Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

SOMEWHERE IN PAWLEYS ISLAND -- Sometimes the best plans go awry - especially if you a relative newcomer to the Grand Strand and still trying to familiarize yourself with the sprawl of communities that stretch south from Myrtle Beach.

My aim today was to share my first experience of seeing and hearing the Carolina Master Chorale perform. Chorale member Joann Wiegand called late Thursday with the news that the chorale's first performance of the 2009-10 season was "The Seven Deadly Sins," adapted from Psalms 115, 116 and 117 and scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pawleys Island.

It was to be the premiere, she said, of a work by poet Nicholas Gordon and Hollywood composer Michael Isaacson. In addition, well-known television actor and ESPN commentator Mitch Laurance was to make his debut with the chorale as the narrator of the work, she said.

Wiegand, a veteran singer with the chorale, provided a bit more information that whetted my appetite the attend the performance, which also was scheduled to be performed Saturday at Trinity Episcopal Church in Myrtle Beach and Sunday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Conway.

Not only was it a new work, but chorale members would be singing the lyrics in Hebrew, she said.

Because of prior commitments, I had one shot at taking in the performance. I could attend only on Friday evening. So I promised Wiegand that, if I could possibly make it, I would be there.

Since I'm still a bit directionally challenged in my new surroundings, I first checked the telephone book for the correct address of the church and pulled up one of those Internet map finders to get directions on how to find it. I was frankly confused at the set of convoluted twists and turns the map suggested I should take through territory I'd never ventured into.

Next, I called the church to determine if there was an easier way. The secretary directed me to drive south on U.S. 17, turn right on Willbrook Boulevard, then hang a left onto Kings River Road. The church would be on the left less than a half mile away, she said. "You can't miss it," she said.

That sounded simple, but I still headed out early enough to give myself time to get lost, regroup, then arrive on time.

That plan didn't completely work out as I had planned. I found Willbrook Boulevard easily enough, but failed to see the Hampton Inn the church secretary provided as a landmark that would observe if I had made the correct turn. But, I headed on down Willbrook, figuring I'd eventually encounter at turn somewhere onto Kings River Road.

Problem was, Willbrook runs past a number of upscale, gated communities - and side streets are marked with small, elegant black signs bearing small white lettering. Even creeping along at about 15 mph (which probably irritated the heck out of traffic behind me) I failed to see anything pointing me to Kings River Road. Eventually, I found myself at the guardhouse and gates that barred me from entering The Reserve, located at the dead end of the thoroughfare. So I backtracked to U.S. 17 - again failing to see a Kings River Road marker.

Figuring that I possibly had misunderstood the directions I'd been given by the church secretary, I turned onto the main drag through Pawleys Island and headed south. Maybe I was looking for Wellbrook or anything that sounds like Willbrook, I thought.

After slowly cruising the southern end of Pawleys Island, I turned around and headed back. Along the way, I saw billboards advertising the Hampton Inn (the landmark the secretary had told me to watch for). When a sign told me to turn left at the next traffic light, I found myself back on Willbrook and heading past the same gated communities I'd passed earlier. Again I wound up at The Reserve's gates. Retracing my ride on Willbrook, again I missed the marker that would have guided me onto Kings River Road.

Checking my watch, I found that it was now almost 9 p.m. and that I had probably missed the performance anyway. So, this is both an apology to Joann Wiegand for not showing up and evidence that I truly tried to get there I hope to make it to the next chorale presentation.

But I came away with an admiration for all those elegant, gated residential developments I got double exposure to in my errant search for All Saints Episcopal Church. It surely must be nice to live in such a place. And, if I latched on to a dwelling in one of those gated outposts with the elegant little roadsides and couldn't meet the mortgage, I doubt the guy the bank would send out with a foreclosure notice would be able to find me and toss me out. If he is as directionally challenged as I am, that is.