I promised that I would post A Potpourri of Song℠ programs on this blog after the concert had taken place.

To the right is a screen shot of a slightly edited version of the first program, presented on Sunday, September 23, 2012 at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

It was, if I may say so myself, well-received!

We are slowly building an audience;  attendance at this concert was over 30 people.  Many more persons purchased tickets in advance, so we more than covered our expenses and were able to give St. Mary's a decent surplus.

We will also be able to tithe almost $100 to Several Sources Shelters, which serves the New York Metro area by providing shelter and assistance to women — especially single, pregnant women.

Thank you to all who attended or supported this first of many special events and concerts to be presented at St. Mary's!

A Potpourri of Song℠ — First Concert of the Season

I'm looking forward to beginning the Potpourri of Song℠ season!  The first concert will occur at historic St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in the Clinton Hill/Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn on the fourth Sunday of this month (September).

Robin Anne Casalta, Mezzo Soprano, and myself as accompanist, organist, and pianist will present Un Peu de Tout, Deux (“A Bit of Everything, II”) on Sunday September 23 at 5:00 p.m.

This program of music by French composers features songs and organ works by, among others, Poulenc, Berlioz, and Franck.

The donation is $20, and tickets are available in advance if desired.  A tithe of the gate receipts will be given to charity.

After the concert, stay for a reception where you can meet and greet the artists and each other and enjoy the works of two local artists, Stacy Cushman and Costain.

Visit www.stmarysbrooklyn.org, email us at office.stmarysclintonhill@verizon.net, or call the church at (718) 638-2090 for more information.

Un Peu de Tout, II is the first of a series of four concerts at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church to be presented by A Potpourri of Song℠ in the coming year.  See my previous post for the entire lineup of concerts.

I hope you can come and enjoy an evening of wonderful music!

  

A Potpourri of Song℠, 2012-2013 Season

I'm happy to announce the 2012-2013 season of A Potpourri of Song℠  at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Four concerts will be presented — Un Peu de Tout, Deux on September 23, Different Hats on November 11, Dueling Divas in the New Year on March 10, and Broadway on Willoughby! on May 5.

A few more concerts may be presented at other  locations during the year.  Please check this blog for more announcements.

For more information, please feel free to contact me by email at Potpourri of Song. 

Come and enjoy the variety of music offered at these concerts.  We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Tips from Mark Victor — Cleaning eyeglasses

I wear reading glasses.  For some reason, they seem to get dirty rather often.   Oily smudges gather on the surface and are not easily cleaned by wiping with a cloth, paper towel, or tissue.  I also have an eye condition that already clouds my vision a bit;   adding dirty glasses over my eyes just makes it worse.

So, I go to the kitchen sink and wash them.

Here's what to do to remove those pesky, oily smudges:

• Run warm water and wet the glasses and your hands.
• Put a drop of dishwashing detergent on the fingers of one hand.
• Apply your wet hand with the detergent on them to the glasses and rub.  While doing this, pass the glasses and your hands under the water stream a couple of times.  (Dishwashing detergent works best with lots of water.)
•  Rinse the glasses and your hands.
•  Dry your hands first.
•  Then dry your glasses with a paper towel.  (If you use cloth make sure it's absolutely clean;  paper towel works best because it doesn't contain soap residue from the clothes washer.)
•  Put your glasses on.

 Enjoy the crystal clear vision afforded by dishwasher-detergent cleaned glasses!

June Jazz in Clinton Hill

This coming month, I'm producing a different type of concert than what you've usually seen with my usual A Potpourri of Song℠ offerings.

June Jazz  and "A Taste of Barbados" will offer fine jazz by The Danny Mixon Jazz Ensemble with food and drink that will include some savory dishes with a Barbadian flavor.

Come join us on June 8 at 7:00 p.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal Church's historic ballroom-style Johnson Hall.  Two sets of music will be performed by the band at approximately 8pm and 9:30 pm with food served before and between sets.

Many thanks to Jim Morehand of ParlorJazz for suggesting and booking Mr. Mixon for this concert and for helping publicize this event.

Come on out for a wonderful evening of jazz and food!  After our event, hang out at one of the fine restaurants or other night spots in this neighborhood near the venerable Pratt Institute in the increasingly vibrant Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn.



Contact me by email here for more information and to find out how to purchase tickets in advance  (you may also pay at the door).  Also, you can right-click on the flyer to save it and print it out or to send it to your friends.

I don' think any politician has explained "We the People" more concisely.

It seems as if libertarians and Tea Party folks want to go back to a society of very limited human relationship where small tribes constantly bickered with each other ... or where you have to labor all day just to keep a roof over your head and your family fed ... or where you are susceptible to every disease know to the human race ... or where natural dangers and human-created threats lurk around every corner.

If these “movements” succeed in getting their way, then humanity is doomed.

"We the People" is about our relationship with each other. Independence is a fallacy. We became an independent society because a group of enlightened wise men had a vision of a country where our relationship was not one of oppressive top-down rule nor one of each-for-himself anarchy. They codified that vision into a framework — our constitution — within which a positive, constructive relationship with each other is absolutely necessary.

We are a society of people who have become too superficial in our relationship with each other. Unless we wish to destroy the hope of our forebearers' vision of over 200 years ago, we need to reconstitute a more perfect union — a union that cares for one another while respecting individual initiative and contributions to the whole.

Concerning the individual, Ayn Rand has been used to justify libertarianism and rampant "individualism." My take on her philosophy is that the creative power of the individual is to be respected, encouraged, and welcomed — a good thing. For sure, the individual needs to receive just recompense for their contribution to the whole (didn't another wise teacher named Jesus say the same thing?). But this does not preclude constructing social institutions that take a portion of that recompense beyond what is just to benefit the whole of society. Ayn Rand's argument was, in part, one of what "just" means, whether for the individual or in a social “contract”.

Unfortunately, some in society insist on twisting Rand's philosophy as I see it, and in a very superficial way use it to stress individual "freedom" over all else. Unfortunately, their "philosophy" is resulting in greater inequality of opportunity and as a result less freedom for all U.S. citizens — even the very rich. Unfortunately, this demagoguery screams with all it's might, "It's just to keep it all for myself; ain't no one gonna take it away from me!" (Apologies to the late blues singer, Ruth Brown.)

Our relationship with each other as fellow citizens of a society crafted in wisdom is severely damaged. Stop yelling. Listen to each other. Debate with respect. Strive for the perfect.

And don't forget that we are created in One's image; we are a part of that whole, too. That is the “under God" part. Our relationship with The Eternal — however you define it — informs our relationship with each other.

"We the People": not guided — top-down — by a ruler, but strengthened by our striving for the Best Within Us, in relationship — in Love.

Remembering 9/11

We have a lot to remember from a rather eventful summer, I’m sure, like memories of pleasant vacations and summer outings. But also we are remembering heavy rains and flooding, fires in the Southwest United States, an earthquake, and a prolonged, unwelcome visit from Hurricane Irene. Which is it – The Rapture?? Or more, relatively pleasant days on our earthly realm?? Only God knows, I’m sure.

However, foremost on my mind during the past couple of weeks was not earthquake or tempest, but an event that happened ten years ago. I was in my apartment, asleep in bed, when three planes hit, respectively, WTC Tower #1, WTC, Tower #2, and the Pentagon; another plane went down in a farmer’s field in Pennsylvania after the passengers voted to sacrifice their lives to save many others. I missed the whole thing, broadcast live on the only television station on the air (WCBS–2; I still don’t have cable), but I did not miss the impact of this horrific event on me and others.

I’m sure you all can recall the impact 9/11 had on your lives. The silence in the sky — no airplanes, only the occasional fighter jet. The neighbor who never returned home that evening. The friend, or even you, suffering from post traumatic stress and other ailments. The responses — from Afghanistan to Iraq to the Patriot Act to “See Something? Say Something!” to the loving care we show toward those who, to this day, are still significantly affected.

I wish to remember 9/11 in a meaningful, personal way. However, finding 9/11 tenth-anniversary memorial events in my neighborhood in Astoria, Queens was difficult. Of course there’s the Big One at the yet-to-be-completed World Trade Center memorial, but because of security it won’t be easy to get near enough for participation in a meaningful way. Still, with some digging and help from others, I found and listed some memorial services in the newsletter that I edit for my church, Trinity Tidings.

One of the tenants of the Jewish tradition is tikun olam — in essence, recreating/restoring/rebuilding our world. Remembering results in reactions which then result in responses. Our remembering/response/reaction of/to 9/11 is somewhat like what we may do for events in our every-day life. Hopefully, we respond with something like tz’dakah — acts of loving kindness — not because we have to but because we are happy to do so. But we also respond with security measures and violent suppression of the “enemy” not because we want to but because we have to.

Whether it be tempest, flood, horrific events, or everyday happenings, it’s good to remember where we’ve been, plan for the future, and implement those plans with love — as much as we are able to do so. May the legacy of 9/11 be not one of destruction, but instead one of building up.

Never Forget — Remember in Love.

Thought for the day:

If J.S. Bach was able to repeat something three times and have it sound really good, why wasn’t Irving Berlin able to do the same thing??

Choral Groups in Queens

I have had some people ask me recently if I could suggest some singing groups that they might join. Below are two that I know about:

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Queens Oratorio Society

David Close, Artistic Director

David is a personal friend and, in addition, was accompanist for the St. John's University Mixed Chorus for ten years before I took over in (I think) 1997. The chorus performs twice a year — a Christmas concert which includes a good part of Handel's Messiah, and a Spring concert featuring a major work from the oratorio repertoire. Rehearsals are near downtown Flushing (Queens) on Northern Boulevard. See their well-designed website for more information:
http://www.queensoratorio.org/

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Astoria Symphonic Choir

Adam Eggleston, Founder and Principal Conductor

This Chorus, founded a couple of years ago, performs and rehearses in Astoria (Queens). Rehearsals are at the church of which I'm a member, Trinity Lutheran Church, two blocks off of Steinway street within an easy walk from the R, M, N, and Q trains. Repertoire and performances are similar to those of Queens Oratorio. More information? Click here.

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Of course there are many "volunteer member" choruses in New York City and the surrounding area. These are two from whom I know singers who enjoy the camaraderie and music making of these organizations.

Happy singing!