Peach State Summer Theatre opened its 2015 Season with a musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel,…read moreLes Miserables. Unfortunately, the play was staged in English. It really needed to be done in French with English subtitles as the sung English was mostly unintelligible. If it had been done in French, there would have at least been an excuse to print out the lyrics so one could have known what the blue Suzette was happening. Like a lot of summer stock these days, the orchestration was taped especially for use in the theater and the thespians are expected to sing Karaoke-style complete with tiny flesh colored headsets and wireless microphones. Instead of projecting their voices to the back seats of the theater they modulated them for the microphone and surrendered themselves to the mercies of the soundman who promptly buried them under recorded music. By the end of the first act, you are supposed to care that Valjean remains free, that Marius and Cosette find love, and have sympathy for poor Éponine who is losing Marius to Cosette. I know all this because I read Wikipedia when I got home. If a play cannot stand on its own, then it has failed. It should not be a requirement that you read the play or read the book or watch the movie or have seen the play before in order to understand what is happening.

We love this group of talented young people and the staff that help them realize these beautiful…read moreproductions. "The Little Mermaid" was as beautiful here as it was when I saw it on Broadway several years ago, and "Always...Patsy Cline" was funny and well sung and as good as any other productions that I have seen in the past. We love supporting this wonderful group of people.

I came to Valdosta on a social visit with my girlfriend. A couple of days after we got in, I had a…read moreday to waste, so I drove around town looking for guitar shops and happened upon Rutland's Music. This place doesn't specialize in guitars (they have drums, pianos, basses, etc.) but they have a decently sized selection of guitars. Pat Rutland, the owner, talked with me for almost two hours about guitars. The man knows his stuff. He came off a bit pretentious at first. However, later in out conversation it became apparent to me that he is just trying to spread his knowledge on the subject. Mr. Rutland knows a great deal about the technical aspects of guitar building and was eager to answer any questions I had about guitars. Friendly service, but the prices were slightly higher than I was used to. This is to be expected from a nonchain, though, so I'm happy with my experience.

My sister K in Christ Jesus making awesome music with this record company. Thank God and thank you…read moreall as well.