I'm not a Facebook fan. I don't use it personally and, while I do miss keeping up with friends and family, and their kids, grandkids, and pets, I'm mostly happy that I canceled my account and got the hell out of that particular Dodge.
But since I am an occasional FB poster for a charity I volunteer with, I do maintain a sort of account using my real first name, the acronym for the charity, Christmas day as my birthday, and - for my icon - a smiley face wearing a Santa cap. (Ssshhhh. Don't tell anyone I have this fakish account. Honest to God, I'm not a Russian and I don't troll.)
Anyway, I think you need to be on FB to look at stuff on FB, so I'm now just as glad I have my fake-o access so that I can listen in to Seventh Inning Stretch, which I did for the first time yesterday. And will be checking in on regularly from now on.
Seventh Inning Stretch is the brainchild of Fenway Park organist Josh Kantor who, each afternoon at 3 p.m., does a half-hour-ish long organ concert from his living room, at an organ decorated with a couple of baseball bobbleheads, baseball cards, and a Red Sox cap. Josh (who's also a part-time music librarian at Harvard) has been performing this wonderful public service since baseball season didn't begin, and will continue until things are back to normal.
Yesterday, I took in my first Josh Kantor concert. Josh played a tune, then spoke a little about what was on his mind. I'm not sure if this is the regular format. I'll know more once I've tuned in a few more times, which I plan to do. Anyway, yesterday what was on Josh's mind was the 73rd anniversary of Jackie Robinson's major league, breaking-the-color-line baseball debut. (For Boston locals, it was also he 7th anniversary of the Marathon Bombing.)
He - Josh, not Jackie - also made a pitch for a donation to whatever your local foodbank is. (You can find your local foodbank by going to Feeding America and putting in your zipcode. Mine is the Greater Boston Food Bank and thanks to Josh's prod, I threw a few bucks their way.)
I take it the formal start of the Stretch is, as it would be half-way through the seventh inning at the ballpark, the playing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Instead of singing "I don't care if I never get back", we are asked to sing "I do care..." Which I do, indeed. I didn't stand and stretch, which I would have done at Fenway, but I did sit and sing. I even teared up a bit. (Have I mentioned how much I miss baseball?)
In honor of Jackie Robinson, Josh than played "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the (unofficial) African-American anthem. Lovely.
Assisted by his wife Mary Eaton, Josh then started taking requests from the FB chat request line. (Mary is a minister who works with Boston's homeless population.)
Josh can't handle all the requests - during any given Stretch there'll be hundreds of them - but he has incredible knowledge and range, a photographic memory and the ability to hear a tune once and be able to play it by ear.
During yesterday's concert, Josh took requests for, among other songs, "Dancing Queen," "I Want to Dance with Somebody," "In the Navy," and the Beatles' "Taxman." (Normally, yesterday would have been tax day.)
I was disappointed that he and Mary ignored requests for local 1967 hit, "The Man They Call Yaz"; the theme from The Banana Splits; and "Una Paloma Blanca." This latter request completely cracked me up, as the requester wrote that this song was "a memory from my wretched middle school years."
Maybe we'll hear these gems next time. And, for me, there certainly will be a next time. And a next time. And a next time.
The show is sweet, heartfelt, and tonic to the ears of anyone missing the organ music at Fenway Park, or wherever it is that their boys of summer play.
Seventh Inning Stretch is the brainchild of Fenway Park organist Josh Kantor who, each afternoon at 3 p.m., does a half-hour-ish long organ concert from his living room, at an organ decorated with a couple of baseball bobbleheads, baseball cards, and a Red Sox cap. Josh (who's also a part-time music librarian at Harvard) has been performing this wonderful public service since baseball season didn't begin, and will continue until things are back to normal.
Yesterday, I took in my first Josh Kantor concert. Josh played a tune, then spoke a little about what was on his mind. I'm not sure if this is the regular format. I'll know more once I've tuned in a few more times, which I plan to do. Anyway, yesterday what was on Josh's mind was the 73rd anniversary of Jackie Robinson's major league, breaking-the-color-line baseball debut. (For Boston locals, it was also he 7th anniversary of the Marathon Bombing.)
He - Josh, not Jackie - also made a pitch for a donation to whatever your local foodbank is. (You can find your local foodbank by going to Feeding America and putting in your zipcode. Mine is the Greater Boston Food Bank and thanks to Josh's prod, I threw a few bucks their way.)
I take it the formal start of the Stretch is, as it would be half-way through the seventh inning at the ballpark, the playing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Instead of singing "I don't care if I never get back", we are asked to sing "I do care..." Which I do, indeed. I didn't stand and stretch, which I would have done at Fenway, but I did sit and sing. I even teared up a bit. (Have I mentioned how much I miss baseball?)
In honor of Jackie Robinson, Josh than played "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the (unofficial) African-American anthem. Lovely.
Assisted by his wife Mary Eaton, Josh then started taking requests from the FB chat request line. (Mary is a minister who works with Boston's homeless population.)
Josh can't handle all the requests - during any given Stretch there'll be hundreds of them - but he has incredible knowledge and range, a photographic memory and the ability to hear a tune once and be able to play it by ear.
During yesterday's concert, Josh took requests for, among other songs, "Dancing Queen," "I Want to Dance with Somebody," "In the Navy," and the Beatles' "Taxman." (Normally, yesterday would have been tax day.)
I was disappointed that he and Mary ignored requests for local 1967 hit, "The Man They Call Yaz"; the theme from The Banana Splits; and "Una Paloma Blanca." This latter request completely cracked me up, as the requester wrote that this song was "a memory from my wretched middle school years."
Maybe we'll hear these gems next time. And, for me, there certainly will be a next time. And a next time. And a next time.
The show is sweet, heartfelt, and tonic to the ears of anyone missing the organ music at Fenway Park, or wherever it is that their boys of summer play.
“This is a long haul,” says Eaton, known as the “Rev. Mary” on the show. “It’s not that we’re bored. It’s that people are working really hard to figure out what to do and are exhausted mentally, physically and spiritually and need to stretch, just to give themselves permission to rest in the middle of the day. To have a respite. We need it.” (Source: Wapo)Yes, Mary, we do need it. A grateful Red Sox Nation thanks you and Josh for taking such good care of us in our time of need.
1 comment:
only a game on wbur did a segment on this last weekend. It sounded like he is figuring out how to play stuff on the fly and the ones he does not do may ones he does not know well enough to do off the top of his head or does no know at all
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