April 2007 - Page 6 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

Not Such a Good Friday

I’m sitting in the choir loft last night, listening to the Passion reading from Luke as the lights get lower and lower, and suddenly get a vivid sensation about why I so oppose the death penalty: the execution of the innocent. It was a point I had reached intellectually before, but this was a more visceral understanding that I’m not sure I can explain.

In any case, I’m still feeling rather awful. Looking at computer screens is particularly not recommended, because everything looks fuzzy. So, I’ll be brief:

Thanks to Gordon for answering one of my questions,. One down, about a dozen to go. Microsoft Paint, eh?

Thanks to Scott for embracing his 2003-ness and citing me as the inspiration.

Congrats to Gay Prof for not having to go back to Texas, but will instead be at BMU.

Thanks to uberblogger Mark Evanier for posting a video AFTER I DID. This pleases me, and I’m not sure why. And thanks to Dan for sending it to me in the first place.

Thanks to Lefty’s Mixed CD pals, even Greg, and to little Stevie Brown, Lefty’s intelligent iPod.

Special thanks to ol’ what’s his name who I spoke to by phone yesterday for the first time in a while.

I’m going to rest most of the day so that I can try to sing tonight. I had about a six-note range last night, mostly in the lower register. Wish me luck.

Stuck

You know how a tune can get stuck in your head, in all likelihood. One of my racquetball buddies has a sibling who was on The Price is Right. Guess which theme song I started whistling, and quite well, I might add?

But sometimes these things come to mind for no discernible reason. What on earth lodged “I Think I Love You” by the Partridge Family in my brain? I seldom watched the show, I never owned any of their music, and I hadn’t heard it recently, at least consciously. (Was it background music in a store or a telephone hold button?) So I’m suddenly dissecting the amazingly bizarre rhyming pattern of a song that I don’t especially like:
So what am I so afraid of
Afraid that I’m not sure of
A love there is no cure for
(If this is wrong, I don”t really need to know; that’s how I remember it.)

I bring this up because I need new tune suggestions. Mr. Lefty Brown, as mentioned before, has sent me a year-long subscription to his favorite music site, eMusic. This means 15 songs a month for 12 months to download. So I ask you: what tunes do I want, that I really, really want? Can be old or new. I’m planning to use the thing as soon as I pull out my chainsaw so that I can liberate it from the industrial strength plastic cover that it’s encased in.
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Meanwhile, I’ve been thing about TV. Not so much about watching it; I’m actually watching less, because there have been a string of repeats on lately. But weird Thoughts, with apologies to Kelly Brown, who I think is somehow related to Lefty.
*Why do they have 42-minute programs, such as the wacky NBC lineup next Thursday? Is this to confound me? And if they do, why do they invariably run long, so that I need to tape the next program as well?
*Why hasn’t Katie Couric caught on? It isn’t just because she came from morning news/talk shows. Tom Brokaw was on NBC’s Today Show, while Charles Gibson spent two shifts on ABC’s Good Morning America. Is it gender? Maybe. It’s true Couric’s interview with Elizabeth Edwards and her husband John on 60 Minutes was rather weird, mostly because she said, “some people say” about a dozen times, thus trying to be hard-hitting, yet nice. Meanwhile, Cynthia McFadden’s Nightline interview with Elizabeth Edwards and her elder daughter this week seemed genuine.
*I’m feeling a tad nostalgic. I looked at the TV Guide, and next week features series premieres, season premieres, mid-season premieres, and season finales. Can anyone really keep track? All I want to know is when does The Closer start up with new episodes, And I can’t figure that out, even when I go to the website.

ROG

Film Music: "Real" Music?

I’ve been reflecting on the whole conversation about whether movie music is “real” music (as opposed, I suppose, to “just reel music”). I’m sure both Tosy and Jaquandor have weighed in on this, but I’m too lazy to check where.

In any case, I started thinking about this when I went to the Albany Symphony back on March 25. I was supposed to go with my wife, but she was still suffering the effects of oral surgery. so I ended up going with my father-in-law to this American music series concert. The first half was contemporary composers, and the second was listed as by Hermann. I thought, “Hmm, I don’t know an American composer named Hermann.” Then I read the notes: oh, BERNARD Hermann, the composer for movies. I too was biased about thinking of a composer for movies as a composer.

The performance, mostly of music written prior to his movie career, was wonderfully lush. The concert ended with the overture for one of the movies he scored, North by Northwest. It stood up well without the visuals of the movie. Here’s the article Hidden Herrmann: ASO resurrects movie music master’s works from obscurity from the local paper.

Somehow, this got me to start thinking about Elmer Bernstein. I’ve long been aware of how effective his “serious” music is, never put to better effect, I think, than in “Animal House”. If it weren’t for wonderful juxtaposition of his artistry with the hijinks of the characters, I don’t think the movie would not be nearly as funny. Likewise, his music for Airplane! lends a mock seriousness to the proceedings, one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Separate from the films, though, and it works as well as fine listening. Next time you watch either one or any of the other comedies he’s scored, listen for the “background music” as music.

I note this today because would have been Elmer Bernstein’s 85th birthday; he died back in 2004. I think it’s too bad I can’t separate his, well, magnificent theme for the Magnificent Seven from the tune’s use as a Marlboro commercial, something I can still hear and see in my head, even though President Nixon signed legislation banning TV and radio ads back in April 1970, effective January 1971.
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MLK, Jr. was assassinated 39 years ago today. Since he was 39 when he died, that was now nearly a whole (short) lifetime ago.

Pieces of April

This is what I have going on for the next month:
1. Take Lydia for her physical today.
2. Participate in the Maundy Thursday service at my church service, and rehearse for Good Friday.
3. Go to the Capital Area Council of Churches ecumenical Good Friday service, also at my church.
4. Participation in the Good Friday service. We’re singing The Seven Last Words of Christ by Theodore DuBois. Please come if you’re in the area. The soloists are great and the organ part is very dramatic. Hope my voice comes bck; currently, I have laryngitis, probably from seasonal allergies.
5. Easter Sunday service. No wonder some choir directors refer to to this, ironically, as hell week.
6. April 10 – As mentioned, I’m going to see a scion of a rock legend. Sean Lennon at the Egg.
7. April 11 – I was asked do to this just yesterday: talk to a bunch of librarians about guerrila marketing.
8. April 18 – I am taking a CPR course. Also donating blood for the 120th time.
9. Thursday, April 19, 7 pm. writers Christopher Ringwald and Amy Biancolli will be speaking at the Albany Public Library, main branch, sponsored by the Friends of the Albany Public Library. He writes on religion and philosophy, she writes movie reviews for a Houston newspaper, but is syndicated nationally. BTW, they’re married. Since I’m in charge of the event, if you’re in the area, please, PLEASE come. It’s free. I just want folks to come.
10. Friday, April 19. Carol and I are going to the Symphony! A world premiere based on William Kennedy’s new book, Roscoe.
11. A work conference in Utica at the end of the month. Not only do I need to prepare my share of the library presentation, but I’m also writing the questions for a JEOPARDY! segment of another prrsentation. That’s 61 questions, in 12 categories plus the final.

I’m sure I’m forgetting something.

Also, I must drink lots of water. This is based on an incident on Friday. I’ve finally gotten my bicycle out, on Wednesday. This involves putting the bike on the bus to day care; riding the 2.6 miles to the Y to play racquetball – by taking the bike, I actually got there 20 minutes sooner than I would have if I had taken the bus; playing racquetball (for over an hour -yay!), then taking the bike to the bus stop (another quarter mile), take the bike on the bus to Corporate Woods to work. I had to leave early to get my Internet connection fixed, so I get the bike to put on the bus to town, ride the bike to the bank and then home (1.6 miles+); then, after the cable guy comes, go to another bank to get a bus pass and back (maybe a mile each way). Then about two hours later, get the most painful cramp I’ve ever experienced in my life, noit in my calf, which I’ve had before, but in my left inner thigh. Utterly excrutiating, and wouldn’t go away until after three glasses of water, some Motrin and 15 minutes.

Re: the cable guy, I need to con my friend Mark to come up and help me install a couple things on my computer, not the least of which is more memory.

Meanwhile, I want to be more current with the newspaper. I’ve been almost constantly a week behind, reading about our local Extreme Makeover: Home Edition family in Colonie, which will be broadcast as the season finale next month. This is a show I’ve actually never seen, but I’ll probably catch this one.
There was also Dan Savage movie review of a couple weeks ago that I just read in Metroland: “Have you seen 300 yet? It’s about a handful of lightly armed ancient Greeks—the Spartans—who take on the mighty and massive Persian army. Some feel the film is homophobic; some feel it’s a conservative, pro-war piece of agitprop.
Homophobic? It’s Ann Coulter on a meth binge.”

I’m looking forward to listening to lots of Emmylou Harris and Marvin Gaye, since their birthdays were yesterday, as well as hearing some Richard Thompson, Willie Dixon, and assorted others.

Finally watched this video that’s been sent to me TWICE so far, so if I post it, I won’t get it again:

glumbert.com – The Apple iRack

Plus the usual stuff. So it’ll be a busy month. And May will be equally so. I almost never wish my life away, but I’m REALLY looking forward to mid-June.

Florida beat Ohio Stste, and I fell from 1st to 4th in my pool. At least I picked out There’s No Such Website on the first try.

7 Songs I Am Enjoying This Week

Part of the social contract of the blog is, whenever possible, to respond to the tag. Lefty tagged me to “list seven songs you are into right now. No matter what they are. They must be songs you are presently enjoying.” How to limit it to seven? there’s that Bing Crosby/Andrews Sisters I’ve been listening to, and the new Sean Lennon album; I’m seeing him at The Egg on April 10.

Not surprisingly, most of these folks were born in March.

God’s Gonna Cut You Down-Johnny Cash (February 26). From the posthumous American V, this is a remake of Moby’s Run On, which was a remake of Bill Langford and the Langfordaires’ 1930s Run On for a Long Time. A morality tale. BTW, Nik has a link to a great Johnny Cash team-up.

Let’s Make More Love-Nat King Cole (March 17). From the Billy May Sessions of the 1950s, this song has a certain call-and-response quality. This song fascinated me musically, but also because the composer is listed as “unknown”.

Who Needs You?-Aretha Franklin (March 25). From The First 12 Sides, an album she did for Columbia before she moved to Atlantic in ’67 and became the Queen Of Soul. Not sure it was released until later, though, since the © is 1973. More pop than soul, but quite enjoyable.

My Father’s Gun-Elton John (March 25). Always liked his early albums such as Tumbleweed Connection, and always especially love the choir in this chorus. An album I own on vinyl, so went to the library to burn a CD, guilt free.

Circlesong Six- Bobby McFerrin (March 11). There’s a 1997 album called Circlesongs, essentially a dozen or folks standing around doing eight interesting vocalizations. As the liner notes indicate: “No words are necessary, and, in fact, words only get in the way of the interaction between the singer and the Divine.”

Papa Was a Rolling Stone-the Temptations. The 12-minute version from the 2003 collection Psychedelic Soul. I love this era of the Temps, the Norman Whitfield-produced, Whitfield-and Barrett Strong-written period, even more than the early stuff. Did you know Barrett Strong had the first Motown hit single with “Money”?

Bring It On Home-Sonny Boy Williamson. Apparently, this is the “second” (though older), more famous Sonny Boy, born Dec 5, 1899, rather than the first (Mar. 30, 1914). Anyway, this is a song Led Zeppelin stole for their second album. It’s not that I minded them doing the song. I DID mind that they credited themselves. And musically, I really like LZ.

I now will tag…no one. Tosy, Gordon, Jaquandor, Marconi: do it if you feel like it. Or not.
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At least Lefty namechecked me here. I tried to figure out what song the Beatles were doing without the sound; impossible.
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I love the music of Emmylou Harris. I own at least four of her five LPs from the 1970s; several of her recent discs, including the pivotal Wrecking Ball; Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions with Linda Ronstadt; All the Roadrunning with Mark Knopfler; both Trio albums with Dolly Parton and Ronstadt; and probably others that I’ve forgotten. Not to mention lots of backup singing, notably on Ronstadt’s oeuvre. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I’ve long had a bit of a crush on her. Happy birthday, Emmylou, who turns the big six-oh today.
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Georgetown lost to Ohio State, but I can still win my pool if Ohio State beats Florida tonight. GO, BUCKEYES. This is at least the third year in a row that I’ve been around for the final game; maybe the third time will be the charm.

ROG