Big Band at Mission San Jose
There's a lot going on this weekend, but let’s start by heading to Mission San Jose. Los Compadres de San Antonio Missions’ Barbara Chandoah talks about Friday night's Music Under the Stars. The USAA Band will be playing.
"It is a fabulous, free, family event. They play a little Latino. They play jazz. They play contemporary. They play marches, and they end up patriotic. It is a very, very moving experience. “
Big sound and dramatic Mission lighting punctuate the performance. They play on the enclosed lawn area next to the Mission.
"The famous Rose Window is the backdrop, with the bell tower and the dome as your background. It’s just a magical setting." Showtime is 7:30 p.m.
Say Si's Student Production
Or you can head to Say Si’s performance space across from Blue Star for a student-executed stage production. Say Si is the afterschool arts organization whose objective is to unfold the lives of students through art. The production is a look back... way back.
"It is called Napako (Our Journey), and it's a story about a Native American creation story," explains FernandaCorvarrubias. She is in the production, which centers on an alternative story about how we all came about.
"There’s more than one way people think that we got here on this earth."
Lilith Tijernia plays the main protagonist in the production, which is also about the origins of the San Antonio River.
"We’re doing the story on the Blue Hole, which is what natives considered to be a sacred water. Not only is the audience watching, but they’re experiencing it with us through the dreams that the protagonist goes through."
"Napako" runs Friday though Sunday at Say Si.
Medina Lake Cajun Festival
On Saturday night, you might want to head out to Lake Medina for their 35th annual Cajun Festival.
“Laissez les bons temps rouler!" says Barbara Engel enthusiastically. About the festival, she says "We want it to be like a piece of Louisiana set in the Hill Country."
The way they do that is by cooking up a lot of what Louisianans eat, including crawfish etouffee, crawfish pies, meat pies, bread pudding with whiskey sauce, red beans and rice.
They serve lots of food, and they also have a lot of music. Cajun and zydeco dance music. Many of the bands come from Louisiana. Engel has a simple view.
"You can’t party when you’re dead, so I urge everybody to just put their troubles aside, and come out to Medina Lake."
And if you do, she says in the vernacular "If you do come, you’re going to pass a good time."
For more on the Music Under the Stars go here.
For more on the Say Si production, go here.
For more on the Medina Lake Cajun Festival go here.
