we bothered anyone.  Lots of people seemed to spend most of the game going up and down to the concession stands for more popcorn, nachos, hot dogs, pretzels, ice cream, fries, beverages, etc., so maybe nobody even noticed.

Nobody complained about me holding Sal up while Christopher took a few pictures.  I think this one is neat.

Isn't the sky beautiful?  It was truly a great night for a baseball game.  Not too hot, not too cold, not raining -- and a beautiful sky as the sun went down.  Perfection!

As you may recall from the first paragraph of this post, my goal was to get a picture of Sal with Orbit.  We did not see him walking around the ballpark -- only on the Jumbotron posing with kids who were having their birthday parties at the game.  I kept looking around for him, but didn't see him anywhere.  Finally, during one of the last innings, I saw him all the way on the other side of the park.  I grabbed Sal and the camera and rushed over there as fast as I could -- zigzagging around all the people waiting in line at the concession stands and strolling along.  (Why weren't these people watching the game!?)  As I approached I saw that Orbit was getting his photo taken as he was being hugged by various people.  I waited for him to be free, and asked if he would pose for a picture with my ukulele.  His handler said that Orbit had to go and started to lead him away.  I, not being as assertive as the young girl mentioned earlier, stood aside.  Two other families rushed in and got their pictures taken with Orbit!  One lady was posing with him forever it seemed, as her family member fumbled with his camera phone.  The handler finally whisked Orbit through a doorway and he was gone.  This whole outing had been intended to get this photo -- and I didn't get it.  Phooey!  I consoled myself with the thought that I had a photo with the Beatles band.  Thank goodness they were there!  But seriously, we had a great time at the game.  It was a lovely evening and I had very pleasant companions (Christopher and Sal).  But, doggone it, I wanted that picture!

I cut and pasted this image from Google.  If you try to imagine this guy holding Sal, you may understand my desire to take a photo of that -- and my disappointment at having victory snatched from my grasp.  It was, as they say, so close and yet so far...

After the game -- which the Aeros won 5-3 -- there were fireworks to Beatles music.  The display was really great, but how to take a picture of fireworks AND a ukulele at the same time? I ended up laying Sal in my lap and shooting across her.  Most of the photos came out pretty bad.  If the fireworks were sharp, Sal was very blurry.  In some of them I was holding the camera crookedly so that wasn't good.  (Couldn't actually see what I was shooting because the screen was not facing me.)  And in some of them just one person's head was sticking up from behind Sal, which looked very odd.  I've included the one I like the best.  Experimenting is fun!  I want to go to another game so I can take another shot at the fireworks.  (Pun intended, of course!)

Sal enjoying the Beatles fireworks. 

Sal Meets Jake Shimabukuro!!!

Sal was a very lucky ukulele last night!  She (along with a bunch of the fabulous Cleveland Jumping Fleas) attended the Jake Shimabukuro concert at the Kent Stage.  My ukin' friend Norma and I spent the afternoon walking around Kent, looking in some of the shops there, and having a delicious dinner at the Pufferbelly.  (If you see Norma, ask her about the Grouper Reuben sandwich -- sounds strange, but she says it's delicious.)

We got our tickets by pledging to the area's PBS station -- an excellent thing to do anyway -- and received tickets to a pre-show meet-and-greet as part of the deal.  This was going to be Sal's big chance to get a picture with Jake!

Before the meet-and-greet began, I wanted to get a photo of Sal with the Kent Stage marquee, but how to do it?  Norma volunteered to hold Sal up so I could do some fancy camera work and get Sal in front of the marquee, but it didn't work, which is okay.  I got this fun picture instead.

I could have tried harder to get a close-up of Sal with the marquee in the background, but if I had done that I wouldn't have this picture of Sal and Norma.

I took a couple shots and suddenly who popped up out of nowhere?  Bruce -- one of our Flea friends!  We didn't know he was going to be there, and were very happy to see him.

You can see why I like hanging around with the Fleas -- they are fun people!

We were standing around in front of the meet-and-greet location (an art gallery down the street from the Kent Stage), when a couple of people stopped and asked us about Sal.  This little uke is a great conversation starter!  I gave them Sal's card and we talked for a while.  They live a bit far away to attend Flea jams, but we encouraged them to try.  After they walked away, I realized I should have taken a picture of them with Sal, but I was so focused (pun intended) on the upcoming meet-and-greet that I didn't think of it until it was too late.  In a minute or two another Flea -- Nicole -- came by, too.  More smiles and laughs ensued. 

Soon it was time to go inside for the meet-and-greet.  Unfortunately, Bruce and Nicole didn't have tickets for that, so we said a temporary goodbye to them.  The line was full of happy people with ukes they wanted Jake to sign.  I can't imagine posing for pictures and signing autographs right before doing a show, but he was so gracious and nice to everyone.  I would be a nervous wreck, but he doesn't need to worry about messing up like I would!  After taking Sal's picture with Jake, I gave him one of Sal's cards, and said something goofy about checking out the blogpost featuring him.  (I'm always ridiculously nervous when meeting ultra-talented people I idolize.)  I walked away thinking, as I always do after saying something like that, "Why the heck did I say that?"

Jake, Norma, and Jiminy Christmas (the uke that Jake signed for Norma).  Sal isn't in this picture, but I had to include it.  :)

Jake and Sal!!!

We proceeded to the Kent Stage and saw Shelley (another Flea) there!  Sal felt it was necessary to get a picture with all of the Fleas (except for the camera-wielder -- moi) at the theater.

Shelley, Norma, Bruce (with Sal), and Nicole -- a fabulous bunch of Fleas!

After this was taken, yet another Flea (Jeff) entered the theater!  I asked everyone to hang around by the door after the show for a group picture -- and perhaps an outing for a beer or something.  (Sal really enjoys hanging out with this bunch!)  Before the show began I took some pictures of Sal on the edge of the stage.  I knew it was too dark, but had to take them anyway.

Where the magic is about to happen!

I took some pictures during the show and have to share a few -- even though Sal isn't in them.

Not a super sharp shot, but I like it anyway.  I've seen two previous Jake shows, and this one had a lot more visual stuff going on with the lights.  Pretty cool.

Touchingly beautiful melodies were played...

I don't think it's necessary to say that the show was mind-blowing!  Jake is incredible!  There were some problems with the sound at the beginning, and he was very cool about it.  He handled the situation with humor and soon everything was resolved.  We got to see Rudd (hope I spelled that right) come up on stage to change cables and do some other techie things.  Batteries were changed, etc. and the show resumed.  The technical difficulties were actually an enjoyable part of the show (for me anyway) because the whole thing showed Jake to be a good guy, which is important to Sal and me.  During the show he told some adorable stories about his 11-month-old son, and gave a shout-out to a Kent restaurant (I didn't catch the name, but he said they had the "best hummus") and a book/record store where he got a used cd that he was was very happy to find.  Sal and I experienced two hours of musical bliss! 

After the last amazing notes were played, a bunch of Fleas met near the doors for this group shot, which was taken by a helpful gentleman standing nearby.  (I think he was a security guy, actually.)

Tired, but happy, Fleas.  Some of us were exhausted just from watching Jake play!  Where does he get all that energy!?  From left to right: Jeff, Norma, Nicole with Sal, me, and Bruce.

After this, we all went home thinking about the incredible performance we had just witnessed.  What a great night!

Play Me, I'm Yours!

Sal and I don't play the piano, but we love music, so on Friday afternoon we hit the road to take photos of 25 specially painted pianos that have been placed around Cleveland.  This was our only chance to see them, because this public art project -- called Play Me, I'm Yours -- is almost over.  We were intrigued by the concept of pianos sitting outside 24/7 for anybody to play.  The Play Me, I'm Yours website states:  "Touring internationally since 2008, ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ is an artwork by artist Luke Jerram.   More than 700 pianos have now been installed in 38 cities across the globe, from New York to Cleveland, bearing the simple invitation Play Me, I'm Yours.  The project has reached more than two million people worldwide ... The idea is to encourage people to meet, connect, communicate, and express themselves through the shared experience of musical performance."  Sounds awesome, don't you think!?  A must-do photo op for my adorable pocket uke, who, I must say, is pretty good at meeting people and encouraging them to connect and communicate!

Sal and I have a friend who enjoys picture-taking, too, so she came along for the ride (and to take her own, Sal-less photos).  On Friday we met for lunch and hit the road.  We decided to proceed methodically -- starting with the pianos closest to the west side (where we live) and moving east.  In the course of the afternoon, we found and photographed 21 of the 25 pianos.  Because of time pressures we were unable to get to the others, but don't despair.  The story has a happy ending!

Our first piano!  In front of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Outside the Rainey Institute.

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A Zentangled piano at the Cleveland Clinic, near East 96th Street.

Yay!  University Circle contained some pianos within walking distance of each other!

In the gorgeous atrium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

In front of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

In front of the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.  This lady, Keiko Sato, was playing beautiful music on this piano!  She was visiting from Canton -- attending an event at the Cleveland International Piano Competition.

Back in the car to drive around a bit.  If we'd had more time, we could have walked to more of the pianos, but such is life.

In front of the Western Reserve Historical Society.

The next piano was almost the scene of a disaster!  I was taking photos and walked away for a moment to ask my friend, who was waiting in the car, a question.  I ended up getting in the car and driving away -- leaving Sal on the piano!  When we reached our next stop, I looked in Sal's case and saw that it was empty.  A sickening realization hit me.  I had unthinkingly walked away and left Sal unattended!  Anybody might have come by and taken her!  By now several minutes had already passed because we had experienced some difficulties finding the next piano on the twisty streets of the area.  In a panic, we rushed back and found that Sal was still where I had placed her.  You can imagine my relief!  I was so overcome I could have cried.

This could have been the last photo ever taken of Sal!  The location of this piano was Case Western Reserve University Village at 115. 

After that brief (thank goodness) panic, we hit the mother lode!  Ten pianos pretty close together -- all within a couple blocks of The Museum of Contemporary Art.  We walked around and saw the next bunch of them in a fairly short time.

This piano was being played by Theodor Watson -- stage name Teddy Ted.  He is a dancer, singer, etc. 

These ladies were having fun playing this piano, and agreed to pose for a photo with Sal.

Gotta love this one because it was in front of one of my favorite restaurants!  Chipotle!

The only reason I am posting this picture is because all of the pianos should be included.  The late afternoon sun was blazing on the front of this piano, which was in front of the equally black and reflective MOCA building.  Not a good photographic lighting situation!  This is the best shot I got.  :(

We almost missed this one.  It was tucked in the corner of ABC the Tavern's outdoor space.

Back in the car to catch a few more...

In front of University Hospitals.

In front of Severance Hall.

In front of the Cleveland Music School Settlement

We were out of time at this point, so we had to give up with only four more pianos to go!  Argh!  Wiser people might have said that enough is enough.  But we are not wiser people...  The rest of these photos were taken Sunday morning.

We couldn't find this piano on Friday afternoon, so I called the Kelvin Smith Library to ask about it.  I was assured that the piano was to the right of the main entrance doors.  We had been standing in front of those doors on Friday, but didn't see the piano.  (The library was already closed when we arrived, so we couldn't ask about it.)  Sure enough, when we walked around to the other side of the entrance on Sunday morning, there it was.

In front of the Case Western Reserve University Art Studio.

This is the piano Teddy Ted was playing on Friday, but we decided to stop and get a shot of the very interesting paint job, which was not visible while it was being played.  My friend and I thought this would have been a good piano to put in front of one of the hospitals!

We were very confused when trying to find this piano, because the map indicated that the piano was at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, but we located it at a home for seniors.

Outside Heights Arts.  Our final piano.  We found them all!

I think we all had a sense of accomplishment at this point.  We had found all the pianos and taken pictures of Sal with each one.  Unfortunately, there are several major projects in my house and yard that I could/should have been doing instead.  The question remains:  should I be taking time off from these projects to do things like this with Sal?  I'm pretty sure the answer is YES!  There will always be work to do, life is short, etc. 

And fortunately -- or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it -- while going around taking these pictures, I got ideas for more places Sal and I can go...