Another busy week with no time to post news updates… most of the week was spent working but we took time out to attend Grapefest, an annual event in Grapevine, TX. Each year they block off main street and have a big pile of interesting stuff going on. They had two stages with live music as well as assorted small musical groups that set up where ever they could find room to play. There were a lot of small booths full of arts & crafts. And some sort of contest for collectors of old cars. The main events, of course, are related to grapes and wine-tasting. We skipped the main wine-tasting event as it is rather expensive (though we did try out a few samples from North Star Vineyards which is located right on Main Street). There was a grape-stomping contest in which the contests stomped grapes barefoot and were judged on volume of grape juice output. And, each year we go to Grapefest, I stop by a little ice cream shop on Main Street called “A Dip in Time” and order a chocolate milkshake. I always have to explain to them how to make it as their idea of a chocolate milkshake is vanilla ice cream, milk, and chocolate flavored syrup. After I explain that the correct way to make a chocolate milkshake is with chocolate ice cream and milk, they are always happy to make it for me.

Now, I know I said in my last entry that I wasn’t going to go to review any more live music events for a while so I’ll just mention in passing that we attended a performance of the Helios Ensemble this week and enjoyed a couple of hours of interesting choral music of the German Romatics including Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Rheinberger, Brahms, and Schubert. The artistic director of the group, Kevin Sutton, works at our local Tower Records store in the classic department and we frequently chat about some of the unusual stuff we buy down there (like last week’s Morton Subotnick CD).