thoughts of live music?

shared by Marlo R. Beall, her sister

Every once in a while, I find myself listening to music from UCLA's Pilipino Cultural Night (PCN) performances. I was listening to one of the CDs while driving to work today. It brings back countless fond memories of the times that Cindy, Carla and I spent participating in PCN.

One specific memory is from PCN 1997. Cindy was still in high school, and it may have been the first PCN she had ever attended. Our whole family attended since it was my last PCN, and Carla was also participating in it.

I have a vivid memory of all of us gathering together near the stage after the performance, just talking about how we enjoyed the evening. I said that I was a big fan of the music, especially since all the music - not just for the dances but for the original songs as well - were performed by the live PCN orchestra comprised of UCLA students and Samahang members.

Upon hearing this, Cindy was both surprised and impressed. I think she even said, "Really?? All the music was live?!" wearing a wide-eyed, wide-mouthed "Wow!?" expression on her face.

We all had a good laugh, wondering how she didn't notice that the music had been performed live. It was one of those rare instances when she didn't pick up on something right away. So it's fun to think that although Cindy was routinely brilliant, even she had an occasional goofy moment.