WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE FRINGE - ZAFIRA QUARTET

 

Still a light schedule last night with just two performances. Holly Huelskamp, Sarah Browdy, Amy Greenhalgh and Ranya Iqbal are the Zefira Quartet, St. Louis' only electric string quartet. The sound colors they produced were not what you would hear down the street at the symphony hall. I was impressed. They played a variety of music, classical, tango, Lizzo, Russian folk song (hey, I had to play that one, Dark Eyes, during my years as a failed kid violin student) and waltz. Click the link to hear them on Spotify or Apply Music. Hope I run into them again.

                  

ST. LOU FRINGE - THE MAIN EVENT STARTS

The main part of the Fringe schedule started last night with two unusual and fascinating performers.

Matthew Von Doren plays guitar with electronic effects such as loops, reverb, digital harmonies and rhythm tracks. It can seem meditative, even hypnotic, but the sound colors are amazing. I heard what sounded like Bach chordal progressions and mournful Andalucian song. The woman who performs as ANAAM also uses digital sound effects but with the original instrument, the human voice. Her performance, all improvised, was ecstatic. They performed together at the end of the evening, each responding to the other.

Remember, locals, https://www.stlfringe.org/. Scores of performances continue through Sunday.              

THE FRINGE IS BACK

 

After a couple of years of all or mostly virtual performances, the St. Louis Fringe Festival is back this week, all live, with 30-something shows.  There was a by-invitation warm-up last night with Fringe favorite Dawn Larsen. She is from the Missouri Ozarks, spent many years in the Nashville music scene and has a Ph.D. in theater and performance studies. Her songs got us ready for days of performances. The main events run Wednesday through Sunday. Locals, you owe it to yourself to check this out.         

MADELEINE MONDAY

So I took the kid to the zoo the other day to get her face out of screens. We have one of the best in the country. There is a walk-through area with life-size replicas of dinosaurs. The newer ones spit water at children passing by. There is one of those stick your face through a hole and take a picture boards. She's had her face painted with a Frozen motif and posed with her precious Lambie, given to her at birth by one of our colleagues and never far from her side.                    

NOTHING GOING ON

Again, looking down from the Three Sixty rooftop bar and restaurant. Downtown St. Louis hasn't worn particularly well since I first went to work there in 1974. The pandemic hit it hard. Office and storefront occupancy remain depressed. On a weekday evening when there is no sporting event or activity at the convention center this full-block garage looked nearly empty.           

ST. LUNATICS

Customers at the outdoor bar, Three Sixty, downtown St. Louis.        

THE GEOMETRY OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

The other edge of the same building in yesterday's post, again taken from Three Sixty. The moon rose as the sun set.