I still cannot post comments or comment on other’s comments. Am I the only one that this is happening to? I hope someday this gets fixed. Until then, here’s my Comments Digest for the “Memorable Performances” prompt:

Commenting the only way I know how....

Everything I Have is Yours by Dale Borman Fink.

This was both terribly sad and upliftingly wonderful! I love how Anita thought of the occasion as being so much more than a mere performance.

You jogged a memory of another non-performance. Mine. On the night that our friend Stacy died (damn, coming up on two years ago), just before Gina and I left to go home, I found myself alone with her for a few minutes. I knelt beside her bed, stroked her hair and sang in her ear what I could remember of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.” Although Stacy was at that point considered unresponsive, I am convinced that she heard me, because she definitely smiled.

And the idea of reconciliation through music hit a nerve : https://www.myretrospect.com/stories/my-brown-eyed-girl/

 

Falling in Love at the Theater by Edward Guthmann

A nice travelogue through mid to late 20th century Broadway! I know of most of the actors that you mention by name, but have seen so few perfom live. I did see Leonard Nimoy (Spock! My hero!) in “Equus.” I’ve been a bit in love with Gwen Verdon since seeing “Damn Yankees” ( the movie). And I suspect that Reba McEntire made some sort of unholy deal to get WAY more talent than any one person should have…and I am not even a country music fan.

 

A Good Show is Hard to Sleep Through by Jonathan Canter

Your story made me nostalgic for those long-lost, those golden hued, those halcyon days of…2019. Nothing like a pandemic to make just a few years back seem like Glory Days.

Lubricious is one of my favorite words, in part because it has both a sexual and non-sexual meaning. Another is “penetralia” which sounds dirty but is in fact not. Although I am sure it could be.

And I quite like “MacBeth.” Lady M. is sexy, but of the kind best admired from a few light years off.

 

From Yo Yo’s Hand to Johann’s Ear by Charles Degelman:

This story is a wonderful depiction of the transcendent moments that only the arts can give us!

 

Something to Talk About by Suzy

Damn. that must have been an amazing night. Bonnie Raitt is one of my all-time favorite singers. as is JT. Bruuuuuuuuce is renowned for giving audiences their money’s worth, which after experiencing a sub-ten-minute Van Morrison concert, I quite appreciate!

 

Brubeck by Dana Susan Lehrman

Jazz’ll do that, which is why it was often used in old movies to denote discord and licentiousness. One note of a muted trumpet and you knew something bad was gonna go down! I’ve only recently gotten into jazz a bit, in the person of vocalist Aubrey Logan. I have much to learn.

This story also reminded me of being a student on St. Croix in 1978, when a dance troup with the odd name of Pilibolus visited the island. I didn’t even LIKE dance, but it was something to do, so I did. And was entranced! Decades later I got to see them again and was again entranced.

 

Great Performances by John Shutkin

That Bonnie Raitt sure got around! I was born a bit too late (then again, I didn’t have to do anything drastic to avoid Vietnam, so lemons and lemonade…).

 

One Singular Sensation by Betsy Pfau

In the 70s, a Broadway show was still something that less-than-well-off people could do fairly regularly, if only through waiting in line at TKTS. I saw several shows on an undergraduate’s budget. Now it’s a show or a new bike….

The movie version of Sweet Charity (along with “The Apartment”) left me with the unshakable conclusion that I could easily go full Jersey on the sort of absolute CAD who would make Shirley MacLaine cry!

 

Chestertown Follies by Khati Hendry

Reunions can be fraught; glad this one went so well. We have had a similar experience in that my family also is more fragmented than close, with factions dating back to the Great Depression. For a few years back in the 80s we actually did reunions, which was odd because I stink at remembering people whom I don’t see a lot and for some reason the entire fragmented family would show up to these shindigs! After the first 30 or so cousins, second cousins, great neices and nephews, spouses, etc I was introvert toast.

 

Watching “Fiddler” with People Who Lived It by Laurie Levy

I know enough history to have thought, when first watching “Fiddler,” the same thing; it wasn’t like that. To actually BE a person whom other people wanted (or want) to kill simply because they exist is something I realize that I can never really comprehend. All we can do is be the best friend we can, I guess.

Long ago some neo-nazis (LITERALLY “Illinois Nazis”!) decided to exercise their 1st Amendment rights in front of my building on campus. I was successfully ignoring the assholes when I went to our friend Stacy’s (yes, THE Stacy) office and saw that she was at her desk, crying. I asked her why so sad. She gestured toward the front of the building and whispered that she was afraid they were coming for her. All I could think of doing was take her hands in mine and tell her that to get her, they would have to kill me first. I meant it, too.

I could only try to make it better; I knew that I could never fully understand.

 

Give My Regards To Broadway by Suzy

A fun story (living in NJ near New York City really was the best of all possible worlds back then! We didn’t even need a car to get there.) but I must disagree on one point. I have always though that Barbra Streisand was quite beautiful!

 

Strings from Heaven by Marian

I also have untrained ears, but I compensate the other way; I like to close my eyes at concerts to avoid distractions and let my ears do the best they can!

I also regret I have never seen Yo-Yo Ma. Classical music is for me generally OK, occasionally utterly mesmerizing, but not usually my genre of choice. I might need to overcome that if Y-YM comes to town.

 

Count Basie and Joe Williams at Birdland, 1956 by Fred Suffet

Nothing has changed! Live music has a charm and delight all its own. Last December we broke a long live-show drought and saw Morgan James sing at a local venue. Magic!