I'm ba-ack

Long time, no write.  To say life got in the way, would be true, but also a cop-out. This blog is cathartic for me, even if I haven't opened my soul much in the lists of authors, actors, and anything else from Mr. P's book.

I have started reading one of the books from the long list. For my birthday (plus 2 weeks for shipping), I was given, "Nonsense Novels." by Stephen Leacock. I'm almost done (it reminds me of the small-size books I read as a child).

What have I been doing the past month? My oldest son was in The Music Man at his high school. He was in the chorus and had a great time. There were many rehearsals, on the opposite nights of the younglings' Willy Wonka rehearsals. Mondays through Thursdays were gone.

I started reading "Nonsense Novels" during Willy Wonka practises, but I found out I need a book in my hands - to smell the paper, to smell the ink, to underline and dog ear (Sharon would be so mad at me!). I stopped reading until the book came in. I've read half the book twice now. I cannot wait to share it with my children. Seeing as Youth Arts Week begins tomorrow, the 'something new' I challenged people to do with youth everyday for the next 7 days, will be reading "Q" to them. It's quite a funny story about phantasms and brokering a deal between the 2 worlds.

I also (finally), made it to an Art of Time Ensemble performance, "Russia in Exile." I have been volunteering with them for 3 seasons now. It's the other 'cultural' thing I do outside Stratford Festival. Andrew Burashko is the genius behind this musical vision. His plan was to make classical music accessible to those who wouldn't usually attend such things. It was here where I was first introduced to Lucy Peacock (of Stratford fame), the music of Bernard Herrman, as part of their incredible, "War of the Worlds" evening - where they portrayed the play as a radio show, complete with a foley artist. All my kids saw that. I do believe that was the first 'cultural' even they have seen, on that scale (they went to Stratford last year, but that's on a much larger scale).

The first half of the show, my mind wandered. The film by Tess Girard was splendid, but still my mind wandered. I spent the rest of the first half thinking about why I like theatre better - it forces you to not think about yourself, to be involved with the emotions of the characters on stage. When 'just' listening to music, my mind wandered. Until the 2nd half.

It was very hard to hear the first of the two shows I volunteered for that weekend. There was one particular composer, Glinka that actually hurt to hear. Andrew, the first night, warned us that it was haunting.  That was an understatement. The chords sounded like nails on a chalkboard to me.

I wondered why, not in a mind-wandering way, but in a search the soul-of-the-music way. It really didn't take me long to discover, but I didn't want to agree. The music, the waltz that weaved itself in and out of that piece, kept me in check. That piece had 4 violins, piano, and clarinet. The clarinet was wistful, constant, and drove the piece.

The violins - there seemed to be no 'first' violin. They each took turns starting a phrase, with the others following suit, finishing, and bringing it back to the start. The piano's part was pushy, pushing, and angry at times. The whole piece seemed disjointed, but it was beautiful, but I fought hard to not let myself notice.

You see, in September we had a house fire. Then our car died. Then we separated. Then a flood at the new house. Then Jeff's dad died. Then another flood the day before the funeral. Our lives were disjointed - but we journeyed on.

I guess you could say I felt like the clarinet - springy, constant, the driving lines/force in the family. The violins were defintely the children - fighting each other, fighting me, fighting Jeff. Our community, the children's schools, our church, our larger community (including the Stratford Festival) were like the piano. It was their support that gave us our base, our hope when we had, literally, nothing but the clothes on our backs.

The song ended with a soulful melody, a hopeful melody, by the piano.

I wished I had a tissue. I was crying because of that ending; crying because I don't know if I'm there, sad because I don't know if I'll ever really get there; sad that we might be there and I not know it.

When I think of that composition, it is the clarinet's melody that stays with me, and the memory of hope at the end.

If we don't have hope, then what are we fighting for?

The second night, I brought Braeden (14) with me help with the merchandise table and listen to the magic of the music. Amy, another volunteer, told Braeden she knows someone who makes swords for a living...but that is a story for another time.

What does this have to do with, "In Spite of Myself?" Everything. The book is about the art around him - the art of words, the art of music, how the arts stir the soul, and make life worth living.

So, inspite of MY reading, my blog tonight is about the power of music. How, that even if you fight it, despite you fighting it, you can always get a message written just for you, by a composer decades ago.

I will get back to regular posting. There are stories from Mr. P's book I still need to discuss. There are hundreds of books I still need to read.

But tonight, I started with my heart. It has been disjointed. It has felt like I was the nail scratching down the chalkboard, or that I was the chalkboard being scratched. Does it matter? No. What matters is that we are still here. We are strong.

And, we have hope. I have hope of a life worth living - a life with culture because it is, as Kevin Spacey says, "culture is the magic of our experience." It's magical but you do the soulsearching to find their meaning.

Last section of Book

This came fast, the end of the book. Now I must decide which author to begin. I'm thinking Kipling...

Rereading this book, it seems there are only a few of the great actors of our time he hasn't acted with - Kevin Spacy for one. You'd think with Kevin running the Old Vic, they would have crossed paths along the way.

This section also talks about "a word or two". I tweeted about it. Look for mytimeatlast.

Here's todays's list, read and posted on world day of theatre for children day. I'll post a couple of my favourite quotes, too. If I can figure out how..

March 20

Movies
Women in love
The music lovers
Cattle Annie and little britches
Pulp fiction
The fisherking
Needful things
So I married an axe murderer
Butterfly kiss
Malcolm X -mr p
Star Trek 6 - mr p
Wolf mr p
12 monkeys - mr p
Delores Claiborne
Nicholas nickleby mr p
Emma

Mr p movies
Syriana
The new world
Must love dogs
Alexander
Man in the Chair
Inside Man
Beautiful mind


The insider

Producers
Gareth drabinsky
Sonny Grosso
Todd Haimes


Directors
Robin Phillips
David jones
Spike lee
Nicholas Meyer
Mike Nichols
Terrence Gilliam
Taylor hackford
Michael Mann
Doug McGrath
Jonathan Miller
Ron Howard
Oliver stone
Steve gaghan
Lord Richard dicky Attenborough
Michael Schroeder



Actors
Alan scarfe
Liam neeson
Natasha Richardson
Max von sydow
Ed Harris
Denzel Washington
Michelle pfeiffer
Kathy Bates
Jennifer Jason leigh
Douglas Fairbanks jr
Al Pacino
Russell Crowe
Juliet Stevenson
Jim broadbent
Timothy spall
Tom courtenay
Barry humphries
Edward fox
Nathan lane
Anne Hathaway


Writers
Mr Somerset Maugham
Harold Pinter's No man's land
Vladimir nobokov
William Luce
Eric Roth

Tv series
Counterstrike - Mr P


Movies
All the president's men
You can't take it with you
Moon for the misbegotten


plays
Anna Christie
Henry V recorded w/ symphony
Luce - the belle of Amherst
Luce - lucifer's child
Luce - Lillian
Luce - Barrymore
Tennessee Williams summer and smoke
A word or two

Great music

I'm listening to John Tesh's Big Band concert on PBS right now. Such wonderful music! Mr P would enjoy it.

My mom took me to many free jazz, swing, big band concerts when I was little. She'd look for them for me. We were lucky to go to Expo 86 in Vancouver. Wouldn't you know it, at the Ontario pavilion, there was a university big band concert.

Dan Lapp. I remember his name after all these years! He played trumpet in that band. I enjoyed that free concert more than Paul Revere and the Raiders.

There aren't many songs better than "In the Mood".

My dad was born in 1930 down in Windsor, ON. There was/is a radio station in Detroit (across the river from Windsor) called WJR (the voice of the Tigers - God bless Ernie Harwell). Every Sunday, they would play this old music - music from the war. I was weaned from my bottle onto this music (my mom didn't breastfeed me). It is the main fabric of the music of my life's quilt.

I wish my first introduction to John Tesh wasn't Entertainment Tonight. He's certainly talented, but I'm having a hard time taking him seriously. I'll just close my eyes and listen...drift away in my memories...

As an aside, I'm going home to Windsor this weekend! I haven't been home to spend time in more than 4 years. It's been far too long.

I wonder what WJR will be playing on Sunday?

March 6/2012

Very sad parts today


March 6

Director
Bert Batt
John Huston - also wrote beat the devil
Daryl duke
Veljko Bulajic

Movies
The treasure of the sierra madre
The red badge of courage
The Maltese falcon
Moulin rouge
Les Enfants du paradis
Conduct unbecoming CP
Aces high CP
The spiral staircase CP
Murder by decree CP
The Pyx CP
The silent partner CP
Tunes of glory
The return of the pink panther CP
Superman
Being there
The scarlet and the black CP
The day that shook the world CP
The Battle of Vareslava
Women in love
The music lovers



Music
Maurice jarre- score
Janina Fialkowska
Arturo Benedetti Michaelangeli - piano
Schubert
Ravel's gaspard de la Nuit
Burt Bacharach

Writer
Rudyard Kipling - the young British soldier
Freddy Forsyth - the day of the jackal
Conan Doyle
Curtis Hanson
Christopher Fry - the dark is light enough
Blake Edwards (& director, married to Julie Andrews)
Garson Kanin - peccadillo


Actor
Saeed jaffrey
Doghmi Larbi
Richard Attenborough
Trevor howard
Jacqueline Bisset
James Mason
Geneviève Bujold
Anthony Quayle
Elliott Gould
John Candy
Peter sellers
Catherine Schell
Shirley MacLaine
James earl jones
Roy Dotrice
Edwin Booth
Sir Henry Irving (swapped roles in othello)
Diane weist
Cecilia hart
Kelsey Grammer
Amanda Plummer
Elisabeth Ashley
Geraldine page
Ruth Gordon
Ruth draper
Helene weigel
Bobby morse
Nigel Hawthorne
Florinda Bolkan
Glynis Johns
Kelly McGillis
Stephen Russell
Stephen Markle
Cherry Jones


Cameraman
Geoffrey Unsworth

Play
Othello
Agnes of God
A taste of honey
The matchmaker
Mutter courage
Shadowlands
Pat and Mike
Born Yesterday

Tv
Shadow box
The thorn birds



Producer
Fran/Barry weissler


Jane broder funeral - p 567

Curse of punchinello p 572

Busy, but nice to have time to read again

March 5

Music
Michael J Lewis
Herb Alpert
Philip j Lang

Quote
"Don't send me dwarves. Bring me giants" - cyrano??

Dance
Agnes de Mille
Michael Kidd

Musicals
Guys and dolls
Seven brides do seven brothers
Man of la mancha
South pacific


Play
The good doctor
That championship season



Actor
Leigh Beery
Mark Lamos
James Blendick
Louis Turenne
Arnold soboloff
Ken Campbell
Marsha Mason
René auberjonois
Barnard Hughes
Frances sternbagen
Sean Connery
Michael Caine


Director
A J Antoon
Michael Bennett



Book
Voyages to the moon and sun

The spruce goose

Writers
Neil Simon
Eugene o'Neil
Richard brinsley Sheridan
Edgar Wallace
Anton Chekhov
John Huston
Gladys hill


Movie
The man who would be king

Finally!

Congratulations, Mr. P!

If you haven't heard, Christopher Plummer won his first Oscar for The Beginners.  It is well deserved, and about time.

And, he wore his Order of Canada pin on his lapel.  Very classy...

Here's a link to his acceptance speech.  Thanks, Perez.

http://perezhilton.com/2012-02-26-oscars-2012-christopher-plummer-acceptance-speech

No reading today

I was going to read at lunch, but I received a phone call asking me if my monthly Breastfeeding group was still going on. I have never missed a meeting! I arrived half an hour late. Oops. I'm so glad the women in my group 1) called me and 2) loved me enough to call and 3) got in touch with. caterer, too. Melissa - you saved the day. I owe you!

Luke had cubs after dinner. Then I had to get my hair cut for the presentation I'm giving in Toronto next week.

I am too hyped from the day to read now.

Oh, Kevin Spacey is on Letterman tonight. PVR all set up. Hmm - I thought his goatee was greyer the last I saw an interview with him.

Anyone else seen an interview with him about his Richard III? Eerily similar to Mr Plummer's. And Mr P helped rebuild The Globe as Kevin did with The Old Vic. I wonder how The old Vic board was with it. Mr P had a hell of a time - 2 different groups trying to do it at the same time. What questions I have for the both of them...

Night