Swing! Swing! Swing!
The last weekend in September 2018 is a perfect weekend for music fans to be in or near Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Saturday, September 29, the Morgantown Jazz Orchestra (aka MJO) will appear in the ballroom of Village Square on Route 19 just across the river from Veteran’s Park and the Clarksburg Amphitheater. When they first appeared in Harrison County last year, they were big hit with the ballroom dancers around the region, and the show was enlivened considerably by the West Virginia University Swing Dance Club.
The Swing Dancers were about twenty strong and put on a real show while dancing among the very average hoofers that filled the dance floor. “In The Mood” sent everyone to the Moon. It’s a major fundraiser for the Clarksburg League for Service, so the $50 is a good deal for a good cause. You can contact Catherine Preston via email to: canne310@gmail.com.
Maureen McGovern
On Sunday, September 30, you can enjoy the vocal terrific-ness of certified diva, Maureen McGovern, a Grammy-award winning singer whose resume is filled with notable chart toppers and popular music favorites. Her show is a 2pm matinee at the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center in uptown Clarksburg at Pike and 6th, the first in the next series of Grand Performances organized by the Cultural Foundation. The Robinson Grand has a box office you can access on line at TheRobinsonGrand.com or by phone to 304-624-1624.
There’s a good chance you would be so taken away by the performance delivered in this absolutely grand 1920s-era theater (that is world class in every way) that you might expect to exit the show onto the streets of Times Square. Not so lucky, but even without the high end NYC steakhouses and martini bars nearby, you could find lots of joy in Ritzy Lunch, next door, if they are open.
If you’d like a mimosa or Bloody Mary before the show, the Fifth Floor Lounge on 3rd Street is always a good call. Plus, My Mother’s Daughter, an eclectic cafe on Main Street across from the Harrison County Courthouse, is serving a before-the-theater brunch. I thought I saw a picture of Eggs Benedict! No beer, wine or liquor here though.