Favorite Song

I don't know if the Hallelujah Chorus is my favorite song, but it is RIGHT up there in the "fun song to sing" (or play) sweepstakes!  My sister posted a great video on Facebook today and it just makes me feel... ahhhhhhhhhhhhappy!

It is not just the absolutely fabulous gloriousity of the music, but the concept of a "random act of culture" -  650+ people of all ages, types, and races took over a shopping mall and SANG their hearts out, accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ!  Just wow!

Can you imagine how much fun that must have been for unsuspecting Halloween shoppers? I know if my sisters and I had been shopping there that day, we would have joined in spontaneously because we all love the music and that's just the kind of people we are.  (Wait, you want us to sing?  Out loud?  In front of people?  OK!!!!) 

Not surprising really, but there are several videos of this on YouTube.  I've chosen this one because it's not as jerky as what seems to be the "official" one.



If you have the time and inclination, check out the other "Random Acts of Culture". It's cool!

Food for the soul

For a while there in the mid-80s, I lived in Atlanta and would drive the 1.5 hours down to Eatonton almost every weekend to stay with my grandmother.  I did this initially because I had no money and no where else to go, but it eventually became one of my favorite things to do for several reasons.

One was the piano.  My grandmother eventually willed that piano to me but she gave it to me when she moved to a smaller house.  I was able to have it picked up and moved to Maryland about a decade ago (thanks Mary Ethel!).  But at the time in Georgia, it was just a fantastic release for me to be able to spend hours and hours and hours just playing.  It was my stress relief, and boy, did I need it!  I played hymns and popular music, ragtime and Godspell, show tunes and classical compositions*.  And sometimes I'd sing along too. 

After playing for what seemed the whole day long, I'd pack up and start back to the rest of the house and often stop short because my grandmother was sitting in the yellow satin high-backed chair, fast asleep with her head bobbing over her elbow.  She'd wakeup suddenly when she realized the music had stopped and then, inevitably, she'd ask, "Would you like something to eat?"

For Saturday night, we would often have Brunswick stew and barbecue sandwiches (Georgia barbecue, i.e. pulled pork sandwiches).  Or maybe tomato soup and cheese sandwiches, but then we would have to have some vegetables as well.  Just a nice cozy Saturday night meal, followed by Wheel of Fortune and hopefully a movie.

It was just the two of us, but for Sunday lunch, she would make a "small dinner" consisting of fried (or grilled when I said I was on a diet) chicken, pot roast, sometimes a pork dish, green beans (hand-shucked and boiled with fatback), home-made creamed corn, home-made mashed potatoes, gravy, home-made biscuits or just sliced bread if she didn't have time, sliced tomatoes (fresh from the garden), at least two types of pickles, maybe a congealed salad, and iced tea. 

And she would eat like a bird.   So, I would either stuff myself silly, or we would pack all the left-overs up in used Cool-Whip containers or whatever else she had instead of Tupperware, and voila!  I had meals for the whole week.

I also learned then that my tastes had changed since I was a kid, and she knew better than I did sometimes what I would really like.  Like once, when I said I didn't like tomatoes, she nearly lost it!  "Oh yes you do!  You just haven't had MY tomatoes!"

Being properly admonished I said, oh alright I'll try a really small piece of that giant Beefsteak tomato you just picked from your garden and sliced up…  YUM!  Just a little salt or pepper and I ate the whole plate!  Of course that doesn't work on every body.  I know for a fact that my sister wouldn't be able to do that because she is allergic to tomatoes.  I'm very VERY glad that I am not!

But other than the piano and the amazing food, I realized the most important part of why I really enjoyed going to visit Grandmother Smith:  she was an AMAZING story teller!    After lunch or dinner, we would delay clearing up and just sit at the table in her kitchen and she'd tell me stories about how she met "Mr. Ruil" (my grandfather) and how she and her sisters would get in so much trouble with her mama.    We would laugh and laugh – and I must admit, sometimes I was laughing because she got so tickled she couldn't even get the story out.  Her shoulders would pump up and down and this "hmph hmph hmph" sort of chuckle would escape from her closed lips.  She'd open her mouth to continue her story… but just couldn't!  It would set me off again, and that would set her off and… you get the picture.  Too much fun, and no alcohol necessary!

I am so glad I had that time with my grandmother, and I'm eternally grateful to her for not only feeding my body, but for feeding my soul and reminding me that laughter is available even in the darkest of times.  And I'm glad I was able to give her something too.  She told me once that she had never had anyone play ragtime music in her house before, because it was "that evil drinking music".  She told me that she was so glad that I had played it because it was so much more beautiful than she could ever have imagined it to be.

It made my heart sing! 

*Some of my favorite pieces to play: 
Solace (The Sting version)
Maple Leaf Rag
All For the Best (Godspell)
Prepare Ye and God Save the People (Godspell - from the groovy 1973 movie starring Victor Garber!)
The Heavens Are Telling (Haydn)
Ode to Joy (Beethoven)
Levon (Elton John)
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (Elton John)
This Nearly Was Mine (South Pacific - gives me chills every time!)
Someone Chanted Evening (South Pacific - Ezio Pinza) 
Oh What A Buprengskrul Morning! (Oklahoma!)

I could go on for days!  This search for music has been REALLY fun!

More thoughts...

I had to go to a funeral yesterday. M and G picked me up for the drive down to Old Town Alexandria, and since we had allowed for traffic, we got there about an hour early. We decided to go another 11 miles and see if we could see Mt. Vernon: the answer is no, we couldn't (wasn't open yet), but it was a nice side-trip anyway! The drive was gorgeous in my eyes -- very gray, stark, and misty, which I loved. It seemed appropriate for a funeral, and for Thanksgiving; my favorite was when you couldn't see the difference between the river and the sky. Lovely.

Anyway, during the funeral service, I started thinking: What would my funeral service be like? I was born in a Catholic hospital, raised a Southern Baptist missionary kid, and went to British and Lutheran schools… in Hong Kong. I call my religion "Phredism" because it's mine, an amalgam of everything I've learned and believed through the years and the main tenet of Phredism is "Do unto others as you would have done to you." I can't imagine having a church service for my immortal soul since I believe it's already been taken care of.

I started thinking about the music I would like to be played: Solace (Scott Joplin), Rhapsody in Blue (George Gershwin), All Good Gifts (from "Godspell"), and Every Little Thing She Does (The Police). And on the classical side, maybe "The Heavens are Telling" or anything by Mozart. I'd like to maybe record something with my nephew, maybe "Angel" by Sarah McLaughlin. That would be kind of cool to have my voice at my own funeral. If not, then I'd love for Stephen to sing something, especially if it's his own composition. And "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder. OK, pretty much anything by Stevie Wonder. "Bridge Over Troubled Water"? And what was that song I heard last night by Rare Earth? "I Just Want To Celebrate (Another Day of Living)," yeah, that's it. Elton John, Beatles, Motown (Marvin, 'Retha, Rev. Al Green, Smokey, Gladys and her Pips, etc. etc. etc.), Coldplay, U2, Crowded House, TOFOG, … oh the list goes on, who can choose? ;-)

As for words, I'd like to be able to say something to everyone who had been in my life and made me a better person. And then I realized that it would be a better idea to go ahead and say it while I'm still alive!

So:

• Thanks to the Hoodlums who have stuck with me through thick and thin and thick (and thick) again.
• Thanks to my family who love me anyway.
• Thanks to my parents for raising me to think for myself.
• Thanks to Mom for always being willing to stand on her head.
• Thanks to Dad for introducing me to mystery books, crossword puzzles, and Shakespeare.
• Thanks to my kitties who snuggle with me when I am down.
• Thanks to Sara, Rachel, Emily, and Stephen who give me inexpressible joy, always.
• Thanks to my brother for being there when I needed him and for always ALWAYS laughing with me.
• Thanks to my sister "K" for being such a wonderful, caring, amazing person and thanks to her and her husband for letting all of us invade their space for so many Thanksgivings!
• Thanks to my sister "C" for opening up about things she didn't want to talk about, so when I experienced them I knew what I was in for and wasn't as scared. And thanks for sitting on Dave when we were kids.
• Thanks to my in-laws for recognizing what wonderful people my siblings are, and loving them even AFTER you met the rest of the family.
• Thanks to the people who serve our country, in unbelievable ways.
• Thanks to Ang who will sit down right next to me even (especially) if she has nothing nice to say.
• Thanks to the police and all emergency personnel who go into the situations from which the rest of us run away.
• Thanks to all of my ex-boyfriends who taught me something even though it hurt. Every time.
• Thanks to all my high school teachers for being brave enough to move overseas to teach ornery, obnoxious, smart-ass "third culture" kids. And for doing such a great job of it! (Especially Mr. Matthews, Mrs. Chern, Mrs. Jiminez, Mr. Kohl, and Mr. Meyers)
• Thanks to the people who walk their dogs down the street and let me meet them. I can't have a dog in my apartment, so I really NEED my dog fix!
• Thanks to the dogs I meet who give me waggy tails and puppy kisses.
• Thanks to my DC friends for laughing at my jokes and making me giggle and "lol out loud" when I really really need it.
• Thanks to the people walking on the sidewalk who make eye contact and smile.
• Thanks to the guys behind Monty Python for making me laugh and laugh and laugh.
• Thanks for sunshine and for rainy days.
• Thanks to Todd for letting me hear the Elton John/John Lennon concert (awesome!), Rare Earth, and Motown, and all of the great bands to whom you've introduce me.
• Thanks to my friends at Crowe Crossing for their imagination, artistry, hilarity, and caring.
• Thanks to Dale Wilson (and "The Sting") for introducing me to Scott Joplin music.
• Thanks to my best friend from college (M) who introduced me to DC so many years ago and helped convince me to move to DC. And G for loving her, and for being the token man in the Hoodlums.
• Thanks to Mike, Andy, and Ben for being the best trivia team EVER (even if you did move away and leave me stranded).
• Thanks to Pioneer Woman for making me laugh, smile, and drool over her cooking. And for convincing me to start this blog (without even knowing it).
  

I'm pretty sure this list will continue!