Singing the Blues Away with the Strathdees
Sometimes an experience makes you want to weep and jump for joy and bow down to God to say thank you. Such was the concert last month by Jim and Jean Strathdee. A Christian couple of the Methodist persuasion, they were church choir directors for 17 years in Sacramento. Now they travel to share the music Jim has written or arranged.
Church choir members from at least five different congregations were asked to become part of an instant choir. We met at the Methodist church in Toledo, a wonderful old edifice. Seated in soprano, alto, tenor and bass sections, we learned three songs to perform with the Strathdees that night. The Strathdees are wonderful directors, exacting without being cruel.
After rehearsal, we had a wonderful dinner downstairs in the basement--the most delicious collection of salads: pear and walnut, sweet potato, cole slaw--plus the best French bread ever, chocolate cake that tasted like fudge, and hot applesauce with whipped cream.
Back in the sanctuary, we shared a prayer and a concert. Our stint on stage went well. How could it not when the directors showered us with so much love?
We spent most of the evening on our feet, with more ups and downs than the Catholics do. There were sweet, soft songs and loud, rowdy ones where we clapped and stomped and shook percussion instruments while singing the harmonies that came to us. But toward the end, Jean brought the room to absolute silence as she told about their son Michael, who committed suicide six years ago. He had bi-polar disease which was diagnosed and treated too late. She pleaded for more openness about mental illness. It is a physical imbalance, not something to be ashamed of, and if more people could just talk about it, tragedies could be avoided. She was so overcome that she sat out the next song, struggling with her emotions, while Jim sang about their son at three years old. Knowing that he is gone made the song even more poignant. And knowing the story increased our love for this tall woman who kept messing up her dark curly hair and this stocky, bearded man with suspenders over his plaid shirts.
We all sang a couple more songs, ending with a song of celebration.
I haven't been so filled with the spirit since I attended Pete Seeger concerts at Golden Gate Park years ago. Jim Strathdee told me later that Pete is one of his heroes.
I bought one of the Strathdees' CDs, "Stand." You know how sometimes when you go to a concert and buy a CD, it doesn't sound anything like the concert? Not this time. It sounds exactly like the concert, wonderful, inspiring, pure. It has a lot of get-up-and- sing music. You want to dance and sing harmony and thank God you're alive. I need to buy the sheet music, too, so nicely compiled into books for each album. See their website at www.strathdeemusic.com to buy their music and help support their ministry. It doesn't matter what religion you belong to. It's all about a God who loves you, period.
People who knew about the Strathdees acted as if the Beatles were coming. Now I understand why.
Publications:
Alert: I'm in two new anthologies now: A Cup of Comfort for Families Touched by Alzheimer's and Humor for the Boomer's Heart. I'll be touring a bit in Oregon this month to promote the Alzheimer's book—and I'm available locally or afar by phone or e-mail for interviews, discussions, etc. It's a subject I'm feeling more passionate about every day. I'll be signing books at Sea Towne Books in Newport Nov. 8 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and you can hear me on Rebecca Cohen's "Book Talk" show on KCUP 1230 am Nov. 10 at 9 a.m. If you can't listen then, you can hear it on the Internet at KCUP.net.
I will join other Oregon contributors for readings at the Borders store in Beaverton from 1 to 3 p.m. on Nov. 15 and we'll take our show to the Krakow Koffeehouse in Portland at 7 p.m. on Nov. 18.
I will talk about the Boomer book and read from it wherever I can. I'm excited to share the pages with such big names in humor. See review below.
Of course I wrote these pieces a while back. As they say in show biz, what have you done lately? Mostly I've been attending and teaching at conferences. I have a lot in progress, but nothing to share right now except my "Everything But Writing Column" at the Scriptorium. This month: office ergonomics.
The Muse Online Conference
last month I traveled all the way to Georgia to teach at the Chattahoochee Valley Writers Conference. That was fabulous, but I think I came away with even more information and inspiration from the Muse Online Writers Conference which I attended right here in my office. Can you believe this weeklong conference is free? Sign up for the 2009 version at the website now. Daily forums with assignments and lots of feedback from the instructors and fellow students, plus real-time chats, and lots of handouts kept me extremely busy. Among the benefits from the classes I took: I've got a poetry chapbook laid out and ready for me to revise the poems, fill in some blanks and publish it. I learned how to use social networks on the Internet, set up a virtual book tour, and put together a media kit, and I wrote essays six out of seven days. It was like completing a master's program in a week. If I looked preoccupied the third week of October, that's why. And yes, I missed the Nye Beach Writer's program. I was so full of good writing I decided to stay home and watch a movie instead. (The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn—see it. It's a beautiful story)
Writer Events
Our coast Willamette Writers chapter meets on election night, Nov. 4, but the subject is fiction with author/professor Scott Nadelson. His talk will focus on characters. The doors open at 6:30, with the program at 7. Admission is free. Looking ahead to December, we will share our accomplishments for the year and hold an open mic for all comers. If you have a book to sell, you can put it out on the table. Again, just show up to join the celebration. If you feel so inclined, bring some Christmas goodies.
Writers on the Edge continues its programs the third Saturday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Newport Visual Arts Center. The November 15 guests are seven contributors to Walking Bridges Using Poetry as a Compass: Poems about Bridges Real and Imagined.
The book's co-editor, Sharon Wood Wortman, is also the author of The Portland Bridge Book, which had its first and second editions published by the Oregon Historical Society Press in 1989 and 2001. Additional information about her many projects is posted at www.bridgestories.com.
The Adventures of Chico and Annie
Chico learned to play the piano this month. I've told you they were geniuses, haven't I? Well, they are. I was sitting at the keyboard. He came over to visit and accidentally hit a note with his nose. He liked that one so much, he hit a few more, playing a little song. He takes after his mom.
Annie and Chico both learned a lot last month:
* The space in front of the pellet stove is a great place to relax, but if you touch the hot stove with your nose, it hurts.
* If you eat lattice and quilt stuffing, you throw up.
* Honey mustard dressing tastes wonderful. Pizza is even better.
* Those big white boxes in the kitchen and laundry room are full of FOOD, and the counters are swell places to explore.
* Dancing with the Stars is fun to watch.
* If they don't wet on the rug, Sue lets them stay in. If they do, she yells.
* If they play keep-away with the portable phone, old Sue will run pretty fast, and if they keep pushing
buttons with their lips, a lady comes on and talks to them.
The pups are eight and a half months old now. They hear the words "OFF!" and "STAY!" so much they probably think those are their names. The damage tally for last month: two socks, two handkerchiefs, two rope toys, three rubber toys, and one blanket. I got a refund for the rubber Kong toy that was supposed to be virtually indestructible. Annie had it in pieces within an hour.
I learned that I can power-lift a 55-pound dog when I
find him standing in the middle of the dining-room
table.
Fred keeps asking how long this jumping and
chewing phase will last. Oh, another year or two,
I tell him. But the pups sleep between adventures,
usually in exactly the same position. It's amazing.
They should get an award for synchronized
sleeping.
They earn their puppy chow. When someone comes
around, they bark. I don't think the Terminex guy
will ever show up again without calling first. Both
pups greeted him face to face at the gate,
flashing those big white teeth. Good dogs!
Book Report
Humor for a Boomer's Heart, Howard Books division of Simon & Schuster, 2008. I can't believe I have something published in this book of big names in the humor-writing business. Bill Cosby and Robert Fulghum are here. Do you think Bill is reading my piece and chuckling? That would be so cool. But on to the review. I don't laugh out loud very often. When I read the comics, I occasionally nod, but rarely even snicker. But this book had me laughing, chuckling, guffawing and reading out loud to the dogs. My favorite was Margot Starbuck's "Safe Travel," about the travails of getting through airport security. It is so right on, from the check-in kiosks to stripping for the x-ray machine to the self-flush toilet that doesn't. Most of the pieces are short enough to read at one sitting and have another, like those great frosted brownies my mom used to make. Read it. Share it with your friends, and if you have a chance, mention that Sue Lick is between the covers with Bill Cosby.
Rhine Maidens by Carolyn See, Ballantine Books, 1989 (orig. 1981 Coward, McCann and Geoghegan). You have two women, Grace, a foul-mouthed aging mother with a negative attitude, and her daughter Garnet, who left home early, married a Hollywood producer, has two kids and a perfect home. This is a book about attitudes much more than plot. I can't mention anything that happens without spoiling what little plot there is, but I can talk about the organization of this book. Grace and Garnet alternate, Grace telling her story to someone named Pearl. Garnet tells her side in supposed journal entries for a college class, but no teacher would ever accept what she writes. Grace's coarse dialogue grates after a while, we become annoyed wondering who Pearl is, and everything just seems to go on too long. We never find out who the Rhine Maidens are, although we might be able to hazard a guess based on the last chapter--which introduces a new character out of the blue who seems to change Grace's attitude. Rhine Maidens does make one think about how our perceptions color our feelings about events in our lives, but it's a tough read.
Duplicate Keys by Jane Smiley, Pocket Books, 1984. If you start giving your keys out willy-nilly, you never know who might come in and murder you. That's the moral of this story, an early suspense novel by the Pulitzer Prize winner. She must have gotten better over the years. Sorry, Jane. Actually once you get past the first 100 pages, it's pretty engaging. Our protagonist, Alice, a mild-manner librarian who often gets the vapors, finds two of her friends murdered in their apartment. They are all part of a band of buddies that has been together for years. Of course none of them could have done it, right? As the investigation goes on, everyone is a suspect, and Alice gets herself into trouble, of course. I read the last hundred pages in a gulp, so it's not all bad, but I sure had trouble figuring out who was who and what was what in the beginning. Proceed with caution, and don't give out copies of your keys.
End Notes
That's all for now. Can you believe Halloween is history and the stores are already showing Christmas items? Here on the Oregon coast, we're about to embark on our eight-month rainy season. Get those slickers ready. Pile up the wood, candles and AA batteries. Happy birthday, Tim, Sandy and everyone else was born this month. May the election go peacefully and decisively, with no hanging chads. Whoever wins, let's all come together as one nation working together. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
Hugs,
Sue
All contents copyright 2008 Sue Fagalde Lick.
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