Frances Ellen Speaks!

Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Continuing on with fun cities to visit in the United States. Try Orlando, Florida.

Yeah, you already know it’s about Disney, Universal and Sea World. That’s all good, but it is also about nightlife downtown and restaurants galore. One of my favorite restaurants is Vito’s Chop House on International Drive, a steak house with an Italian flair. But that’s only one of many delightful places to dine.

I’d venture to say no matter when you visit, you’ll always be able to find a live concert to attend. There are great venues: Amway Arena, House of Blues, and Hard Rock Live, to name a few.

If you prefer golf, look no further. While the kids are at Universal for the day, you can pick up your clubs and head for any of the Grand Cypress Resort’s Courses, Bay Hill, Shingle Creek or the Hunter’s Creek Golf Course. Again, this is a partial list. There are many more.

If the kids want to see something a little more off the beaten path, try Gatorland or Wet & Wild or Silver Spurs Rodeo.

Most visitors to Orlando aren’t usually looking for cultural pursuits, but if you’re happiest at the theatre, you’ll be pleased to know Orlando hosts a ballet company, opera company, a philharmonic orchestra, a lineup of live plays and it even has a thriving Shakespeare Theatre.

For sports, there’s always the Magic and if you visit at the right time of year, you can see the Citrus Bowl Parade, which kicks off another exciting Citrus Bowl Game.

Gosh, what more could you want?

Since I’m encouraging vacation travel on a budget, I’ll rerun part of a previous post I wrote a while back.

If you’re looking to hear the blues, Memphis is the town.

Looking to savor the sweet taste of BBQ? Memphis is a good choice.

A word about Beale Street–I was expecting something similar to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but Beale Street is much shorter, only extends about a block or two. Therefore, it doesn’t have as many shops, but what it lacks in shopping, it makes up for in good food and fantastic music. The entire time spent on Beale Street is a party for the senses.

There is one important fact to know about BBQ, it comes “wet” or “dry.” At the Pig On Beale, you can order your ribs with a dry rub. Take it from me, if you’re ever at the Pig, dry is the way to go.

The final Memphis highlight that I will touch on has a lot of “soul.”

photo from

We only had time to visit one museum and, boy, did we make a good choice–STAX. Museum, with just the right mixture of history, made for a memorable visit.

There are bus tours galore that will take you to Graceland, if you yearn to see the King’s home. We ran out of time.

Most people think if you’re going to visit New Orleans, it should be during Mardi Gras.  That’s great, I admit. The parades are not to be missed and the craziness on the streets adds to the raucus, carefree atmosphere.

But there’s so much more to New Orleans: Bourbon Street, the French Market, the Garden District, eclectic shopping on Royal Street, the fantastic architecture throughout the City and the Riverboats on the Mississippi River. And there’s more, much more.

But for me, it’s all about the food and the music. I’ll never forget savoring the taste of my first beignet at the Cafe du Monde, or the taste sensation of gumbo at the Gumbo Shop in the French Quarter, or authentic cajun food found throughout the City.

And the music?

You can hear music everywhere, at any time, by day, or by night. If you want to experience music at its very best, make plans to attend the Jazz Fest, which is held in April each year. Tents and open-air stages abound with every imaginable type of music: jazz (of course), gospel, oldies, big band, zydeco, blues, country, bluegrass, dixieland, even latin jazz. If you can dream it up, you can probably find it at the New Orleans Jazz Fest. All live. All sensational–and the food at the fair? Every bit as savory as the music.

I am always surprised when someone tells me “back in the day,” they followed a local band from club to club whenever word got around that their favorite band would be appearing. I lived in Pennsylvania at the time, and the band we were crazy about was The Greaseband. We traveled all over to see them and dance to their music.

A friend of mine who lived in Boston followed a band named Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes. They were Jersey boys, but evidently performed a lot in Boston, too.

It got me to thinking a whole lotta people did a whole lotta dancing back then to a whole lotta different bands–talented guys who made the regional club scenes fun, but never got onto the national radar. What a shame, because they helped make weekends “somethin’ wonderful.”If you want to send me the name of your local band, I’ll try to locate their video and post it for you.

Every year, when St. Patrick’s Day approaches, I think about cooking up some corned beef and cabbage. Nine times out of ten, I pull out a big pot and spend the rest of the day smelling the aroma of Ireland. The dish is easy to make, but oh so time-consuming.

I think what really put me in the mood this year was an email I received this past week about the popularity of Irish Dance at a school in the Bronx. The New York Times wrote about the music teacher and posted one of the most heartwarming videos I’ve seen in a long, long time. I’m so used to seeing bad news that the sight of these inner city kids kicking up their heels gave me goose bumps, it really did. Go here to see the video — Keltic Dreams.

Did you know that New York City has been hosting a St. Patrick’s Day Parade since 1762? Is that unbelievable, or what?! Incidentally, Patrick didn’t chase all of the snakes out of Ireland, either. Another myth totally shattered according to the National Geographic News.

And I suppose it wouldn’t be a proper St. Patrick’s Day without the mention of Leprechauns. I had no idea that if you catch a Leprechaun, he’ll lead you to his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but according to Sherri Osburn, that’s the case. So, it might be a good idea to get crackin’ on making a Leprechaun Trap. (A really good project to do with the grandkids.) Take a look at some Leprechaun Trap Photos.

Now for an easy recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage, but be prepared to hang around the house for several hours.

Photo from

Corned Beef
5 or 6 potatoes, quartered
head of cabbage, cut into 6 wedges
carrots, as many as you would like.

Wash corned beef under running water to remove surface brine. Put in pot and cover with water. (Most corned beef roasts bought from a supermarket come with all the seasonings enclosed. Add them to the water.) Keep lid on pot. Once water comes to a boil, cook for 3 1/2 hours on low/medium heat.

During the last 30/45 minutes, add cabbage wedges, potatoes and carrots. Add more water to cover. Keep lid on pot throughout.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.