Play this while you read for a good soundtrack.
I’m not a person who revels in misery. In fact, I believe that the only company for misery is banishment. But my poor wife – oh my poor, depressed wife. Some of it is hormonal, or chemical, and some of it is based on what I like to call the expectations of others. Basically, my wife is upset that she cannot be, nor does she want to be, June Cleaver. It seems that others have this expectation.
You remember June – she was always cheerful, her house was so clean you could lick the floors, she met her husband at the door with a smile, a kiss and a cocktail at the end of every day, and her kids were perfect. She worried about nothing. In short, she was not just the perfect wife, but her entire life was perfect.
By contrast, there’s an awful lot going on for my wife to absorb on a daily basis. We have four kids. The oldest is going to college in less than a week. The youngest is only 2 and a half. The twins don’t know how to listen, and they fight with each other all the time. My daughter is ferociously defiant, her twin brother frequently overactive, and our toddler is – well – a typical two-year-old boy. There is no keeping our house clean, and it’s too small anyway. She is often overwhelmed, and nobody could blame her or be surprised.
Just to set the record straight, I’m not in the June Cleaver cadre. If I wanted to live with June Cleaver, I would have married June Cleaver. But I didn’t. I married the woman I love, and my best friend – and that’s all I want her to be, herself. Opening my heart and my life to her was the best thing I’ve ever done.
I know I can be supportive, but I also understand that I cannot fix this for her. Worse yet, I worry that somehow, somewhere her depression is my fault – even though the more rational side of me knows that not to be the case. And I live for her smile, for when I see it, I know that there is hope at the cadence of the blues. She doesn’t have to be the perfect wife – she’s perfect for me. And that’s all that matters.
Current Events Soundtrack:
I have discovered the auto-tune, and I am at once amazed and incensed. I was listening to Studio 360 this weekend on NPR when they began a discussion of the auto-tune by playing a clip of Cher’s Believe. Basically, the auto tune is the technology used to create this type of artificial vocal effect. That’s fine. Not exactly scatting through a line of jazz, but it’s fine.
However, this is not what the auto-tune was originally put into use for. It’s original design was to alter the voice of a singer so that it was in tune with accompanying music. HOLD THE PHONE FOR JUST A MINUTE?! I thought being able to sing on key was – well – a prerequisite for being a professional singer, never mind the record contract. Have we sunk so far into the abyss of focus-grouped, music-where-music-doesn’t-matter end of the business that we are willing to give people who look the part the opportunity to sing — even if they can’t hold a tune?
This is not a rant against pop music. I like pop music. I even like “special effects” that give us the techno sound. But I believe that you should actually be able to sing to get a recording contract – but I digress – for the auto-tune has given us a gift: The Gregory Brothers have created The Auto-Tune News. Yes, the technology that puts artists back on key, can also take the non-singers of the world and turn them into a rock-opera. I give you a singing Vice President Joe Biden and Katie Couric. This could be the best form of political satire – ever!
This day in history soundtracks:
In AD 79 Mt. Vesuvius erupted and buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Calcutta India was founded in 1690. I know Petula Clark made this song a hit, but here’s the original Kalkutta Liegt am Ganges – sung by Vico Torriani.
During the War of 1812, the British overrun Washington DC, and chase President James and Dolly Madison out of the White House. And then there was Canada’s role?
It’s Ukrainian Independence Day (1991).
Birthday Soundtracks:
Alessandro Marcello (1669). His best known work: Oboe Concerto in D Minor.
Theodore DuBois (1837). A French composer, mostly of sacred music. This is his Toccata for Organ.
Fred Rose (1897). Rose was a popular and country music songwriter, and later a publisher in Nashville. Here is Hank Williams, Sr. singing what was Rose’s biggest hit: Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.
Alyn Ainsworth (1924). British band leader and musician.
David Freiberg (1938). Vocalist with the bands Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship.
Jean-Michel Jarre (1948). New age and popular musician. This is his performance at the millenial New Year at the pyramids, in Egypt, in 2000.
Orla Fallon (1974). Lead singer of the Celtic Women and an accomplished soloist, Fallon has a clear, beautiful Irish soprano voice, as evidenced in this recording of Down By the Sally Garden.
Passing Memorial Soundtracks:
Louis Prima (1978). A little bit of Dixieland, a little bit of Chicago blues, a lot of standards – that’s what made Louis Prima so popular. There are plenty of great Louis Prima recordings, but I have to say I really like I Wanna Be Like You, from Disney’s Jungle Book. Honestly, it’s a great tune, and Prima is in his prime. It doesn’t hurt having Phil Harris come in at the end, either!
Paul Creston (1985). A contemporary American composer that melded jazz elements with minimalism, Creston had a fondness for utilizing instruments usually left by the wayside in classical performance, as evidenced by this Marimba Concertino.
Alexandre Lagoya (1999). One of the premiere classical guitarists of his generation. Here is a recording of Lagoya playing Albeniz.
More notes on notes tomorrow.