Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 Jun 18 - 02:08 PM

Thanks for telling us, Rapparee.
Gnu, decent of you to de-lurk for a post or two as well.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: gnu
Date: 10 Jun 18 - 12:14 PM

Can't HALO jump? Me neither. It's not that I am scared of heights... just very fond of the ground. I like terra firma. The more firma, the less terra.

I know you like puns, Rap so I gave it a try. yw.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Jun 18 - 10:12 PM

Awful. I'm near death, laying here and awaiting the Grim Reaper. It's terrible. One artery is 20-30% blocked and my ejection fraction is about 50%, with a norm of about 60%. Some cardiac muscle tissue is not functioning as it should (could be due to a past viral infection). I can't run even an eight minute mile, bench press 400 pounds (181 kg.), jog to the top of Kinport Mountain (6,438 feet/1,962 meters above sea level) without stopping, hike 8 km. with a 45 kg. pack, HALO jump, or anything! (I did once run a mile in under 8 minutes, but I was 18 years old.) Mind you, I can't imagine why I want to do any of these things, but just the idea that I can't is enough to make me give up all hope.

Okay, I'll have to do other things instead.

The doctor has referred me to Cardio Rehab, and when that's over I'll get into some fitness club or something.

Who's there? You! The Grim Reaper! Ain't nobody here you want, so just get the hell outa here! NOW! Don't make me disjoint you! SCRAM!

Good. That critter skedaddled!

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Jun 18 - 07:26 PM

Rapparee, how goes it? Been thinking of you.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Nigel Paterson
Date: 08 Jun 18 - 09:32 AM

The above obituary has been edited from the full text, originally published in The Guardian. The full obituary may be read here

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Nigel Paterson
Date: 08 Jun 18 - 08:25 AM

Remembering Lina Lalandi. I knew her for the final ten years of her life.

Lina Lalandi, who has died aged 91, founded the English Bach festival in 1962, and was its director from the first festival, in 1963, until her death. Its early performances of both modern and baroque music took place in Oxford before, in the 1970s, London became the focus, with guest nights at the Royal Opera House and concerts at the Banqueting House, Whitehall. Igor Stravinsky was the first president, succeeded on his death by Leonard Bernstein. Over time, the EBF moved away from modern music and concentrated on baroque opera, in period dress and with period instruments, in countless performances in the UK and abroad, at venues including the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, and the ancient Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens.

Lina was born in Athens, daughter of Nikolas Kaloyeropoulos, former director of the Byzantine museum and subsequently Greek minister of education, and his wife, Toula. She studied the piano at the Athens conservatoire. After the second world war, both Lina and her mother received certificates of appreciation from Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander for "faithfully and loyally" serving the allied cause. By Lina's own account, she successfully led allied servicemen across Athens to safety, occasionally hiding them in her own bed. This must have been a memorable moment for those servicemen, as Lina was a famous beauty and became for a while a Chanel model.

After the war, Lina came to London to study, and was an early and gifted exponent of the harpsichord, as well as an eager advocate for the clavichord. She made her first solo appearance at the Royal Festival Hall in 1954 and during a successful solo career played with Ernest Ansermet and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Stravinsky, Bernstein, Iannis Xenakis, Oliver Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen and other wonderful musicians were tempted to Britain by Lina, many for the first time. So many musical "firsts" were scored by the EBF that orchestras were well advised to check with her office before claiming one for themselves. Just as she had championed Bach and Couperin in her harpsichord recitals, so she proved to be an ambassador for French baroque opera, as well as operas by Gluck and Handel, through the EBF. In recognition of her work, Lina was made an OBE in 1975, an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1979 and received, from Greece, the Gold Cross of the Phoenix and the Great Prize of Music.

Late successes for the EBF were Gluck's Telemaco in London and Athens in 2003, Rameau's Platée at the Megaron in Athens in 2006, Monteverdi's Orfeo at the Banqueting House in 2007 and, finally, Handel's Alceste in London – a work never performed in Handel's lifetime and eventually premiered by the EBF in 1989. It was repeated at the Royal Opera House in 2000 and, as her very last performance, at the Banqueting House in December 2009.

Nicholas Kenyon writes: Life in the English Bach festival office was never dull. Artists would ring: "I've just had a half-hour conversation with Lina – can you explain what it is I've agreed to do?" Working for Lina was an immersive baptism of fire for those of us starting out in the music world (it was my first-ever job, in the mid-1970s), and many of today's arts organisations are populated by Lalandi survivors who learned rapidly the challenges of mounting a supremely adventurous music festival with minimal resources. The festival was run out of houses in Belgravia that diminished in size as the festival's losses grew: Lina relied hugely on her impassively affectionate second husband, Ralph, both for support and money.

Lina was always ahead of the times: Messiaen came in the early years, and his wife Yvonne Loriod played the Catalogue d'Oiseaux to a half-empty Oxford Playhouse: but by 1973, the Messiaens returned in triumph to London, and the festival became an annual distinctive shot in the arm to London's musical life. The critics, fed by Lina's enthusiasm and cooking, loved her.

Lina's festivals were fuelled by emotional turmoil and occasional sharp practice (when she asked Paul Tortelier to play all six Bach cello suites in two concerts, she charged the audience twice, but tried to pay him one fee). They were informed by her acute artistic taste, her penetrating judgment of artists and repertory, and a visionary approach to the next thing that audiences would enjoy. Many contemporary composers have cause to be grateful for her advocacy – above all her fellow Greek Xenakis, for whose gritty and elemental music she led an enlightened crusade over the years.

But it was in Bach and baroque music that her greatest impact on current taste was felt. She was a pioneering supporter of the old-instrument generation of Philippe Herreweghe and Ton Koopman, Roger Norrington and Trevor Pinnock. She led with others the contemporary rediscovery of Rameau's operas, mounting quixotic single performances at Covent Garden on Sundays: while her strong belief in "authentic" staging did not win through, seeing the dances brought to life and hearing the intricacies of the music on period instruments was a revelation.

Lina was capable of great affection and warmth, even if there was often an ulterior motive beneath the charm. For all the chaos, working with her was immense fun; for all the complications, it was artistically wholly worth it; and for all that she was infuriatingly volatile and unpredictable, we all owe her a massively inspiring musical education. She opened our ears.

• Lina Lalandi, harpsichordist and music promoter, born 1920; died 8 June 2012

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 08:08 PM

Kentucky fried chicken?

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 06:44 PM

Keb you remind me of the guy who makes good will Christmas wishes and hope of Peace on Earth all year long.
Not that there is anything wrong with that. (a la Seinfeld)

May you enjoy summer Festivus.

Rap, may you never have KFC again.

Most of us have had appointments in which we have gone to Helen Beck.
Afterwards we are clearly changed. Here's to making that change constructive and at peace with love.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 05:55 PM

Feeling a little low, myself, without any excuse for it.
Hope all is well with everyone else.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 06 Jun 18 - 09:29 PM

Here in Arizona's Arizona Time / Pacific Daylight Time,
I will be thinking of you,
Rappparee.      And of Rapparee as well.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Jun 18 - 09:17 PM

Rappparee has a meeting with the cardiologist tomorrow at 0840 MDT. He'll there learn at least part of His Fate.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Jun 18 - 10:50 PM

I just noticed something and must reply:

Amos, that addlepated jackanapes, would never dare to call me names! I would never engage in a duel of wits with such an unarmed logomaniac as he.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Jun 18 - 10:05 PM

Well, Rapparee made it there and back for that Fiftieth-Year reunion.
And now he has been through an exam of his heart
and ... he needs our thoughts and prayers, again.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Jun 18 - 02:04 PM

I need this [relation]ship, more than words can say.
Keeping it visible on the horizon.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 01:35 PM

Hey frogprince! Been thinking of you. Hope you are keeping on keeping on.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 11:18 PM

And what good news, Donuel, about Dean.
Glad you didn't cave in with those people who gave your son a pessimistic evaluation.
It's been a long haul for you and him, both.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 02:22 PM

Ach, ChanteyLass, we all know who you mean, regardless of the spell-checker! Those spell-checker programs are such an annoyance. They are all the more reason to check that "preview" box here so as to check the checker...

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 31 May 18 - 09:13 PM

Thank you, Donnelly, for your update. That sounds like progress to me.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 18 - 05:59 PM

As a conclusion to the Dean Saga, who stopped talking four years ago and refused school, Dean is moving out this week.

The magic potion, the magic bullet, the magic medicine is love.

He is moving into his girlfriend's place in TN. He is adking questions and beginning to learn about this strange world.
Better a babe in the woods than a hermit in a room.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 31 May 18 - 05:07 PM

Storms on the horizon.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 29 May 18 - 10:58 AM

Mind the stormy weather.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 May 18 - 10:24 AM

Memorial Day is not a bad day
to remember the ship that is this thread.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 May 18 - 02:49 PM

Keep Mrrzy and family in mind and heart -- I am, for sure.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 May 18 - 02:05 PM

Amos must be feeling better
as he is calling Rapparee names again.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 May 18 - 03:01 PM

Thinking of everyone.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Donuel
Date: 20 May 18 - 12:03 PM

Amos never forget that the lymph system is the sewage system for the body to eliminate internal garbage. Lymphomas are an entirely different animal from what you had.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 May 18 - 11:12 PM

sending good wishes across the wide Pacific Ocean

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 19 May 18 - 06:53 PM

Good song choice, Amos!

I wish you continuing recovery with rapidly diminishing pain. I would wish you no pain, but you've already indicated that you've suffered.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Amos
Date: 19 May 18 - 12:13 PM

Many thanks, brethren and cistern, for your encouragements.

The pathology reports no carcinoma in major places (bladder, prostate, etc.) but two microscopic traces of carcinoma in a couple of lymph nodes that were excised along witht he rest. This may mean more BS or may not. Meanwhile, recovering from the razor-blades that were flying around inside my belly is the first order of business.

My current theme song from the sainted Canadian songbird, Stan Rogers.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 19 May 18 - 11:55 AM

Amos has reported elsewhere that the pathology report is good news; although a little trace of carcinoma was acknowledge,
nothing had spread or metastasized.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Janie
Date: 17 May 18 - 09:06 PM

Weather appears quite varied. Sea of life, eh? Deck chairs on the main deck, and tea and scones in the galley. Passage ways clear enough for passage to and from, as weather and circumstances dictate.



Deep caring to all.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Donuel
Date: 16 May 18 - 09:22 AM

Pain is but a moment of memory but an eternity in the now.
Unless you gotta ticket.

We are wishing Conner well

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 15 May 18 - 10:28 PM

Good vibes on their way from Rhode Island, ranger 1. Please keep us informed.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: ranger1
Date: 15 May 18 - 07:37 PM

I know I don't post much, but I do pop in and keep up with this thread pretty regularly. If anyone has any spare good vibes to send out into the universe, my friend's talented and humorous teenaged son is dealing with cancer for the third time in five years. Connor goes in for surgery on Monday.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 May 18 - 02:22 PM

Stay well, Rap, for that reunion this month.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: frogprince
Date: 13 May 18 - 09:30 PM

Can't say I envy you for this experience, Amos. You're under strict orders to rest as appropriate and heal fast.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 May 18 - 07:14 PM

best wishes to all

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 May 18 - 03:37 PM

Heal well and fully, Amos.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Amos
Date: 13 May 18 - 10:09 AM

...pathology's report and meanwhile I am learning the meaning of pain and the joys of surrendering yourself to the Great Pharma. I still reserve judgement, though.

Hugs to all.

AMos

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Amos
Date: 13 May 18 - 10:07 AM

hanks so much for all your encouragements. I am home and spending a lot of time doing f**k-all, for which I am always apologizing while being told it's expected. Very unusual circumstance. The bladder is out and gone. The doc says everything looked normal, no visual signs of cancer metastasis, etc. We await patholog

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 12 May 18 - 09:49 PM

Yay, Amos! I'm glad you are home. Give that dog some pats from me.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: gnu
Date: 12 May 18 - 01:36 PM

Great news from A. And home so soon! Glad all went according to plan.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 May 18 - 09:34 PM

Good news, Rapparee, this means that you can go to that reunion this month that you mentioned a few posts back -- be safe en route.

Amos, if the dog says you're you, you're you, regardless of what has changed. Dogs are a blessing that way.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 May 18 - 08:32 PM

I went to the doctor today. He said that I had a heart attack at some point in the past, didn't know it, and it's water under my bridge (his words). He changed two medicines and took me off another and said, "Git outa here! See me in a month."

From AMOS:

IT's not the same place I left a few days ago, but I am home. The dog recognized me. I got through all the hoops in some record short time, I think, but I am burdened with more instructions and gadgets than I would have believed possible. USing the urostomy bag is a major learning experience at first. There are seven kinds of doohicky you can use for night sleeps, hiking, etc. Not to mention the barrage of prescriptions they fired at me as I was leaving the hospital. Sweet Mother of Gawd! Poor Daly has her hands so full trying to just handle message and phone calls and the like, not to mention laundry and (now) giving me injections of some kind of blood thinner.

I have to get to work puzzling the schedule out. But I wanted you to know I have survived surgery and am home in one piece.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 May 18 - 01:08 PM

Have a thought for Mrrzy as well
(see Mrrzy thread).

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 09 May 18 - 07:23 PM

Rap, what happens next?
I hope we hear soon about Amos, and of course I hope things went well.
I'm sending love to everyone sailing on Jane's Rainbow. Steady on!

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: gnu
Date: 09 May 18 - 12:52 PM

A is on my mind too, Rap. Plus, all things in moderation... keep yer stick on the ice.

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 May 18 - 09:39 PM

From the Conclusion of my Nukleer Stress Test Report:

"Perfusion imaging is abnormal. There is evidence of prior infarction in the territory of the right coronary artery. The left ventricle is dilated. Left ventribular systolic function is moderately reduced."

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 May 18 - 09:02 PM

From Amos, 12 hours ago:

"I am about to leave for the hospital, to deliver my weary bod into the hands of the Boojums and the medicos for a few days. I am particularly intrigued by the prospect of 4-6 hours under anaesthesia while my plumbing gets reconfigured. I would prefer to sit on the ceiling watching every move, but my spiritual powers may not be up to such prowess as an act of will. So I may just slip into darkness and (I would hope) slip back out again into wakefulness at the turn of a valve by some kind anaesthesiologist who (one hopes) is paying close attention."

Subject: RE: Jane's Rainbow: for all needing support & comfort
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 May 18 - 04:29 PM

Definitely thinking of Amos today.