World Enough and Time

Stompin' Tom Connors died yesterday.

He was a national icon and I will miss him. Auriaephiala quotes his farewell message to his fans:

Hello friends, I want all my fans, past, present, or future, to know that without you, there would have not been any Stompin’ Tom.

It was a long hard bumpy road, but this great country kept me inspired with its beauty, character, and spirit, driving me to keep marching on and devoted to sing about its people and places that make Canada the greatest country in the world.

I must now pass the torch, to all of you, to help keep the Maple Leaf flying high, and be the Patriot Canada needs now and in the future.

I humbly thank you all, one last time, for allowing me in your homes, I hope I continue to bring a little bit of cheer into your lives from the work I have done.

Bud the Spud.

I watched Jesus Christ Superstar this evening for the second time in a week. Not the movie; it was the Indigo Girls version on YouTube. The most amazing thing is: I never knew this existed. I blame walkingowl for not telling me! She was my link to information about the Indigo Girls. I bet she'd love this... if she never saw it. I don't think she did.

Amy Ray makes an awesome Jesus. Love her costumes.

Given that the music is essentially the same and the words are identical, I can't imagine the show being less like the one I saw in Stratford.

I was invited to a concert by local musician Elizabeth Bruce, and that was the highlight of the day. I'd heard about her singing, but I'd never actually heard her before. The concert was wonderful: she has a strong, distinctive way of creating a song. I was so glad I got to hear her.

Other events:

• Spent the morning doing office work at CCA, the afternoon doing office work at Computertamers.
  
• Buying milk in the morning, I stumbled across some gorgeous blue and while shirts on sale at, of all places, Hartman's Independent grocery store. Bought one.
  
• Met a woman named Kate Summerbell, which is a name to make any Dunnett fan's ears perk up. She had gorgeous hair, with a purple streak.
  
• I had a post-apocolyptic dream last night in which there was a huge nuclear event, filling the sky with angry clouds and beautiful purple lighting. random was in the dream, and when I told him about it, he said, "That was no dream. That was real. You are not supposed to remember. You will forget about it entirely." I didn't mention the bit about the boat that left without us. I wonder where it was going?
  
• There were several brief, torrential rainstorms, but I managed to be under cover for the worst of them. Walked home after the party, partly with duncanmac, the rest by myself. It was a lovely night for walking.
  

Went this evening to a live concert by Paul Potts at Centrepointe Theatre. He made jokes about the bad weather ("Last time I was in Ottawa, it was snowing,") but the concert was superb. He sang a lot of my favourites and near-favourites: starting with Moon River, then on to Maria, Se la Fantasia from Cinema Paradiso, Music of the Night, Il Gladiatore, the theme from Merry Christmas Mr. Laurence, La Strada and The Mission. After the intermission he sang Parla Piu Piano from The Godfather, A Place for Us, the Love Story theme, a tribute to Mario Lanza with music from The Student Prince, and as encore, Nessun Dorma. One of his themes was a tribute to the music of Nino Rota. I approve.

The other singer of the concert was Sarah Pacheko, whom I hadn't heard before. She sang in a remarkably big pink silk dress that made me think of Cinderella (and the pumpkin). Particularly liked hearing her do Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah - another favourite song. maaseru described her as a cross between Dolly Parton and Celine Dion. Heh.

Did all my exercises in time to go for dim sum with Marion and Vicky. We all ate sparingly, and it was delicious - wonderful. Afterwards, we did some shopping at the Chinese grocery next door to the Mandarin Ogilvy, then went to my place to watch and episode of Moonlight (1x03, "Dr Feelgood") and Hawaii Five-O, the 2010 version, 1x01, "Pilot".

Enjoyed both, especially Alex O'Loughlin's roles - and of course, Jason Dohring in Moonlight. Marion tells me a lot of people slash the two leads in Hawaii Five-O,, and I can see it - the dialogue is quite catchy. Sadly, I don't much like Scott Caan, and I don't think he'll grow on me. Still. Never say never. The slash I would like to see would be in Moonlight, where I don't like the girl at all - don't like Sophia Myles - but I'd love to see a Mick/Joseph pairing. (Note to self: search online for such a thing. If anyone knows of any stories with that pairing, do let me know!)

I wouldn't have had time to watch both because I had to be off to a potluck dinner at Lisa's, but Marion helped me chop vegetables for soup while we were watching Hawaii Five-O and the timing worked out perfectly. Lynne drove me to Lisa's and we had a lovely dinner - I brought Asian Mushroom Soup, Lynne made macaroni and cheese with tomatoes, and Lisa made peanut butter cookies. A good time was had by all.

Then we went to see the Christmas music concert by The Hallelujah Gospel Chorus. Not my choice - I really dislike Gospel music, and the alternative was a student production of Twelfth Night which I'd have loved to see. But Lynne loves Gospel music and Lisa chose that too, so I was outvoted.

And though I really still dislike Gospel music, I did enjoy the concert. Some of the new tunes for familial songs were lovely, and I particularly liked their version of Handel's Messiah. There was lots of singing along, and I didn't flinch at the religious angle because... well, just because: I can't say I didn't know it would be there. They encouraged the audience to sing some of the songs too, especially before the concert. I amused myself by singing some of O Come All Ye Faithful in Latin just because I love the Latin words. "Chorus angelorum" in particular.

The concert was at the church where I used to go as a child, and where I was baptized, Kitchissippi United Church, which used to be Kingsway United. I looked around for ghosts of my past, but aside from it being a familiar and standard style for Canadian United churches built in (probably) the 1940s, there was nothing familiar about it, not even the Sunday school room, where I stuck in my head for a peak. I endured some horrible hours there. Not too many, fortunately - my parent's weren't so cruel as to force me to go when I hated it so much.

As a child, I thought that church boxy and ugly, and longed for something with Gothic arches or a traditional spire. It seems nicer to me now; plain, friendly architecture without pretensions. Not the loveliest of buildings, but there are so many much worse.

Spent the morning at a birthday party for my chiropractor's business and got a sample massage (from a strong-fingered woman named Kristin McCuaig) and a reiki treatment (from a warm-handed woman named Candice McMullen).

It snowed in Kanata.

Then maaseru and I went to IKEA, where I bought a pillow and a box, and we had lunch - she had their new chili dish, which was delicious, and I had that old standby, IKEA meatballs, with vegetable medallions.

Then I went home, napped, and did some housecleaning.

Lil came from Montreal with her friend Andrea, and we went first to supper at Swiss Chalet, then to a concert called Brigadoons and Friends at the Centrepointe Theatre. A good time was had by all. My favourite part was when a girl named Robin Barillero of the MacLeod Fiddlers sang a song called Fhir a' bhàta in Scots Gaelic.

I really enjoyed this musical commentary in the Fringe theme. But then, I love the Fringe theme. It sounds to me more like Beethoven than Philip Glass.

And while i'm talking about it, I really love the graphics, too.

I am happy; I've scored a minor triumph.

Years ago I had an album I loved: Lost in the Stars by Kurt Weil. It was a compendium of all sorts of musicians singing Kurt Weil songs. I haven't seen it for a few decades - possibly it went to my ex in the divorce? In any case, I miss it, and was thinking of getting another copy. But the song I most wanted on it was Sting doing "Mac the Knife". This is not a song I particularly like when other people sing it, but I love Sting's version.

I finally, finally I found it today on YouTube.

For an extra bit of fun, I even found him singing it in German.

Today's Livejournal Question: If you could only listen to one music genre for the rest of your life (classical, rock, jazz, etc.), what would you choose, and why?

I like variety in music. I can't think of anything that would send me to one genre.

Okay, my favourite music is showtunes. But showtunes alone would be... unfortunate. My favourite types of music? Most of them. From Huun-Huur-Tu to Bizet to rap to whales. My favourite singers, off the cuff, at the moment:
1. Jill Barber
   
2. John Barrowman
   
3. The Beatles
   
4. Jussi Bjorling
   
5. IAMX
   
6. Leonard Cohen
   
7. My Chemical Romance
   
8. Paul Potts
   
9. Queen
   
10. Emma Shapplin