No Work and all Play

In downtown Birmingham is a little theater that brings in a lot of big names. Workplay theater has two rooms, one which is more of a coffee shop setting that allows you to get up front with the artists. The other room is a lot larger and is standing room only, much more like your typical concert. The entire theater, though, has a personal, close feel about it that makes their concerts not only special for audience, but for the performer too.

At the beginning of spring break, a group of us went to concert in the big "Hollywood" room at the theater with Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson, and Joshua Radin. This probably has to be the best concert I have been to! The artists seemed to think so too! They kept saying how great it was play at Workplay because they are so close to the audience and everyone in the audience is so into the music and really seemed to appreciate it. I have never been to a concert where the artist and the guitar player just get up there and make a song up as they go, but that is exactly what Sara Bareilles did. Also I have never heard someone say we are going to try this trio, we just learned it 3 hours ago on the bus! But somehow Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson, and Ingrid's back up singer, Allie Moss, got up on stage and sang the prettiest trio I have ever heard! It is things like this that you cant get anywhere else! We all walked out in awe of what we had just heard!  It is a unique experience and one that we all enjoyed! I know for a fact we will be back there this summer for some of their shows! It is really cool that we have a place like this and if you want something fun to do over the summer check out their calender and try to go to a show! It is definitely worth the price, which is not much, around $15 and you wont regret going! 

Ingrid Michaelson

Joshua Radin

Sara Bareilles

The Trio!

My Panama City Beach!

Me and my brother! <3

During spring break over half of the students at the University of Alabama could be found on the gulf coast, including myself! When people think about Panama City Beach for spring break they think about packed bars and clubs and little hotel rooms filled to the maximum capacity. But this is not the Panama City Beach(PBC) that I know and love! 

My mom's side of the family owns a house right outside of actual PBC, on a strip of beach known as Laguna Beach. They have owned this house for years and we have been coming here on vacation for as long as I can remember! There is no where else I would rather be than sitting on the back porch watching the sunset over the ocean. When we got to the beach though we do not do all the typical "tourist" outings. We like to have the "local" experience!

Down the road from the beach house one way is a Winn-Dixie and the other way is a local grocery store called the Carousel. Instead of going to the store that we are familiar with, we turn to the right and go to the local store. It is an experience itself and it is nice to walk into a store where everyone says "hey" and all the workers are pleased to help you. Another thing we love to do at the beach is wake up late morning and eat a huge breakfast! One of our favorite places is the Sunnyside Grill. It is literally a little pink shack on the side of the road that many people would not even notice as they drive by. But they have to best breakfast, complete with huge pancakes, eggs anyway you could possibly imagine, and my brother's favorite sausage. We also always have to get doughnuts from the Thomas Doughnut stand at least once. These are the best doughnuts you will ever have! They are a million times better the Krispy Kreme could ever dream about being! You go up to the window and pick out the kind of doughnuts you want, or if you dont like doughnuts you can order a biscuit or bagel from the kitchen inside. 

We my family goes to the beach we pig out on seafood! But we dont go to any of the chain seafood restaurants, because the local ones are a lot better! One of our favorites for lunch is Dusty's Oyster Bar and Grill, where the oyster shells make the gravel for the parking lot. Another place we love to go is right beside the bridge that goes over the Inter-coastal Waterway, called Boonedock's.  Their seafood is fresh from the local fishermen! Although we love to go out for dinner, our favorite thing to do is get food from Buddy's and bring it back to the house. Buddy's is a local fish and shrimp shop. Most of the fish are right from the boat! We like to get their shrimp and have them steam them for us with lots of wonderful seasonings and potatoes, the best shrimp you will find in PBC! 

This is my PBC, not the one people typically think of! When we go to the beach it is all about the local experience, which I personally thinks makes the trip. For my family is has almost become another "local" or home for us!

 

Dedication to students for half a century!

When you are a music major you are assigned a private teacher who you will study with throughout your college career. I am very lucky student in that I have the privilege of studying under Mrs. Penick. Knowing I would study under her is what made my college decision. You cant find a better piano teacher than her anywhere in the southeast or even around the nation. This year her teaching skills were honored when she won Music Teacher of the Year from the Music Teacher's National Association, which she definitely deserved! Almost every lesson she reminds me that she is not here to get all these awards of for her own recgonition, but because we - her students - deserve it.     

Last month Mrs. Penick celebrated being at the University for 54 years. In order to celebrate such a wonderful 54 years, the music school put together a concert featuring many of her amazing alumni. The concert was on a Sunday afternoon in the Concert Hall in Moody. It could probably seat close to 2,000 people or even more and it had to have been at least 50% full. Skipp Snead, the director of the school of music, started the afternoon out with a speech honoring all of her hard work and dedication to the artsand to this University. He did a very interesting visual where he slowly asked different people to stand up. He started with her current students, then alumni students, then students of her alumni students, then people who had seen her television show, and so on. Eventually everyone in the entire hall was standing and he said, "see how many lives you have touched!" Afterwards several of her alumni performed and performed some of the hardest pieces written for piano perfectly. It was an amazing afternoon and the perfect way to honor someone who has been dedicated to her students and this University for over a half a century. 

The afternoon was especially moving for me. My piano teacher from home, who is like a second mother to me, was also a student of Mrs. Penick. She and my mom drove from Huntsville to attend the concert. Before the concert Mrs. Penick, Mrs. Daphne, and I took a picture together, one that I will cherish forever. All of her students are a part of a special family, Mrs. Penick's musical family. It is a family that sticks with you forever and her talents have bonded us all. This is what we know as "local". We may live all over the country, but for this family local is the music and our teacher that bonds us and connects us all to one area. It is a unique bond and one that I feel very privileged to be apart of everyday. 

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My Music Family!