Victor & Luke in Fort Wayne

The Austrian composer Walter Bricht (1904-1970) was one of many musicians of Jewish ancestry who fled Vienna after the Anschluss for the safety of the USA; Bricht became a valued professor at Indiana University in Bloomington. Fittingly, it is the nearby Fort Wayne Philharmonic, in its own debut recording, that has made the first album of Brichts music. The recording reveals another major Viennese voice and points to yet another potentially important career cut off in the bud by the Nazis. Bricht was reportedly Franz Schmidts favorite student, and the late-Romantic styles of the two men are indeed very closely aligned in their mix of Baroque counterpoint, Classical form and Wagnerian chromatic harmony: Brichts Symphony in A minor might almost be Schmidts No. 5.

With an abundance of appetizing eateries comes a wealth of memories. George Motz, author of Hamburger America, refers to Powers as "one of the greatest slider emporiums in America." The Hobby House provided the first restaurant experience for Dave Thomas, known worldwide as founder and pitchman for the Wendy's hamburger chain. Nine Mile Restaurant, which first opened as a tavern in 1837, competes for recognition as Indiana's oldest bar. During a campaign stop one month before his assassination, Robert F. Kennedy boasted that Zoli's on Broadway made "the best food I ever ate." Authors Keith Elchert and Laura Weston celebrate the savory and the sweet sides of the Summit City.