Artscape

Went to Artscape yesterday (Saturday, July 22nd). Natalie bought a pair of earrings, with a matching necklace, from Just My Imagination - Metal & Wire Wrapped Jewelry. They're made from leopard skin jasper. We wondered up Mount Royal Avenue - Natalie looked at the stuff on display in little tents while I checked out the the sculptures set up on the median strip - one of my favorite things. We heard Lake Trout play a few songs. I liked them, they seemed kind of psychadelic. After that we practically ran back down Mount Royal Avenue to the Meyerhoff to catch a free show by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. It was perfect timing, it started to pour right after we got inside. This was the second show of the day - the first featured traditional classical music prior to the 20th century. We saw the second show - music of the 20th century and beyond. It was great. They started of with a waltz by Katchetarian. One of the members of the orchestra, Chris Dudley, played a piece he wrote for the EVI - Electronic Valve Instrument, a kind of synthesized horn. Next, one of the orchestra's violinists, Ellen Pendleton Troyer, did a piece of fiddle music in three parts by Mark O'Connor. The pieces featured fiddle music from Ireland, Appalachia and Texas. She also did a song by Jean Luc Ponty called "New Country".

Next they did a piece by Michael Daugherty called Hell's Angels, about the motorcycle gang. The bassoon section came walking through the crowd dressed as bikers. I really liked it but Natalie thought it was too long. I think bassoons have been on the soundtrack of every horror movie ever made. When the show was over it had stopped raining and we walked over to the food court, which was packed. Natalie bought a blooming onion that she liked but I wasn't thrillled about (it wasn't crispy enough). We sat under a tent by another stage and listened to the Pale Stars play a few songs. They were good. It poured again while we were sitting there. We made a break for the "Shorts In A Tent" pavillion and saw a couple of animated shorts. It really started blowing and raining while we were inside - the tent, which was huge, started lifting off the ground and a couple of the side supports fell out. That was it for us and we headed back home.