Sound of Music

Last week a friend treated me to a visit to the Bass Hall to see the Sound of Music. I don't think I could ever tire of the Von Trapp family story or a visit to the beautiful Bass Hall, but this musical was one of the best I've seen. The scenery was amazing and Melody Betts belted out Climb Every Mountain with so much force, it gave us goosebumps! The play showed a little more of what was going on in Austria leading up to WWII (the Nazi annexation of Austria) and wasn't quite as flowery as the beloved screen version. Instead, it delved deeper into the struggles each of the cast is going through.



The real story of the Von Trapp family is very different from the fictionalized Sound of Music. You can read more here

Stomp

A friend had an extra ticket to see Stomp at the Bass Hall in Fort Worth. Although I saw the performance several years ago,  I always love going to the Bass Hall. The performers in Stomp are amazing. I can't imagine that I ever had that much energy to jump around and use every day articles as instruments. The choreography is amazing.

Book Club

Last week the book club girls got together. We're not very organized and I don't think we actually picked a book to read, although Atonement was mentioned a couple of months ago. We met in Fort Worth, and as I don't work in the downtown area any longer it was nice to wander around. I'm always amazed at the constant building going on. My favorite structure is the Bass Hall with the beautiful angels outside. We ate at Thai Tina's which is located in the Embassy Suites on the corner of 5th and Commerce streets. And our next book to read is Storms & Secrets.

Clive Cussler

Jeff Guinn interviewed Clive Cussler at the Bass Hall in Fort Worth this evening. Mr. Cussler is every bit as entertaining as his novels. He began his writing career when his wife worked at the police department in the evenings and after he came home and fed the children and put them to bed he was bored and started writing. He writes to entertain us, the readers. His advice to authors is "To be an author you have to be a loony who won't give up." His overnight success took eleven years. He also suggested studying a best selling author in the genre you are writing to learn plotting and styling. Both Clive Cussler and his protagonist Dirk Pitt were both 37 when his Dirk Pitt series began and now Clive Cussler is 78 while Dirk Pitt is just 45 - life is unfair he added.