Mayor Rob Marlowe
This coming Sunday, February 28th, brings with it the annual Festival of Choirs at the First United Methodist Church of Hudson. Five choirs, including the choirs from both the Community Congregational Church on Circle Blvd and the First United Methodist Church at Jefferson & Indiana, will be participating. The choirs from Hope Lutheran and Faith United Methodist will round out the groups singing.
As a member of the choir at First United Methodist of New Port Richey, I’ve been rehearsing the songs we are going to sing for a couple of months now. They are challenging songs to learn, but sound VERY nice now that we are getting the hang of them. I’d go so far as to say that some of these pieces are harder to learn than some of the choruses from Handel’s Messiah. It safe to say that I haven’t worked this hard learning new music since my days in Florida Southern College’s Concert Chorale.
Each choir will sing a couple of individual selections and then all five choirs will combine to sing a number of songs together. If you like choral music, you’ve got to put this event on your calendar.
The Festival of Choirs has been held for over twenty years and it always draws a big crowd. The performance is at 4pm, but you’ll want to be there earlier if you want to have a seat.
For more information, visit: http://www.tampabay.com/news/religion/five-congregations-join-in-song-for-festival-of-choirs/2266725
My favorite song among the ones we will be singing? That would be the title of this week’s NPR Note: “In This Very Room”.
A little closer to home, we continue to see crowds in Sims Park pretty much every day. The playground is clearly a hit. The next big thing will be to see how the updated concert circle works out during Chasco Fiesta. My bet is that the improvements are going to be well received.
The Chasco Fiesta will be here in just over a month and we will have an amazing selection of music in the park each night during the event.
For those of you who prefer contemporary Christian to classic choral and gospel music, you are in luck. The Chasco Christian Music Night is going to be on April 1st.
I’m already planning on attending the Rick Derringer concert on Thursday, April 7th. Derringer has hits dating back into the 60’s (Hang On Sloopy) and he was part of both the Johnny Winter and Edgar Winter Groups. Derringer was the writer/producer for the album “They Only Come Out At Night” that included both “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride”.
I’m not a big country fan, but I think I may make an exception this year as the country music concert promises to be amazing. The night will be kicked off by Redhead Express. There is a video clip of them on the Chasco Fiesta website. Be sure to check it out.
Oldies night will include Bertie Higgins, Johnathan Cortez, and the ever popular Time Bandits. Check out all the music at http://www.chascofiesta.com.
Did I mention that the Marine Corps Band is marching in this year’s street parade? Don’t miss it.
Rob Marlowe, Mayor