Put Your Car on Cruise and Lay Back 'Cause This Is Summertime

I'm officially on my summer schedule, which basically amounts to a whole lot of nothing. I've just returned from upstate, where I attended a 4th of July concert by the local orchestra that included (among other musical gems) a medley of songs by Gloria Estefan. It wasn't the Boston Pops by any stretch of the imagination, but I loved seeing the audience's reaction. Apparently it doesn't take much for an artistically starved community to get excited. The crowd's rendition of the national anthem was also impressive, sung exuberantly by every single person in attendance, something I haven't experienced since I attended a benefit at Lincoln Center just after 9/11/01. It's enough to make me want to admit to being an American while traveling in foreign countries.