Spring is in the air in Nashville, just a little chilly today but in Centennial Park the tulips are coming up, the Japanese cherry trees are beginning to bloom along with several other flowering trees and the grass is turning that bright green that is so lovely. The park has been crowded with people enjoying the sunshine and warmer weather for the past two weeks. This is also great for the museum and we have been extremely busy from opening to closing.

I've already bought flower pots and ready to pick out some plants...cannot wait to get my hands in the dirt (or should I say potting soil) and watch daily to see the new plants maturing and blossoming. I saw black elephant ears and want to try those this year. They are so different. My Christmas Cactus is ready to bloom again and the new Shamrock plant is doing great! I love it!

Spring and Fall are wonderful times of the year....Fall being my favorite but both are exciting. Hope you all enjoy spring where ever you are.

Scams etc.

I am still dealing with the after effects of taking the bait on a "free credit score" scam. It was the "frontforce" for a world-wide scam run by multi-hidden levels of crooks that are stealing our personal information. First I had to get help in cleaning out my computer involving many hours of phone time. Did that take care of it? Oh no, they have my personal information and to stay under the wire, it is used to make miscellaneous credit card charges all under ten dollars. In less that two months I have caught four bogus charges. The credit card company tells me I have to contact the company making the charge and have them credit my account. If they do not work with me then I am to go back to the credit card company. In the mean time the crooks continue charging, crediting, and I am forced to check my account daily and spend hours cleaning it up. Ugh! Below is a site I found that helps wise us up on current scams, etc. Hope it helps and wish I'd seen it before falling into the trap.

www.scambusters.com

I am still on the hunt for a final solution to this problem and hope I can take care of it myself without having to seek legal recourse. Even that may not help as these people know how to hide themselves.

Craig Ferguson

He grins with that twinkle and I start laughing and cannot stop until he goes off. Wonder what he is like in person and off the stage?

Mariza

Portuguese singer, Mariza was in concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville tonight, introducing her fado music to a new audience. I was fortunate to be able to hear her and her musicians. This was her first time to be in Nashville and I hope the standing ovations she received gave her the message just how much we enjoyed their performance. I heard a recording of her music before going so I was prepared for the powerful emotional music but as always the recorded sound does not bring the same power and energy of a live performance. She has her unique style, fashion, hair, and even her own version of the Portuguese fado music makes it her own music.

If you are not familiar with this...fado in Portuguese is destiny. Traditionally, the fado music is performed wearing a black shawl; backed only by an acoustic guitar and the lute-shaped, 12-string Portuguese guitar. The power of their singing was used to convey the emotion in their songs.

As Jonathan Marx said in his article "Because of its sorrowful character and its distinctly national origins, fado is often compared to the blues in America, though it could just as easily be identified with Spanish flamenco or Greek rembetiko music. All rely on the bracing interplay of voice and guitar or some other stringed instrument, and all give expression to the most fundamental of human experiences: love, loss, survival."

Mariza's musicians consisted of the Portuguese 12-string guitar, the acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, drums & percussion (including African drums), and piano & trumpet(not at the same time). For her second and third encores she did "Cry Me a River" in English with the piano and sang another fado with the two acoustic guitars/guitarists singing with her and all without amplification or microphones.

The show was fantastic and I hope to see them perform again. This was also my first experience in Nashville's symphony hall. I was impressed. The friend I went with has been in several of the European music halls and is not very impressed as he thinks this one should have been built differently and not so much like the hall in Paris France. I found it to be much better than the Jackson Theater where the symphony used to perform. Anyway, I am now a fan of Mariza and fado music.