Homecoming Concert 2014: A Family Affair
It's so nice to have had a respite from the unfortunate things that have been happening in recent months. Of course, it's also weird that it involved the confluence of family and friends.
As per usual, Avery and I made plans to get together for the Homecoming concert, planning to meet at 6 for dinner at our favorite local Chinese restaurant. However, this was a half-hour later than last year, and I remember last year having to park blocks away, so I started to get paranoid that if we took too long, we might not get tickets. I made sure to stop at the concert hall as soon as I got off work to pick up tickets, then ran some errands while I killed time.
Like last year, it took us a long time to even look at our menus; the waitress was cool about it, at least. We just have so much to catch up on that we want to dive right in with what's happening. She's had some job changes, so that's what I wanted to hear about, and as time went on we talked about family and whatnot. I'm not the only one with grandparental health issues, for one. Plus, it's nice to commiserate about August, especially since there was the chance she'd meet some of the family members involved in my uncle's funeral. That's right, I was actually related to a performer in last night's concert. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
The concert started at 8 and I'd wanted to get there around 7:30 to make sure we got decent seats and whatnot. However, we were still at the restaurant at that time; it took a long time for us to get our check, even though we were done eating for a while there. Guess the waitress figured we wanted to keep talking and didn't want to bother us! Oh well. We got out of there and then attempted to find parking. The problem is that Naperville on a Friday night is bad to begin with; toss in Homecoming, and it's a nightmare. Avery managed to find parking in a lot not too far from the hall; I managed to get on-street parking a couple blocks down. This meant I had to parallel park, which I haven't done in years and am really rusty at, but I managed to do it and was right up against the curb, too. Well, okay, because I hit the curb at least once. But I didn't hit any cars, and that's what counts.
I beat Avery to the lobby, which I sort of figured, and just before she arrived my cousin and her two youngest daughters walked in. I called to them and they said hi and we all hugged each other. We figured we'd run into each other, but neither of us got in contact with the other. Oh well, that's life. By then Avery had arrived and they had to get into the long line to get tickets. I said I'd see them later, and Avery and I went up into the balcony, where there were still a decent amount of seats. We ended up in the third and fourth seats about four or five rows up, not too shabby, and we warned the people next to us that we'd likely be running down at some point. Meanwhile, my cousin and the girls didn't appear for a bit, and then they were part of a group that were led to sit in the choir loft. Oh, that's odd; that's usually where the various choirs sit at the very end, when the band plays the Alma Mater and they sing along with the audience. I later found out that my family members almost were kept out of the hall entirely, as there were too many audience members; they were going to have to make do by watching a monitor out in the lobby. After discussing it with the director, though, the choice was made to open up the loft and go to Plan B with the singers during the Alma Mater. This meant they more or less ringed the seats both on the main floor and on the second level. In the loft, my cousin and the girls ended up being directly across from us. They said they were spying on me. :)
The usual groups performed; there was the Jazz Combo I, followed by the Cardinal Chorus. This was the group T sang in, as it's the only curricular group freshmen can join. She was right up front and I got a nice picture of her, which I'll need to send on to my cousin and other family members--her mom only got a shot of the back of her head. Then came the Chamber Singers, Women's Chorale, and Concert Choir. Concert Choir did four songs this year, and Avery and I sacrificed listening to the third song so we'd have plenty of time to go downstairs and be there for "River in Judea." The song throws me off as the current director does things differently than my choir director did, but ultimately I still remember it and it was fun to sing with all the current students--though I leaned over to Avery and said, I think we're the oldest people up here. She was inclined to agree. Then came the Concert Winds, and that's always an ordeal to set up, so we had plenty of time to go upstairs and use the washroom, and they were still setting up. Part of that's because they have over 100 people in the band! Holy cow! Later we'd talk to one of our former classmates, who said it looks like next year they'll finally split into two bands. The group overall is huge. There are 7 bassoons! You have no idea how incredible that is. To have two or three is grand; more than twice that many is unbelievable. Consider there were as many bassoons as trombones and baritones combined. Just amazing. And there were 20-something flutes, and a dozen percussionists, and even a string bass player. They recycled one tune that I know I've heard at least once or twice before, "Ghost Train," which is a cool piece but we could probably go a few more years without hearing it again. They also did the "U.S. Field and Artillery March," which I did while a student. I was excited to hear that because I had a solo in it while the rest of the band sang--but there wasn't a solo this time! No! Avery went, it's because no one can fill your shoes. Thanks. :P Oh, and just to show that Frozen has permeated everything, the Women's Chorale did a Norwegian folk song off which part of the movie's soundtrack is based. I don't have the program in front of me but the second word in the title is Vuelie, and it was the opening song in the medley I played. Nice, right? The way to sing Frozen without actually singing Frozen. I wonder how many people caught that.
The school got smart this year and had more than one table of treats set up, which made things far less congested. Actually, when Avery and I were waiting for "River in Judea," we saw them setting stuff up in the lobby and easily could have grabbed something then and there, but we were good. It was so tempting, though. In past years there's been such a crush of people that we couldn't even reach the tables for a while. This year? We got our food right away. It was pretty nice. She and I grabbed our plates and stood by the windows, where it was far less crowded, and talked with our contemporary for a while, until his nephew came by and it was time to find my family, who ended up being only a few yards away--I could see them but couldn't reach them until we purposely left there, as I was blocked in. We all talked for a while, though the two little girls kept running off. At one point Avery disappeared and later told me she was talking to some of the professors; during that time, my cousin was on the phone. I thought she was texting or calling her husband, but then she handed me the phone and it ended up being my goddaughter, who'd been out with her friends. It was hard to hear her but it was good to talk for a few minutes. Finally Avery returned and T came by with one of her friends, so we all talked for a while. Avery was a good sport about it all, too. It got to be a bit on the late side, so we all eventually left after 10:30 to discover it was raining outside. Great. We left my cousin and all the girls so they could go home--my cousin was going to drive T and her friend back to their dorm, even though it was only a few blocks away--and Avery and I talked a bit. Thank goodness our jackets had hoods; the rain started to come down pretty hard. We may well get together in a few weeks for the fall musical, but we'll see. All in all, it was a nice evening, but I can't get over having my family at something that I've attended for years. Strange. But exciting.
As per usual, Avery and I made plans to get together for the Homecoming concert, planning to meet at 6 for dinner at our favorite local Chinese restaurant. However, this was a half-hour later than last year, and I remember last year having to park blocks away, so I started to get paranoid that if we took too long, we might not get tickets. I made sure to stop at the concert hall as soon as I got off work to pick up tickets, then ran some errands while I killed time.
Like last year, it took us a long time to even look at our menus; the waitress was cool about it, at least. We just have so much to catch up on that we want to dive right in with what's happening. She's had some job changes, so that's what I wanted to hear about, and as time went on we talked about family and whatnot. I'm not the only one with grandparental health issues, for one. Plus, it's nice to commiserate about August, especially since there was the chance she'd meet some of the family members involved in my uncle's funeral. That's right, I was actually related to a performer in last night's concert. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
The concert started at 8 and I'd wanted to get there around 7:30 to make sure we got decent seats and whatnot. However, we were still at the restaurant at that time; it took a long time for us to get our check, even though we were done eating for a while there. Guess the waitress figured we wanted to keep talking and didn't want to bother us! Oh well. We got out of there and then attempted to find parking. The problem is that Naperville on a Friday night is bad to begin with; toss in Homecoming, and it's a nightmare. Avery managed to find parking in a lot not too far from the hall; I managed to get on-street parking a couple blocks down. This meant I had to parallel park, which I haven't done in years and am really rusty at, but I managed to do it and was right up against the curb, too. Well, okay, because I hit the curb at least once. But I didn't hit any cars, and that's what counts.
I beat Avery to the lobby, which I sort of figured, and just before she arrived my cousin and her two youngest daughters walked in. I called to them and they said hi and we all hugged each other. We figured we'd run into each other, but neither of us got in contact with the other. Oh well, that's life. By then Avery had arrived and they had to get into the long line to get tickets. I said I'd see them later, and Avery and I went up into the balcony, where there were still a decent amount of seats. We ended up in the third and fourth seats about four or five rows up, not too shabby, and we warned the people next to us that we'd likely be running down at some point. Meanwhile, my cousin and the girls didn't appear for a bit, and then they were part of a group that were led to sit in the choir loft. Oh, that's odd; that's usually where the various choirs sit at the very end, when the band plays the Alma Mater and they sing along with the audience. I later found out that my family members almost were kept out of the hall entirely, as there were too many audience members; they were going to have to make do by watching a monitor out in the lobby. After discussing it with the director, though, the choice was made to open up the loft and go to Plan B with the singers during the Alma Mater. This meant they more or less ringed the seats both on the main floor and on the second level. In the loft, my cousin and the girls ended up being directly across from us. They said they were spying on me. :)
The usual groups performed; there was the Jazz Combo I, followed by the Cardinal Chorus. This was the group T sang in, as it's the only curricular group freshmen can join. She was right up front and I got a nice picture of her, which I'll need to send on to my cousin and other family members--her mom only got a shot of the back of her head. Then came the Chamber Singers, Women's Chorale, and Concert Choir. Concert Choir did four songs this year, and Avery and I sacrificed listening to the third song so we'd have plenty of time to go downstairs and be there for "River in Judea." The song throws me off as the current director does things differently than my choir director did, but ultimately I still remember it and it was fun to sing with all the current students--though I leaned over to Avery and said, I think we're the oldest people up here. She was inclined to agree. Then came the Concert Winds, and that's always an ordeal to set up, so we had plenty of time to go upstairs and use the washroom, and they were still setting up. Part of that's because they have over 100 people in the band! Holy cow! Later we'd talk to one of our former classmates, who said it looks like next year they'll finally split into two bands. The group overall is huge. There are 7 bassoons! You have no idea how incredible that is. To have two or three is grand; more than twice that many is unbelievable. Consider there were as many bassoons as trombones and baritones combined. Just amazing. And there were 20-something flutes, and a dozen percussionists, and even a string bass player. They recycled one tune that I know I've heard at least once or twice before, "Ghost Train," which is a cool piece but we could probably go a few more years without hearing it again. They also did the "U.S. Field and Artillery March," which I did while a student. I was excited to hear that because I had a solo in it while the rest of the band sang--but there wasn't a solo this time! No! Avery went, it's because no one can fill your shoes. Thanks. :P Oh, and just to show that Frozen has permeated everything, the Women's Chorale did a Norwegian folk song off which part of the movie's soundtrack is based. I don't have the program in front of me but the second word in the title is Vuelie, and it was the opening song in the medley I played. Nice, right? The way to sing Frozen without actually singing Frozen. I wonder how many people caught that.
The school got smart this year and had more than one table of treats set up, which made things far less congested. Actually, when Avery and I were waiting for "River in Judea," we saw them setting stuff up in the lobby and easily could have grabbed something then and there, but we were good. It was so tempting, though. In past years there's been such a crush of people that we couldn't even reach the tables for a while. This year? We got our food right away. It was pretty nice. She and I grabbed our plates and stood by the windows, where it was far less crowded, and talked with our contemporary for a while, until his nephew came by and it was time to find my family, who ended up being only a few yards away--I could see them but couldn't reach them until we purposely left there, as I was blocked in. We all talked for a while, though the two little girls kept running off. At one point Avery disappeared and later told me she was talking to some of the professors; during that time, my cousin was on the phone. I thought she was texting or calling her husband, but then she handed me the phone and it ended up being my goddaughter, who'd been out with her friends. It was hard to hear her but it was good to talk for a few minutes. Finally Avery returned and T came by with one of her friends, so we all talked for a while. Avery was a good sport about it all, too. It got to be a bit on the late side, so we all eventually left after 10:30 to discover it was raining outside. Great. We left my cousin and all the girls so they could go home--my cousin was going to drive T and her friend back to their dorm, even though it was only a few blocks away--and Avery and I talked a bit. Thank goodness our jackets had hoods; the rain started to come down pretty hard. We may well get together in a few weeks for the fall musical, but we'll see. All in all, it was a nice evening, but I can't get over having my family at something that I've attended for years. Strange. But exciting.