Looking back and up from the edge of the stage at Powell Symphony Hall. I don't know how you would describe the architecture and decoration style (help welcome). I think that the ceiling is pink from the white LED lights reflecting off red upholstery. The balcony goes up much farther than you can see from this angle. You might be able to find an usher standing just below and left of center. Our seats are around there.
Powell Symphony Hall looks good after its restoration. The LED lights are adjustable, economical and cool. The new seats are very comfortable. We prefer to sit in the front of the balcony, however. We like to be able to look down at all the players, front to back. Everyone agrees that the sound is better upstairs.
Mrs. C and I have been subscribers to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for something in the upper 40s of years. Our first date in April 1973 was there (cheapest seats, Mahler's 1st). They had an open house for subscribers yesterday morning, coffee and pastries, short talk by an orchestra member, three pieces by a quartet drawn from the string section, go check out the view from your seats.
The century-old hall had been closed for two years for complete restoration, reopening last fall. We were not happy with our seat assignments, then moving around program by program. Long talk with the box office and our new ones are pretty good. I'll wander around the architecture for a bit.
A well-preserved but disused sign on Gravois Avenue. When I was young and the quality of cars was much worse, the fabric on seats could deteriorate. Repairs ranged from a complete re-upholster to slip-on outer covers. Shops like this were common. The seats are tougher now, or maybe their American occupants are softer.
Our public radio station's photo walk ended in a secluded area at one end of the Arch park. The circular area in the center of the picture is known as the Explorers' Garden. We divided into several small groups to discuss our impressions about what we saw and the issues confronting our city. Peaceful ending.
Seen along the public radio station's downtown photo walk. A young man sits alone on a tree stump by the reflecting pool (and yes, it has algae), playing his guitar and singing. Sadly, he was out of earshot. Our group left him to his reverie.
One of the stops in the downtown photo walk was the Old Courthouse, whose history is too long and rich to discuss here (although it's part of the Arch national park and well worth a visit). The ironwork on the outer fence is covered with turtles and there is a cute story. A 19th Century building caretaker named James Quigley had a pet turtle. It lived in the outdoor fountain in the warm months and inside the rest of the year. It was beloved by locals and its springtime return to the fountain was noted in the newspapers. It died in the 1870s and received an obituary in the papers. Quigley himself never did.
We have a marvelous public radio station. In something new for them, they organized a downtown photo walk yesterday, starting in a central plaza and ending in a peaceful garden in the park north of the Arch. It was cosponsored by a local arts organization called Loutopia. Thirty or forty people came. We split into groups, talking about and recording our urban core and its history, emphasizing what unites and devides us. More to come.
Curtain call at the last production of Opera Theatre of St. Louis' season, Andre Previn's interpretation of A Streetcar Named Desire. It was stunning, a story by itself tight to the breaking point intensified by perfectly matched music. Stella!
A big sinkhole developed on the north edge of downtown about a week ago. A break in a large water main caused extensive subsidence. It's right under a major elevated highway that has been closed since. I wanted some pictures but so many streets were closed I couldn't get close. Looking around, I saw the iconic giant bottle of a local soft drink company. It used to rotate. That's a casino in the left background.
Finished with the Circus Flora images so back on the street. This is a puzzle. It stands beside a nondescript, one-story commercial building. It has the name of some random company with no other information. The sign is clean and well-maintained. Maybe it's from a previous occupant. I don't mind a smile as I drive down a busy street.
A couple of final pictures from Circus Flora (which closes this weekend for locals who haven't been). Carlos Carballo, the Number 1 guy on the Wheel Of Death, jumps rope at the top of the arc. Then he puts on a black hood and keeps walking over the rotating drum. Beyond my understanding, but that's what makes Circus Flora so much fun.
I had my lumbar nerve root ablation on Monday and things are getting better. It takes awhile to see the results but it's time to get back on the street.
A last picture of Elayne Kramer at Circus Flora, shooting a bow and arrow using her feet. The bow must have been spring loaded or something like a cross bow. I was shooting at five frames per second and was super lucky to get the arrow in the air. And, yes, the balloon popped.
Elayne Kramer is doing something I would not have thought possible. She is literally hanging by her teeth and jaws with her body impossibly balanced. The vertical rod is topped by something made of leather or rubber. I don't remember how long she hung there because I was stunned. And then she uncurled safely. Big applause for Circus Flora.
The atomic makeup of a protein molecule is not its only important characteristic. How the elements are folded onto one another is, I've read, critical. How the human body can be folded is a subject of comfort, activity and circus gymnastics. Elayne Kramer from Argentina is an international star in hand balance and contortion. I'll show more.
Amanda Pennino and Ermes Zamperla doing their thing again at Circus Flora. I usually post a single photo but the strength and balance of both performers was just so striking. Don't know if this will work in the Facebook version.
I get front row seats when we take the grandkid to the circus. It's not that expensive. Jack up the ISO, make the f stop wide open, set the focus to continuous tracking and hope for the best. This one worked, although the huge horses inches from my lens was intimidating. Amanda Pennino and Ermes Zamperla make an art of acrobatic horseback riding.
Who remembers the old song, https://tinyurl.com/7pactxb4 ? Now it's definitely not just men, as seen yesterday. The whole Wallenda family participates. Mrs. C was so impressed with them that she was talking about going back to see the show again. It only runs for nine more days so I don't think we will have time.
The Flying Wallendas are American circus royalty. https://wallenda.com/ They appear at Circus Flora every year, and every year they amaze. I edited a bunch of pictures of them yesterday and had to decide on one for today, so there may be more to come.The pater familias, Tino, must be in his 70s, and he was up there. Eight year old Matteo is learning high wire balancing skills, which he demonstrated a meter off the ground. Stay tuned.
The circus has to have a dog act every year, or at least ours does. We've never had a dog, being satisfied with a geriatric cat our granddaughter adores, so I don't know anything about training. I did notice that the handlers did not give the pups a treat when they performed a stunt, something we have seen with other species.
Next up at Circus Flora. This group of teens and children appear every year. Known as the St. Louis Arches (heh, get it?) they know no fear. How do they train, and for how long, to learn this? Their trust in one another is complete.
High level baton twirling is hard. It requires exceptional hand and finger dexterity, a degree of coordination I can't imagine. Then take three batons, twirl them and juggle them. Cody Carter, the first act at Circus Flora, had the crowd gasping.
There are a lot of good things about this town, and one of them is that we have our own resident circus company. Circus Flora opened its 40th season yesterday and we took the granddaughter. Mistress of ceremonies Cecil MacKinnon has been with the company since the beginning and her son, Jack Marsh, is the executive and artistic director. More to come.
I was driving around the South Side of the city the other day looking for anything to shoot. After rounding a corner I was confronted with Slovakian and Czech flags, countries we visited in April. Turns out they were flying over something called the American-Czech Educational Center, new to me. I may return to that but the circus opens tonight and we're taking the kid. They let you take all the pictures you want.
I've read about hip-hop's purported origin, spontaneously at a block party in the South Bronx. (I went to high school in the Mid Bronx. We didn't know about this stuff.) No criticism, but the style, the culture, the sound is alien to me. I'm an old white guy who went to his first symphony concert at 11 and got hooked (you can see me with the glasses off Lenny's left shoulder - https://tinyurl.com/mt52k9jx.) Generations pass.
Walls Off Washington has a central nave, the alley between the painted buildings. It is usually shrouded in shadow but light filters down from above. The place can feel like a secular cathedral, which, of course, needs appropriate windows.
The alley between the buildings of Walls Off Washington is narrow. It is hard to get a good perspective,even with digital editing. This tropical image, a bit reminiscent of both Gaugin and STL's summer climate, is called I Dance, Too, by Rowan Bathurst. I don't, though.
A corner at Walls Off Washington, where a six-limbed dinosaur threatens a human with a torch. The beast seems to radiate like Godzilla. The St. Louis Big Top is in the right background, home of our own Circus Flora. The season is about to start and we're taking the grandkid on Saturday.
The monumental statue of Saint Louis atop Art Hill, looking out over clouds and blue sky. There is even a rainbow towards the bottom.
The collection of CDP skygazers is at https://citydailyphoto.org/2026/05/25/june-theme-sky/
