The Sound of Charleston

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Of the many activities here in Charleston, the Sound of Charleston is a series of concerts that cover everything from Gospel to Gershwin. And it just so happens that tonight will be Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, one of my all time favorites. The Sound of Charleston is designed to celebrate three centuries of music here. Porgy and Bess was the first musical performed in the Colonies. Amazing Grace was sung in this church where John Newton wrote the words, first published in 1779.

Here is the complete program:

- Charlton Singleton & "Charleston's Jazz Tradition"
- "Rhapsody in Blue" played by Micah McLaurin & Irwin Jiang
- Civil War camp songs with Bart Saylor and Bill Schlitt
- Light classics of the St. Cecelia Society played by the SOC String Quartet
- Amazing Grace performed by the company

John Newton was born in London on July 24, 1725, the son of commander of a merchant ship. After deserting from service on a man-of-war, he was captured, flogged, and ended up on a slave ship to Sierra Leone. After serving as a servant to a slave trader and abused, he was rescued by a friend of his deceased father, only to become a ship captain of a slave ship himself. On a trip back home, and though he was hardly a religious man, he encountered severe storms, he experienced his "great deliverance". For the rest of his life, he observed , May 10, 1748 as the day of his conversion. He continued his captaincy, but insisted that the slaves on his ship be treated humanely.

Ultimately, he married, and gave up seafaring. He became a minister and was ordained. His preaching brought large crowds to the churches where he preached. Amazing Grace was possibly one of the hymns written for his weekly services. Through the years, others have written verses that are being sung around the world. Here is the first verse:

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

(From the Gershwin website) Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin in 1924, is an American classic, perhaps the most popular and well known American classical composition ever written and performed. Its premiere in New York City's Aeolian Hall, conducted by Paul Whitman and his band, with Gershwin at piano. The idea for Rhapsody occurred while he was on a train from Boston. He told biographer, Isaac Goldberg in 1931: It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer – I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise... And there I suddenly heard, and even saw on paper – the complete construction of the Rhapsody, from beginning to end. No new themes came to me, but I worked on the thematic material already in my mind and tried to conceive the composition as a whole. I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our blues, our metropolitan madness. By the time I reached Boston I had a definite plot of the piece, as distinguished from its actual substance.

Rhapsody in Blue has appeared on numerous TV shows and movies. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys said it was one of his favorite songs. Gershwin thought of it as a kaleidoscope of America when he wrote it. But many interpret it as a musical portrait of New York City. For myself, I just close my eyes, relax my mind, and let the music take me along for the ride. You cynics out there also know that it was used for many years as United Airlines' theme song.

Before the concert, we had dinner at Hyman's Seafood. No jokes about his first name, but I am sure it was NOT Buster. But the kicker to the place is a homemade ice cream maker on the first floor. We sampled the banana nut ice cream, and it was nothing short of an ice cream miracle. Only here in Charleston. We also had lunch yesterday at famous Jestine's Kitchen. She lived to be 112 years old. Many of the menu items and recipes came from her traditional kitchen.

We also took a carriage ride with Palmetto Carriage Works. The carriage was pulled by two mules named Republic and Democrat. We saw many of the antebellum homes south of Broad Street, in the Battery Park area. It was breezy and cool, but certainly better than Tuesday's rain. The locals think today was great weather. By the way, they said NEVER come here in August, when the humidity is always higher than 80%.

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