Mar 17

Riverdance / St. Patrick’s Day Memories

ST-PATRICKS-DAY

 

Every year on March 17, the Irish and the Irish-at-heart across the globe observe St. Patrick’s Day. What began as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland has become an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green.

 

When I was a child, my dad, a Scottish person, had me wear orange to school on Saint Patrick’s Day, as a minor form of protest.  All that did was have the kids make fun of me even more than usual.

 

As my own form of protest, I later married an Irish Roman Catholic, but that’s a topic for another post.

 

Quite a while later, a friend of my husband’s friends lent him a copy of something called “Riverdance”.  I took one look and figured I would never be interested in some kind of Irish dancing.  WRONG!

 

It turned out I loved Riverdance and we have seen the video, I have my own DVDs, we have seen it at Wolftrap whenever it’s been here, I have 2 copies of piano transcriptions, own the Tshirt…  One weekend, we even saw it twice.

We had seen it at Wolftrap on a Friday night.  Our son came home on a Saturday and we were telling him about it.  We went directly from the train station back to Wolftrap.

As luck would have it, there was a bus driver there who had brought a bunch of people on a tour from a retirement home.  Three people hadn’t come and he had 3 tickets to get rid of, right in the front section.

Were we lucky, or what?

 

leprleprleprleprlepr
leprleprleprlepr

 

One of my favorite dances:

 

 

And another favorite:

 

 

And, of course, that finale!

 

 

Just for fun, there was a flashmob, bringing us back to St. Patrick’s Day…

 

 

 

Needless to say, I was quite sorry to see that Riverdance is not coming to the East Coast this year.

 

 

Mar 17

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

ST-PATRICKS-DAY

 

Every year on March 17, the Irish and the Irish-at-heart across the globe observe St. Patrick’s Day. What began as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland has become an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green.

 

 

Mar 15

Beware! It’s the Ides of March

 

Everyone knows we’re supposed to beware the Ides of March and may even remember they’re from William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” but what exactly do they mean?

 

The Ides of March marked the day the Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of the Roman Senate in 44 B.C.E.

A soothsayer, or psychic, warned Caesar to beware the day, but Caesar doesn’t heed him.

He was then stabbed 23 times by about 60 conspirators, including his friend Marcus Brutus, as immortalized by Shakespeare’s “Et tu Brute?”

I remember learning all about this in Latin class in High School.

 

 

I remember another movie,  Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, discussing the Ides of March and someone asked why a month would need an “idea”.

 

 

We found Bill and Ted purely by accident.  We were looking at videos for rent in a grocery store and one of the bag boys (remember them?) recommended this one.

I’ve seen this several times over the years…

 

Mar 14

Happy Pi Day!

pi-day

 

 

 

 

 

 

rounded-pi

Mar 10

It’s International Bagpipe Day Again!

international-bagpipe

Mar 04

March Forth on March Fourth

 

Today would probably have been a better day for the Music Man post since it’s about marching forth on March Fourth.

 

 

In honor of dedicated musicians and performers of many diverse styles and backgrounds, Marching Music Day celebrates all varieties of the art forms bringing us “music on the move.”

For centuries, the beat of a drum has kept military units moving in unison. From the training field to the battlefield, the football stadium to the Broadway stage, small gyms, auditoriums and grand arena spectacles, fifers, pipers, buglers, drum corps, marching bands, parade groups, drill teams and color guards bring music to life to the delight of millions of performers and spectators.

 

The military roots of the drum corps have evolved into an art form which moves us during somber memorials and thrills us with their ability to perform delightful music while executing intricate routines with exact precision. Drill squads, marching bands, drum lines, and drum corps name but a few of the many styles of marching music which have developed over the years, engaging hundreds of thousands of performers of all ages, abilities and experience levels.

 

 

We see marching music in schools, military units, community celebrations and local auxiliaries. The music is as varied as the ensembles themselves. Instruments may be limited to brass in some settings or may include woodwinds and electric guitars in others. Dance teams, baton twirlers and color guards perform to soundtracks ranging from traditional, standard marches to rock and roll, jazz, contemporary and electronic dance music.

 

 

And marching music keeps changing! Spectacular string bands incorporate their own unique sound and elaborate costuming. Technology has brought about the production of lighter, electronic and digital instruments making it possible for musicians to march with violins, cellos, basses and synthesizers to entertain crowds in unique and creative new ways.

 

 

Today, March 4 (“March Forth”) is also National Grammar Day. In past years, the National Grammar Day organization promoted the annual date as follows: “Language is something to be celebrated, and March 4 is the perfect day to do it. It’s not only a date, it’s an imperative: March forth on March 4 to speak well, write well, and help others do the same!”

 

 

 

Mar 03

Oscar Winners: The Music Man

 

 

TCM is currently doing 31 Days of Oscars.  I first sort of noticed this a couple years ago when I looked ahead in the scheduling and noticed that all TCM shows were alphabetized.  At first, I thought maybe that this scheme was some sort of placeholder before I realized what they were doing. Personally, I preferred when 31 Days grouped films by nomination category, by studio or by actor. Alphabetical is easy for them but hard on me, looking through every entry to see what to record.

 

Today, Tivo faithfully recorded (The) Music Man.  When I watched it on Sunday, I was most pleased to realize that I remembered all the words.

 

 

Remembering all the words is no small feat.

I first started collecting records (yes, records!) of musicals when I was in high school in Springfield, MA.  Our library had an outstanding record collection, but I could only check out one (or 2?) at a time.

I would bring my record(s) home, and listen to them like crazy.  Then I’d save my allowance and any work money I had and go to the local department store to buy my favorites.   I always bought musicals and they were nearly Original Broadway Cast.  Years later, I still have all these records, even though I usually listen on Spotify or on one of my carefully curated playlists. (I also can’t listen to any of the music out of order.)

As the years roll by, many of these musicals, like The Music Man, have gone on to become films.  I am not usually a happy camper when the music is changed from what I remember of the OBCs and the film, but The Music Man film made the cut for me  🙂

 

 

Mar 01

Spring, 2018

Feb 16

Happy Chinese New Year!

 

Our wonderful daughter-in-law is Chinese, so we are celebrating the Year of the Dog.  (Mimi likes that, too and thinks that every year should be about and for her!)

 

 

 

Feb 04

Sean Connery and Bagpipes

 

This video just came up on my Facebook feed this morning but I hadn’t seen it before.  Even though Washington is misspelled, this is still a fantastic performance for Sean Connery in 1999.

Sean Connery was honored at the Kennedy Center for lifetime achievements. The music consists of the Washington Pipe Band, Alasdair Fraser, Davidson School of Scottish Dance, Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis.

 

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