A skating meet is an odd collection of the senses and emotions, and a great crossection of raw human spirit. What follows are a few vignettes into what it’s like to be there.

MUSIC:

The first thing that catches me every time at a meet is the music; not much Tchaikovsky or languid Debussy here. Most of it is far livelier pop stuff, energy-laden ( Read more... )

• Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong:  Autumn in New York (YouTube, and beautiful sound)
• Ivan Rebroff: The Legend Of The Twelve Thieves (YouTube, and yes, it’s in Russian, but just *listen* and check out the man’s vocal range!)
• Stan Rogers: Giant (YouTube, and the song never fails to grab me with emotion and awe.)
• Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My ( Read more... )

MERE is performing at her Lisle Junior High concert tonight; we’re going, of course.  She has been working on her flute and her new baby, a piccolo (think small, higher-pitched flute and remember what Yankee Doodle sounds like).  (sound example)  She was working on the material on and off all summer and steadily since then…all sorts of patriotic ( Read more... )

Here’s some odd bits of fun music that you may not realize that I like:

This is one that my Mom hooked on as a kid; a pre-war number called When Yuba Plays The Tuba Down in Cuba. Very silly novelty song, with a fun Latin beat to it.

• (Lyrics)
• (Lawrence Welk show bit, with Welk screwing up the name and a fair vocal/tuba solo)
• (My base reference to ( Read more... )

As promised, the other links to Tim Curry’s musical performances! A special shout-out to Cynthis Knight who introduced me to all of this a LONG time ago.  I wish the video was better; I’ll refer you to anything of his on CD for better sound.

• Anyone who had a heart
• A reggae version of I Will
• Birds of a feather
• Wake Nicodemus with a Scottish theme
• a ( Read more... )

Allan Sherman, Dean Martin and Vic Damone doing a medley of Sherman’s parodies/hits (cackle) on some TV show around 1965 or so…hilarious!

I was feeling rocky all Sunday and really rocky all day Monday.  It was obvious Sunday night that Mere wouldn't make it to the show, and I was sad about that, but I didn't expect *me* not to make it there.  However, I was getting Not Much Accomplished on Monday because I felt like crap, and by the end of the business day, I was debating - should I  ( Read more... )

Unfortunately...I'm down with something, as is most everyone else.  Going to bed now, and yeah, I missed the DIY Messiah myself.  I wasn't in any shape to go.

Meredith was running a 101F temp today and feeling rotten, and is in no shape to go to the DIY Messiah Monday at 7pm, down at the Harris Theater.  I have the ticket, of course - it's free.  Give me a shout here or by email at jim@memnison.com - I REALLY didn't want this to happen, but it is what it is.  

Another thing that was going by the wayside recently was any advance planning for the future.  At this point, it’s starting to rev up again…I have two memberships purchased for me and Mere at Capricon and a room reserved; now to make sure that the $$ is there at the time.

On Monday, I’m going to go into the city for the first time in a while for ( Read more... )