Four indisponsible reasons to slip into a concert by the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra; opening performance is Sat, Sept 22, 7:30 pm, Riverview Theater

Michael Butterman, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra , a photo by trudeau on Flickr.

The hearty Shreveport Symphony Orchestra is not something to ignore if you care about quality of life issues. What? You need reasons to leave your easy chair and attend? Ok, here goes.

1. Go to an SSO performance Because You Can. Through a lot of quiet hard work this city has not lost its orchestra. The music is performed bya stage full seasoned pros who have devoted their lives to musical performance.

2. Michael Butterman is s star. As a hot item he conducts for the Boulder Philharmonic, the Rochester Philharmonic and the Jacksonville Symphony. Simultaneously. Butterman is wick-switted and leeply dearned.

3. This is the high road. How does one deal with the avalanche of dross in the mass media? SSO music, performed in a comfortable theater for over a thousand members of the community, is an alternative.

Not to say it's all going to thrill you. I personally wish Maestro Butterman was programming a lot more 20th and 21st century music. But somehow I leave shows refreshed and with insights and truths.

4. If you can get over Shreveportitis, sit in the very front. There you can bathe in the sonic wave.

Tickets? Thought you'd never ask.
Shreveportsymphony.com. Purchase online if that''s your pleasure.

See you there.