Keeping Entertained in Red Rock Country

As we prepare to leave on Tuesday, I am reflecting over how we spent our time in the past month. Many, many excurions, walks/hikes, picnics and sightseeing trips. We purused every brochure and book in the condo in making our decision on places we knew we had to visit. Then we picked up the local paper, Sedona Red Rock Valley News (published twice a week), on Friday, they include a Scenes section. Once a week a publication called Kudo's kept us abreast of a more indepth look at the cultural happenings in the area for the week.

Movie Theaters

Wonderful World: It was a rainy day and the local theater was offering The Premier of Wonderful World starring Mathew Broderick. The Director and Producer were on hand to view the movie with the audience and an question and answer period with them was provided after the movie. This was the first showing anywhere, including LA. Our Rating: 3.5

The Blind Side: Sandra Bullock, one of my favorite actresses. Another late matinee after a hike. Our Rating: General good entertainment 3.5

Sherlock Holmes: Robert Downey Jr, oh yeah, definately one of my favorite actors and Jude Law, right up in the favorites. Our Rating: General good entertainment with action 4.0

Live Theatre at 'Studio Live'

We discovered Studio Live early in our stay here and it's a good thing. Our 3 trips into West Sedona in the evening were well worth it. Studio Live is a small venue operated by the Sedona Performers Guild. There was a lot of mingling during intermission where you could meet the attendees and visit with the musicians. We can't rate these concerts the way we would a movie, they were all great and the caliber of talent was phenominal.

Fogelberg Tribute: Dan Fogelberg died of Prostate Cancer a couple of years ago and this live perforance was the 2nd annual tribute to Dan's over 150 recorded songs in a 35 year career. Last year the event was held in Gallup, NM. Music Producer, Tim Jessup organized the event in Sedona and performed harmonies and guitar licks with Richard Hardy and Robin Miller who had both played with Dan. Mark Thomas, another excellent musician, played the slide and electric guitar.

Zazu - Gypsy Jass: Ken Aurich, Larry Czarnecki and Steve Douglas wowed us with Gypsy Jazz, Manouch Jazz, Django Jazz, and Gypsy Swing.. call it what you will, it was unforgettable. It was infectious, melancholy, dark and moody, light and upbeat. Two great guitarists and a stand up bass player who glided over the strings without strain. Amazing. And ofcourse, we bought a CD.

Poetry Slam: Holy Wow! The talent was 'over the top'. We have never been to a Poetry Slam in Canada but have had mixed reviews. Would we attend another in Sedona or area in the US? You bet, in a heart beat. We saw 7 artists performing for prize money ($100) so we imagine that these writers/performers have day jobs. For those who don't know, to compete in a poetry slam, poets need at least 3 original poems, each 3 minutes long or shorter. We saw 7 performers compete in 3 rounds. An award winning slam poet and college instructor, Josh Fleming, from LA was there to entertain us between rounds. I won one of his publications/books. The host, Christopher Fox Graham entertained us with his own work and humour. It really was very good. I'd recommend going to a Poetry Slam and we did hear that there are some Canadian award winners but I wouldn't know who or where.

Miscellaneous Events we attended:

Los Albrigados Resort Red Rock Fantasy Christmas Light Show:

Over 1 millions lights in about 2 dozen displays. The displays are by families from the Southwest who are completing for prizes. 1st place was a 'time share' at Los Albrigados. Proceeds also go to local charities and families. Imagine a swan 25" high. Karen, Owen and I went on what felt like the coldest night of the year (and it was windy) and we were dazzled by the show but unfortunately we didn't take as much time as we would have liked, had it been warmer.

Mormon Temple Garden Christmas Lights in Mesa: 'A Drive By' with Uncle Jack and Aunt Pat Christmas Day. It covered a large city block and was beautiful.

Taize Prayer Service at the Chapel of the Holy Cross: A must when you visit Sedona. As I mentioned in an earlier blog the building itself is incredible, but sitting in the chapel in silence and prayer was serene and peaceful. The Holy Cross Choir sings in what is almost like a chant and it is beautiful.

St. Andrews Episcopal Church Christmas Choir Concert: A choir made up of 8 men and 16 women. Good performance of Christmas Hymns. I think we were expecting something along the lines of the choir Owen sings in, the Music Makers, which is alot of fun and performs with more of a variety but we enjoyed ourselves non-the-less.

As you can see, we have not lacked for entertainment as well as many hikes, drives, museums and a few galleries. Our evenings have consisted of reading, blogging, catching up on e-mails, and DVD's. Our days and evenings have also included, with frequency, sitting quietly and reflecting. No art to speak of other than putting together art cards of Jeremy's photographs although Owen has done a little drawing.

As I write this, Owen is outside in the sunshine reading.