Richard Sherman is gone, but his music will live forever

Richard M. Sherman passed away on May 25, 2024 at the age of 95. Richard and his brother Robert, known together as the Sherman Brothers, composed some of the most beloved and memorable songs for many Disney and some non-Disney movies, TV shows, and theme parks that we and our children and millions across the world have enjoyed and will keep enjoying for years to come. Theses include movies like Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (a non-Disney movie), some of Winnie the Pooh movies and TV episodes, and It’s a Small World (for Disney Theme Parks) among many others.

My family and I met Mr. Sherman a few years ago when he visited a local school with a friend on a weekend. He performed some of his songs, then took the time to chat with the kids and their families, posed for pictures, shook hands, and signed autographs. He was gracious, cheery, patient, and seemed happy smiling most of the time. It was an honor and a privilege to have met him; may he rest in peace and be forever remembered with love and fondness.

You can read more about Richard M. Sherman by clicking on the following links:

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Richard_M._Sherman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M._Sherman

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/remembering-disney-legend-richard-m-sherman/

Frist Art Museum, Nashville

We were in Nashville, TN, recently for a few days and someone suggested we visit the Frist Art Museum https://fristartmuseum.org/ so we did. Luckily for us we were there at the time the museum was running three exhibits:

1) SOUTHERN/MODERN

2) MONUMENTS & MYTHS The America of Sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester French

3) CARVING A NEW TRADITION THE ART OF LATOYA M. HOBBS

There were amazing pieces of art that we enjoyed seeing and learning about the artists and their creations. Latoya Hobbs is an incredible artist and her carvings and prints depicted scenes from daily lives of African American families. Perhaps my favorite two paintings were “Nigro Baptism” by John Kelly Fitzpatrick, and “The Lightning That Struck Rufo Barcliff” by Carroll Colar.

The sculpture exhibit featuring some of the works of Daniel Chester French had some very interesting pieces of which my favorite was the model he made for the seated Abraham Lincoln statue which now sits in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. There were several other pieces by French and by Augustus Saint-Gaudens at display.

If you plan on visiting Nashville, checkout the museum website for current exhibits and make plans to visit.

PS. The featured painting on the blog page is titled “Mending Nets” by Claude Howell.

A spectacular performance of Swan Lake

Swan Lake is my favorite ballet. I have seen it performed by several companies over the years, and all were great performances. However, the best performance that I have seen was the one by the American Ballet Theatre with Skylar Brandt as Odette and Odile and Herman Cornejo as Prince Siegfried. The performance was spellbinding from start to finish. Skylar was incredible: elegant, graceful, expressive, athletic, and incredibly flexible. The swans gathered at the lake were also amazing; it was as if you were watching humanized swans. It does not matter how many times you have seen performances of Swan Lake; if you have chance to see it performed by the American Ballet Theatre, then don’t miss out.

Seth Meyers at the Kennedy Center

I am a big fan of Seth Meyers late night show, and especially “a closer look”, so when I found out that he was coming to do a stand up show at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, I quickly bought the tickets.

The theater was packed, and he got on stage almost on time; only about 5-10 minutes behind schedule. Unexpectedly, as one would have thought from watching Closer Look, the show was not political. It was also basically very clean (with one rare exception).  Seth was very funny throughout the show which lasted a bit over an hour. Surprisingly, he made almost all of the jokes about himself and his family, and avoided making fun of any specific group, except vegans. It was my first time seeing him live onstage, and I am looking forward to the next show. I highly recommend it.