“If you ever change your mind, about leaving, leaving me behind. Oh...bring it to me. Bring your sweet loving, bring it on home to me”.
Howdy all you cool cats and kute kittens. We’ve got a lot of stuff coming up so let’s start plugging away.
Pun intended.
The Georgia College Music Department has many programs of entertainment coming up, starting with this very evening, Tuesday, April 16. Over at Max Noah Recital Hall, students will perform their original music in a program cleverly titled “Songwriters.”
Students will present their compositions in an assortment of styles ranging from classical traditions to modern and folk.
Some of the original tunes include “Moonlight Lullaby” by Preston Raburn, which will be performed along with the GeeCee Saxophone Quartet. Campbell Random will perform “Fountain of Youth,” while Liam Mueller will perform “A Homeless Man Aggressively Came Up to Me for Money” with violin.
What the homeless man was doing with a violin, I’ll never know.
There will be lots more and it all starts at 7:30 p.m. As with most GC Music Department events, admission is free, but donations are strongly encouraged to support student scholarships.
Just a couple of days later, the GC Music Therapy Program and the Life Enrichment Center present “Old Time Rock and Roll,” a production featuring musicians with “disAbilities” and music therapy students in the Creative Expressions Performance Groups.
As you could expect, the program will feature well-known rock tunes sort of dominated by the 1970s. As regular readers know, that was not my fave decade for music but there were a lot of popular songs and many being performed at this program. “Rocketman” and “Walk This Way” will certainly be familiar and enjoyable to you, the listening public!
The concert will be at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, in New City Church at the Mill, 224 E. Walton Street, Milledgeville.
But the GC music folks are not done. In fact, they are just gearing up!
On Saturday, April 20, a celebration of spring will take place as Georgia College’s music ensembles gather on the lawn of Georgia’s Old Governor’s Mansion for a 6 p.m. “Music at the Mansion” concert. This annual concert features the university’s wind symphony, women’s ensemble, orchestra, university chorus, the saxophone choir, saxophone quartets and jazz combos.
You are welcome to bring snacks, drinks, tables, chairs, calling birds, French hens, kitchen sinks, etc. In the event of rain, the concert will be held inside the mansion.
Same deal with admission being free but donations are much appreciated. And you get an awful lot of music from this really big show!
One more delightful nugget from the GC Music Department is coming up. It’s the final jazz jam of the semester, taking place on Tuesday, April 23, at Amici Café in downtown Milledgeville.
Seems strange to put that near the end of the column as it is often the first event. Well, that’s how it is with calendar dates!
You should know the drill by now but just in case, this event is hosted by GC faculty and students who play and perform some mighty fine jazz sets.
And anyone in the community can sit in for a tune or two. It’s easy. It’s fun! I do it. And so can you! Just bring an instrument and get ready to jam. And vocal cords do count as an instrument - though I would debate that in many karaoke situations.
The jammin’ starts at 7 p.m. And folks are definitely welcome to just come and listen and partake of the fine fare offered up at Amici.
Finally, let me give some advance notice for an upcoming concert being presented by the Milledgeville Singers Guild (MSG).
“Musical Pairs” will be showcased on Monday, May 6, at 7 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church on South Wayne Street.
The MSG is a flock o’ folks who get together to sing just for the shear enjoyment of it. And they do a mighty fine job.
Some of the tunes on this upcoming eclectic program include “If Music Be the Food of Love,” Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus,” “Elijah Rock,” “Double Trouble,” and “3 Quotes” by that well known composer, Mark Twain.
Put it on your calendar, mark it with a “B,” then put it in the oven for baby and me.
The opening riff today is from the classic R&B song “Bring it on Home to Me”. It has been done by many artists over the years with Sam Cooke doing what is often considered the definitive version. My own favorite, however, is from Eric Burdon and the Animals. Just can’t beat Burdon’s bluesy voice.
What does it have to do with this column? Nary a thing. It’s just on my mind!
“You know I laughed when you left, but now I know I only hurt myself. Oh...bring it to me. Bring your sweet loving, bring it on home to me”.
Catch you on the flip side.
—Columnist Tom Toney can be reached at tom.toney@gcsu.edu .
