Disappearing, Appearing

Updated below.

The other night, I was at a book club meeting and I was interested to hear a couple of the other attendees discussing how they hadn't seen one another for ages, in fact had hardly seen anyone for ages.  (The book club meets monthly, so it couldn't have been too long.)  In a place this small, you get used to seeing people here or there regularly, but I was pleased to have that conversation confirm my sense that January is the month for disappearing.

But that may be all about to end.  Tonight, Trinity Lutheran Church re-starts its concert schedule with a jazz ensemble from Trinity Western University bringing itself up to the Point to liven us up.  The church,  in the nature of its being, is usually raising funds for some needed community good that the County wouldn't be in the business of providing, and at the moment they need to get the Church organ's problems remedied.

The concert is one of a long series; the Church arranged and sponsored almost thirty concerts in 2010.  The arranging work is done by Lucy Williams who is like the Sol Hurok of Point Roberts (if anybody still remembers who Sol Hurok was).  It's probably a largely thankless task except for the fact that those who attend enjoy the music.  It certainly amazes me that she is able so regularly to find really talented musicians who want to come to entertain us.  My guess is that they all perform for free because there are those charitable objects that need the money raised by the concerts; and then there is the fact that the price of a ticket is left up to each attendee.  Lucy clearly has spent too much time listening to National Public Radio when considering a funding model.  But we are all grateful to her: she brings us the sounds of joy at a price we can afford.

Update: We walked down to the church last evening in the misting rain and were indeed treated to a wonderful performance.  Six young men from Trinity Western University in Langley (but I don't know whether that's the U.S. Langley or the Canadian Langley) just knocked themselves out for us for a little over an hour.  They were having such a good time it was hard not to feel we ought to be able to pull out our instruments and join them in the fun, except for the fact that we don't actually play any instruments.  Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter and Thelonius Monk pieces rocketed out of them and I don't know that the church itself will quite be the same after hearing all that.  The only downside was that the place wasn't packed with audience.  I imagine Lucy will invite them back and if you are in the vicinity you shouldn't miss it.