From Black Jackets to Blue Notes

‘If Music be the food of love—- play on!’ said Shakespeare, and he was right. I have had quite the musical weekend, in between a lot of work for CNN, recording some shows for next Easter week. First, Ann and I went to see the Black Jacket Symphony perform a note for note rendering of the classic Fleetwood album—- Rumors. And then in the second half of the concert perform some of Mac’s other great songs and hits. It was a terrific evening all around. Next up, they are doing Hotel California by the Eagles in January, and we shall be there! Here’s a little taste of the concert….followed by a few picks

When I got to NY, I went to Times Square, and of course there was the restaurant that Rock made—–

My purpose in being there was not for the burnt burger which I had at the Hard Rock, but to go see the matinee performance of the Tony Award musical— Beautiful, the life and music of Carole King. Check out this from the Tony Awards…

I have to tell you this was one of the most enjoyable musicals I’ve ever been too. A year and a half ago when we were in NY, we went to Jersey Boys, and while the music was great, the language was often foul, and embarassing as there were families and kids there. Not so with Carole King’s musical– it was all class, like Carole, and it was funny, as well as having romance, and some tears along the way as well. Here are a couple of pictures from outside, since you couldn’t take any inside…

If that were not great enough, I took a cab to the Village to the Blue Note, the home of so many great, great jazz performances (including by my very favorite— Bill Evans). On this night we had no less than Billy Cobham and his band….and I can prove it!

And here is a sample, one of his greatest songs— Stratus…

OK, so if music is a sort of food, I pigged out this week…… my musical soul needs to go on a diet for a bit!