When the sun shines, we’ll shine together Told you I'll be here forever Said I'll always be a friend Took an oath I'ma stick it out till the end Now that it's raining more than ever Know that we'll still have each other You can stand under my umbrella You can stand under my umbrella
Today is Mother's Day, 2008. I was supposed to be finishing up a really nice 24 hrs with my mom right now, dropping her off at the airport in Burbank to head back to Northern California. But instead, I am lying on the couch on my friends Meredith & Kate's, watching 60 minutes, and hoping that the Immodium I took two hours ago kicks in before too long.
The original plan was a great one: I had to be here in LA for a cool conference Friday night and Saturday, and then I'm guest-teaching a class at UC Irvine on Tuesday. Mom was to fly down Saturday afternoon from No Cal, we'd have a nice dinner in Santa Monica, stay on the beach at the Georgian Hotel, walk on the beach this morning, and spend the afternoon at the Getty Museum in Malibu before her departure. Sounds great, huh?
But instead, I found myself running to the bathroom when I arrived in Burbank from Portland on Friday afternoon, somehow managed not to toss my cookies on our new contact at Evite. and made it all the way to Eagle Rock before depositing my breakfast and lunch out the car door two blocks from my destination. Despite the fact that Meredith would barely let me near my goddaughters for fear I would contaminate them with my "bug," I was glad to be in a familiar place. (ok, fair enough, since they are all traveling later this week and who wants to travel with a barfing, diarrhea-y 5 year old?).
While I was bummed to miss Friday's opening reception at the home of Sex and the City creator, Darren Star, I was sure it would pass quickly and I'd be up and at 'em for the conference on Saturday. No such luck. I just couldn't do it. My body was not cooperating. Midday, mom and I decided there was no way a nice dinner or evening in a $300/night hotel together would be fun for either of us, so she bagged the trip. By last night I had consumed about 2 oz. of applesauce and a piece of toast. Woo Hoo. But the aches were overwhelming. Thank goodness for the heating pad, soda, and TLC provided by my friends.
Today's been better, went for a little walk, ate a banana and some eggs. But that did NOT agree with me, hence the Immodium.
My mom's great. She always made me feel like I could be whatever I wanted to be, and she and my dad continue to be my biggest fans. She's funny, smart, politically-savvy and knows how to IM. I would have loved to see her for Mother's Day, but whatcha gonna do? Next year for sure.
Oh, why Jonathan Edwards? Cuz every time I hear this song it reminds me of being about 10 years old driving down the street with my mom, and her turning down the song in the middle where the lyrics are, "He can't even run his own life, I'll be DAMNED if he'll run mine." Ok, so she didn't like her 10 year old swearing out loud. For Father's Day I'll write about my dad and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
We have had a deep look into your soul and have realised...
...you are Angelina Jolie
WHOAH THERE! If you're not counselling refugees or pressuring Hollywood producers to finance Ecuadorian co-operatives, you’re signing off charity cheques like so many autograph pads. Unless you’re telling us porkies.
Maybe you should glide by the message board and let us all know how to be glamourous and good all at once.
Let me just say that I think Angie is the bomb. Brad too. And I am a believer in karma for sure. If you aren't, just think about how happy and healthy the lives of Dick Cheney, Leona Helmsley and Michael Vick were/are.
This is a great video of Tracy Chapman singing one of her (many) spectacular songs, "Born to Fight." I was really glad to find this video this weekend, since it is just the anniversary of MLK's murder, the riots in many cities, including DC, etc. This video was taken at a tribute concert to Nelson Mandela, the ultimate fighter.
But what prompted me to find this song was watching the women's NCAA basketball final four earlier tonight. Stanford, sort of a home town team for me, beat the #1 ranked Connecticut Huskies and advanced to the Championship Game. I know most people think of Stanford as an elitist, white, insular place. And there surely is some truth to that description. But it is also a place where athletes, as long as they meet the academic standards to get in (which are not wimpy) can shine.
Think Tiger Woods, Kim Oden, and now, Candice Wiggins. Wiggins is the first four time All-American in the history of Stanford Basketball. She is smart, tough, and an amazing three point shooter. As a former point guard, it is a beautiful thing to watch her leadership, her passing, and her "whatever it takes" spirit. And of course everyone things Geno's Connecticut team is a dynasty. Geno, take that. Go Cardinal.
Despite the fact that only about 5 people ever read this blog, I debated with myself for nearly an hour about what song from my catalog to pick for today's post. It's Easter. So, being the child of the 70s that I am, I vacillated between something from Jesus Christ Superstar and something from Godspell. I know both make some people cringe. Why couldn't I just pick some Jesus song? Well, that felt a little too straightforward for my liking.
This internal debate causes me to go back and refresh my memory about the two "God-themed musicals." Jesus Christ Superstar came first, in 1970, but Godspell followed just about a year later. Both of these musical-plays-turned-movies were written by super-famous folks. Superstar by the amazing Andrew Lloyd Webber who, of course, is also responsible for such small hits as Evita, Cats, and The Phantom of the Opera. And Godspell was written by Stephen Schwartz, whose accomplishments other than Godspell include little shows like Pippin, Pocahontas, Wicked, and Enchanted. Godspell was like Marcel Marceau meets Haight Ashbury, but most of the songs were pretty straight-up "God is love" kinda fare. At Catholic masses all over the place, including the hippie mass my mom took me to at St. Clare's, people were singing "Day by Day." The more radical services included the opening piece, which was a little more raucous - "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord." Like all good hippie mass songs, that one involved guitars and a tambourine. It was all pretty tame.
JC Superstar was far edgier, much harder rock and roll, and the songs didn't really lend themselves to the mass thing. And there was the issue of what might be perceived as some controversial depictions of Jesus' posse: Could Mary Magdalene be a whore andpossibly be a love interest for Jesus? This was underscored (pun intended) by the song I Don't Know How to Love Him, which was sung by the lovely Yvonne Elliman in the movie version (Her other claim to fame was singing background on Eric Clapton's version of I Shot the Sheriff). And then there was the big controversy in my mind as I got older: Why was Judas portrayed by a black man?!?! Well, probably everybody back then was more black than what we think of as "white" now. But casting Jesus as a waif-like white dude and Judas, the traitor, as a black man, struck me as aggressive.
Enough. I chose Superstar. It's the finale, it's the resurrection. That's what Easter is. But it's also two other things. One, the lyrics are a reminder of the questions that continue about Jesus in many peoples' minds. Second, it's an amazingly entertaining period piece - check out those outfits!
SLAINTE! Watch/listen to these talented musicians:
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of us (even those of you without a drop of Irish blood). While I am only 1/4 Irish, I definitely feel a connection to my Irish roots...in many different ways. One of them is music. I even own a bodhran.
I have been a fan of Celtic/Irish music for many years. First exposed to it, like most "Americans," through The Chieftains. A trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1992, hanging out with the local bands in small venues, sealed the deal. But when I started listening to it for real was after hearing a series of interesting performers at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. TBF is NOT just a place for hillbilly music - it's an amazing platform for any music that has some sort of "roots" base. And the range of performers within the broad rubric of Celtic is a good indication of the diversity of music heard in the beautiful box canyon every summer solstice: Natalie MacMaster, Wolfstone, Chieftains, Ashley McIsaac, Maura O'Connell, Great Big Sea. I first heard Solas at Bluegrass too - in 1997. They are an amazing group of musicians, combining innovation and 21st century approaches while respecting the beauty of the original music.
On St. Paddy's Day it's way better to listen to stuff like this than drink that horrible green beer.
PRESS PLAY TO WATCH THIS SHORT CLIP FROM ONE OF CLAPTON/WINWOODS 3 MADISON SQ GARDEN CONCERTS:
Last week Debbie and I went to NYC for about 48 hours. Why so short? Because she had been traveling for almost two weeks for work. Why, at all? To use the Xmas tickets I gave her to see the show of a lifetime (ok, the lifetime of someone over 40-something). Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood met in the late 1960's and collaborated (along with Ginger Baker and Ric Grech)as Blind Faith. Blind Faith's single, eponymous, album came out in late 1969. I was seven years old. So being, um, on the late cusp of the baby boomer generation, I remember the album from my older brothers' collection. I am sure my parents did NOT approve of its cover. I remember the song "Can't Find My Way Home," but not because I heard it then...maybe later during my brother Chuck's Traffic stage. And of course this song, "Well Alright," was originally done by Buddy Holly and has been covered by lots of folks. While the Blind Faith version is, in my opinion, the best by far, two others are worth a little trip down memory lane:
Santana did a version in the late 1970's. Here's a video of his band performing it in 1980 - and Carlos actually sings back-up, a rare occurrence for him:
And, of course, we must pay tribute to the originator. Although there is no video, this is worth a listen:
