E G O S P E W

The typographically clever title above is not my creation, but I did find this cool engraving on Gutenberg.org (normally my go-to source for classic Nook reading content).  The image represents, best as any, the upcoming concert by the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble, with which I am pleasantly associated.  (It was they who combined with the Hobart & William Smith Chorale plus invited performers for the Carmina Burana concert this past October.)

This upcoming concert, with performances December 11th and 12th, contains an assortment of absolutely delightful Christmas carols from various sources, selected by Bob Cowles, who has been directing the SVE for some 15 years.  Several pieces are arranged by Jeffrey Van and there is a suite by Conrad Susa.  The singing is some of the most challenging I’ve encountered and the 24 ensemble members are all first-rate musicians.  I highly encourage your attendance at one of the performances.

Perhaps most importantly for some, the Christmas Pie performance will be immediately followed by a “sumptuous reception boasting a wide assortment of delicious pies.”  . . .Two of which, might I add, (chocolate-bourbon-pecan and mocha-walnut) will be created by my talented wife Laurel.  Ahhhh, music to my palate.

Plucking the Christmas Goose…PIE: Music for Choir and Guitar

Saturday, December 11, 2010, 7:30 PM
United Church of Fayetteville
310 E. Genesee St., Fayetteville, NY

Sunday, December 12, 2010, 3:00 PM
Liverpool First United Methodist Church
604 Oswego St., Liverpool, NY

Our second program of the season also showcases local instrumental talent as Kenneth Meyer, classical guitar, Ursula Kwasnicka, harp, and Anthony Calebrese, marimba, join the ensemble for a lovely assortment of Christmas works for chorus and guitar. The group will present traditional as well as more recently composed music for the season. As always, the Christmas Pie performance will be immediately followed by a sumptuous reception boasting a wide assortment of delicious pies.

Haydn and Mozart, though born 24 years apart, palled around Vienna together and ended up great buddies, with enormous mutual respect.  They were individual musical geniuses, but admitted to learning much from one another. Wolfgang dubbed Franz “Papa” and Franz called Wolfie “Spritzen” (“Squirt”). Later, Crazy Ludwig joined the gang and they terrorized the learned establishment under the ironic moniker “Viennese School”.

Here will be performed a couple of Latin masses that represent each composer’s workmanlike mastery of his craft.  Yours truly am occupying the customary roles: humble first tenor and producer of posters and programs.

Our local wild bunnies are resting up as they prepare for tomorrow’s heroic duties.  Note that while Santa is only one single dude who has to cover all the world delivering presents in a few-hour sweep, Peter Rabbit and all his assistants are each about 1/300th the physical stature of the Bearded One.  And I’m not convinced of their logistical prowess in executing the Mailman Algorithm (to maximize efficiency delivering to X destinations arranged in Y configuration).  But they couldn’t be cuter.

Rest well, my furry friends; tomorrow’s the big day.

My next concert, in the Hobart & William Smith Colleges Community Chorus,  Tuesday, April 13th, 8:00 pm, St. John’s Chapel, 630 S. Main Street, Geneva, NY 14456.

Massa Unpeeled

I managed to peel the Eric Massa bumper sticker off our car today.

How did we get so fooled? He seemed pretty smart back during the campaign, at the living room chat and the log cabin barbecue fundraiser. He reminded me a little of Senator Jim Webb, with that ex-career military kicked-around-the-world and wrote-a-book-or-two kind of wisdom. We helped get him elected in a solid Republican upstate New York district that hadn’t voted a Democrat into office for decades. (Though we couldn’t quite tip the county to Obama, embarrassingly.)

Massa’s arguments against our Afghanistan involvement were pretty brave; I love seeing an ex-military officer go ballistically anti-war.  He had long been vocal over the abominable folly of the war in Iraq.  But then he disappointed us with his stand against the health care legislation because “it didn’t go far enough.” . . .A classic case of allowing the Perfect be the enemy of the Good. Or of the Better-than-Nothing. A chance to advance civilization comes around only once every fifteen or twenty years; don’t let it slip through your fingers because it ain’t perfect.

And now this bizarre resignation: for medical, or political, or personal reasons? I hope the doctor’s reports turn out to be good news for him. But as for all his bad news, the blame lies with Eric Massa. These wounds are self-inflicted. True, he accepted limited responsibility in the coded admissions about not “living up to his own standards.” Which only makes his subsequent ranting at environmental or political pressures seem more like attempts at deflection or dissemblance. Sadly, in this strange behavior and abandonment of his post, he has disappointed many, many people who had given him their support and trust. What emerges with each rambling interview is an intuited truth, disconnected from his admissions and protestations; a truth purposely unspoken. This exercise in deception is the saddest act to witness: an aware, worldly man so unable to come face-to-face with his own self-knowledge.

I didn’t know what to do with the bumper sticker. . .it was laden with so much history and personal investment, I couldn’t just throw it away.