Back in the '70s, Phantom mania certainly swept my school, Grant Park High. One girl so identified with Old Souls she performed it about 500x until the cynical kids said it was making them sick. I ignored them. After all, she was a senior, a goddess with a soulful singing voice who strummed her guitar with real feeling. I was just a pimply grade 7er. Looking back though, she was kind of a one tune wonder. What are you playing for us tonight, Sandra? : )
No, not Phantom of the Opera but Phantom of the Paradise, the campy 1974 rock opera by Brian De Palma and Paul Williams. It bombed everywhere but Winnipeg (http://www.phantomoftheparadise.ca/why.html) where it still has a cult following. In fact, there's a screening tonight at Winnipeg's Park Theatre @parktheatrecafe. Back in the '70s, Phantom mania certainly swept my school, Grant Park High. One girl so identified with Old Souls she performed it about 500x until the cynical kids said it was making them sick. I ignored them. After all, she was a senior, a goddess with a soulful singing voice who strummed her guitar with real feeling. I was just a pimply grade 7er. Looking back though, she was kind of a one tune wonder. What are you playing for us tonight, Sandra? : )
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I went down to St. James Infirmary To see my baby there, She was lyin' on a long white table, So sweet, so cool, so fair. Went up to see the doctor, "She's very low," he said; Went back to see my baby Good God! She's lying there dead. Traditional. For decades I've had issues with that song. Who would write something so depressing? But of course it was the perfect opener for the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra's May 16th concert at Bardal Funeral Centre in Winnipeg. Actually, it was the liveliest rendition of Infirmary I've ever heard, setting the tone for a toe tapping evening of New Orleans jazz. Guests were Ron Paley, Winnipeg's own big band leader (piano), Bjorn Thoroddsen (guitar), and Helen White (vocals). It was a lively, glorious evening though I found myself especially appreciating Helen White's numbers. Closing my eyes, I felt like I could float on her silky voice back to a 1940s ballroom. Following the concert, I noticed a couple of inscribed stones in the mortuary floor. "Ask not for whom the bell tolls," said one. "It tolls for thee," said the other. It will soon enough, I thought, but not tonight. Not on this glorious night. Exiting to the parking lot, some men in black were leaning on a limo. "Can we drive you across the street to the cemetery?" I smiled recalling the ferryman on the river Styx. Of course this ride was just to the overflow parking. My wife and I spent Wednesday night and Saturday at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. There are elements of everything at a modern folk festival from big, flashy, commercial bands to one guy or gal with an acoustic guitar. Pete Seeger used to say that in the old days before commercialization, music used to belong to the people, and in every household there was someone who could play or sing who provided the entertainment on a Saturday night. At every folk festival there's someone like that. Someone who reminds me that despite pretenses, we're all just simple people trying to make our way. It's suprising how powerful those elemental connections can be if you let them inside. It never fails to bring a tear to my eye when I'm reminded that a lyric can be as simple and sweet as.... "There's a big old goofy man Dancing with a big old goofy girl Ooh baby It's a big old goofy world." John Prine |
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