Before I get into the real subject of this entry, I have a couple of quick notes. First, it is unlikely that I will update next week.
This was a week of a lot of flurrying around but all on little stuff. That's just how it goes sometimes. At least I did get through much of my list of things to do at work, even if I didn't make a dent on the list at home. My big accomplishment was a used book store run, which is more complicated now that McKay closed their Centreville store and I have to drive to Manassas. Interestingly, another of the regular Saturday morning crowd was also there and we had a nice little chat about what a hard time book stores are having and how much of a pain it is to have to drive that much further. At least I did find two books I'd been looking for to use some of my trade credit on ("Women in the Material World," which is the follow-up to one of my all-time favorite photography books, and Robert Louis Stevenson's "New Arabian Nights.") I took the rejects to C&W, which took only a few of them and had nothing worth using my trade credits there on. Then I drove to Falls Church, but Burke Used Books just changed hands and has a moratorium on buying for the next month or so. So I went over to Hole in the Wall, which I have somewhat more mxed feelings about. I really like the people there, but the store is so chaotic that it is hard to find anything. And they only let you use trade credit for half the price. Still, they do have a good assortment of genre literature (e.g. mysteries). I really need to make the pilgrimage to Wonder Books and get rid of accumulated rejects from the nearer shops, but maybe I will list some stuff on craigslist first.
On to what I really wanted to write about. I mentioned this last week, but I should have explained why singing "Sweet Caroline" at Fenway Park is fine. It's simple enough. They sing two choruses of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch, the way it is supposed to be. "Sweet Caroline" is in the 8th inning and that makes all the difference in the world. It also helps that everybody sings along.
I was thinking about singing along and what it is that makes joining in so pleasurable. There's a particular contagion to certain choruses, to stuff you just have to join in on. It can happen even with recorded music. For example, I defy anyone to listen to "Runaway" on an oldie's station and not join in on the "I wonder why" part. But it's definitely more noticeable when it comes to live music.
That came up tonight when I went to hear Garnet Rogers perform at Jammin' Java. Folk music audiences are particularly prone to singing along. I didn't think this audience was particularly responsive, but he made a comment about how nice it was to play here because Canadians never sing along. It struck me that only a little of his material is really in the "just have to join in" category. Most of his lyrics are too complex and not repetitive enough to pick up. The most sing-alongable piece he did was a Susanna Clark song, not one of his own. Still, he has a finely resonant voice and I enjoyed the concert. I should note that he did play two of his late brother Stan's songs - "Make and Break Harbor" and "Northwest Passage." The latter is a long-time favorite of mine and does have a nicely singable chorus.
Finally, his patter between songs was also quite entertaining. I particularly liked his line after a fairly gloomy opening number. "I've suffered for my art," he said, "now it's your turn." Fortunately, there wasn't any real suffering involved in the evening. I've been thinking that I need to hear more live music and this was a good way of acting on that.
Copyright 2006 Miriam H. Nadel