My apologies for not writing my weekend blog entry sooner, but my main computer has decided to cause major headaches again, so I am using a secondary computer for the time being, which delayed my writing today until now. That being said, so what are you planning to do for Valentine's Day this year?
Most people think of the obvious things, of course, such as chocolates or roses, or maybe even sexy lingerie. I heard one suggestion on the radio today for 'sexy ladies' to wrap their gift for their lucky man in sexy lingerie, which is an interesting concept I had best leave up to your imagination at the moment. But anyway, if you have not made any specific plans yet for a gift of some sort, may I make a few interesting suggestions?
This first one will likely be a little last minute, as it actually happens on Sunday rather than Monday, but Primavera Concerts are holding a concert Sunday afternoon titlted "Follow the Chocolate Road", featuring a group known as Folia. Made up of Linda Melsted on baroque violin, Terry McKenna on baroque guitar and lute, Justin Haynes on viola da gamba and Borys Medicky on harpsichord, Folia will be accompanied by Tamara Bernstein as narrator, providing colourful readings from period diaries, letters and even recipes. The concert celebrates chocolate's glorious conquest of Baroque Europe, with stops in Spain, Italy, France, and finally to the coffee houses of England. The concert begins at 3 pm at the acoustically lovely St. Barnabas Church on Queenston Street in St. Catharines, and tickets should still be available at the door. In the evening, incidentally, there will be a Valentine's Eve Dinner featuring a three-course dinner, flowers and more chocolates. If you're interested, I would suggest calling ahead to see if there is room available at the dinner; call 905-934-9285. Even if there is no space left for the dinner, the concert itself will be a wonderful prelude to the day on Monday.
The second idea has nothing whatsoever to do with music, but everything to do with showing you care. I was over to the Lincoln County Humane Society today to learn more about their RescueMe campaign, which is designed to raise much-needed funds to help equip the new spay and neuter clinic presently under construction at the Fourth Avenue site. For a donation to the campaign in your sweetie's name, your sweetheart will know you care about the pets still residing at the Humane Society and how you can help towards reducing the overpopulation of cats and dogs in Niagara at the present time. I plan to take advantage of this unique fundraising effort myself on Monday, and hope you will give it your consideration, too.
A tasty idea for a quick and easy dinner for Monday, and a way to show your support for a downtown business as well: how about ordering a heart-shaped pizza from Bella Noella Pizza on Summer Street just off James Street? I was in to see owner Steve Turcin this week, and he says the biggest challenge to getting people to venture to his shop is simply knowing where Summer Street is, so if you head down James Street just past King Street, you turn right on a small sidestreet that is in fact Summer Street, and right up at the top of the street is a small stand-alone building housing Bella Noella Pizza. It is worth the trip, too. Steve makes a great pizza, with a creative flair you simply don't find in run-of-the-mill establishments. Vegan pizzas, vegetarian pizzas and gluten-free pizzas are all part of a day's work for Steve and his crew, so there is simply no excuse to say no to a heart-shaped pizza this Valentine's Day. You'll find them listed in the Yellow Pages or simply Google Bella Noella in St. Catharines.
Finally, I would be remiss if I were not to plug my own web-based music business, especially around this particular day, since music is always a romantic part of any Valentine's Day. Although it is too late to special order your request, you still have a wide array of choices for music I might just have stock on. One example you might want to consider is a brand-new CD from EMI Classics featuring Placido Domingo. The title of the CD says it all, really: Passion - The Love Album. This two-disc set features the great tenor in a variety of musical styles ranging from romantic ballads to latin-tinged numbers such as Granada and Perfidia. All for only $ 25.00 for the two-disc set! Email me at music@vaxxine.com if you're interested, or order through the website, at www.finemusic.ca. Of course, the Mike's Picks page on the website has a great variety of musical options perfect for any special occasion you might have coming up.
So there you go: everything from music to dinner for that romantic day. What more could you possibly want? Happy Valentine's Day!
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