Showing posts with label bieber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bieber. Show all posts
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Halloween Organ Concert Ideas
I am often asked for repertoire ideas for Halloween Organ Recitals. It is not that difficult. Take any melody in a minor key, play it with a four foot flute in your right hand, maybe with a mutation, and with your left hand, do a slow palm glissando on both black and white keys with strings or softer flutes. Here are several songs I have played in the past:
Postlude Sollenele
https://youtu.be/aI2C6HZ2Khs
http://youtu.be/zDB6DmhE2LM
Night on Bald Mountain
(gasp, I can't find my vid)
Toccata and Fugue in D minor
http://youtu.be/TkjF2Vtzwjs
Chopin Prelude
http://youtu.be/WQlLgkAIkiI
Moonlight Sonata
http://youtu.be/dGxp_VYoMt8
Chopin Mazurka
http://youtu.be/lRIB7smyod8
Little Prelude and Fugue in G minor
https://youtu.be/r63p3WpF2UU
Addams Family
http://youtu.be/218Mw7kWI_g
The Munsters
(gasp, I can't find my vid)
London Bridge (because there are human sacrifices in each pillar - orphans)
https://youtu.be/8boxn3xvspw
Itsy Bitsy Spider
https://youtu.be/dbmLEB-3Bgg
Hall Of The Mountain King
http://youtu.be/hPYvKmGpY7c
Boellemann Toccata
https://youtu.be/qBhTWO4uhfg
The Lost Chord
https://youtu.be/L8u1BiruUaA
Flight of the Bumblebee
https://youtu.be/rzw1j0fEXoQ
March of the Marrionettes
http://youtu.be/2NgT1QMBIyo
Couperin Fugue
http://youtu.be/CKn73dPoCns
O Fortuna/Phantom of the Opera
https://youtu.be/yoV-CLYg10E
Variations on a Recitative Schoenberg
(gasp, I can't find my vid)
Ring Around the Rosie (about the plague)
https://youtu.be/Q4rgPlnQQgE
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Make Recitals Great Again
From my "Make Recitals Great Again" recital. It was 95 degrees outside and I don't know what the temperature was inside the church under those 500 watt flood lights but this was the stickiest, sweatiest and most difficult recitals I have ever played. My fingers were so sweaty that they were sliding off the keys.
This has always been a difficult organ to record because the swell and solo divisions are located in a chamber on the other side of the chancel, the great is located right behind my head and the choir division is installed up in the balcony and consequently often sounds out of sync. For this recital I placed the recorder in the middle of the church amongst the people and that seems to have equalized it.
Other Pieces from this Recital:
Fugue in G Major, Bach
Allegro From Concerto II, Bach
Princess Leia's Theme from Star Wars
Carillon De Westminster by Vierne
Fanfare by Malcolm Kogut
Prelude in C Major, Bach
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Toccata on "Duke Street"
Once In Love With Amy
Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter
Trumpet Tune by Marsh
Eternal Father, Strong To Save
20th Century Fox Fanfare
A movement from Jupiter; Bringer of Jollity by Holst From The Planets
Dialog
Malcolm Kogut
Monday, August 3, 2015
Mount Baker Clips
These are clips of one of the many arresting glaciers emanating from the 10,000 foot summit of Mount Baker in Washington State. These pictures were taken at the foot of one such glacier from the Heliotrope trail at about 5,000 feet.
A Heliotrope is a pink-purple flower which I don't think I saw. There were billions of Lupine but they were already past bloom and all the plants had gone to seed. There were several other varieties for which I don't know the names.
While in the parking lot, the rain was heavy and being ill prepared, I embarked on the hike anyway. Fortuitously, the tree canopy protected me from the rain and the trail was relatively dry. I only encountered rain when I hit some open areas of the trail.
Upon reaching about 5,000 feet in elevation, I was above the clouds and the sun was shining. Suddenly the weather changed and the clouds and temperature rose. The clouds quickly ascended and enveloped me. It seemed like it was about 80 degrees despite being surrounded by ice and I was sweating up a storm. Before ascending any further I and a few other hikers waited for the clouds to dissipate but they did not.
Not wanting to climb into the clouds, we all decided to call it a day. I would have loved to hike to the next ridge up in order to see the summit of Baker but the wet rocks, heat and cloud cover made it undesirable. If you look at a few of my other Washington videos, you'll see the peak of Baker from a distance.
A Heliotrope is a pink-purple flower which I don't think I saw. There were billions of Lupine but they were already past bloom and all the plants had gone to seed. There were several other varieties for which I don't know the names.
While in the parking lot, the rain was heavy and being ill prepared, I embarked on the hike anyway. Fortuitously, the tree canopy protected me from the rain and the trail was relatively dry. I only encountered rain when I hit some open areas of the trail.
Upon reaching about 5,000 feet in elevation, I was above the clouds and the sun was shining. Suddenly the weather changed and the clouds and temperature rose. The clouds quickly ascended and enveloped me. It seemed like it was about 80 degrees despite being surrounded by ice and I was sweating up a storm. Before ascending any further I and a few other hikers waited for the clouds to dissipate but they did not.
Not wanting to climb into the clouds, we all decided to call it a day. I would have loved to hike to the next ridge up in order to see the summit of Baker but the wet rocks, heat and cloud cover made it undesirable. If you look at a few of my other Washington videos, you'll see the peak of Baker from a distance.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Why Would The Police Lie?
Three Florida cops have been
suspended for allegedly giving Justin Bieber a police escort from the
airport to a strip club. They were suspended because they did not have
authorization to provide taxpayer paid services to Mr. Bieber.
A few days later, Justin was arrested for drag racing and drunk driving. The rental place where Justin got the car had GPS tracking devices on the vehicle and it showed that he was doing 27 mph at the time of the alleged racing. Furthermore, despite testimony and official police reports about Justin "reeking of alcohol," Justin's actual blood alcohol level was .014 -- next to nothing. Legal intoxication is .08. I can't imagine why the Florida police would be gunning for Justin. He didn't force anyone to give him an escort to a strip club.
In Troy, NY, at the Kokopelli Bar, the police were called, apparently because someone smelled pot, and there was a melee resulting in several arrests. Granted when 200 people are gathered in one place and several police officers come in wielding their authority there are going to be some smart mouthed jerks. There were some scuffles and the media reported that several police officers were injured and had to go to the emergency room but were released.
C'mon media, isn't that standard protocol? First of all, for simple health reasons, second because of workers comp - the officers are going to want to document their bruises if any, and third, in case they can use the line that officers had to go to the ER for community sympathy and additional charges against the defendants. Leave it to the media to spindle and cherry pick the facts in order to sway the public.
I was once going 45 mph up a hill and a drunk driver operating a large Ryder rental truck was coming down the hill at about 45 mph. Suddenly he swerved into my lane and we hit head on. The impact stopped my car dead in its tracks and pushed me off the road, the truck coasted through a few front yards before coming to a stop. If I didn't believe in guardian angels before, I did then. I was somehow insulated from all force and impact. I didn't feel a thing. I've felt greater G-forces coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. I got out of my car and ran to the nearest home, banging on the door yelling for them to call the police. As I ran down to the truck, there was no one in it. The police said whoever was in the truck practically smashed through the windshield (this was in 1989 before airbags were standard). We found out later that the driver was drunk because where would a drunk go? He walked three miles to a bar (undetected by police) where he ordered a beer. The bartender called the police because the man was caked in blood. Three police officers tried very hard to convince me to let them call me an ambulance so I could be taken to the hospital to be checked out. I told them I felt fine but they continued to insist for insurance and liability reasons that I should go. I resolutely refused. Being only a mile from my house I walked home. The point is, it is generally standard policy to get things checked out even if you don't think there is anything wrong.
The police don't like to be talked back to and the law is on their side - as evident in this instance, the town supervisor and police chief are siding with the word of the officers at this point. The community is up in arms and are demanding resignations and suspensions. Surveillance video from the bar was posted to YouTube and shows a man being held against the bar by an officer in one instance and then falling to his knees while being hit in the back with a baton. Another police officer comes over to hold the man down as the first officer continues to hit the man. Police opinion was he that the man was resisting arrest. It has been tossed around that the only thing some of the patrons at the bar were guilty of was being in the wrong place at the wrong time - and being black. Their crime was that their ancestors were abducted and sold as slaves from the port of Badagry in that N-word country. I'm sure the cops are not racist but they should have shown a little restraint when busting into a crowded bar with with a cleintel who have good historical reason to be distrustful of the police. Sometimes it is more wise to know what not to do. Both parties are to blame but the police should be held to a higher standard of compassion, control, respect and restraint. A police response doesn't always have to result in an arrest or beating. Maybe they should be trained to be peace keepers instead of police officers. I met a cop once who said when he pulled someone over for drunk driving, instead of destroying their life by arresting them, he would drive them home, impound their car and pay them a visit the next day and if he had to humiliate them in front of his family, he would. He said that he rarely pulled over the same guy twice. Abraham Lincoln once said mercy bears greater fruit than strict justice. It is time for our law enforcement officers to learn this.
A friend of mine used to room with a cop. The cop would often steal and collect weapons from criminals and from raids he conducted. Apparently his wall was littered with an impressive array of illegal weaponry. What is a criminal going to do, file a report that his illegal weapon was stolen? Another cop once told me that she used to pad her arrests with peripheral charges just to make the "perp" look bad in court and nail him for everything she could (she is not longer a cop for some reason). She said that if she told you to stand still in one spot and you shifted your weight or scratched your nose, she would see that as either an attempt to escape or a threat to an officer. She would then subdue you with any force necessary and if you moved to protect yourself from her nightstick, she could get you on resisting arrest, disobeying an officer and a host of other charges. She also said that if she couldn't get a "perp" on something, she would at least plant drugs on the guy to get him in the system for "something." I met her at a church I was working in. Another confessed to me that when he was a teenager, he used to throw pumpkins off of a highway overpass onto cars. Ironically, when he became a cop, on Halloween night he was assigned to patrol that same bridge watching for those kids who throw things off the overpass.
"Isn't it ironic, don'tcha think?
A little too ironic.
I really do think."
-Alanis Morrisette.
I worked in a Roman Catholic Church where the priest told me he witnessed a DWI accident and someone was killed. The drunk was a police officer and he was quickly taken care of and removed by his police friends. There were no charges posted against him. It was this priest's mission to see this cop punished and he was going to go to the press with what he knew - until he got a call from his Bishop who said "You have three hours to pack up and move to a new parish and you are not permitted to return to that town." The priest took the hint. He told me that everything eventually worked out as the police officer completed suicide several months later - "Justice is served." he said. This priest also gave the most wonderful homilies on grace, mercy, compassion and forgiveness.
"Isn't it ironic, don'tcha think?"
Here is a fun website to peruse. There are dozens like it:
Copwatch.org
A few days later, Justin was arrested for drag racing and drunk driving. The rental place where Justin got the car had GPS tracking devices on the vehicle and it showed that he was doing 27 mph at the time of the alleged racing. Furthermore, despite testimony and official police reports about Justin "reeking of alcohol," Justin's actual blood alcohol level was .014 -- next to nothing. Legal intoxication is .08. I can't imagine why the Florida police would be gunning for Justin. He didn't force anyone to give him an escort to a strip club.
In Troy, NY, at the Kokopelli Bar, the police were called, apparently because someone smelled pot, and there was a melee resulting in several arrests. Granted when 200 people are gathered in one place and several police officers come in wielding their authority there are going to be some smart mouthed jerks. There were some scuffles and the media reported that several police officers were injured and had to go to the emergency room but were released.
C'mon media, isn't that standard protocol? First of all, for simple health reasons, second because of workers comp - the officers are going to want to document their bruises if any, and third, in case they can use the line that officers had to go to the ER for community sympathy and additional charges against the defendants. Leave it to the media to spindle and cherry pick the facts in order to sway the public.
I was once going 45 mph up a hill and a drunk driver operating a large Ryder rental truck was coming down the hill at about 45 mph. Suddenly he swerved into my lane and we hit head on. The impact stopped my car dead in its tracks and pushed me off the road, the truck coasted through a few front yards before coming to a stop. If I didn't believe in guardian angels before, I did then. I was somehow insulated from all force and impact. I didn't feel a thing. I've felt greater G-forces coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. I got out of my car and ran to the nearest home, banging on the door yelling for them to call the police. As I ran down to the truck, there was no one in it. The police said whoever was in the truck practically smashed through the windshield (this was in 1989 before airbags were standard). We found out later that the driver was drunk because where would a drunk go? He walked three miles to a bar (undetected by police) where he ordered a beer. The bartender called the police because the man was caked in blood. Three police officers tried very hard to convince me to let them call me an ambulance so I could be taken to the hospital to be checked out. I told them I felt fine but they continued to insist for insurance and liability reasons that I should go. I resolutely refused. Being only a mile from my house I walked home. The point is, it is generally standard policy to get things checked out even if you don't think there is anything wrong.
The police don't like to be talked back to and the law is on their side - as evident in this instance, the town supervisor and police chief are siding with the word of the officers at this point. The community is up in arms and are demanding resignations and suspensions. Surveillance video from the bar was posted to YouTube and shows a man being held against the bar by an officer in one instance and then falling to his knees while being hit in the back with a baton. Another police officer comes over to hold the man down as the first officer continues to hit the man. Police opinion was he that the man was resisting arrest. It has been tossed around that the only thing some of the patrons at the bar were guilty of was being in the wrong place at the wrong time - and being black. Their crime was that their ancestors were abducted and sold as slaves from the port of Badagry in that N-word country. I'm sure the cops are not racist but they should have shown a little restraint when busting into a crowded bar with with a cleintel who have good historical reason to be distrustful of the police. Sometimes it is more wise to know what not to do. Both parties are to blame but the police should be held to a higher standard of compassion, control, respect and restraint. A police response doesn't always have to result in an arrest or beating. Maybe they should be trained to be peace keepers instead of police officers. I met a cop once who said when he pulled someone over for drunk driving, instead of destroying their life by arresting them, he would drive them home, impound their car and pay them a visit the next day and if he had to humiliate them in front of his family, he would. He said that he rarely pulled over the same guy twice. Abraham Lincoln once said mercy bears greater fruit than strict justice. It is time for our law enforcement officers to learn this.
A friend of mine used to room with a cop. The cop would often steal and collect weapons from criminals and from raids he conducted. Apparently his wall was littered with an impressive array of illegal weaponry. What is a criminal going to do, file a report that his illegal weapon was stolen? Another cop once told me that she used to pad her arrests with peripheral charges just to make the "perp" look bad in court and nail him for everything she could (she is not longer a cop for some reason). She said that if she told you to stand still in one spot and you shifted your weight or scratched your nose, she would see that as either an attempt to escape or a threat to an officer. She would then subdue you with any force necessary and if you moved to protect yourself from her nightstick, she could get you on resisting arrest, disobeying an officer and a host of other charges. She also said that if she couldn't get a "perp" on something, she would at least plant drugs on the guy to get him in the system for "something." I met her at a church I was working in. Another confessed to me that when he was a teenager, he used to throw pumpkins off of a highway overpass onto cars. Ironically, when he became a cop, on Halloween night he was assigned to patrol that same bridge watching for those kids who throw things off the overpass.
"Isn't it ironic, don'tcha think?
A little too ironic.
I really do think."
-Alanis Morrisette.
I worked in a Roman Catholic Church where the priest told me he witnessed a DWI accident and someone was killed. The drunk was a police officer and he was quickly taken care of and removed by his police friends. There were no charges posted against him. It was this priest's mission to see this cop punished and he was going to go to the press with what he knew - until he got a call from his Bishop who said "You have three hours to pack up and move to a new parish and you are not permitted to return to that town." The priest took the hint. He told me that everything eventually worked out as the police officer completed suicide several months later - "Justice is served." he said. This priest also gave the most wonderful homilies on grace, mercy, compassion and forgiveness.
"Isn't it ironic, don'tcha think?"
Here is a fun website to peruse. There are dozens like it:
Copwatch.org
Friday, January 24, 2014
Hero Worship
A friend of mine has a 12 year old daughter who is absolutely enamored with the recently arrested Justin Bieber. I received the most daggerous look when I opined that he was a terrible singer. Okay, maybe he isn't "terrible," but he doesn't sing from the soul.
Kids today have significantly less interaction with real people as they are too mired in the fake world of the internet and Facebook. This was so painfully obvious during church last Sunday when my soloist must have texted a dozen times and took three selfies of herself.
The youth of today idolize anyone who gets air time or who is idolized by others; they are very much lemmings to pop culture. Anyone who can discern two pitches would not idolize Bieber as a musician but, kids do because he is who their peers idolize.
When *I* was a kid, I had a lot of idols; The vegetable man who came twice a week in his truck selling his own farm grown vegetables and fruits. He always gave us kids free samples as dozens of neighbors descended upon his truck when he parked on our street. The butcher at the slaughterhouse would also give us free samples of his honey, cheese and hot dogs. The garbage man who drove his own truck and picked up the trash by hand was an inspiration as he looked like He-Man from all the real life manual labor her relentlessly performed on his daily route. There was no need for him to have a gym membership. Ed the cop who was always walking the streets and talking to people was a person of awe, also. Everyone seemed to enjoy seeing him and he got everything for free as he entered the stores and coffee shops.
I grew up on a lake and we kids always swam at an open area near the dam because that is where most of the land locked people swam (until the public pay beach owner convinced the town to blockade that section - as it attracted undesirable people from the city - but it was okay if they paid to swim at her beach). One frequent visitor was Earl who was the town historian and he would tell us stories of the town and its people. He riveted us with tales of who died in which house, which houses had tunnels or hidden chambers and which denizens became famous or infamous. There was also old man Wilson who used to travel with the circus and at the age of 80 could still perform magic tricks to amaze and amuse.
All these people had two things in common; they were hard workers who provided a good example of dedication and love for what they did; and they were real. They interacted with the community. They provided services and loved to share those services with everyone. Kids don't experience that today because their faces are glued to things like the fictional world of Facebook - a breeding ground for stalking and pretending you have a life.
So, those were my heroes not because they rescued anyone from burning buildings or died fighting in a war or stood on a stage, but they were real. Bieber is real but he probably could care less about his individual fans and although you may be entertained by his music and antics, he has significantly less impact on our lives than the people who live in our neighborhoods and provide food, heat, shelter, stories, inspiration and care. It seems that only when a community experiences widespread disaster do they recognize what is important and real.
A public hero of mine is Oscar Peterson. Not only was he one of the world's greatest jazz musicians, but he suffered persecution, hate, ostrasization and unfair treatment because of the color of his skin. Rarely did he recoil from prejudice. He faced it, stood against it and demanded equality. He didn't always get it but he didn't quit, either. Although he had every right to be an angry black man, he wasn't. He knew that the art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook. He was very much "color blind," too. As a teenager, I didn't even know he was black until someone pointed that out to me. I didn't look at Oscar differently, I did view that other person differently, though. As they say in the constructed language of the fictional Na'vi, "Oel ngati kameie."
If only the young could realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the elastic state. Not a single one of them will turn fifty wishing they spent more time idolizing Justin Bieber.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)