Many moons ago, I was involved in an outreach group, called The Holiday Project. The mission was simple: go out and spend time with those who, during the holidays, would often not get many or anyone visiting them: shut-ins, folks incarcerated at local gaols, folks in nursing homes. Given I play guitar, I was a natural fit for the group, so this bunny was billeted off to a local nursing home, during Xmas season.
After we'd gone around and visited folks on the multiple floors and were about to leave, I was approached by a nurse's aid, who told me that the "old lady" down the hall wished to hear me sing one more song. I said, "Sure. What's her name?"
I did this to be polite, to be gentlemanly to whomever had asked me to perform. The nurse's aid looked at her chart, and with not a glimmer of recognition for *her*, she said, "Antonia Brico." I about fell over...
Dr. Brico had been Judy Collin's piano teacher, when Judy lived in Denver (my hometown)and given I'd long been a fan of Judy's (what can say...I'm an old *folkie*), and a student of music in general, I knew *damned* well who Dr. Brico was..and nearly sh*t my knickers!! I normally do not suffer from performance anxiety but in this case, I certainly did!
So, I stumble into Dr. Brico's room (there is/was NO freakin' way I can/could just call her 'Antonia') and ther she is, sitting in a wheelchair, glower upon her face; she said to me , ina deep raspy voice, "I liked your voice. Sing me another song."
Gah-UUUULP! I managed to croak out some other old Xmas standard, and when I was done, she said, "Nice voice, Thanks.", and turned to look out the window.
She died shortly thereafter--hopefully not as of any resultant injury to her auditory system! It's likely the closest this old folk singer will EVER get to a master of music in this lifetime!
UPDATE: The spambots got clever so the verification is back. Apologies
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Her non-spiritual side, FTW.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jn90y9H9S4
Call me Singin' Bunny...;)
ReplyDelete6 degrees of separation...
Many moons ago, I was involved in an outreach group, called The Holiday Project. The mission was simple: go out and spend time with those who, during the holidays, would often not get many or anyone visiting them: shut-ins, folks incarcerated at local gaols, folks in nursing homes. Given I play guitar, I was a natural fit for the group, so this bunny was billeted off to a local nursing home, during Xmas season.
After we'd gone around and visited folks on the multiple floors and were about to leave, I was approached by a nurse's aid, who told me that the "old lady" down the hall wished to hear me sing one more song. I said, "Sure. What's her name?"
I did this to be polite, to be gentlemanly to whomever had asked me to perform. The nurse's aid looked at her chart, and with not a glimmer of recognition for *her*, she said, "Antonia Brico." I about fell over...
Dr. Brico had been Judy Collin's piano teacher, when Judy lived in Denver (my hometown)and given I'd long been a fan of Judy's (what can say...I'm an old *folkie*), and a student of music in general, I knew *damned* well who Dr. Brico was..and nearly sh*t my knickers!! I normally do not suffer from performance anxiety but in this case, I certainly did!
So, I stumble into Dr. Brico's room (there is/was NO freakin' way I can/could just call her 'Antonia') and ther she is, sitting in a wheelchair, glower upon her face; she said to me , ina deep raspy voice, "I liked your voice. Sing me another song."
Gah-UUUULP! I managed to croak out some other old Xmas standard, and when I was done, she said, "Nice voice, Thanks.", and turned to look out the window.
She died shortly thereafter--hopefully not as of any resultant injury to her auditory system! It's likely the closest this old folk singer will EVER get to a master of music in this lifetime!
:) - Eli
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