When the Lights Go On Again

England in World War 2 was a scary place.  Relentless Nazi air raids, the bombing of London was the grim reality that led to the blackout restrictions.  By order of the government, windows had to be darkened so that the city could not be visually targeted from the air. 

Cheering them on to bravery and self-sacrifice was Vera Lynn.  British soldiers were all in love with Vera.  They won the war for her.  In her songs, she was their mother, she was their daughter, she was the girl they left behind, and sometimes she was even the fantasy lover they would meet and marry when they came back home.  She felt their pain, and every British soldier fought and sometimes died to win the war for Vera.   She entertained the troops abroad, she staged radio broadcasts from home, she recorded phonograph records for their jukeboxes.

"When the Lights Go On Again" was one of Vera's songs. Others you may have heard of, recorded with a chorus of soldiers and sailors singing with her:  "We'll Meet Again",  "Auf Wiedersehen, Sweetheart"

This week, at the age of 103, Vera Lynn is still giving us a message of hope.  In an interview with a London magazine this week, she said "In these uncertain times, I am taken back to my time during World War II, when we pulled together and looked after each other.  It is this spirit that we all need to find again to weather the storm of the corona virus."

God bless you, Vera Lynn! 

She's a Woman (1965) instrumental

Today's video is an instrumental arrangement I've been working on, and with no piano students to try it out on, I offer it to our online community.  The Beatles, even after all these years, provide fresh new insights into harmony, rhythm, and music as we know it. 

Here's a 55-year old Beatles song (yes, Boomers, we are that old) with an arrangement inspired by Elvis Presley and Ramsey Lewis.  Hope this brightens up your quarantine!

Life Can Be So Sweet on the Sunny Side

Today, we grab our coats and get our hats....     (sorry it got so late in the day, my video editor was fighting me today.)

It was such a glorious sunny day. Here's something they don't tell you on TV:  when you go outside, you're isolated - because, besides the dog-walkers, there's nobody out there.  You can maintain your social distance, wear your face mask if you wanna, but chances are you can walk for blocks without even seeing another person.  And it's quiet out there.  Without the constant freeway drone, and the planes ("de planes!" - we live close to the airport), you can actually hear the birds singing.  Yes, they're back, the robins, red-wing blackbirds, Canada geese, ducks, and the ever-popular sparrows.  Since Snap Fitness and my wife's Sweat'n'Sleaze Gym have closed, we go out for a walk every morning as soon as we get up. 

It's another one of those Depression era songs that people leaned on for comfort and hope.  It is rumored that Fats Waller wrote this song and sold it to Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, so I credit him in the video as well.  

Technical note - Sorry, Norm.  I didn't see the reflection of the tripod until I was just about finished with the editing.  

Hope you're all keeping safe, keeping busy.  Go for a nice walk and then come home and bake some cookies.

Everywhere You Go

Songs are sometimes not about the world we live in, but more about the world we would like to live in.   In the 1930s, the songwriters reached out to the world, helping everybody to look on the bright side.  And sometimes, a little creative denial is all we need to get back on track.  Imagine.  As Al Jolson sang, "it isn't raining rain, you know, it's raining violets!"   And sometimes, just noticing a flower, a bird song, or the smile of a passer-by that we may otherwise have missed, can be a life-changing event.

This song, "Everywhere You Go", by Joe Goodwin, Larry Shay, and Mark Fisher, was written in 1927, and recorded countless times, by Bing Crosby, by Doris Day, and, my favorite, a live noon-time show on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee, played by a band calling themselves the Hot Shots, who used the song as their theme song.  

In the 1970s, 80s, and some 90s, my friend Norm and I used to perform at old folks homes, and this was our theme song.  We called our band "Pay As You Go", and usually we were joined by Geoff the Washboard Dude, my little brudder from Watertown.

Without getting all "Andy Griffith" about it, this is one of those songs about leaving the world a better place, and shouldn't we all be doing a little of that?

The flowers in the video are from the Summer 2019 crop.

Social Distancing

So, now that the Angel O'Death is flapping his wings over Milwaukee, the simple solution occurred to everyone simultaneously - let's build little forts out of toilet paper packages and hide in them with our families until this passes.  I suppose you've heard enough, enough, enough about all that virus stampede stuff on Outta-My-Facebook and PanicNewsNetwork TV.  Now that we've all been sent to our rooms by the government, what to do next? 

I suppose I've always craved for a little Social Distancing all my life, it's just grand to wake up on a full day with nothing on it. Projects around the house are completing without interruption.  Things get cleaned, sorted, painted. But still...

I miss my piano students. Oh, a few carefully selected students manage to slip in at undisclosed locations and times to keep a little beauty going on in their lives.  And I miss the people at church,  the services, get-togethers, the choir.  Music is so important, once one's survival is ensured.  There is so much beauty in a Bbminb5, the hauntingly beautiful chord that pops up in Beatles tunes when you least expect it.  There's so much joy to be had free for the taking in music.

So, here's what happens when there's nobody to share music with. This video is safe to watch.  I deployed my full protective personal social distancing gear.  Put it on, and nobody but nobody will get within six feet of you - guaranteed!

https://youtu.be/HjfF9NAdC_U

Enjoy your time at home.  It won't be forever.  And I'm sure the world will get back at us later....

Keep yourselves safe!

et angelum lucis

People have commented that the Angel With Broken Wings would feel more functional if he could be holding up a light against the darkness.  In deference to your concern, Readers, we have provided him with a candle. Shining a light into the darkness is always a good idea.  Thanks.

Speakeasy on KK Avenue

Twenty-Two Years Ago, we worked in a Speakeasy.  It looked like an old bank building over there on Kinnickinnic Avenue.  Moose was the doorman, and if you didn't know the password, man, oh man you just didn't get in.  Inside you took a table, Charlie would help you find a seat, and let the action unfold around you - Gangsters, Bootleggers, Flappers, and, of course everybody's favorite beverage - "Vito's Ginger Ale". - maybe there was something illegal going on there, because some nights the joint got raided. . .


Actually, it was a community theater project called Speakeasy!, a successful theatrical series that carried on for four years.  Tape was newly rescued by the Wayback Machine, an expert video by Norm Lorenz.  Can you believe how much energy we had those 22 years ago?