Rain...and Wind

It's rain that Texas certainly needs, with much of the state still in severe drought, but I wished it could have held off a bit longer yesterday.  Unfortunately it was pouring down as we set off for the Dallas Wind Symphony concert, just a hop away at the Meyerson Symphony Center in The Dallas Arts District.  With our usual frugality (not innate in my case, but an article of faith to my spouse), we parked in the $5 lot at One Arts Plaza.  Normally this provides us a pleasant stroll down Flora Street to our destination, but last night it was a struggle against the elements which left us rather soggy from knee to toe.  Nevertheless we thoroughly enjoyed the concert.

If you live in the Dallas area, if you have never been to a Dallas Wind Symphony concert, give it a try.  We went for the first time this past fall and were delighted both by the music and by the high good spirits of it all. The Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony also performed last night, and the place was packed with excited (and voluble) middle and high school kids, most of them members of various bands.  A touching note: on the program was one of my favorite pieces, Ottorino Respighi's Fountains of Rome which had been transcribed for winds many years ago by none other than the father of the DWS's energetic and personable artistic director and conductor Jerry Junkins, Fred Junkins who was in the audience.