Singing City Notes

Hi all, A LONG day... arrived in Sarajevo at about 8 p.m. (three hours behind schedule). Spectacular scenery, with hour after hour (after  hour) of severely winding mountain roads. Gorgeous, and happily, Singing City members do not get bus sick (hehe). We stopped someplace in Bosnia for a massive lunch (roast lamb and veal, potatoes, great salad, beer). Border crossings were nuts.... huge wait to leave Serbia, turning in passports, etc.... then a 2nd huge wait to get into Bosnia, again, turning in passports. Once in Bosnia, we began to see signs of the war... bullet holes in countless buildings, bombed out shells of buildings, etc. Clearly Bosnia is in worse shape financially than Serbia (which is hardly strong, to be quite honest). I believe that unemployment is something like 40% here. Backing up... yesterday in Belgrade.... amazing. I appeared on live national TV in the morning with a real blond Serbian bombshell interviewer. Was fun. Our concert in the evening... unbelievable. Packed to the rafters and, since it was Serbian Orthodox, no chairs. Our audience STOOD in the incredible heat for the entire concert. The church was visually and acoustically breathtaking.... so inspiring. We were hosted by the Belgrade Choral Society, which was founded mid 19th century. Their choir members cooked all day for our post concert reception in the parish house of the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (big time, for sure!) The choir nailed the concert, truly.... I was so pleased and honestly, it was the best jet lagged choir I've ever had the pleasure to conduct! The audience went nuts, especially over our attempts at singing in Serbian. The reception.... well!!! Loads of Serbian Rakia (plum brandy) and, I mean loads.... I survived one shot of the stuff with the head priest then escaped to Serbian red wine... kind of a soft, semi dry and quite drinkable wine! Then they brought out platters of roast fish, salads, bread, etc.... great. One by one, choir members hit a wall, thanks to the Rakia (geez, what lack of discpline!) At 11:30 I left with a small group of wimps... we did stop for amazing Serbian ice cream en route to the hotel. Others went out on the town, visiting the Bohemiam quarter, hearing live music, etc. So, now, Bosnia...  seems to be mostly Muslim now and in the countryside at least, very poor. Sarajevo still shows loads of war damage, though our hotel is located on the outskirts, in a newly built area.... BMW dealer and a McDonalds right next door. So, somebody has money and I suppose McDonalds is a symbol of success.... The hotel is quite modern, filled with Muslim tourists. I'm waiting for a meeting with the choir director whose choir we meet tomorrow... then another live TV appearance in the morning. I'll be the most wrinkled guest, that's for sure!! ANYWAY.... that's it from Bosnia.... and oh yes.... Happy 4th of July! Jeff