Sometimes it's just the shear pleasure of singing.

Last night my wife and I went to a wake for the Mother of our Pastor. She was in her mid-90's, and a feisty old woman right up until the end. We visited her a month or so ago and she was determined that we help her get up and walk, despite long ago having lost the strength in her legs to do it. B[[[[[[[[[[[[=[=--[[[[=-----------[p[=============================================================================================== (just spilled some oatmeal on my key board and was getting out from between the keys.)

Black Baptist wakes are often as lively as Irish wakes (without the beer.) Last night, the Men's Chorus that Joe, Frankie and I are in sang for two hours, without taking a break. That's a lot of songs. And, because we didn't have a practice, it meant that we did a lot of songs that we hadn't done in as long ago as a year. Our Director Dan would play the opening piano introduction and we'd all look around to see where they guy was who did the lead. There was a lot of folks what turned white momentarily last night, when they realized they were going to have to go up and sing lead on a song they hadn't sung in a year. Frankie sang lead on Nobody Knows The Troubles I've seen (and didn't sing it Nobody knows de troubles Obscene) and Two Wings, Joe sang Lord, Teach Me How To Rest, and I lead Trouble In My Way and There's A Leak In This Old Building (which I'd never sung before....) We were pulling old songs out of the hat, with Dan singing lead on several songs because the lead singer wasn't there (and Dan never sings lead.) It was quite a night. Whatever attitudes or beliefs Catters have, I'm sure that most people in here would have had a great time singing. It felt much like the shear pleasure of singing a whole program of sea chanteys, but with a different meaning for us.

When we finished, we all realized how tired we were. We sang standing, for two solid hours. And probably could have gone another hour..

Yes, Ron, there is absolutely no topic on this thread. Kinda like a conversation around a kitchen table. That was the whole point of starting this thread. Funny thing is, I went looking for a DVD of Amadeus yesterday because I too love the movie, and I think that my wife Ruth would enjoy it, as we visited so many places where he lived and wrote music on out trip to Europe last fall. I couldn't find it, but I picked up a widescreen copy of the new King Kong.

My tastes are nothing, if they aren't catholic. With a small "c."

Jerry