On the Road with Joanne Robinson: Omaha

By Joanne Robinson

Greetings from Omaha, two days following our taping in Cedar Rapids, Iowa!
The taping was great, and the drive to Omaha wasn’t half bad either (except
for the hour-long detour to try to find a Starbucks in the most rural part
of Iowa).

There were definitely some memorable moments from our Cedar Rapids
show that I wanted to share with you. We met an amazing quartet – the
Aurelia String Quartet from Chicago. They recently struck gold in the junior
division at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and recreated their
award-winning performance on our show. I’ve never seen so much bow hair
flying! During the show, Chris commented that they “lost more hair in minute
than I lose in a week.”

We also had on a harpist who told one of the funniest travel stories ever, and speaking of funny, we had on a bass (vocalist, not stringed instrument) who could easily become a stand-up comic if the music thing doesn’t work out. Also, a teenage cellist who was fairly new to the U.S. performed one of the most soulful renditions of Faure’s
Elegy I’ve ever heard, and closing the show was an awesome treat – a bluegrass mandolin player! He put on his classical hat and played his own version “Czardas” accompanied by a guitarist who was one of his earliest mentors.

Tom Voegli with Solly Burton

There was also a really interesting pre-produced piece about his life on a farm (I got my hands on some amusing photos of our producer Tom Voegeli taping the segment dolled up in some kind of quasi farm outfit, which follow below). The Cedar Rapids show airs nationally the week of June 15, don’t miss it!

Anyway, now we’re in Omaha getting ready to go to pizza party and meet the kids who’ll be performing on tonight’s show. I’ll try to post more soon!

Keep reading for more photos of our producer on the Burton farm!

Tom Voegli records pigs.

And chickens