Saturday, December 13, 2008

something to make you feel good

You may not know this, but, for the past 3-4 years, I head over to the local Jewish-oriented Independent Living facility (Rose Schnitzer Manor) every Monday afternoon, to accompany the chorus there, composed of residents.

We have performed many times, at other Assisted Living places nearby, at the nursing home connected to RSM, and in the annual Portland Jewish Music Festival.

The group likes a variety of tunes, from old Yiddish standards to Broadway tunes - we even did 'With a Little Help From My Friends' a couple of years ago (with the lyric 'I get high with a little help...' replaced by 'Eat some pie with a little help...').

Recently, we've been working on a group of tunes that mention various cities, and we presented that program last Monday, with an audience of other residents and family, plus the residents of a nearby facility.

The performance was taped and has been edited to show highlights, and posted to YouTube. What is there at the moment may not be the final version, but you'll get the idea.

Students of American popular song will no doubt notice that, in 'Chattanooga Choo Choo', we subtly replaced "...than to eat your ham and eggs in Carolina" with "...than to eat your scrambled eggs in Carolina". Dietary laws must be obeyed!

That is me playing the piano - I make a brief appearance around 5:53 (right after 'Little Old Lady from Pasadena' - don't miss it!).

All these years I've been accompanying this group, I have always thought that I was playing piano for them because I couldn't be in Wisconsin every week playing for Mom, and that the forces of karma and Cosmic Balance would insure that someone would also be entertaining the troops there in Milwaukee.

UPDATE: Saturday 9:40 pm

The original link was taken down and replaced with the new one, which should now work.

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