Free For All: community supported high quality music

Sarasota Slim

By Gail A. Reynolds, Rock At Night Columnist

Why would anyone attend a free top notch concert in air conditioned comfort when they could spend $50 or more on stadium seats out in the elements where the performers are mere specs on the stage and sound quality is dubious?

This tongue-in-cheek rhetoric is inspired by a recent Sunday afternoon blues concert at the New River Public Library in Wesley Chapel, Florida, a bit north of Tampa.

Sarasota Slim

Guitarist Paul Hardage, AKA Sarasota Slim, accompanied by a keyboard, bass, and drums ensemble, played an impressively tight two hour blues set.  This free event was presented by Pasco County’s Friends of the Library and the Otis G. Pike Charitable Trust, in conjunction with the Suncoast Blues Society, which sponsors a multi-county Blues in The Library program.

This concert was the kickoff of the library Friends’ Passport Concert Series, which will offer Pasco County, Florida  patrons an opportunity to “Travel the world through music” and experience a variety of musical genre in its seven libraries.  The spectrum of musical forms range from an old time string band to a classical wind ensemble, as well as disco and Latin rhythms.

The delightful Sunday afternoon of blues  underscores the power of diverse community organizations to promote and preserve our precious art heritage.

Sarasota Slim at the New River Library

 

Video

Website

Suncoast Blues Society

 

Gail Reynolds