Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony does New York

This past weekend, Scott Stewart (commissioner of Rise for band) and the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony visited New York to perform at Carnegie Hall. On Friday, they came by Juilliard and gave an extra concert on the Lincoln Center Plaza, and I was around to hang out with the group for a little while. I have to say the band had great presence and intonation, especially for playing outside in the almost-rainy jungle-heat of a New York summer afternoon.

I had a good afternoon meeting many of the band members, and I managed to goad them into posing for a group picture (not an easy task):



I hope you all had a great Carnegie concert, enlightening visit to New York, and a safe trip home!

The Old Mill

Went out walking this morning with the camera, and headed down to the nearby "Old Mill" which is mildly famous for appearing in the opening credits of "Gone With the Wind". It was built in 1933 to capture the feeling of an abandoned mill from the 1800s. It's a beautiful spot in the midst of North Little Rock (the whole area here (Lakewood) is atypical of the endless sprawl of American suburbia, thanks to the vision of Justin Matthews).

Here's the mill itself:



A bridge nearby, over the lake:



Everything that looks like petrified wood is actually molded concrete. It's smooth and has always felt slightly alien to the touch, but I dig it.

There are several lakes nearby - here's some of the local wildlife. The big one came after me...




All in all, it was a spectacular morning to go out for a walk...

Murfreesboro, Arkansas

Today, my father, brother, and I drove down to Murfreesboro, Arkansas (where my dad grew up, and home to the only diamond mine in North America) to take some pictures and see some relatives. We had lunch at the "Squat and Gobble" BBQ restaurant. I ordered ribs, not realizing just how freaking BIG they would be. I was too busy wrestling them to the ground to get a picture (I'm no match for the food-pictorial obsessed John Mackey). Here's a picture of the "Squat and Gobble" (any comment I could make regarding the name would simply detract from it):



Here's the lunch crowd (left to right: me, my cousin Misty, my father, aunt Jane, and my brother Ben) after we'd squatted and gobbled all we could:




We also got to ride out into the deep woods to check out an old defunct train bridge (my dad is recreating the town of his youth in a model train layout, so we're scouting for authentic details). On the way through several fields, we were surrounded by cows - they literally swarmed around all sides and kept us from moving for a few minutes. My brother and I were riding in the back of the pickup truck (you've just gotta embrace the lifestyle when you're down there...):



And here's the remnants of the train bridge - it's just several piers now. Ben had to wade out into the cool creek water to get this shot:



It doesn't look like much here, but it was eerie to drive far out in the middle of nowhere, and suddenly come upon these ancient artifacts of another time, still standing...

I have to go check for ticks now...