During the postlude yesterday, a large elderly lady came up to me and began yelling, trying to engage me in conversation. This is always simultaneously amusing and baffling. The piece was a bit complicated, lots of quick notes that moved in interesting and unpredictable ways. At one point, I raised a hand with one finger pointed up and quickly said, “Just a minute.”
As I finished playing I vaguely wondered in the back of my mind if someone who would try to talk to a musician as he was playing would have the attention span to wait two minutes while he finished the piece.
It turns out this lady did. She asked me if I was from something like “Invasion Haven.” I said no. Then she asked me if I had ever heard of the phrase. I admitted that I had not. She said it was a gospel group from Benton Harbor with men who had beards and long hair.
The last hymn which we had just sang was “There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit in this Place” by Doris Akers, a gospel tune. I had played gospel piano accompaniment and apparently had reminded this elderly visitor of a group from Benton Harbor, Michigan. I can’t actually remember the name she yelled at me (she continued yelling even after I stopped playing, but it was noisy with the post service chats going on). I googled gospel music and Benton Harbor but didn’t recognize any of the names. It’s possible it was “Invasion Haven,” but I think it was something different but equally goofy.
Thus ended my 2010-11 choir season.
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Don’t Quit This Day Job – NYTimes.com
I found this article pretty frustrating and narrow. Karen Sibert, an anesthesiologist believes strongly that doctors should not have private lives, they should be totally dedicated to their patients. “Part-time doctor” is a contradiction in terms to her. I found the whole thing annoying and coming from a different place in life than I am.
I particularly found it annoying that she felt that the government’s subsidization of medical education was being short changed by women who went part time as doctors to have a life.
Ay yi yi.
By reducing doctors’ vocations and lives to implied transactions and responsibilities as this person does, seems to me to actually perpetuate stereotypes and dehumanization she ostensibly opposes.
Jes sayin.
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Entering Darkness by Sam Anderson – NYTimes.com
Article on caves. Starts with a description of a new movie by Werner Herzog. Good writing.
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Watch Documentaries and Animated Films Online – NFB.ca
A Canadian friend put this link on Facebook. It’s the National Film Board of Canada and he says there’s lot of interesting stuff there. Haven’t poked around in it.
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