Last night, we caught the Reps latest offering, 2 Pianos 4 Hands. This semi-biographical work by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt tells the story of these two piano protegees as they grow into their craft. This two-actor play follows the two protagonists from age eleven, where they are first learning how to play the piano, to age seventeen, where they apply to enter higher education conservatories. In addition to playing the leads, the actors do double duty by also playing their parents, teachers and the other adults in their lives. Like a tag team the actors alternate from playing their protagonist to the other lead’s support group. Both Dykstra and Greenblatt led parallel lives. Lives that crossed through the years at recitals and competitions.
This comedy has a melancholy ending, with both young men being brutally turned down from their respective applications for higher learning. Sure, they are both gifted and accomplished pianists, just not accomplished enough. The play concludes with the two men drunkenly accepting that while they are not two of the greatest piano players in the world, the country, or even the city (Toronto), they can claim to be two of the greatest pianists in the neighborhood.
We are enjoying a spate of beautiful weather this weekend, both sunny and mild. We took advantage of this opportunity and got outdoors. First, we went to Forest Park, which was slammed. I drove the length of the park to get to its southeast corner. This empty quarter has undergone much renovation. On the southern end of Jefferson Lake is the newly installed Wise Falls. This cascading waterfall anchors the lake. Giving it a new picturesque sight. From there, we walked south and checked out Bowl Lake, with its new pavilion. Both locals are south of the Glades, where Steinberg Rink is being renovated. When this project is completed the entire east side of the park will have been overhauled.
That was at noon, later at five we headed over to Clayton to hear their Jazz Festival. I did not know exactly where this event was occurring, so we followed the sound of the music. It was being held on blocked off Brentwood Blvd. among the skyscrapers. There was food for sale there and we dined from the Ritz Carlton’s booth. We watched two acts. The first a John Coltrane tribute band had sound system problems, and we could not hear them very well. The second group, Bach to the Future played jazzed up Bach music. They were delayed until the sound problems were fixed. We listen to their set and about the time that they finished, we left.
The original lyrics were written in 1915 by Howard Johnson and the song is titled Mother: It turns out that Howard Johnson also wrote, “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream”.
M Is for the Many things she gave me, O Means only that she’s growing Old. T Is for the Tears she shed to save me, H Is for her Heart of purest gold. E Is for her Eyes with love light shining, R Means Right and Right she’ll always be.
Put them all together, They spell MOTHER
A word that means the world to me.
The picture with this post is of some flowers for Mother.
This is a repost of a post that was written several years ago. It was written for my mother, but also for my mother-in-law. My mother had passed away, and now recently, so has my mother-in-law. Actually, Gene, my mother-in-law really owns this post. Her three lovely daughters grew up singing this song to her, much to her chagrin. Maybe this parody of the Mother song that I found on the internet, is closer to what she hears when the original lyrics are sung:
M is for the many things she gave me O is for the other things she gave me T is for the things she gave me H is for her things, which she gave me E is for everything she gave me R is for the rest of the things she gave me
Anne asked me not to originally post this post for fear of the pain that it might cause her mother. I only heard her childhood guilt speaking. In truth it is I who should feel guilty, because it is my naked ambition that drives this post. My informed readers might ask, how is this different? Since, ’09 this post has been a gold mine of blog hits. Every April it begins. In May, it begins to crest and come Sunday, interest will peak and then crash. That is why now is when I should act. I just did a google search looking for the author of this song. I typed in, “M is for the many things she gave me lyrics” and RegenAxe is the number one website returned. I feel lucky. Thank you, Mother.
To all of the forlorn sons and daughters that have found the previous post, the poem MOTHER is in the public domain. It is an old troupe, much copied, but it is free to use. If you are emailing your mom, I cannot compete with the simple cut and paste. If you are willing to go the extra mile, I offer this advice. Say, “I love you Mom.” Praise her. Say she looks nice, say she said something interesting. Tell her something you did that would make her proud. This last is the toughest, but is the one that will make her the happiest on Mother’s Day.
Edward Light designed and marketed several novel string instruments during the early 19th century. Patented in 1816, the dital harp has a thumb-operated key mechanism that allows the player to raise the pitch of each string a half step by pressing on buttons (so-called ditals) on the back of the instrument. Derived from the Italian word dito (finger), a dital is a key that, when pressed, draws a string down against a fret to change its pitch. Like most of Light’s creations, this instrument is varnished a dark color to contrast its gold-colored decoration.
Last night, Anne was still not feeling well, so I took her ticket and went with Joanie to see Alvin Ailey II perform at UMSL’s Touhill. The evening’s dance concert was preceded by a rock concert performed in the auditorium’s Terrace lobby. The rock concert was a tribute to Saint Louis’s own Chuck Berry. The tribute band What the Chuck! was led by Berry’s son and includes his grandsons.
Ailey II is the company’s JV squad or as Anne likes to call them the farm team. Even so, they are still quite professional and based on the size of the house, much respected in Saint Louis. They opened their show with a hat tip to Berry and Saint Louis in a continuation of the lobby’s concert with Berry Dreamin’, a dance that featured Chuck Berry’s music.
The second act’s dance, Down the Rabbit Hole continues choreographer Houston Thomas’s earlier work and expands on its themes of examining the relationship between humans and technology. Inspired by The Matrix films, this dance explores how technology weaves itself into the fabric of our life, transforming how we as humans interact and function. Set to a techno music score, this high-powered piece asks the question: Technological change—are we powering it or is it powering us?
The final act featured Revelations, Alvin Ailey’s signature work from 1960. Inspired by the spirituals of his youth, this work features traditional gospel music. This dance is divided into three sections.
The first section, “Pilgrim of Sorrow”, begins in total stillness. When the stage is illuminated, the earthy colors of the costumes appear as drab earthtones. Ailey’s intention was to portray people attempting to rise up from the ground. The motions of these dancers also add to this portrayal. This dance has arms reaching up, as people reach skyward as they rise.
The next dance section, “Take me to the Water”, is set to the spiritual “Wade in the Water”. Which was used by slaves as a euphonism for riverbank escapes. This dance portrays a baptism, symbolizing another pathway to freedom. Bolts of fabric were waved behind the dancers to represent the water.
The final section, “Move, Members, Move” celebrates the liberating power of gospel music. It is also the most positive and uplifting section. A rousing church service is enacted complete with Sunday hats, fans and stools. The entire cast appears onstage, conveying a huge celebration.
As with any good performance in town, at its finally, this Saint Louis audience rose like a herd of clapping seals and earned an encore for its trouble.
What the Chuck! in the Terrace Lobby at the Touhill
