Hi everyone! Boy this list has been as quiet as a Christmas mouse. I
imagine everyone is busy getting ready for the holiday's ahead...and
rightly so. This is my first day I've had free in a long time! Yesterday
was the end to my student teaching (yippee) and my best friend had her
very first baby (yippee) and my nephew had his first birthday (yippee)
and I finished all my Christmas shopping (Alleluia!) Yep, yesterday was a
big day....but I digress...Did anyone go to the Fez show? I actually made
it. I say actually because as my luck would have it...I lost my sister to
the train schedule ( so I was minus a companion...other than my mother
who I took along with me this time), got on the hudson river line metro
north train in Poughkeepsie and one stop later was dead in the water (not
literally, thankfully :) ). The engine had kaput and we were sitting
there for an hour waiting for the next train. How many times (if you live
in this area of New York) do you hear on the radio, "Metro-North is
running on or close to schedule" ? well apparently this never pertains to
me...no one should ever ride a train with me, because you'll forever be
late with my luck. We lost my sister Mary (the NYC navigator) so it was
up to me and ma to get ourselves there. Well, being to the Fez several
times, I knew I needed to take a green line on the subway to Astor place.
I found myself standing at the subway map wondering is it the green line
uptown or downtown to Astor place? Well on the map, Manhattan was above
Grand Central subway terminal and Astor place was below us. Typically you
would say Manhattan was uptown and Astor place downtown if you were
looking at the map. But I remembered that song, "Downtown, everything's
waiting for you!" and I thought to myself....but Manhattan is the
happening place, that's where everything is happening, that's where
everything's waiting for you...so therefore that must be Downtown!
Luckily in mid song we saw the words Lafayette street (or whatever street
the fez is on) and sure enough Manhattan was uptown and we wanted to go
downtown to Astor place. Ack! Anyway, from now on I will always remember
my up from my down! And just as a word of advice...do not rely on
songs....they aren't always right! Hey wait, but now thinking about
it...downtown is where everything was waiting for me...the innocence
mission concert! Forget Manhattan! Boy I'm rambling, forgive me...but
isn't it nice to be sitting for a moment...taking a break from crowd s
and sticky fingers? This time of year is sticky finger time everything
you touch goes with you (except money)...if you're not shopping you have
tape or cookie dough on the end of your digits...SO TO GET BACK TO THE
SHOW..... We made it there ten minutes before the doors opened. We
stood on the line outside the doors of the waiting room, but ten minutes
later there was a line out through the time cafe and out the door on the
street waiting to get in to see the show! It was sold out. I was lucky
enough to be able to sell my extra ticket to someone hoping to get in.
Don decorated the stage with a Christmas tree and lights. It was very
cozy. No one opened up for them, and they started with O' Little Town of
Bethlehem...which was absolutely beautiful. Karen made a remark about the
stage decorations and how it was all Don's doing, he smiled and bowed his
head. On the tables were printouts of lyrics for some Christmas songs to
sing along to...with a picture of a snowman. (For those of you who like
that picture, Don took that with a Holga...one of those camera's you can
get cheaper if you order by the dozen. They are plastic and come with a
complimentary rubber band to keep it together. They take 120 film. His
son made that snowman. Don told me about the camera a few years back and
has sent me some of his pictures he's taken with it. Since then I've been
using the camera experimentally and have come up with some amazing
pictures. They are so cheap they let light in through the cracks and it
creates different light patterns or halo's around and in the pictures
that are unique to that camera.) SO.... (gosh sorry guy's).... In the
beginning Karen was having some difficulty with her guitar but managed to
play along. The sound was going in and out. She thought it was the plug
to her guitar but it was the knob on it or something...not too sure.
Karen herself only played one piano tune which was "..Mac..", but Mike
ended up playing piano for Karen on "Never Knew You.." which was
absolutely beautiful. I always liked it when Karen sang that song live,
alone with just her guitar and a spotlight, but I felt that it was
missing the haunting piano. So to have Mike up there playing gave it that
finishing beautiful touch. Mike stayed at the piano while Karen used his
guitar to play snow and then the Peanuts Christmas tune was played...Mike
at the piano and playing that thing like it was nobody's business. Did
anyone know that he could play the piano? I didn't! Not only was it
enjoyable to listen to and to watch, but it was nice to see Mike
displaying yet another of his many talents...the focus was on him
finally. I think that man gets overlooked sometimes and it was just nice
to see him take that step into the forefront. Everyone enjoyed it. They
played a few other Christmas tunes. One was a traditional song called
Beastly something and Denison joined them up on the stage with one of his
friends as "moral support". It was a sight to see and hear all five of
them singing at once. They had only rehearsed this particular song a
couple times before doing it on stage, so it was very rusty but sweet
just the same. They all took turns with a verse and then sung the
choruses together...with lyrics in hand to read from. Finally it was
Don's turn to sing a verse and because he had his guitar in hand he
couldn't hold onto the paper...making it difficult to remember what to
sing. It was a funny moment. Don wrote a BEAUTIFUL Christmas song that
they sang. I would love to be able to hear it again. Maybe we can ask
them to post it up as an MP3 or something. I absolutely loved it. The
night was filled with a lot of laughter and laid back music. Everyone
sang to Silent Night and Away In the Manger and Karen thanked everyone
for singing, saying it was lovely to hear everyone. Someone requested You
are the Light and they played it. They came on for two encores and one of
them they played Wonder of Birds which was a real treat. It was such a
beautiful rendition of it. Throughout the concert Karen was surrounded by
her three guitars sometimes looking to Don as if to say "which one do I
play for this song?" The last song was Bright as Yellow, she had picked
up a couple guitars and landed with one of them in her arms. When
she began playing it she realized a verse into it that she was without
her fret clamp thingy (excuse my lack of musical definition knowledge!)
and she had a look of modest exasperation on her face and just decided to
continue singing without playing. Finally Don just stopped playing. Mike
stopped playing and Don stopped Karen (Karen looking like, "What are you
doing?!") and he put the clamp on her guitar. Don said it's no fun
without Karen playing. She smiled and someone from the audience yelled
out, "It's because he loves you". She asked if she should start all the
way from the beginning and everyone clapped wildly. And that was that.
They were sweet as could be. Mike had on his converse sneakers as always
and played beautifully as well as on the piano. Denison (nice big beard
growing) was there to join them with his beautiful voice along with his
friend that got some special applause for singing through the traditional
song when everyone else forgot the lyrics. And a good time was had by
all. Good food as always. Wonderful company...was so nice to bring my ma
to a concert..she's never been to a club to hear music in her entire li
fe. She say's she now understands why I love them so very much.Well that
concludes this novel. Hope you all have a beautiful holiday and a very
Merry Christmas!The End.Peace, Emily O Little Town of
BethlehemBeautiful
ChangeTomorrow on the RunwayOne for Sorrow, Two for JoyWhere Does The
Time Go?Lakes of CanadaTodayWalking AroundWhen Mac was SwimmingNever Knew
You from the SunSnowPeanuts Christmas songDon's own Christmas songAway In
the MangerTraditional Hymn called Beastly ...something or otherSilent
NightKeeping AwakeOur HarryYou are the LightWonder of BirdsI Haven't Seen
This Day BeforeBright as Yellow
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