Bluegrass

This last Saturday night we took the boys to the Bay Area Bluegrass Association concert. The BABA holds these free concerts on the third Saturday of every month. We went with Ken's friend and flying mentor. It was held in the local civic center. The man stage featured a few different bluegrass bands. The other little rooms around the center were filled with pick up groups. It was fun to move between the rooms and see the different players and instruments.

The first band was okay. They sang only gospel music. It was nice, but it all started to sound the same. I like really jazzy bluegrass. The next band was great! We actually saw them at the scarecrow Festival in October. We sat on the steps outside the general store, eating ice cream, and listening to music. They are called No Strings Attached (click on name for website link.) Nathan was clapping up a storm and Kenny was dancing in the aisle.

At one point the president of BABA asked for little boys to come up and pick names out for the raffle. Kenny walked up to the stage all by himself. He was so cute! Everyone clapped special just for him.

Listening to bluegrass reminds me of Mimi and Papa. Papa always sang great country and bluegrass songs. My favorite is "God's Coloring Book" by Dolly Parton. I have a tape of Papa singing and I used to listen to that song whenever I was homesick my first year of college. Being 18 years old, 1500 miles away from home, and alone, that tape was my greatest source of comfort. I loved this song so much I used it as a theme for a college freshman English reflections paper. I also started singing this to Kenny as infant and continue to sing it to my boys today.

We had a wonderful time and I am grateful we had the chance to take the boys. We want to expose them to every type of art and music so they can learn to appreciate the beauty in everything. I was thrilled to see them enjoy themselves (especially Nathan, he's our musician- Kenny's our artist.)