Spring Break Part 1

This year Alex and I had a very busy Spring Break! First I need to give some background. Alex plays bagpipes, and in particular he plays a style of music from Brittany. I guess Brittany is very Celtic since the people used to be over in England or Scotland or somesuch and got pushed across the English Channel by some war or movement or something (Alex would be disappointed that I am butchering this history so badly). They have an instrument called a bombard that is like a bagpipe minus the bag, which has a double reed like an oboe. Sooo, Alex spent some time in Brittany learning bombard and apparently is the only American to have played in some big Breton competition. He is very hip to bombard/bagpipe/Celtic music circles and knows a lot of people, and is apparently very good. (I think that bagpipes and bombards are incredibly loud and annoying and I can't really stand to hear them, so I wouldn't really know if he is good or not.) You may have heard of the music group The Chieftains, which specializes in Irish and other Celtic music and has won lots of Grammy's and such. Recently when they have been touring this part of the country Alex has gotten to play in a bagpipe group that does a song with them. He's played at some pretty big venues in the area. Well, to finally get to the point, on St. Patrick's Day the Chieftains did their 50th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall and Alex got to play with them. Not only did he do the big group number, but he also did a bombard/bagpipe duet with a friend of his. As in, he and one other person were the only people playing on the stage at Carnegie Hall. Very cool!

My mom, Alex's mom, Alex's aunt, and their family friend all came to NYC for the concert. We spent the day watching the St. Patrick's Day Parade. (Alex was supposed to be in the parade with a visiting band from Brittany but to make a long story short it turns out that the band was a bunch of doo-doo heads.) It is amazing how many bagpipe bands there are - the parade is like 4-5 hours long. Then we had a nice meal together while Alex rehearsed, and finally the concert. I had never been to Carnegie Hall before, and it really is very pretty. Alex says that there is no backstage area, so it kinda sucks as a venue, and the same is true for the lack of a lobby, but I guess that is how you fit it in a city block in NYC.

A full house

Mom showing off our great seats. She is super afraid of heights and was really freaked out for the whole concert.

This was one of the large bagpipe numbers. Alex actually isn't on stage for this one, but I don't have a pic of the big finale that he was on stage for because I was taking video. This is his friend's band, though.

Alex and his friend waiting to play on the side of the stage.

Proof of the evening.

Alex's Carnegie Hall debut. (He is on the left playing bombard, not bagpipe.) Pardon my horrible camera skills but the usher had just told me that I wasn't allowed to take pictures (despite the fact that there were a million flashes coming from the whole audience) so I was holding the camera in a secretive way.

After the concert we had a nice drink with my friend from UVa who is a chef in the city. The next day Alex had to go to a geology conference in Connecticut, so my mom and I took a day to hang out in the city. We walked around mid-town a bit, went to the Museum of Arts and Design and the MOMA, and had a fabulous dinner at the restaurant there, The Modern, which was recommended by my chef friend.

We made a little stop at FAO Schwarz and came across the big piano just as a show was starting. That store is pretty amazing, but they actually didn't quite have as many toys as I thought. I realize I am crazy to say that, but they more had specific niches than actually every toy you could think of.

Momma at the MOMA.

A very nice little trip. Afterward Mom took the train back up to New Paltz with me where we hung out for another day. Then the three of us drove down to Virginia for Spring Break Part 2...