Beautiful music and flowers in the Gateway City

Although my blog posts are few and far between, I often add pages featuring essays,  reprints of my published articles, and other goodies.

Some recent additions spotlight two long-running programs in St. Louis, both celebrating big anniversaries this year.

The Cathedral Concerts series is celebrating its 25th year of offering beautiful music in a uniquely beautiful venue, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Nearly every surface in the Cathedral (still called the “new” Cathedral by the locals.) is covered with handmade mosaics, applied over a 62-year period by one family of artisans. But that’s just part of the backstory, something that contributes to the arresting acoustics of the space. The season just started — check it out in Great Music in a Great Space under the Nonfiction tab.

Meanwhile, a band of dedicated green-thumbed volunteers at Brightside St. Louis are celebrating 35 years of keeping St. Louis’ streetsides and gardens blooming and clean. Most St. Louisans have seen Brightside’s roadside daffodils in the spring but maybe didn’t know how they got there. Read that backstory in BRIGHTSIDE St. Louis under the Nonfiction tab.

Thanks to the West End Word for allowing me to reprint these articles and especially to Ursula Ruhl for letting me reprint her fabulous photos here.