San Antonio,TX and Little Rock, AR

So, today we came home from a short trip during which we played for the Chamber Music Societies of San Antonio, TX and Little Rock, AR.

San Antonio is a really nice city - we remembered it fondly from a trip a couple of years ago and we were sad not to have time to go back to our favorite Riverwalk sushi joint - Sushi Zushi. The trip was not without culinary adventures though (Claremont trips never are) and we encountered waffles in the shape of Texas at our hotel breakfast buffet.....

The concert, held at Temple Beth-El, was a bit of a nail biter as the piano did not arrive until 3 hours before the performance was scheduled to begin! But it did eventually show up, as did a very helpful crew and a tuner, and all went off without a hitch from then on.

In Little Rock, Don Barnes took us for a delicious meal at Brave New Restaurant (very yummy fish and duck) with views of the river, and then for a late night driving tour including the beautiful new Clinton Library and Parks which are pretty spectacular. The next day we did a school presentation for a group of high school music students at the Park View Magnet high school - they renewed our faith that not all high schoolers are too cool to get excited about music! And the concert that evening at St. Marks Episcopal church was fun and was apparently their biggest crowd in years - always good to hear.

As for the trip home today, no complaints as we got home earlier than expected by going standby. While Donna was sweet-talking the agent into putting us on the earlier flight, she took our i.d.'s to reissue the tickets, and seeing 4 reservations and only 3 drivers licenses, asked, "How old is Cello?" Well, m'am, Cello Bruskin is 157 years old and still in good health ;-) Going through security a man looked strangely at my cello case and asked, "Are you a gangster or a musician?"