If I Cannot Fly

Holiday Organ Spectacular
December 6, 2008 - 8:00pm
Toledo, OH - Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle

David Higgs - organist
Lisa Vroman - soprano

The drive to Toledo is never a pleasant one - three and a half hours of mostly state routes and flat land - but Saturday took the cake.  In southern Ohio (where I’m from), the roads were covered in snow, which made driving very slow indeed.  Even worse, once I started going north, the snow had melted a bit on the roads and then froze as ice.  Ugh.  Altogether, it took me five and a half hours to get to Toledo this time, and I saw numerous accidents along the way.

I’ve been to Toledo a few times, most recently in 2007 to see the Phantom tour, but I’d never been to the downtown area before.  It was surprisingly nice!  The only weird thing was that the streets were seriously deserted; I parked in a garage and didn’t see anyone while I walked over to the hotel a couple of blocks away.  We stayed in the Crowne Plaza hotel, which was nice, and ate at the hotel’s restaurant.  We were the only people there except for a couple of guys at the bar and the staff, and our waiter told us that Lisa and David had eaten there earlier that evening.

The Peristyle is beautiful, and our seats were perfect.

I’ve never been very keen on organ music, simply because it reminds me of church.  David Higgs, however, was excellent.  It was amazing to watch his feet move; I’d never realized how much concetration and effort it takes to play the organ before.  It makes me appreciate Erik’s organ playing on a whole new level in Leroux; it was really like watching a very graceful dance being performed in front of you.

Lisa was, of course, beautiful.  Her voice was even more gorgeous than I remembered it to be, and she put so much emotion into her singing.  I could have gladly sat there all night just listening to her sing and never grown tired of it.  I also loved her dresses!

There was also a trumpeter from the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (I didn’t even realize that Toledo had a symphony orchestra!) that accompanied David and Lisa during “Let the Bright Seraphim.”  It was one of my favorite songs of the evening.

It was definitely worth the trip up to Toledo!

Well, I’ve tried having a blog on my site before, but I ended taking it down for a couple of reasons.  The fact that it was yet another way for someone to tail me around the internet was probably the biggest reason that I took it down.  Creepy internet people are creepy.  :P

I have a livejournal, but it’s the same as having a blog on my site for several reasons.  I mainly use my LJ to keep in contact with friends and letting them know what’s going on in my life.  I usually don’t write excessively about things that I’ll probably blog about here.  Plus, since this is hosted on my site, you kind of expect it to be more about me.  ;)

So, here goes take two of a blog on my site.  Hopefully this one will work out better.

Anyway, this weekend I am off to Toledo to see Lisa Vroman in concert.  I’ve always wanted to see her as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like I’ll ever have that chance.  The concert will be a good second choice though.  :)  And in less than two weeks I’ll be in Las Vegas to see Phantom again!  :)