Culture is the arts elevated to a set of beliefs.

At the urging of a more culturally-enhanced friend, with whom I had not spoken in a while, I decided to check out the Gala Corina local art display. This has been going on for about 8 years where local artists, seeking to use another medium instead of traditional art galleries, display some of their works. At the opening night event there was a fashion show, silent auction, DJs, free wine samplers, and even a live band. I was extremely impressed by the whole event since it was put on entirely by the community with only a $5 donation requested. There were about 140 different artists that used every kind of media that I could imagine and even a few materials that I did not think possible. I spent most of the time browsing among the different works and taking in it all.

After the fashion show was finished a live band set up. Lounge Cat was an incredible swing-style group with a lot of use of brass and played not only some great swing tunes but also covers of well know songs with a swing flair. I was really impressed with the show and recognized some of the dancers on the floor from some of the Sunday night swing dancing at the Zendah Grotto. I'm definitely going to plan to check out the band more often whenever I get an opportunity and hope to find more music like this in the Tampa area. I am very glad I went and hope to run by again this coming week before they close next Friday so I can get a chance to take a better look at the various works.