Sunday, March 25, 2012

“You guys sounded so hot!”

I love getting a compliment like this about an orchestra put together for a show. And it’s especially sweet when it comes from other musician folks. (But I’ll take this compliment any day of the week from anybody!).

Someone said this to me during a run of ANNIE, which just completed its run at a nearby community theater. The person then explained what he meant – the the band’s sound was cohesive, well balanced, and full of energy. . . . Actually, what he said was, “you guys sound tight!” But it means the same thing.

I have generally asked the same group of musicians to play for shows I do; and have done so for a number of years now. Some musicians have played with me going on some three years or so. And given that I’ve averaged three to four musicals per season/year, some musicians have played with me for almost 9, perhaps upwards of 10-12, shows. And there’s a real benefit to this.

We’ve come to understand each other – each other’s way of playing and particular idiosyncrasies (I suppose that’s redundant … aren’t idiosyncrasies in and of themselves ‘particular’? But I digress)
We’re listening to each other’s playing – really listening so that we can quickly pick up on tempo changes, and those slight variations that occur for each performance. It’s much as a teacher once cajoled, “You have to breathe together.”

In this way, being exclusive – and being so for a few years now – helps improve the quality of the sound. These are the same guys who played with me two years ago in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” who then played with me in “Hairspray” a year later, and who now finished “Annie” just recently. Each time we’ve gotten better, more cohesive, … in short … we sound hot!

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Sunday, March 18, 2012

Goodbye Tigger

(On March 17, 2012 one of our cats lost his battle with cancer)

Tigger in his usual pose sitting in "my chair"

After only five short years with us, we made the difficult choice of saying goodbye to Tigger (shown here).

Back in 2007 our best friends discovered a litter of kittens in their garage. One Sunday my son and I went for a visit to see these little critters … and we both fell in love with this little gray tabby who looked at us with these sweet little eyes. “But we’ve got to get your mom to agree to this,” I told my son.

Within the week we towed the wife over “just to have a look.” Well, she took one look; and as the saying goes, ‘the rest is history.’

the day we brought Tigger home

“You really should take a second kitten,” our friend Lora said, “This way they’ll have each other for company.” HAHA! And wouldn’t you know it? We did! Tigger came with his sister, Aria, a teeny little calico – who by her size was the runt of the litter.

And so one night we transported our new family members home.

But what about the dog? Oy! We’ve had our dog, Fluff, for a couple of years now and she will likely be quite hyper with the addition of two new furry critters. So, we decided to keep the new kittens downstairs – separated with a gate at the stairs leading down (you know the kind that are used for babies …). And all worked out quite well.

The naming

What to name these two critters? It took a short while to come up with their names … the gray tabby would jump, quite literally, in a complete vertical … as though he bounced. Hence ‘Tigger.’ The little calico was quite the noise-maker … so we call her ‘Aria.’ They both seemed to approve.

Tigger and Aria often lounged together - this time on "my chair" Tigger and Aria lounging on a piano bench

A people cat!

We liked to call Tigger a cat who thought he was a dog. He was a lap-cat, to be sure … and would inevitably roll onto his back to let you scratch (or gently rub) his tummy.

And he LOVED the attention given him while he was on my lap! He’d ever-so-gently and slowly raise one of his front paws and lightly touch the tip of my chin – this was a signal that he wanted to be scratched, petted, or rubbed. But nevertheless … attention had to be paid.

And as for the dog? … Tigger and Fluff were bosom buddies. It seemed that you’d never find one without the other. Sleeping/napping, or just hanging out – these two were almost always together. And it seemed that they looked out for each other, too. tigg-and-fluff

Fluff has this big – well, fluffy tail … and Tigger would often “primp” the dog’s tail … actually he was more likely trying to arrange the fur into something a bit more comfortable for him to lie on. Tigger would weave himself in and out of Fluff’s legs – rubbing up against her. And Fluff would often lick Tigger’s ears or the top of his head.

The second most common position

Tigger managed to commandeer Fluff’s bed/pillow in our living room – this and the top of a recliner chair being his two favorite placed to hang out, nap, or just ‘meditate.’

Whenever company came … family, friends – even total strangers …. Tigger was right there to greet them. And within only a few minutes, he’d be at your legs or on you lap looking to be stroked.

I work from home (have done since 2006); and Tigger was a near constant companion. I lost count of the number of conference calls or meetings I had with him on my lap just purring and hanging out. And if it wasn’t my lap, it was my desk or the window sill – him looking out onto the street in front of our home.

 tigginchristmas

Unfortunately, Tigger got quite sick about two months ago. He was unable to keep any food down. The vet, at the time, ran some simple blood tests and couldn’t find anything wrong. Perhaps it was just something that disagreed with him … or his stomach had become overly sensitive. So, we began a regimen of soft food for him.

But he never really recovered. He lost a great deal of weight very quickly … and then just stopped eating entirely. We discovered that it was probably a very aggressive type of cancer; and it now seemed to have attacked his liver to the point where it nearly shut down. Tigger was in a great deal of discomfort and pain. And we just couldn’t see him suffering any longer.

My wife and son said their final goodbyes and Tigger went to sleep.

tigger004

It really is quite remarkable how much this little guy was such an important part of our family. Of course, Fluff and Aria are a little bit confused as they’re looking for their brother. Yet, we’re so thankful for the time we had with Tigger – lots of love and laughs and joy!