Kansas City trip
I wanted to do something special to acknowledge the close of my first academic year. Originally my mentor and I were going to see a James Taylor concert in Des Moines. But the affordable seats sold out too quickly. And then I saw that through some crazy alignment of the stars there were two great opportunities in Kansas City this weekend - the orchestra was performing the "Lord of the Rings" symphony (music from the movie) and Fleetwood Mac's "Hits 2009" tour. Could I ask for a better opportunity to indulge two of my favorite long-running interests? [I should confess that I have indulged these interests before - I've seen symphony performances of Lord of the Rings twice (Hollywood Bowl, Tampa) and caught Fleetwood Mac on their 1997 "The Dance" tour in St. Louis.]
So I made the three-hour drive down to Kansas City on Thursday and got to the symphony just in time. It was a good performance. Unfortunately, I know every note of that music so well that it's jarring for me when the performers interpret it differently. But I was pleased that this performance perfectly matched the brass part on "Bridge of Kazad-Dum", one of my favorite passages. It's the musical selection on the link above. As with previous performances, they had a beautiful accompaniment by Alan Lee's artwork.
On Friday I wanted to explore some of what Kansas City had to offer. It was raining, so I headed to Union Station's Science Center. Blah. It probably was a good exhibit, but was overrun with school groups. The rain had stopped, so I headed to the zoo. Same situation there - lots of school groups. Overall it seemed like a nice place. It had a HUGE African section and a great chimp exhibit with a large group of chimps (about 15 according to the signage). The chimp exhibit was so large and lush that you couldn't see the back of it. Or the chimps, sadly. But it made me happy to see that they had such a great exhibit. Realizing that I was NOT having a good time at the zoo, I called it quits after the Africa section.
I still had most of the afternoon to kill, so I checked the map and found some cool museums between the zoo and my hotel. The Toy and Miniature Museum was amazing - way too much stuff to take in there on a single visit. The colletion mainly consisted of old dollhouses and miniatures, as well as the largest collection of marbles in the midwest. And it was nice and quiet....
Then I visited the "Money Museum" at the Kansas City Federal Reserve. It wasn't really a museum - just a chance to come in and see the money sorters at work. After passing through the security and background check. And they had this $5000 bill on display. Visitors all received a free bag of shredded money ($164). It was cool. And quiet and FREE.
I also popped in at the National World War I museum - about 30 minutes prior to closing. There was a ton of good material there and very interactive exhibits - the even had these cool sound booths where you could go in and listen to voice recordings from the time. I listened to part of a speech by Lenin. I can't say I had ever heard his voice before. There is also a memorial tower
there that you can ride to the top for a good view of the city. This museum would be a great place to spend a hot summer afternoon, but I don't think it has much, if any, appeal for young children. Sadly I didn't get to do much except quickly walk through the exhibits.
Then it was on to dinner (Kansas City BBQ at Famous Dave's) and then the FABULOUS Fleetwood Mac concert. It was the most fun I had had in a long time. They sound so great together and they played so many of my favorite songs. My only disappointment is that they didn't play "Say You Will". But they DID play "Storms" - an extremely haunting and melancholy song that I never expected to hear. Steve Nicks actually said that they had never performed "Storms" live prior to the current tour. They did a great job of mixing their emo solo songs with fun ensemble pieces. For example, "Storms" was followed by "Say You Love Me".
I made friends with my neighbors before the concert started and we all agreed that "Silver Springs" was on our must-hear list. And as the concert went on, I started to get nervous that they weren't going to play it. The concert ended with "Go Your Own Way". Of course, there would be an encore. And they came back and played "World Turning" and "Don't Stop" and left again. My heart almost stopped - were they really NOT going to play "Silver Springs"? And then thankfully they came back for a second encore and Silver Springs was instantly recognizable from the first note. In the youtube video that the audience is all singing along - that's how it was at this show too. I never realized that I knew the lyrics to so many of their songs. What a wonderful end to a great evening. I'm seriously considering making a trek across country some weekend this summer to catch another performance of this tour. I'd hate to wait another 10 years to see them again. Anyone up for Atlantic City on June 13th?
But for now it's back to work on proposals and the garden project. Heidi and I may get some stuff planted this afternoon.
Happy Mother's Day everyone!
So I made the three-hour drive down to Kansas City on Thursday and got to the symphony just in time. It was a good performance. Unfortunately, I know every note of that music so well that it's jarring for me when the performers interpret it differently. But I was pleased that this performance perfectly matched the brass part on "Bridge of Kazad-Dum", one of my favorite passages. It's the musical selection on the link above. As with previous performances, they had a beautiful accompaniment by Alan Lee's artwork.
On Friday I wanted to explore some of what Kansas City had to offer. It was raining, so I headed to Union Station's Science Center. Blah. It probably was a good exhibit, but was overrun with school groups. The rain had stopped, so I headed to the zoo. Same situation there - lots of school groups. Overall it seemed like a nice place. It had a HUGE African section and a great chimp exhibit with a large group of chimps (about 15 according to the signage). The chimp exhibit was so large and lush that you couldn't see the back of it. Or the chimps, sadly. But it made me happy to see that they had such a great exhibit. Realizing that I was NOT having a good time at the zoo, I called it quits after the Africa section.
I still had most of the afternoon to kill, so I checked the map and found some cool museums between the zoo and my hotel. The Toy and Miniature Museum was amazing - way too much stuff to take in there on a single visit. The colletion mainly consisted of old dollhouses and miniatures, as well as the largest collection of marbles in the midwest. And it was nice and quiet....
Then I visited the "Money Museum" at the Kansas City Federal Reserve. It wasn't really a museum - just a chance to come in and see the money sorters at work. After passing through the security and background check. And they had this $5000 bill on display. Visitors all received a free bag of shredded money ($164). It was cool. And quiet and FREE.
I also popped in at the National World War I museum - about 30 minutes prior to closing. There was a ton of good material there and very interactive exhibits - the even had these cool sound booths where you could go in and listen to voice recordings from the time. I listened to part of a speech by Lenin. I can't say I had ever heard his voice before. There is also a memorial tower
there that you can ride to the top for a good view of the city. This museum would be a great place to spend a hot summer afternoon, but I don't think it has much, if any, appeal for young children. Sadly I didn't get to do much except quickly walk through the exhibits.Then it was on to dinner (Kansas City BBQ at Famous Dave's) and then the FABULOUS Fleetwood Mac concert. It was the most fun I had had in a long time. They sound so great together and they played so many of my favorite songs. My only disappointment is that they didn't play "Say You Will". But they DID play "Storms" - an extremely haunting and melancholy song that I never expected to hear. Steve Nicks actually said that they had never performed "Storms" live prior to the current tour. They did a great job of mixing their emo solo songs with fun ensemble pieces. For example, "Storms" was followed by "Say You Love Me".
I made friends with my neighbors before the concert started and we all agreed that "Silver Springs" was on our must-hear list. And as the concert went on, I started to get nervous that they weren't going to play it. The concert ended with "Go Your Own Way". Of course, there would be an encore. And they came back and played "World Turning" and "Don't Stop" and left again. My heart almost stopped - were they really NOT going to play "Silver Springs"? And then thankfully they came back for a second encore and Silver Springs was instantly recognizable from the first note. In the youtube video that the audience is all singing along - that's how it was at this show too. I never realized that I knew the lyrics to so many of their songs. What a wonderful end to a great evening. I'm seriously considering making a trek across country some weekend this summer to catch another performance of this tour. I'd hate to wait another 10 years to see them again. Anyone up for Atlantic City on June 13th?But for now it's back to work on proposals and the garden project. Heidi and I may get some stuff planted this afternoon.
Happy Mother's Day everyone!
posted by Laura at 11:53 AM
3 Comments:
a grand adventure for sure.... thanks for sharing your celebratory event and the especially cool Fleetwood Mac concert too...!!
Sounds like you had a blast!! I remember how much you loved Fleetwood Mac in college. :)
I loved Kansas City when I visited! Both the Kansas and Missouri sides - which is like going from Burbank to North Hollywood with only the 170 in-between.
Anyway, next time you're there some good child-free experiences included the self-guided historic tour of Union Station (with a headphone you can get at the info booth); the Frontier Trails Museum in Independence; the Negro League baseball museum; the Jazz museum; and the Nelson-Atkins museum of art.
http://www.visitkc.com
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