Black Velvet Band

Canine Connections

 Speaking of Connectors, last Saturday, the 18th, I had the pleasure of attending a show at The Green Briar in Brighton. My friend Cage was opening for Lulu's In Crisis. Cage invited our friend Conor Shanhan to play for part of his set. After Cage played for a few minutes he called Conor up on stage and I watched the two of them raise their pint glasses and smile as they traded places at the microphone.

Cage is a major Connector. He has worked a wide variety of jobs, and lived in, and traveled to many places. He makes friends (and acquaintances) quickly and easily, and keeps contact with them.  He's been doing it since before online social networking was a thing, and the existence of MySpace, and now Facebook has only made it easier for him to create fabulous new connections. Cage can sometimes make me look like a hermit by comparison,* but I'm still pretty good.

When I was in The Diary of Anne Frank in 2001 at Riverside Theater in Boston, Cage played Mr. Frank to my Anne. We became very close that year, and he became like a father to me after my own father passed away in 2003. Meanwhile, I had met Conor S. when I was a freshman in college. He was in the sketch troupe, and I was in the improv troupe. By 2005 we would be roommates in a 3-apartment farm house with seven other friends. Now Conor and Cage are friends through me, and this is the second performance gig Cage has arranged for Conor.

Just as I was patting myself on the back for making this obviously perfect introduction, Conor took the microphone in hand between songs and offered an explanation for how he'd come here. 

And I started to laugh.

He recalled how a really special spirit had aligned him and Cage. He had  lived with me, and I lived with... a beagle. Lucy was actually one of Cage's two beagles. After Christmas that year Cage gave me the beautiful gift of sending her to live with me, to chase away the Pioneer Valley Winter Blues.

Lucy quickly became the Queen of the house and of our circle of friends. She had many fans who would stop by the house just to say hi, or to ask if they could take her out for a walk. Conor started a facebook group called I Love Lucy, and many of our friends joined in order to upload photos of videos of her. Cage joined the group as well, and identified himself as Lucy's dad. Conor sent a message to him right away, thanking him for allowing Lucy into our lives.

That message was the beginning of many messages back and forth between Conor and Cage. They met in person one time after that, and have been friends ever since.

"Lucy is no longer with us," Conor informed the crowd somberly. "But her amazing spirit lives on. This is for Lucy," and he bowed his head and began a heartbreaking rendition of Tom Wait's "Picture in a Frame."

Later on Cage mentioned to me not for the first time, how talented Conor is. He plans to get Conor a spot playing in Boston more often. Later I saw him introducing Conor to the owner of the bar, and I felt a surge of happiness, and some pride at having a hand in this chain of events.

Then I realized that in this case the Connector was actually a small and gregarious beagle named Lucy.

-------------------------------------

* Although his secret seems to be that on Sundays he sometimes refuses to pick up the phone or allow any visitors, preferring to sit alone in his house watching football with his dogs.

** You may have read or heard me  refer to Cage as Pim, which is what Anne Frank called her father. This way Dad and Pim each get a name.

Havin a Summah Playlist

 Recently, local comedian Kevin Harrington told me I needed to watch this clip on Funny or Die because of the Jaws reference in it. Now he frequently asks me if I've bought my summah gum.

Well, I don't have summer gum. Why? Because I hate gum.
 I know it's summer because my go-to ipod playlist changes. *

I recently added Mirando a las Muchachas by Mexican Institute of Sound,  I Am Not a Robot by Marina and The Diamonds, and He Lives in You, from The Lion King London cast recording.
Like everyone else, I find new favorites every season that will forever and ever remind me of what I was doing this summer, who I was doing it with, and where we all were.

 But some songs will ALWAYS be on the playlist, no matter what else changes.

My Summer Playlist Standards

Lazy Bones, Soul Coughing
Lido, Boz Scraggs
Into the Mystic, Van Morrison
Corazone Espinado, Carlos Santana
Could You Be Loved, Bob Marley
Suzanne, Leonard Cohen
Real Love, Mike Doughty
Don't Go (Giving Your Love Away) , Sonia Dada
Hush, Afroman
Treetop Flyer, Stephen Stills
Jungle Drum, Emiliana Torrini
Surf's Up, Brian Wilson
Everybody I Love You, CSN&Y


BONUS: Summer Night Playlists should  include the following:
Milky Way Tonight, Crosby and Nash
Summer in the City, Regina Spektor


Any recommendations for a must-adds this summer?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* And because I switch to my summer lip gloss, duh. (Blistex Fruit Smoothies (variety pack) spf 15 $2.99 at CVS)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

If you are in the Boston area tonight and trying to decide which bar to cram yourself into look no further.
Tonight from 6pm to 8pm at GOODBAR the one and only Conor Shanahan will be playing  traditional Irish drinking and dancing songs for your drinking and dancing pleasure.
Check out the facebook event page for directions and even some sample videos of Conor strumming and singing to fan the flames of your Irish music passion.*

*************************************************************************

And now... a video of my dear friend Pim (Cage Pearson) playing one of my favorite songs:



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Yeah, I re- read that sentence and decided to stick with it.

to resist despair in this world is what it is what it is what it is to be free

At some point this fell out of my music rotation.

 But this week I searched You Tube for some of my old favorites from high school, and then I found Energy among the CDs I keep in the car.


This brings back a lot of really amazing memories from high school years. Back yard pool parties, hanging out late in the summer time on back porches,  road trips to the Cape with my best friends, and even just hanging around Copley Square after school sharing headphones and sodas. 


 There is just something so redeeming about those upbeat tempos, passionately positive lyrics, and rapid fire playful rhymes. 


 It's not glamorous or sexy.  We can't go clubbing with it.  But somehow this music feels more honest.
It doesn't have a beautiful harmony that breaks my heart or takes my breath away. But I get out of breath dancing to it.
It doesn't mention God  once, but it brings me closer to Him because the lyrics affirm my faith in goodness.
 It's not something a grown up lady who gave away her shants and Dr. Martins a long time ago might listen to. But I do.


I'm sorry I ever lost you, Operation Ivy. But I'm glad to have you back.

a bit of light Advent Reading

Over the past four weeks of Advent one of the things that has kept me the most on track with staying spiritually mindful has been the writing of a man whom I have never met.

I found Stephen Hough's blog on the first Sunday of Advent when I googled the phrase "darkness to light," which led me to the first of his four Advent posts.

Four sentences in, I was hooked.

Hough, an internationally acclaimed professional concert pianist, decided to choose a new musical piece each week, and explain it in a seasonal context.

It wasn't what his entire blog has been about during Advent. I'm guessing that religion is not a subject matter he speaks of often since in that initial piece he writes "for the next four Sundays, atheist, agnostic and freethinking readers might want to avoid posts with the word ‘Advent’ in the title - you have been warned!"

I have become a regular follower of his blog (and recommend that you do to), because he is a truly engaging writer no matter what the subject matter is, but for now I'll focus on the four Advent pieces. It's been fascinating to read about the season through the eyes (and ears!) of a professional musician who is also extremely well versed in Church theology and doctrine.

The musical pieces he chose to write about are as follows:

1. Prelude Chorale and Fugue, Cesar Franck
2. The Fountain and The Bell, Federico Mompou
3. F minor piano sonata (specifically the second movement), Brahms
4. Ave Maria, Franz Liszt

The pieces he chose to explain are not explicitly religious. In fact, the only one I immediately registered as liturgical was Ave Maria. But Hough writes of the composer's backgrounds as well as the historical context of the pieces. He also focuses on the music itself, the notes, the melodies and the instruments. The way Hough connects each musical masterpiece to the themes of Advent reminded me of the way someone else may find God in a sunrise, or in the ocean waves, or the movement of an electron.

I also took the time to read some of the conversations taking place in the comments sections of the four Advent pieces. Because I do not have a large or steady faith community of my own here in Boston*, I found myself drawn to these discussions between Catholics, Protestants and atheists. Together they've created conversations in which Hough's ideas were questioned, built upon and further explored.

I was amazed as I read through the various conversations. Everyone who comments, it seems, is genuinely interested in creating dialogue to further each individual's understanding of Advent. Hough also takes part in these conversations, explaining and defending his own views when necessary, but very open to the ideas of his peers and readers. People don't always walk away from it agreeing. But everyone comes to the table willing to listen and interested in hearing what was said in response.

I will certainly be posting more about my own thoughts on the season in general, and especially on Advent 2009. In the meantime I hope that if it interests you at all you will click on one of the links above and read some of Hough's insight into how these four pieces capture the pre-Christmas season.
He has certainly been an inspiration to me these past four weeks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* the subject of an upcoming post for sure

Don't tell the mermaids where I'm going...

Yesterday's post was a bit heavy, even for me. Let's all enjoy my day off together by watching this.




Fun fact: The last two years of college I lived in a three family house. I used to drum this on the wall of my bathroom and my friend in the adjacent apartment would drum it back on his bathroom wall. Adorable.
And... great video.

Microphone

Know what makes me smile? BClops rocking a microphone and looping pedal.






http://www.youtube.com/user/StoopMasterB

This video made my day. And will continue to make my night. It's John Hodgman, Jonathan Coulton and The Long Winters singing together.