East Coast Tour Day 6

Mark and Mike went to the ABC affiliate WTVR with 20 plus Cantabile boys.  The rock stars showed Richmond what the Boychoir is all about on “Virginia This Morning”.   They looked great and sounded great.  They also saw how Richmond makes a 2.5 foot high hamburger.  It helps to have a guy like Mike around to grease the wheels in the TV world. They also recorded a holiday song to be used this coming holiday season in Richmond.  The rest of the choir went to the Museum of the Confederacy.  The museum sat next to the White House of the south and divided itself into three areas; how the Civil War effected civilians, artifacts from the period, and art.  There was a picture of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson meeting on horseback just before the battle at Chancellorsville where Jackson was mortally wounded (see Day 2 blog for more details).  They had a mural of Lee’s headquarters tent with the actual items he used including boots, bed, silver eating utensils and plates.  The morning was cool and breezy, a welcome change from the last few days of hot sun and humidity.  So we walked to the State Capital, saw a beautiful sculpture of George Washington and then down to Brown’s Island where we had sandwiches and sat on the bank of the James River.  It was the mouth of the James River where the famous Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack took place.  Next we visited the American Civil War Museum.  It was part of a historical site that included the Tredegar Iron Works, the largest munitions, steel and fabricating factory in the south.  This museum’s focus is on presenting a balance between the Confederacy, Union and African American perspectives of what built up to, happened during and what the continuing results of the Civil War are.  One of the highlights was learning how to fire a muzzle loading cannon.  After a couple of “deaths” because of poor loading techniques the participants were able to simulate the firing in less than 30 seconds.  We went back to the hotel for some rest before going to the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart for the performance.  This was a spectacular church.  Historically we learned that it is the only church in the world where one person wrote one check and paid for the entire church.  The benefactor wanted it to be acoustically state of the art and it was.  After rehearsal we were treated to a dinner prepared by a chef and our waiters were from the Knights of Columbus.  They also gave us an ice cream social outside the church after the performance that was a wonderful surprise for the boys.  The concert was live streamed, something we will be doing more of as we perfect the process.  There was a very large audience for a Wednesday night.  The boys filled the huge space with their music and received the praise and congratulations we regularly see after performances.  Back to the hotel, a little swim, and snack then off to bed for a 6:15 wakeup call.