The National Symphony is in town tonight. They're playing Dvorak 7 along with Three Dance Episodes by Bernstein and some Wagner. I'm looking forward to it, except that I have to go outside to get there. I am not particularly happy that it "feels like" 33 degrees here in Conway....and it's raining.

Tomorrow and Monday, I'll be playing timpani with the Pine Bluff Symphony. A new work by Schwantner is on the program along with West Side Story(the short medley), Lincoln Portrait, Barber's First Essay and the Korngold Violin Concerto.

By the way, if you ever need a narrator for Lincoln Portrait, give me a call. It is one of my secret dreams (not that secret, I suppose) to perform the work. I'll do it from memory, and I promise to speak clearly. Since I read music and know the piece well, you won't even have to give me those awkward cues or hold out those fermatas for 30 seconds each.

The best way to get the gig, it seems, is to be a senator, or president, or famous actor. I will most likely never be any of those things, but maybe things will work out anyway.