We Endorse

Nerissa 

1. 20 Feet From Stardom. I know I am late to the party, here, but I still have to give this a shout out in case there are any music-loving humans left on the planet who have not yet seen this glorious documentary, which chronicles the careers of several seminal background singers from the 50s-the present. I was amazed to hear how often the same singers were used to create what really became the soundtrack to the life of a whole generation. This is my favorite part. Warning: Spoiler alert. If you are Katryna, don't watch this until you've seen the whole movie! 

 

Naked voice from Merry Clayton in Gimme Shelter

This movie made me love the music I grew up with even more than I already did. This movie made me so proud to call myself a singer, even though I will never hold a candle to these greats.

 

2. Far From the Tree--I am making a specialty of endorsing books I have not yet finished reading. So be it; I might never finish reading this one, as it's a 700 page tome. But it's SO GOOD, I think I probably will. Andrew Soloman (writer for the New York Times Magazine and the New Yorker; author of many other books, including The Noonday Demon) interviewed hundreds of families for this book. He starts with the premise that all parents (desperately, sometimes unconsciously) want their children to validate them, to reflect back to them the values they themselves have chosen. When this happens, a vertical identity is created; we feel the vertical identity in terms of race, class, sometimes gender, sometimes religion. But what happens when the child is significantly different? What if s/he is gay? Or deaf? Or a prodigy? In these cases, the child needs to create his/her own community, or a horizontal identity. What does the parent do, then? Struggle to get the child to conform to the world of the parent? Or join the child in his/her world, even when that world may be baffling or incomprehensible? This is a big, generous book about sacrifice, heartbreak, but also triumph, insight, growth and most of all, love.

 

3. FitBit--I got a FitBit last week, on a whim. I've been half-heartedly counting my steps for few months now, on a free Pacer app on my phone, and I occasionally got to the recommended 10,000 daily steps. (Only on Thursdays when I walk into town and back. Other days, it's me and my treadmill desk, as you've heard. And often, I would thoughtlessly place my phone on the desk, thereby not getting ANY CREDIT AT ALL for the steps.) Anyway, I got the FitBit with the watch in lieu of getting an Apple Watch (which I fear would turn me into a cyborg), and I went home, set it up, and without doing much more than run up and down the stairs to pack for our trip to Virginia, I got not only 10,000 steps, but also a lot of strange badges and awards. The trip to Virginia (no, I did not walk, though that would have been AWESOME in terms of getting my steps in) was part family vacation, part gig: Jammin Java with Katryna, Kit Karlson and Chip Johnson (so much fun to play with those guys!!!!!). But when I look back at this particular trip, what I will remember most is the walking. My mother (with sorry Pacer app) and Katryna (with even sorrier iPhone app--so sorry that she mostly just counted her steps like this: one, two, three...) and I went on hours of walks. Springtime in VA is a great time to walk, and we who have been through the recent East Coast winter count spring with its soft air and fragrant trees as nothing less than a full-blown miracle. 

There's nothing better in my book than to walk and talk with people I love. The next day we walked and talked and visited the Washington Mall. Our kids were variously interested in (and bored by) the American History Museum, the Hirshhorn, and the merry go round. The steps accrued, and I became aware that I cared almost as much about the number on my little screen as I did about the hearty benefits of walking--but only almost. Also that I get lots of steps when I do a show. And probably when I speak, if I wave my hands around a lot. For a good chuckle, read this excellent David Sedaris piece here from this week's New Yorker.

The story contest continues! We're on Week 13 right now, and the winner of the question (Can music really save your mortal soul?) will be answered later today. Here's Week 12's Question and winning Answer:

Week 12 Question: What was your favorite musical moment and why?

This is a hard question for me to answer, as I have so many "favorite" musical moments.  Most of those moments are individual moments (when I was able to figure out how to play Moon River on my trumpet, the first time I saw an orchestra perform at the Calumet Theater, when I met Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman after their performance at Hill Auditorium, the first time I saw The Nields at The Ark, etc.).  To me, those moments are personal, where my enjoyment of them may have had a lasting impact on me alone.

But I am not a solitary being.  I enjoy being part of a community, so for that reason I have to say that my favorite musical moment was the first time I went to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.  I had heard so much about the festival from the people on the Nields Nook.  After 5 years of hearing what a fantastic experience it was, I vowed that in 2003, I was not going to be part of the NAFR (not at Falcon Ridge) group.  It was amazing - seeing and hearing all of the great performances, being introduced to performers who I had never heard of, and meeting people face to face who I had only known via e-mail.  I felt like I was home.

-Theresa