34 Comments
Apr 23, 2023Liked by Jeff Tiedrich

Carol Channing, whom I saw in the original cast of Hello, Dolly (Yes, I'm that old), was once asked how she could play the same role night after night, year after year, and she said, "Because I know that, for someone in the audience, it's opening night." There's another story about a performance of Hello, Dolly on tour (which I hope is true). On the night of the performance, there was a terrible snow storm. But somehow one farmer battled his way to the theater. When the stage manager told Channing, they were cancelling, she said, "That's our audience," and they put on the show for a single person.

Expand full comment

She must have been a wonderful person!

Expand full comment

Ode to Joy made me cry. Beautiful. Thank you, Jeff.

Expand full comment

DLM, me too! And I'm thinking what the hell? I've heard this piece 100 times.. so I did a little research about why that is. Here's an interesting article about the physiological response to music, and classical music

in particular: https://interlude.hk/moved-tears/#:~:text=Tears%20and%20chills%20%E2%80%93%20or%20%E2%80%9Ctingles,experience%20this%20reaction%20to%20music.

Expand full comment

Thank you for the Ode To Joy. I sat here and played it for the trees. We humans can be such monsters (just watch the news). It’s nice to be reminded that we are also capable of creating great beauty and grace. Thank you. Happy Sunday!

Expand full comment

Listening to good music should be a required morning ritual! thanks for posting that.

Expand full comment

Watching the children in Ode to Joy was yet another joy.

Expand full comment

Thank you for sharing that Jeff. Listening to “Ode to Joy” brought tears to my eyes as well. I am an avid concert-goer, and I often think that the symphony orchestra, - the coming together of PEOPLE from ALL WALKS OF LIFE, joining together in to produce not just music, but that kind of acoustic ecstasy is the BEST that mankind has done for our world. This was indeed a Sunday treat!

Expand full comment

Nothing has ever been more appropriately named than this. It is utterly joyful to the skies.

Expand full comment

Jeff, thanks for posting the flash mob video. I am fortunate to live around the best orchestra in the US (Cleveland) and have seen them do the 9th several times. But nothing brings me to tears like that video. I've seen it at least a dozen times and still cry every time. Thanks for making Sunday a little brighter. Think we all needed that.

Expand full comment

I'm writing an article on how vegetarians fare at the Home for the Aged where I live. It's not easy for them, because the chefs want to put meat into everything. Weird, when you think the Roman Army, the only uniformed, paid, trained army of the ancient world, conquered on a diet of wheat, chickpea, and lentils.

Expand full comment

Thanks for the Ode to Joy flashmob link, Jeff. Absolutely brought a smile to my face AND joy to my heart.

Expand full comment

Ode to Spring - IN TEARS because of the absolute BEAUTY...grateful you posted.

Expand full comment

Reading the papers a little at a time this morning, so my head doesn’t explode. Looks like someone in your house has a green thumb!

Expand full comment

Thank you for posting the flash mob orchestra. I really miss all the flash mobs - this one and the Denver Airport swing dancing one are my favorites!

I spent the day making unicorn soap with my grandkids (actually just melting soap base and putting color in it, then pouring into unicorn molds). Making soup for dinner. Oh and my favorite thing to recharge - taking my German Shepherd to the beach. It was cold and rainy, but I love every minute of being by the ocean.

Yesterday I was listening to Dalia Lithwick’s Amicus podcast, and I couldn’t finish it. She was talking about the SC hearing in the stalking case, and describing Alito’s and Roberts’ snarky and dismissive comments about the criminal stalker’s texts to a young musician. Both Alito and Roberts were taking these texts out of context and reading them aloud, and talking about how they might have said some of those things. Not only were they cherry-picked texts out of context of the threatening ones, but their snarky comments were so painful to hear, and I’ve never been stalked. But it just brought back a lifetime of men saying that they had to be “politically correct” and so couldn’t say nasty, misogynistic shit anymore.

And it was so awful to hear that Supreme Court Justices, for God’s sake, were acting like adolescent boys and giggling and snuffling. Like I knew they were all political hacks, and think they can act as egregiously as possible to achieve radical right goals, but my God, are they really that depraved and stupid? So hateful of women? It was a horrible moment.

So today I went to the beach to soothe my soul.

Expand full comment

Ok, so, my iPhone has some kind of bug on it for YouTube, and when I went to the link for the Music of the Night video it instead sent me to another podcast by Ira Glass about a 3rd grade teacher, and his student's "Sister of Minion" drawing that took on a life of its' own. It was hilarious. Of course, I neither was able to keep the video long enough to see the name of it nor repeat it as I am a complete IT- NOT person. Highly recommend, if you can find it. Still searching for the MOTN podcast....

Expand full comment
author

keep listening, the segment I wrote about is the next one after the minion's sister.

Expand full comment

We have a "music club" via email at work. There is about a dozen of us who share links to artists randomly. Usually a "Happy Friday" listen or two or a "Monday Dirge," haha. The Ode to Joy flash mob comes up once or twice per year. Lately we've been grooving on artists from Dan Auerbach's (Black Keys) record label, Easy Eye Sound. Here's a sample of Nate Myers from Easy Eye Sound,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAjntlg193w

Music is the universal language. Happy Sunday listening!

Expand full comment

Thanks so much for posting that Ode to Joy video. I just love it! Every time I see it, it never fails to make me smile and each time I watch it right to the end!!

Expand full comment