Weekend Thirty-One

We had dinner at Cora Cora’s on Thursday night as our InfoTech Christmas party. On the downside of West Hartford, in a stand-alone at an old shopping center anchored by the Salvation Army thrift shop, inside was filled with a Peruvian atmosphere. The service was outstanding and the food delicious. From the toasted corn kernels served with a zesty sauce to the tasty corn drink with apples to the mussel soup and Tigre de Leche (seafood ceviche) to our seafood entrees (Tacu Tacu a lo Macho and Trucha en Sals d’Camaron w/yuca y esparragus), to the Leche Asada for desert, everything was perfect. While we ate, we watched images of Peru shown on a wide screen on the wall.

Friday eve we went to East Hartford for the opening of an exhibition of sculpture by Hartford native, David Hayes at Goodwin College. There are allegedly thirteen pieces displayed in the courtyard, but since it was dark and no lights were provided, we only found a few. Hayes, now 80, declined to be photographed with his work. Among the sparse crowd on hand for the opening, we saw friends Chet and John Kempczynski. The brownies that were served were outstanding. Here are a couple of the sculptures:

 

Having previously played in TubaChristmas concerts in Chicago and NYC (at Rockefeller Plaza), I was eager to participate in the only CT performance.  Founder of TubaChristmas, Harvey Phillips, passed away in late 2010, so this years concerts were in his memory.  I got to know Harvey over the years, and know his presence will be missed.

We drove down to Old Saybrook on Saturday morning and rehearsed on the high school stage until almost one, then grabbed lunch at Johnny Ad’s. The fried clams were delicious and fast.

The concert began at two, and there were around eighty tubas, Sousaphones, helicons, baritones, euphoniums, alto horns, and a few other odd instruments. The director was Gary Buttery, who teaches tuba, etc at URI, Brown, Connecticut College, and probably a few more schools, was in charge. A very enthusiastic advocate. There was also a terrific audience, almost filling the auditorium.  Here’s a bit of video that Marie shot:

And here are a few photos:

Afterwards, we stopped in Old Lyme to see an art exhibitions at the Connecticut Riverfront campus Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts. Here are a couple of pieces from the faculty show:

Emerge by Stephan Shaheen

Slaughter of the Innocents by Randolphlee MciIiver

We took Sunday off.