Text 20525, 60 rader
Skriven 2007-09-21 17:21:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: 9/11 rite - ground 160
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And on to the Sheraton, where I'd left my tux and viola in
the hands of my colleague Jersey Joe, associate conductor
of the orchestra that was giving a 9-11 memorial concert at
the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Chatted
with him and his wife Pat, another SO who doesn't get the
frequent flyer thing but still enjoys flying in the front
of the plane! Had a good chat and then took the bus out to
the concert site, which, according to its Web page, is
one of the ten largest-capacity church sanctuaries in the
world. It certainly is mighty impressive, but there are
interesting acoustical issues that come from such cavernous
size. The seated capacity in the main church is 3500, total
6000; I don't think we came close to filling it, but
certainly we must have got into the 4 figures.

The theme of the concert was "Thus Spake America," the
message one of faith and optimism with a chunk of somber
commemoration and a bit of defiance thrown in. I thought
the remembrance part was underplayed for my taste and the
optimism a bit high-spirited for the occasion (Yankee Doodle
Dandy and God Bless the USA).

Interestingly, most of the politicos turning out for the
event were Dems. We were sort of hoping (?) Orrin Hatch
would come out for our performance of a song he'd written
("Heal Our Land"), but he apparently had other things to do,
like worry about Iraq. There were also various dignitaries
from veterans' groups and the like, none of which I'd ever
heard of, but then I'm no expert. Adrian Cronauer, the
original "Good Morning Vietnam" guy, and Heather French
Henry, Miss America 2000, were the emcees. There were a
bunch of singers, too, also none I'd ever heard of, though
all very good, including Grammy-winner Larnelle Harris, who
sang in a very florid sort of neo-Gospel style.

The orchestra and chorus were made up mostly of health care
personnel from the Veterans' Administration and was about
as amateur as you would expect (though I have over the years
met a number of medical people who are as good musicians as
I am and sometimes more passionate about music than I - such
as my friend McCully, a pathologist at the VA in Providence
whom I hoped would be there, as I haven't seen him in quite
some time), with some more or less professional help; the
most notable feature about the hugely enthusiastic conductor
was the absurd Elvis-like wig he donned over his scraggly
middle-aged baldness for the concert. I.e., no particular
musical highlight except for the Harris segment, which I
hadn't even known was going to happen until I arrived for
the performance.

The event lasted two hours and change, including brass and
organ pre-concert, color guard, and so on, and I had plenty
of time to get back to Friendship Heights for the last bus
home. In fact, I just missed the second-to-last one and went
to Clyde's for a nightcap - on returning to the bus stop I
encountered my brother just returning from a pilgrimage of
his own, to Ground Zero via Amtrak (he splurged and got
himself business class, more power to him).
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