Reunited with my summer crush: music

Summer music under the stars is my relentless lover.

I can never resist it. Whenever it is playing, give me a lawn chair, something to munch on and I'm there.

And I don't even get grumpy if a peacock steals my sandwich.

My thanks to Muse/ ique conductor Rachel

Worby for reminding me of this when I attended her recent performance at Caltech in Pasadena. She could not have known the presence she had in my life.

But her music brought it all back to me.

Many years ago, on the weekend before I had life-threatening surgery, my husband asked me if there was something special I wanted to do. He already knew the answer: I wanted to go to Descanso Gardens to hear the Pasadena Pops, conducted at that time by Rachel Worby.

“In case I don't get to go again,” I told my husband.

“Oh, you'll go again,” George said. “Many times.”

As he predicted, we came back to the pops often, but the splendor of that presurgery concert echoed through the years with me. The musical experience that calmed me into a healing space kept me there.

Years later, when Rachel had left to form Muse/ique, Michael Feinstein became the pops conductor and the venue moved to the Los Angeles Arboretum. From the beginning he had me “Swinging on a Star” to his Great American Songbook music.

Around that time, Descanso Gardens introduced summer weeknight music. Everyone knew where to find me on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

In the midst of all that, Muse/ique was born.

I was delighted to visit with Rachel again. Even though we had never met person to person, her positive energy stayed with me. I loved her creative productions that connected different music genres. There was dancing and art and even a touch of poetry. I always left her concerts feeling lucky to have been able to attend.

Then COVID hit and my summer night music faded.

Somehow two years passed without my relentless lover. But now that he has lured me back, I don't plan on losing him again.