The Bucket Brigade is looking for houses to paint in the spring. Late last week, the Brigade only had about 10 or 12 houses. Dale Neudecker, the chairman of the Brigade, reports he picked up about four additional houses this week. He needs more to paint and also needs volunteers for the May 14 event.

I encourage residents to contact Neudecker at (618) 978-6241 or Pride Inc. at (618) 467-2375 to nominate a house or volunteer.

We need to support the Bucket Brigade;  it is a remarkable community event. Bucket Brigade is co-sponsored by The Telegraph, Pride, Inc., and Sherwin Williams Paint.

The Illinois-Missouri district swim meet in Columbia, Mo., last weekend was invigorating for my family.

My two children – Savannah and Sierra – both participated for the Edwardsville Breakers team. The meet gave me time to reflect on some things. I was proud of their individual as well as their team efforts; Sierra qualified for state in three events; Savannah missed by just a half-second. I thought it was their best performance through their years of swimming.

My mother-in-law, Sue, joined us for the first time at a swim meet and I know her grandchildren were proud of that.

I wanted to take the time to thank their coaches, Bob Rettle, the head coach, and his assistants, Ashley Hayes, Leah Swenson and Stephen Schranck. Rettle is quite simply a legend in regard to coaching and has been devoted to the sport for more than two decades. He cares about each of his kids and somehow keeps track of all of them during the meet. Hayes, Swenson and Schranck are each equally devoted to their coaching duties. Hayes was a private teacher for my children and she helped shape both.

The Alton area has an excellent team headed by Nancy Miller in the Tri-City Tidalwaves. I always enjoy getting to watch the Tidalwaves perform.

I also wanted to salute the parents for their efforts last weekend. The parents pay for hotel rooms, eat out and support their children through every race at the meets. Without the parent support, the children would not be able to succeed.

I look forward to going to DeKalb and seeing youth from both Edwardsville and the Alton area compete.

The Fiddleback concert at Jacoby Arts Center on Saturday night was a success and I think everyone enjoyed the show.

My wife, Victoria Brannan, is a violinist for Fiddleback, a string group, that plays a wide variety of tunes. Carli Bates, an Edwardsville orchestra teacher, joined the group on cello, and I thought was fantastic. The cello adds a lot to Fiddleback’s overall sound. The rest of the group – Andrew Driscoll, violinist, Grant Krener, guitar, and Terry Kippenberger, bass, were excellent.

The Jacoby Arts Center volunteers and Jean King, director of the music division of Jacoby Arts Center’s performing arts, have done a remarkable job promoting the arts with the Saturday Nights at Jacoby on Broadway in Alton. Those in attendance talked to me about how good a program they thought King and her help have organized.

I think Jacoby has become a “hub” for culture in the region and those affiliated should have so much pride.

King said she thought the Fiddleback concert was fantastic. “This was the second time we had Victoria and Fiddleback,” she said. “I thought the sound of the strings was just fantastic. The audience obviously felt the same way. it was the largest crowd ever had at Jacoby live. We had 40 people on waiting list standing in gallery hoping to get in and many others saw the situation. We had well over 200 people there and that is beyond our capacity. It’s always very helpful and gratifying for the musicians when a large amount of people come.”

The St. Louis Fiddle Ensemble came on stage at the midway mark of the concert and were definitely entertained the crowd. King suggested having a matinee performance next year for the Fiddle Ensemble because of the large turnout this year.

If you get a chance, go out and attend one of the Saturday Nights at Jacoby. I don’t think you will be disappointed.