The Kansas City Symphony performed an Italian-themed concert at the University of Kansas Lied Center Tuesday evening to benefit Music Works!, an organization formed to promote music in the Lawrence public schools. The concert was aimed at a very general audience, so the pieces were all fairly brief and very accessible, but the orchestra played beautifully. There are a few new members of the orchestra this year, including a few key wind players which I found particularly interesting. They all played very well and it was an enjoyable performance!

It reminded me of a very strong memory I have of the first (and only) time I’ve played in an orchestra. In 2006, I played tenor saxophone in the Kansas City symphony for their annual pops concert under the direction of Erich Kunzel. Since saxophonists rarely ever play in symphonies, I jumped at the chance and I was really glad that I did.

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Last Sunday, I hung out with a great friend of mine, Ryan Jones, who was passing through town. Ryan is a recent graduate of KU who’s career in film is taking off with his recent documentary, “Fall From Grace”.

From the website for the movie:

Fall From Grace is the first in-depth documentary feature film to focus on Pastor Fred Phelps and his hate group, and features unprecedented access, interviews with Pastor Phelps and other members of the Westboro Baptist Church. Fall From Grace also includes interviews with the myriad of dissenters: Topeka leaders and officials, ministers, theologians, and two of Pastor Phelps’s adult children who have chosen to leave the church and their family.

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On October 14, I was able to see the results of several months work come together for a Lawrence-based event called the River City Reading Festival. This project was very exciting for me because I was able to work with Tad Carpenter, a friend of mine who is an award-winning illustrator, graphic designer, and all around great guy. I’ve been a big fan of his work ever since we went to school together and I had been hoping for a project to come along that we could collaborate on for some time. Tad did all of the illustration for this project and I did all of the design and layout and was very pleased with the final result.

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This past summer, I was approached by my friend Greg about a project that was right down my alley. He works for the “We Always Swing” Jazz Series in Columbia, MO and they were looking for someone to help do some design work for their upcoming 2007-2008 season. I love to jump on any chance to mix my interests and this was a perfect opportunity. If you happen to be in Columbia or within driving distance, you should definitely look at this season’s schedule. If I only had one concert to choose, I’d definitely go see the Brad Mehldau Trio. Hands down.

I shot some new photos of the chamber music trio, Allégresse this past weekend. The morning of the shoot there was a wind advisory and the forecast called for rain. Somehow, as soon as everyone showed up, the wind calmed down and the sun came out. Go figure . . . They are the most fun people to shoot and I hope we can do it again soon.

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This weekend, we took a trip 30 minutes from Lawrence to visit the Maple Leaf Festival in Baldwin, KS. It’s what you’d expect from a small town arts and crafts fair, but it’s quaint and the weather was great, so we had a lot of fun.

Here’s a quick description from the official website:
“Started in 1958, the Maple Leaf Festival began as a community event inspired by Dr. Ivan Boyd, a biology professor at Baker University. He noted that the third weekend in October was the optimum time to view the changing colors of the Maple Leaves in the area and the perfect time to celebrate the successful harvest.”

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For this first post, I wanted to let people in on a great Friday afternoon time waster. Layer Tennis is a site sponsored by Coudal Partners that pits two designers against each other in a mano a mano design battle. It’s amazing to see how fast they work!

On a related note, in 2006, Jim Coudal gave a presentation for the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada. They have the video online and it gives great insight on how one design firm got started and kept itself in the game. A real inspiration for those contemplating a design startup!