Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Oh What A Night and Flute Lessons?


That post title ought to confuse a little, but there is a simple explanation.

First, on Saturday night Guitar, Pic-E, The Bride and myself went to see "Jersey Boys" at the Buell Theater in downtown Denver. That's the Oh What A Night part of the title and it was. This was a high powered musical with lots of great music that took me back to my high school days.

The show is the story of Franki Valli and The Four Seasons. I have enjoyed their music since they "made it big" but never really knew the story of the group. The stage show only hit the highlights and included plenty of great music so there was not brain overload in trying to follow the plot. One particularly interesting tidbit was that actor Joe Pesci was a boyhood friend of Franki Valli, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi, three of the four Four Seasons. It was Joe Pesci who introduced them to Bob Gaudi who became the fourth Four Seasons and was the creative song writer for the group.

The show won a Tony Award in 2006 and has been touring the country ever since. All I can say is Oh What A Night! We had great fun, tapped our feet all evening and left the theater with a smile on our faces.


Before the show we stopped at the restaurant 1515 for dinner. The Bride and I had been to this restaurant several times before and always enjoyed it. Guitar and Pic-E had never been there before and from their reaction I think it will go on their "recommend" list.

A great meal and great entertainment....life is good. If Jersey Boys comes to your city don't miss it.

OK, so what's the deal with flute lessons?

Some time ago I reported that on my way back from New Mexico I stopped in Taos and bought a Native American Flute. I had been thinking about learning to play one for a while and finally pulled the trigger.

This is a very simple instrument that even a clutz like me is supposed to be able to play with just a little practice. It's the perfect instrument to take on my RV trips as it's small, requires no electricity and sounds great outdoors.

After a series of events that I won't detail, I ended up with a flute made by High Spirits Flutes in Arizona. The picture above is the model flute that I bought. I have been playing it for about a month on my own and decided that maybe I should take a lesson or two just to get me started.

It just so happens that there is a pretty well known Native American Flute artist by the name of Eric Herrera that lives in the Denver area and he teaches lessons. I contacted him and had my first lesson yesterday. It was just an introductory lesson but I learned enough to know that I want to continue the lessons for a while. I don't think I will threaten any professional musician's career but it is a fun thing to do and it keeps me off the streets.

As a final note, the weather here has been wonderful for the last few days. Clear, dry and temps in the upper 50's. It was so nice today that I rolled out the Ruckus scooter and took it for a drive. This is the kind of weather that makes me get out the maps and start planning trips.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year........

Thanks for visiting.

2 comments:

janet copenhaver said...

Sounds like a wonderful time. I should take advantage of events like this when living in Denver. I use to but have gotten lazy about getting out, especially in crowds.
Oh to be able to play a flute. Would drive my husband and dogs crazy.

I've lost your email I think but wanted to reply to your comment on my blog. The squirrels in Denver are OUT of control. I won't put bird food out in any way shape or form. It's depressing that they've taken over. The other thing I wanted to tell you is hubby saw 3 deer on our street in Denver, close to Havana and Mississippi. Saw some on that golf course there by Lowery as well, so one never knows where you'll see them.

denverdoc said...

I went to Jersey Boys and loved it. Bought the soundtrack; the best way to get my son roaring out of bed (in a rage) in the morning is to put it on in the kitchen, crank it up, and dance and sing along to Franki and the boys.

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