CICADA SERENADE (Cheri)

We received over 3" of rain in 24 hours on Wednesday-Thursday, but we're good.

Tuesday we went to see a concert presented by the Salem Band, in the Square in front of Salem College and Academy.

Old Salem (North Carolina, not Massachusetts) was settled in 1766, by members of the Moravian Church, which was founded in the Kingdom of Bohemia (located in what is now the Czech Republic).  The school that is now Salem College was formed six years later.

We are going to spend a day walking the entire historical site when it is cooler.  In the meantime, we thoroughly enjoyed being on the Square as sunset approached:

The concert was advertised as "disco," which I thought would be an interesting challenge.

When we arrived, a smaller band was playing excerpts from various hymns.  This reminded me of an afternoon in 1989, when Mark and I were driving through the English countryside with BBC Channel #2 on the car radio.  After playing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Great Is Thy Faithfulness, the DJ moved directly to the Rolling Stones and Can't Get No Satisfaction!

The roughly-45 member band's execution of disco was indeed challenging.  (Here's a clip of them playing the Bee Gees’ Staying Alive.)  They did move on to other forms of dances that are more typical for bands of this size.

What we liked best was the participation by the large cicada contingent in the trees . . . the metallic sound you hear competing with the band in this clip.)

Before dark I walked through this building, which I had taken to be a horse stables, but an interior plaque identified it as the circa-1803 firehouse.  (Now that I think about it, an early-1800’s firehouse would be a stable!)

As we left, a light at the front of one the buildings - a residence hall, I believe - brightened our path: