Lunchtime Concert at UT, Fri. Nov. 3, 2017

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J plays UT concert

Ralph and I played our first lunchtime concert at UT since Feb. 2016 so it felt good to get back out there on the shady banks of Waller Creek and rock out. Here’s a version of Cat Stevens’s If You Wanna Sing Out, Sing Out and a picture of us under the big tree (thanks to Diana Sanchez).

I asked Anais to take some photos, which she did, from the creek in which she was playing the whole time. So here is her documentation of the gig:

lunchtime concert by Anais 11-3-2017

What Is Poetry?

When things add up and you notice
A bit of beauty, irony, meaning emerge
That’s poetry
When a sequence or juxtaposition occurs
And something leaps off the page of life
And things dance that usually just stand
That’s poetry
Like this morning when I stood naked
Holding my underwear before me
Attempting to thread a foot through
I had to heel-toe-heel-toe over not to fall
And then, to complete the pattern
I did it again on the other foot
To make my imbalance into a dance
And I smiled. Poetry is usually personal
And private
Doing a little naked dance to catch yourself
From falling and having a little fun too
That’s poetry

Moira’s Audition

Maile has been watching a new series called Schitt’s Creek starring Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara and we’ve been obsessed with this scene. Moira is trying out for the Jazzagals and I think she nails it.

There are so many funny nuances to her impromptu performance. My favorite is the song itself – stuck in my head for days – with its perfectly enigmatic, absurd opening line featuring the word Log. Makes me laugh, every time.

There are only a few lines before she’s incoherent, lost in loony scatting. And the whole thing is done with such false-modesty and confidence.

Someone held me on that log, it should have been you
Someone’s arms were big and strooong, it should have been you
I warned you I was lonely, but you didn’t seem to care
no, no, no, [starts scatting]… a woman’s tears… [scat solo]
Someone left me on that log, it should have been you

What is it that is so tender and hilarious about bad singing done with utter conviction?! When it’s not intended as comedy, which is most of the time, we have to not laugh. But here we have full permission and it’s a gloriously guilty pleasure.

It’s also such a pleasure to see Catherine O’Hara doing her amateur auditions again because we are already such fans of Waiting for Guffman, and this audition scene in particular from 20 years ago.