sovay | I’ve dreamt of this day since Piccadilly Terrace, when we argued metaphysics

Current Music: The Arrogant Worms, "A Night in Dildo"

I’ve dreamt of this day since Piccadilly Terrace, when we argued metaphysics

I had a wonderful day. I know.

I woke up at a godforsaken hour to find that a copy of A Mayse-Bikhl has been acquired by the National Library of Israel. It would make a better story if I choked on my tea from seeing the e-mail, but that was while reading something innocuous like Pat Barker at breakfast and just silly.

I was awake at a godforsaken hour because I was meeting two friends who do not have livejournals so that I could accompany them to a flea market at the Somerville Armory and they could show me Ken Russell's Gothic (1986). I did not find any clothes at the flea market, although I seriously considered a nonfiction LP about the moon landing called One Small Step (1969) just because it was narrated by Wernher von Braun and Chet Huntley, and a full orchestral score of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, hardcover, pocket-sized, and leatherbound. I didn't have a justifiable use for the latter and the former would probably have worked best as an unserious gift for some fan of Tom Lehrer, but they were very tempting on sheer grounds of weird. I tried on some cargo pants, but they didn't fit.

I did buy a candid photograph of George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in Canada. For eight dollars. The dealer knocked two-thirds off the price because I recognized the subjects without taking the picture out of its sleeve and because I had been studying another photo of an American city street to see if I could tell the year in which it was taken from the movies on the marquee. (I couldn't, but I remembered the titles: H. M. Pulham, Esq. and Come Live with Me. So, 1941. Also, somebody liked Hedy Lamarr.) I just saw there's now a stage version of The King's Speech; I cannot imagine the unspeakable hipster cred I am going to rack up by saying I liked him before it was cool, but

fleurdelis28 and

nineweaving will back me up on this.

(There is a stamp on the back of the photograph: "Scott Camera Craft Ltd.—1018 Douglas St.—Victoria, B.C.—Mar. 5 1941." Someone has also pencilled in, "King George VI + Queen Elizabeth 1941," but the internet tells me the royal tour was in 1939. It is possible the film was only developed later. Help? Canada?)

There was a watercolor I couldn't afford in the consignment store where they bought their Green Man chair afterward. (Richard de Menocal.) There were bison burgers for lunch. There was fig-tasting mead from South Africa. Gothic is a hysterical laudanum dream of the Romantic poets at the Villa Diodati and I enjoyed it greatly, even if I really feel I should research the actual Claire Clairmont now. I don't know if I needed Byron/Polidori with Gabriel Byrne and Timothy Spall, but now that I've had it I don't feel I should complain.

The timing even worked out such that

ratatosk could pick me up afterward and introduce me to shape-note singing at Christ Church Unity in Brookline, which was my first choral anything in nine years (I had to think about it), not counting Suor Angelica. It's hard for me to evaluate whether I liked the experience of an art form I was so patently bad at, but it was certainly worth going to. (I even ran into someone I knew from Tea.) We had late dinner at City Girl Cafe and generally hung out until it became necessary for me to come home so that I could take out the trash, write this, etc. I wound up singing "Ten Cents a Dance" for him and

derspatchel and Abbie the Cat, who I think was unimpressed.

I am exhausted, but I don't want to kill anything. This is okay by me.

Oh, and go see Measure for Measure. Even the actors who aren't sock puppets are good.

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I had a wonderful day. I know.

That's so great and happy! I am envious.

May you continue to have more.

♥

I am so glad of your day.

This does sound like a distinctly good day.

In an alternate universe of which I hope, Hedy Lamarr and Alan Turing met and became great friends - maybe they filed patents together on the mathematics underpinning the brain structures that decode dolphin sonar. Possibly there was also a royal tour of Canada in 1941 there, and you have a photograph that slipped through the gaps between worlds.

Shape-note singing ♥

It was 1939, and it was in April and May so that they had debutante presentations early and late that year, March and June.But the film might not have been developed, or they may have made more prints to sell in 1941? (That was the tour where MacKenzie King was PM of Canada, and the PM of Alberta was Mr Queen, so they had the King, the Queen, Mr King, Mr Queen, and his wife Mrs Queen, which made for some funny moments of radio commentary.) They didn't leave Britain in 1941 because they were busy looking the East End in the eye.

I woke up at a godforsaken hour to find that a copy of A Mayse-Bikhl has been acquired by the National Library of Israel.

!!!

PS: Everyone is bad at shape-note the first time.

Also, that song is epic.

I had a wonderful day.

Yay, yay, yay! Wishing you more of them!

I like the sound of that universe.

Oh, well done! I'm glad you had a good day. I would love that market, and the mead.

(I'm a bit squeeful now, having come home to find Singing Innocence and Experience waiting for me.)

I had a wonderful day.

Fabulous! May be it followed by a thousand more, renewable.

(Mazel tov on A Mayse-Bikhl!)

Nine

May you continue to have more.

Thank you! I'm going to try . . .

I am so glad of your day.

It was unexpected.

Love you so.

In an alternate universe of which I hope, Hedy Lamarr and Alan Turing met and became great friends - maybe they filed patents together on the mathematics underpinning the brain structures that decode dolphin sonar. Possibly there was also a royal tour of Canada in 1941 there, and you have a photograph that slipped through the gaps between worlds.

. . . I might go with your explanation until proven otherwise.

Thank you!

Shape-note singing

This particular group will not be meeting next month because of some larger festival, but you could come in April!

It was 1939, and it was in April and May so that they had debutante presentations early and late that year, March and June. But the film might not have been developed, or they may have made more prints to sell in 1941?

Thank you.

I'm not sure it was a commercial print: that's one of the reasons it interested me. It's a good close-up of its subjects, but it's also got weird angles on the crowd and some other dignitaries being blocked from sight by scrubby conifers. I poked around Google Image when I got home to see if it had been reproduced online, but while I could find other pictures from the same tour, not that one. I'll try to scan it (carefully) and put it up later this week.

(That was the tour where MacKenzie King was PM of Canada, and the PM of Alberta was Mr Queen, so they had the King, the Queen, Mr King, Mr Queen, and his wife Mrs Queen, which made for some funny moments of radio commentary.)

Okay, that's wonderful.

They didn't leave Britain in 1941 because they were busy looking the East End in the eye.

I had that conversation with the dealer! I thought the photograph had to be just pre-war, he said during, the date on the back didn't settle the argument. I feel vindicated in my average knowledge of World War II now.

!!!

I'm hoping people read it!

PS: Everyone is bad at shape-note the first time.

ratatosk mentioned this as well. If you want to join the group, it would require driving down to Boston the second Sunday of every month, but I bet they'd be glad to have you.

Also, that song is epic.

"A Night in Dildo"? First song I ever heard by the Arrogant Worms. I have no idea how or why.

Yay, yay, yay! Wishing you more of them!

Thank you!

I would love that market, and the mead.

The mead I can point you to!

(I'm a bit squeeful now, having come home to find Singing Innocence and Experience waiting for me.)

I very, very much hope you enjoy it.

May be it followed by a thousand more, renewable.

I could deal with that.

(Mazel tov on A Mayse-Bikhl!)

Thank you! I had e-mailed with someone in acquisitions in November (thanks to an introduction from

margavriel, actually), but I hadn't been sure it would come to anything.

If I could teleport there and back, I'd jump at the chance.

That sounds terrific. I hope there are many more days like it in store.

My husband is a big shape-note singing fan, as is my son. In fact we have to clean house this week due to guests for a local convention next weekend.

A Grand Day Out.

...Your consignment stores are better than the ones I see!

I thought I asked you the shapenote question for the Regency and we had had a whole discussion; apparently that was my wife (who is both a fan and quite good at it) -- e-mail tells me so. Still! Shapenote! Yay! It is apparently a uniquely American thing, and some of the songs are a grand mix of impassioned and kooky. I will go home and pluck lyrics from her shapenote sing binder, which are all from "The Aeolian Harp of Gold" or something like, ca. 1860.

Also, Bertie and his wife were clearly in Canada doing Sekrit War Work.

Great news about A Mayse-Bikhl!

I should try watching Gothic again. I bounced hard off it when I watched it years ago, but I am such a huge Russell fan...

I hope there are many more days like it in store.

Thank you. I don't think I can count on one every day—and I'd burn out if I did—but a higher incidence would be fine by me!

Here's hoping for interspersion of good into even the trying days.

In fact we have to clean house this week due to guests for a local convention next weekend.

Neat! May I ask where you are?

I had no idea you weren't already a fan of shape-note singing, or else I would have tried to evangelize you about it long ago. I live in WMass, Sacred Harp capital of New England, so I tend to take it for granted; there's a sing every Tuesday night and a giant annual convention in March. I'd very much like to try the sing you attended in Brookline, too. I've always been a trifle shy about leading, but it's great fun once you get used to it. In any case, welcome to fasola land.

I just saw there's now a stage version of The King's Speech; I cannot imagine the unspeakable hipster cred I am going to rack up by saying I liked him before it was cool, but fleurdelis28 and nineweaving will back me up on this.

I may rent Gothic; I like the idea of Timothy Spall in almost anything, but he'd be a hoot as Polidori.

I witnessed you liking The King's Speech before it became A Thing. If anybody* tells you, "Oh, I loved that movie, Colin Firth is hot and it was so funny when he said 'fuck'," I hereby authorize you to stand with your arms folded and a slight smile on your face.

*even for values of "anybody" that include me.

A Grand Day Out.

Hey, it even involved cheese!

...Your consignment stores are better than the ones I see!

I don't visit that many. Great. Now I'll have unrealistic expectations.

The Brookline sing is generally much younger than the Newton (Norumbega Harmony) one (which is tonight). Despite being not very far apart at all geographically, there is almost no overlap in attendees -- I've been going to both for about two years and still haven't figured out why they're so different.

I will go home and pluck lyrics from her shapenote sing binder, which are all from "The Aeolian Harp of Gold" or something like, ca. 1860.

Can you also sing shape-note? Is this something everyone I know can do and didn't bother to mention to me?

Also, Bertie and his wife were clearly in Canada doing Sekrit War Work.

selidor believes alt-universe Turing was involved.

Sure -- we're in Seattle. The convention is over on Mercer Island.

An embarrassment of riches! If I manage to move out that way, I'll try going to both.

Yeah. There are certain singing groups I'm involved with that just don't intersect at all, for no apparent reason. Perhaps people in them had a fight years ago, and the grudge has just hung on... yeah, doesn't make sense to me, either.

Great news about A Mayse-Bikhl!

Thank you!

I bounced hard off it when I watched it years ago, but I am such a huge Russell fan..

It is in no way a realist movie; I don't think it wants to be taken for one, sumptuous nineteenth-century interiors aside. I find some of its secret history simplistic, but there's also a level on which the film's basic thesis (which I don't want to spoil, should you see it) fits beautifully into the Frankenstein mythos, so I don't have to track Ken Russell down in the afterlife and shake him. The performances are fun, although I will confess I was expecting a more flamboyant wickedness from Gabriel Byrne. Probably unfair of me; I saw him first as Professor Bhaer in Little Women (1994), but the first time I noticed him by name, he was possibly the Devil.

I had no idea you weren't already a fan of shape-note singing, or else I would have tried to evangelize you about it long ago.

I'd heard it; I'd never tried it. I recognized a few of the tunes, but I don't know if they'd migrated from shape-note out into the wider world or been assimilated into it or what.

I may rent Gothic; I like the idea of Timothy Spall in almost anything, but he'd be a hoot as Polidori.

I think he was my favorite part of the film. As I just wrote to

handful_ofdust: total Renfield.

If anybody tells you, "Oh, I loved that movie, Colin Firth is hot and it was so funny when he said 'fuck'," I hereby authorize you to stand with your arms folded and a slight smile on your face.

Hah. Thank you! Now watch, it'll actually happen at a party . . .

I don't know if they'd migrated from shape-note out into the wider world or been assimilated into it or what.

Good point. If you recognize a tune, it's very likely to be a shape-note composer's rewrite/rearrangement of a traditional or otherwise secular tune. One of my favorite hymns (I was just singing this the other day with

negothick) is Sacred Harp 162, "Plenary."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-uG9isQBnQ

The tenors have the melody, which is "Auld Lang Syne," but it took me till the other day to realize that was what it was, since I've been singing treble or alto and the melody does not dominate the arrangement in any case.

The tenors have the melody, which is "Auld Lang Syne," but it took me till the other day to realize that was what it was, since I've been singing treble or alto and the melody does not dominate the arrangement in any case.

The one that blew my mind, I know as "The Men of the West/Rosin the Beau." Only in a different time signature, and slightly less revolutionary and/or drunk.

Must show this thread to my husband. He got interested in Sacred Harp back when we lived in Worcester MA. (I had done a bit in college as well.) Those names are familiar, but I can't remember which singings he used to go to.

I do remember going to a wedding in Vermont attended by a lot of morris dancers, and asking my husband whether we'd seen a lot of the same people at shape-note events, or whether they just looked a whole lot the same. We finally decided on the latter with perhaps an occasional instance of the former.

Yay for good days! May there be more on the horizon.

I did a little shaped note singing in college, because one of my music professors was very much into it.

If you have some time, could you tell me a bit more about the interaction with the National Library of Israel? I'm taking Collection Development this semester, and that's the kind of thing that the class will probably cover.

I had a wonderful day. I know.

This pleases me greatly.

I woke up at a godforsaken hour to find that a copy of A Mayse-Bikhl has been acquired by the National Library of Israel.

Congratulations!

I'm sure you're better at shape-note singing than I am. I'm very taken with the sound of it, but I'm not really used to the concept of singing off any sort of notation at all.

Edited 2012-02-14 06:16 (UTC)

Yay for good days! May there be more on the horizon.

Thank you! Today was very boring, which was fine: I spent the entire weekend interacting with people, so today I caught up on avoiding them.

If you have some time, could you tell me a bit more about the interaction with the National Library of Israel? I'm taking Collection Development this semester, and that's the kind of thing that the class will probably cover.

Er . . . sure. It was a couple of e-mails. I will write to you.

Congratulations!

Thank you!

I'm sure you're better at shape-note singing than I am.

I think I was awful, but I'm still not sorry I tried.

I live in WMass, Sacred Harp capital of New England

Right, remind me where? If you're anywhere within reach of N. Adams,

osirusbrisbane would probably be thrilled to have you stop by for game night.

Near Smiff College and North Hamster. North Adams is like forty-five minutes away, and I used to go there fairly often for contra dances. Game night sounds good to me.

There's probably a Central MA sing, too. I only go to the one in N'hampton regularly. It's good to see that Sacred Harp is getting lots of attention in the Pacific Northwest, too.

asking my husband whether we'd seen a lot of the same people at shape-note events, or whether they just looked a whole lot the same.

Morris dancing and shape-note singing each tend to leave a... mark on one's soul. Eventually this becomes visible. We don't like to discuss it too much in public. Also, consider the fact that we New Englanders only have about six basic face types which get repeated over and over with minor variations. H.P. Lovecraft--boy, he knew about us...

/morris-dancing shape-note singer

Er . . . sure. It was a couple of e-mails. I will write to you.
Thanks! (And if anything is confidential or personal or such, leave it out. I'm just curious about what happens when a library works directly with an author.)

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I’ve dreamt of this day since Piccadilly Terrace, when we argued metaphysics

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