This morning I got a wonderful comment from my friend, Cindy, about Woodstock and what it was like in New Jersey/York when she was kid. She is a bit younger than am I by only a few months but she actually LIVED up there when it was happening. Cindy remarked that she stills listens to her mom's favorites---Mathis, Glenn Miller, the other crooners of the age. My sister, Lori, and I were really fans of the folk genre so Cindy and I shared being fans of John Denver up to a point.
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Hearing about these "old-time" singers in Cindy's past and possibly present made me think about Randy, the man from water aerobics and Happy Hour at The Club who wants me so badly to sing while he plays the piano at The Club. Well, certainly I am not about to do such a thing but Wednesday night he brought in this thick book of Cole Porter music for me to leaf through. At aerobics I had said I did not really know any of this man's music but Randy insists that I do, I just have to hear them to recognize the melodies. This is probably very true but still, I am not about to become a torch singer at The Club because Randy wants me to be one!
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As I was leaving the property for church this a.m., Randy was getting out of his car by the pool, and I stopped to say "Hi!" as I drove past him. He told me he is in the process of locating his Cole Porter CDs for me to listen to----of course, I was gracious and thanked him, but really..........Who knows? Maybe I will swing and sway with Cole Porter some day!
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When I was still in high school I had discovered the blues/jazz musicians including Billie Holiday (Lady Day, which some people have called me by mispronouncing my last name!), Bessie Smith, Leadbelly, reading the biographies and such available about these people. I think it began with researching the man who discovered Leadbetter and others, Alan Lomax, with my interest growing from there. Somehow I never acquired an interest for those other type of musicians, the crooners. Janis Joplin is credited with purchasing the grave marker for Bessie Smith and I hope that is a true story, as she was influenced by Bessie's music.
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Randy, the Porter fan, was telling me that a movie about Porter's life was released a few years back and Maggie O. owns it. She is going to bring it to me so I can watch and listen to his music. Maggie is not trying to get to sing in The Club, however, just wants me to enjoy the movie for what it's worth! Evidently this man was bisexual and all sorts of warped lifestyle habits which is not one bit unusual in that field of work. There must be something about the stage life that does this to people, whether piano players, singers, or actors.
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My friend, Jami, wrote about taking a personality test for an employee training program. Someone described "True Colors" as being "the poor man's Myers/Briggs Test". It was a fun little exercise with both Jami and I coming in as the same primary color. It is intended to help co-workers figure out the hows and whys of the people around them, and perhaps give each other a break or an advantage depending upon strengths and weaknesses. A few of the questions did not apply to my case because they were about the workplace, naturally, as well as relationships with spouses/boyfriends, but the rest were pretty much straight forward. Take it yourselves to see what color you are, and which follow next after your primary color. As I told Jami, I think I am a prism, although it is not a "color" which shows up on the chart!
