COMMON GROUND

Last night my brother treated me to a night out at the Belk Theater. The event was not a surprise, however the EVENT was a surprise. My brother, Lemar, was a DJ during the era of The Temptations. He has been a big fan of music for a long time. He could have gone on "Name That Tune" game show and would have become the national champion. He knows his music!

As we drove down Fifth Street we glanced at the number of people walking Uptown. Lemar is not a permanent resident of Charlotte and was amazed of how many people were walking the streets. We later concluded that there was a Bobcat game and it was Saturday night in a small metropolitan city with things to do from eateries to dance clubs.....to the Symphony!
We were a bit lost because it was raining and we couldn't see the names on the buildings. I knew where the Blumenthal Center was and had been there multiple times. However, I was always a passenger; but not tonight. I am driving and I have a non resident as a co-pilot. Ok, we are definitely lost but not really. We are here; the corner of College and Fifth; but we are confused because we are looking for the crowd of people going into the theater to see the Temptations!

We can't find people that look like us. The viewers are Senior Citizen Majorities walking into the theater.

My conclusion was to go park the car and we can figure out the rest on feet. "I know where I am going!" I am a Trusted Real Estate Advisor! Doggone it I am not LOST!!!
We park at the Hearst Towers. There is a crowd of people in the elevator. Black, white, old and young. This is Charlotte! What a wonderful diverse city. We all get off and 3/4 of the people do not know where they are going. We ALL decided to follow the couple with the mink coat who were walking like they knew where they were going.

We enter the beautiful building that was wonderfully supported by people like Mr. and Mrs. Hugh McColl, The Spangler Family, the Leon Levine Foundation, Pat and B.D. Rogers, M.A. and James Rogers, Richard Osborne and many more. You can check out their website at www.charlottesymphony.org.

We look around to see so many types of people we did not expect to be at a contemporary American pop concert. This group was an original Motown group invented by "The" Berry Gordy. We go to our seats and the crowd is definitely a "Symphony" crowd. I asked my brother was this the crowd he expected. He chuckled and said, "no." I was thinking the same thing. It was a bit uncomfortable at first when the Temptations started singing. We were use to getting up, dancing, clapping and singing. We just sat there and enjoyed the first few songs. Finally Big Sexy (nickname) told the audience to stand up and get involved. To our surprise, everyone stood up in a cheer and danced a bit and even sang a few lyrics! Now we are jamming with the Symphony crowd. The crowd continued to be involved in the concert with the instruction of the group.

Common Ground is what I titled this blog because of our experience. What we thought would be an emotionless concert became a wonderful experience. Charlotte Symphony was to create and engage the community in extraordinary musical experiences.
The brilliance of bringing a classic rhythm and soul group to perform with a classical symphony was one of the best ways to exhibit our diverse city! This is Common Ground to those who have a love for music.

If you ever have a chance to experience this in the future. Please do so with the expectation of greatness. Bring your dancing shoes and your vocal chords because you will be in for a nice surprise, I know I was!!!

Thank you Charlotte for this experience!