It's Brady!

Friday, April 28, 2006

The Sultry Sounds of Kent Ellison

Last Tuesday, the wind ensemble's concert took place. Prof. Day chose really great music. The difficulty level of the concert was incredible. The next to last song, "Blue Shades", was one of the best performances I've ever heard from a college ensemble. It was a high level 6 piece.


The song "We All Had Fun" was hilarious. Antics such as taking apart instruments while playing them, humming to the tune, and the finale of Jeffrey Moss throwing all types of things (e.g. a frisbee, a shoe, Animal from the Muppets, etc...) out of his tuba made this song a hit.




Dr. Spittal conducted the last song of the night - "Stars and Stripes Forever". Laurie Morton killed the flute solo.


The whole show was incredible.


Monday night, the SWU Jazz Band put on quite a show. The concert was entitled "Swingin and Springin". A Latin groove was introduced during "Open Sesame" (pronounced suh-same according to Prof Day) which caused all bodies in the house to move in very un-Wesleyan ways. "Ballin' the Jack" was a fun tune with some familiar Jazz riffs. Kent Ellison brought the crowd to tears with his stirring rendition of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". The sultry sounds of that smooth sax sent all the spectators into sensory shock. Sorry ladies, he's taken. The night included many other great songs, but it was all wrapped up by the incredible Tim Lee. Tim brought the noise and played an Allman Brothers song with the band and then entertained us with a five-minute solo on his electric. His medley of classic favorites and folk songs was perfectly mixed with blues and classic rock riff transitions.

Two awesome concerts in a week. One more to go. Spring Pops concert tonight. Way to go SWU Fine Arts!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Cold Water and a Copperhead

Saturday, Drew and I went hiking at Keowee-Toxaway State Park. The trail passed Natural Bridge and Raven Rock on the way to a lakeside view. Natural Bridge is a rock that is hollow underneath. A small creek passes under it. It was dissappointing to say the least. Raven Rock also left much to be desired. No ravens were to be seen...nor was much of anything else for that matter, except for trees and the rock.

The trail down to the lake was steep...really steep. I was scared that we wouldn't be able to make it back up with forty-pound packs on our backs. The trail spit us out on a small camping area beside a cove.


A golf course and several houses were across the lake from us, but at least we had the unspoiled cove. After getting our feet wet in the icy water, we noticed some large rocks about a hundred yards around the water's edge. We were compelled by some unseen force to get over to them. Steep hills and thick brush blocked our way, but nothing would keep us from our goal. We finally made it over to the rocks, which now seemed much higher off the water than from our previous vantage point. We made our way down to smaller rocks and, of course, Andrew had to jump in. I followed suit soon after. The water was frigid, but refreshing. Soon, Andrew decided that he would have to jump from the higher rocks, twenty-five feet off the water. With a running jump, flailing arms and a boy-like scream, Andrew flew out into the air.


On our trip back, we saw a cool lizard.


I nearly stepped on a Copperhead, so we had to take pics of it.


So what was in our packs to make them forty pounds?


Two dictionaries and a one-volume New Testament Commentary in my pack. A twelve-pack of Cheerwine, a camelpack, a Nalgene bottle and a Maglight in Andrew's pack.

We'll be back to go rock jumping soon. Guaranteed!