My grandmother's cousin sent her this postcard in April 1919 from Yorktown, Texas. 90 years ago!

The Saltarelli String Orchestra's next concert will be Monday March 30. The program includes light classical works by Verdi, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner. Four violin sololists will be featured in a performance of Vivaldi's Concerto in A minor. The concert will conclude with an orchestral medley from My Fair Lady.

The free concert will take place at the First Mexican Baptist Church, 201 Meredith, San Antonio at 7:30. Join us for a relaxing evening of music!

March 12 will be the 10th anniversary of the death of the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Menuhin's recorded output was vast. His contract with EMI lasted almost 70 years. I recently obtained an 8 CD set of Menuhin's recordings of a generous portion of George Frideric Handel's instrumental music. Most of the performances are with the Bath Festival Orchestra. Menuhin was artistic director of the festival from 1959 until 1968. The recordings cover most of that time span. In addition to well-known gems such as the Water Music and the Music for the Royal Fireworks the set includes all twelve of the Opus 6 Concerti Grossi and a generous selection of the Organ Concerti. Exuberant performances of some of the violin sonatas with harpsichord accompaniment round out the set. This is music you'll treasure for its sheer inventiveness and love of life. And it's bargain priced.

I stumbled upon a fascinating video of Menuhin performances from a movie produced in 1947 at Charlie Chaplin Studios. The film is called "Concert Magic" and was an attempt to bring fine music to moviegoers throughout the country. Menuhin had been very active in entertaining the troops during World War II and many of the works on this program were part of his wartime repertoire. The video is outstanding for a film of this period. Some of the camera angles are amazing, giving a rare perspective of Menuhin's phenomenal technique. The sound is a little compressed and monaural but very listenable. A fascinating conversation with Menuhin in 1997 is included as a bonus. Menuhin views his 1947 performances along with the interviewer and comments on aspects of technique, interpretation, and the experience of making the film. Not to be missed!

The Boerne Concert Band now has a beautifully designed website. Longtime readers will recall that the first post on PlinkPlankPlunk was a review of the Band's premier concert in July 2007. They started out great and are just getting better. The next concert starts at 7:00 on Thursday March 19 at Boerne Middle School North Auditorium. I'll be adding that concert and their two other upcoming concerts to the Classical Music Calendar.

Last month Internet behemoth Amazon.com introduced an updated version of their electronic book device, the Kindle 2. I have had the original version of the Kindle for about 10 months. It has become an almost constant companion. What features set the Kindle apart from previous electronic books? Here are my answers, the most important first:

• 3G Wireless (Amazon calls it Whispernet)
• The largest selection of titles on the planet (about 240,000 at last count)
• Generous samples of the first portion of every book, free for the asking
• Amazing electronic-ink screen, VERY similar to paper and easy on the eyes
• Adjustable font size
• Blogs and news subscriptions are updated automatically, several times a day
• Built-in dictionary with intuitive instant lookup
• Easily replaceable long-life rechargeable battery
• Slot for an SD card to vastly expand storage capacity
• Durable protective case is included

I was very interested to see how Amazon would improve on an already beautifully designed device. Here are the most notable changes:

• Thinner and lighter with more curved, streamlined style
• A joystick control for easier screen navigation
• No case
• Battery is longer lasting but not user replaceable
• Text to speech feature to read books in a computer-generated voice
• Images are rendered in more shades of gray
• The SD card slot is gone

While the styling and basic functionality are improved I wasn't even tempted to trade up. I really like having a replaceable battery. The navigation is a little clunky but I'm accustomed to it. I couldn't imagine listening to a book read in a computer-generated voice for any length of time.

So I'll very happily keep my Kindle 1. Maybe Kindle 3 will kindle a little more interest!