April 2010

Hi, Don

I was the "first" attendee at the Shemekia Copeland meet & greet and enjoyed

meeting you there...My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the buffet...the

ambiance, quality and price provided by the Culinary Institute can't be

beat! We like the thought that goes into pairing the food to the musician

and/or  musical genre. Also, we like the experience that it gives the

students in both the preparation and serving. We had both attended the

earlier John Hammond event and felt similar about it, too. Getting the

chance  to meet the musicians is certainly an added bonus.

As far as the blues concerts, the two we attended have both been great. The

warm-up acts provide a nice lead-in to the main event, and booking both John

Hammond and Shemekia Copeland were great choices.  They are world-class acts

and renowned for their musicianship. I'm  sure they enjoyed playing the

Loew's (great acoustics!) as much as we  did sitting in the audience

listening to them perform.

I hope that you are able to build on the momentum from this first series and

book future programs; more blues and/or jazz, r&b. r&r or world-themed

series are some of the possibilities that I would like to see in the future.