Out on the Town...Salt Lake City, that is...

DSC08149, originally uploaded by kandjpowell.

Jim was given an invitation to a dinner and concert in Salt Lake City. This was a nice surprise, in appreciation for some mentoring work he's been doing at a local rehab center. What we didn't realize is what a NICE surprise it was. Turns out, the concert was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and orchestra with special guest Natalie Cole and author David McCullough (the concert of the season if you are in Utah). And the dinner was an intimate affair of about 30 folks in an upper room of the Joseph Smith building (no coffee served with dessert) with a keynote speaker who turned out to be the founder of NuSkin. And we had escorts who guided us through the extravagantly lit Temple Square to the enormous LDS conference center and down front and center to our reserved seats (Okay, not the front row, but still, in a place that seats 22,000, we were about 30 rows back from the stage.) Needless to say, we're not used to the red carpet treatment, and it was a great evening. The Choir and Orchestra were impressive, Natalie Cole had lots of star quality, the Christmas spirit was pervasive, and David McCullough was the very best part (he gave a historical perspective on Little Town of Bethlehem, Winston Churchill, Roosevelt, WWII, and I'll Be Home for Christmas, much to the delight of this history major). Oh, and Utah's love for the performing arts was displayed as never before seen as the stage at one point held the entire M.T Choir and Orchestra, Natalie Cole, the entire company of Salt Lake's finest ballet dancers pirouetting feverishly; folk dancers in costume representing Jamaica, Spain, Ireland, Russia; a children's choir of at least 100 kiddos in costume, a troupe of blue fairies (??), and, oh yes, a complete hand bell choir (why not?).
So, quite an evening of Utah culture. And my husband wore his new suit and I got to wear a dress that sees far too little use. All around a lovely experience.