Choirs, Wild Man Blues and an 8th Habit!

This weekend Krista has been out in Saskatoon for the 10th anniversary of the Cecilian Singers and also for Rachel's wedding shower. The Cecilian Singers are a Saskatoon choir directed by Michelle, who is a good friend and music colleague of Krista's mom, Barbara. I think almost everybody in Krista's family - except maybe Annika - has been involved in this choir at one time or another, so they were all invited to come sing at this anniversary. Rachel and her mom are also involved with the choir too. I just talked to Krista on the phone, and she said she'll be home in between 11 and 12 tonight... so I can start counting down the hours.

So amidst all the music and festivities of Saskatoon, I decided to stay home as I'm starting a new position tommorrow with the Municipal Hertitage Partnership Program for the Province of Alberta. I get to head off to Red Deer tommorrow for the Alberta Planning Conference, to learn about civic planning issues in the province.

In order to pass the time, I rented a movie from our local Parkallen Video Gallery, and had a nice talk with Jeff, who owns the place. He's a filmmaker himself, and a great guy to talk to. Jeff, somewhat to my surprise, is a fan of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I was mainly surprised by this because Jeff is sort of hippie-esque (while at the same time running a successful small business). I mentioned I'd taken a 13-week course on the 7 Habits, and despite being put off by the jargon, benefited from much of the actual material. He then showed me a book by Buckminster Fuller that he said was the origin of the concept of "synergy," and also nearly knocked my socks off by announcing that - lo and behold - Covey has now identified an 8th habit! The 8th habit is all about encouraging "greatness" in others and in the world.

Krista and I have been enjoying the brilliant sit-com Arrested Development. But I also felt like a little music-travel documentary, so I picked up Wild Man Blues which is a documentary film about Woody Allen's jazz band. Not very many people know that Allen has been accomplished clarinetist since the early 1960s. As a young stand up comedian, he'd ask to sit in with the band in the clubs. His vernacular is the primitive New Orleans jazz style popularized by people like Sidney Bechet, and he's really good. Apparently Allen plays every Monday night in Manhattan at a little place called Michael's Pub. In 1997 he took his band to Europe, playing packed concerts all over the continent. Wild Man Blues documents this tour. At the end, Woody goes and visits his parents, who are in their late 90s. A great scene. At one point, his dad says, "maybe you think just because you wrote a script, and everybody liked it, you think you're some kind of bigshot, well that's a bunch of hokum!"


As I was listening I was shocked to hear one particular tune. I recognized it immediately as The Old Rugged Cross, done in a New Orleans jass style. I can remember Grandpa Russ singing this song. But doesn't this seem incongruous for some reason... a famous Jewish comedian playing this incredible tribute to the Cross? Was this an ironic statement, or is "The Old Rugged Cross" simply a standard of New Orleans jazz? I was struck by Allen's incredible clarinet on this tune - breathy and full of emotion, almost, to use Abraham Heschel's word "pathos." It was both wierd and also so 'right' at the same time. Allen to me, though of course lacking the whiskers, embodied something of the strange beauty of the Hebrew prophets. They also did Rock of Ages.