Waiting For The Miracle (Leonard Cohen)

Baby, I've been waiting

I've been waiting night and day

I didn't see the time

I waited half my life away

There were lots of invitations

And I know you sent me some

But I was waiting

For the miracle, for the miracle to come

I know you really loved me

But, you see, my hands were tied

I know it must have hurt you

It must have hurt your pride

To have to stand beneath my window

With your bugle and your drum

And me I'm up there waiting

For the miracle, for the miracle to come

Ah I don't believe you'd like it

You wouldn't like it here

There ain't no entertainment

And the judgments are severe

The Maestro says it's Mozart

But it sounds like bubble gum

When you're waiting

For the miracle, for the miracle to come

Waiting for the miracle

There's nothing left to do

I haven't been this happy

Since the end of World War II

Nothing left to do

When you know that you've been taken

Nothing left to do

When you're begging for a crumb

Nothing left to do

When you've got to go on waiting
Waiting for the miracle to come

I dreamed about you, baby

It was just the other night

Most of you was naked

Ah but some of you was light

The sands of time were falling

From your fingers and your thumb

And you were waiting
For the miracle, for the miracle to come

Ah baby, let's get married

We've been alone too long

Let's be alone together

Let's see if we're that strong

yeah let's do something crazy

Something absolutely wrong

While we're waiting
For the miracle, for the miracle to come

Nothing left to do

When you know that you've been taken

Nothing left to do

When you're begging for a crumb

Nothing left to do

When you've got to go on waiting
Waiting for the miracle to come

When you've fallen on the highway

And you're lying in the rain

And they ask you how you're doing

Of course you'll say you can't complain --

If you're squeezed for information

That's when you've got to play it dumb:

You just say you're out there waiting

For the miracle, for the miracle to come

{Outro}

-----
Leonard Cohen
Waiting for the Miracle lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Bluegrass

I went to the Bassment tonight with Eric to watch some bluegrass.

I discovered Eliza Doyle last month on my way to Regina, when the CBC did a spotlight on Saskatchewan talent.  Been listening to her ever since...

Never been into bluegrass, but I can see the appeal.  Don't know much about the industry, but it seems to me that it hasn't been corrupted by the incessant commercialism that so poisons mainstream music these days.

Doyle's very talented, with a unique music style.  Her lyrics were mostly about love and loss - but they were down to earth, unpretentious.  And she had a great sense of humour and wit about her.  She seemed real, genuine.  It made the entire evening very pleasant.

Solos In The Messiah

I like choirs much more than solos.  But in recent weeks I've been paying more attention to solos, and particularly in the Messiah, the solo below struck me immensely as I listened to Handel's Messiah tonight:

He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn;

the Lord shall have them in derision.

(Psalm 2:4)

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;

thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

(Psalm 2:9)

When I heard it sung tonight at the annual Christmas performance I was struck at the forcefulness and power of a strong tenor.

Dance Me To The End Of Love (Leonard Cohen)

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Oh, let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

-----

Leonard Cohen

Dance me to the End of Love lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Leonard

I'm devastated.

I've been searching for years for a musician whose music I can sink my music into.  Finally, earlier this year, I found him.  But today he died.

Composer of such gems as Hallelujah, Dance Me to the End of Love, and Take this Waltz, Leonard Cohen has - had - it all: the voice, the guitar, the mind, the intellect, the emotions, the sense of humour.  He had this brilliant ability to embrace the tensions of opposites in life: hope and despair, joy and sorrow, optimism and cynicism.  He could be both extremes at the same time.

His music was beyond categorization: pop, rock, soul, gospel, even country.  Of the typical categories, folk would probably describe him best, at least for me.

I heard someone describe his genre as "Truth".  Someone else categorized him as "Good".

Poet-singer?

Cohenesque?

Singer-songwriter?

Apparently when he was asked how to categorize his music, he replied with "Deeply agreeable to the heart."  That suffices, I think.

I will be listening for his music for the rest of my life I'm sure.  He was such a prolific writer, it will take me a good 2 years to even familiarize myself with his music, much less begin to understand and integrate it.

Lord have mercy on his soul.

Jesse Cook

Tonight Marco, Eric, Michelle and I went to see Jesse Cook at the Jazz Festival.  What a fantastic event.

We got to the Bess around 7, hung out and enjoying the scenery before taking in the concert at 9 and onwards.  Shortly after arriving, Marco, Eric and I were just kinda hanging out when low and behold, Jesse walked by.  I greeted him, and he didn't hesitate and stopped to talk to us.  I was so shocked I didn't know what to say.  The conversation didn't last long, but he did compliment me on my One World tour t-shirt before continuing on his way.

There were a number of things that I really liked about this concert.  One, it was outdoors - so pleasant to be out there, sitting in our lawn chairs; two, it didn't feel like I was just attending a concert, the whole place had a festival-like atmosphere; and three, there was dancing, lots of dancing - I spent most of the concert at the front, dancing my heart out.  It was great!

Date With Coeur De Pirate

I finally got to see Coeur de Pirate.  Amazing.  What a talented musician.  And such a contagious smile and personality.  I wish she lived here, was a bit older, Christian, ink-less, and single.  I saw her perform on Valentine's Day - I wonder if that qualifies as a date...

My favourite songs were actually her newer ones: Crier tout bas, Undone, Oceans brawl, and Cast away.  The best one of all was Carry on.  It was her final song and she invited everyone to pack the isles and dance - and in prairie fashion, she didn't have to ask twice.  Of her old songs, the best one was Le long du large.

Pirate Heart...Coming To Town!

Yesterday I spotted this sign:

Oh man, I'm SO looking forward to this concert.  She's going to blow off the roof with her gorgeous voice and piano playing.  I seriously cannot wait...

This is a coup for Saskatoon.

A Christmas Tradition

How I love Handel's Messiah!  It's truly a work that's stood the test of time, as I never get sick of it.  I listen to it for about two months a year: Advent, leading up to Christmas, and Lent, leading to Easter.

It's truly a treasure the church possesses.

I didn't take the picture below but it shows the context in which I enjoyed it tonight, at Knox United Church.

My New Guitar

I look happy don't I!  It's because of my new guitar!  It's a Yamaha CPX 500 III, shaped like a "concert" guitar.

I have no ambitions of becoming the next Slash, Jesse Cook or Paco de Lucia. I do want to learn how to play some basic chords and accompany hymn singing, maybe at work.  Down the road, if I like playing enough, I may buy a classical guitar and take flamenco lessons.

But for now, I'd be happy to learn the C, D, F, and G chords!

Practising Guitar

I got back from the west coast on Monday of this week, and I've quickly settled back into my Mon-Fri work routine.  It's nice to arrive on a Sunday and having Monday off work (Labour Day) as a way of getting resettled and organized for the rest of the work week.

I started learning guitar a few weeks ago.  I planned on having a instructor, but after finding out that they charge $25 for 30 minutes, I decided to do it for free instead, via DVD, at least until I know the basics.  So a friend of mine, Garnet, lent me the Steve Krenz dvd series, and I've been learning that way for the past month, and it's working for me.  This week, I practised 15-30 minutes every day.  I'm using two guitars, Garnet's old one, and one I borrowed from work.

The weather's noticeably cooler at night lately.  Summer's last few weeks are upon us.  Tomorrow I want to mow the lawn, do some gardening, and of course, play some more guitar.

Jazz Festival

The jazz festival has been on all this week and I finally went to see a show at the Free Stage (19th and Broadway) this evening with Eric.  I'm not a huge jazz fan, but Ikebe Shakedown did just that: they shook down the place, and thoroughly pleased my musical senses.

It was good to get out and about.  I spend a lot of time at home, so it was refreshing for the soul to be out and listening to some good music.

Jesse Cook x 2

What a treat.  I saw Jesse Cook twice this week: Thursday night here in Saskatoon, and last night in Regina.  That's worth celebrating...

He released his latest album, One World.  Musically, he tries to combine music from a number of cultures, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and then adds some modern elements and sounds.  I like the result much more than his last album, but I much prefer his stuff from 10+ years ago, like Nomad or Frontiers; even The Rumba Foundation has more appeal to me than his new stuff, but still, Jesse is Jesse, and whatever he tinkers with in the studio usually comes out sounding like genius.  And he's such an amazing musician and performer.

He played the same set on both nights, and it was something along the following lines:

Cafe Mocha

Gravity

Taxi Brazil

Once

Bogota by Bus

Incantation

Gaita

Havana

Baghdad

Intermission

Shake

Bombai Diner (or was it Bombay Slam?)

Azul

Luna Llena

A lengthy medley (Mario Takes a Walk, Closer to Madness, Air, Jumpstart, Matisse the Cat, Gipsy, and I think there were at least 3 or 4 other mixed in there)

Fall at your Feet

Cecilia

Saskatoon pictures:

Regina picturres:

I am thankful that I got to see this wonderful performer not only once but twice in the past few days.  I find that his music inspires and calms me in a way that little other music does.

Here is the ending of one of his best songs, in Regina: Fall at Your Feet.  This was the second to last song they played, and they came out into the middle of the crowd to sing it.  Wonderful.

Ode To Flamenco

Last night was one of those evenings that I will not soon forget.  I went to a flamenco act and left completely blown away.  Dance.  Song.  Art.  Story.  The performers - Miguel Infante, Celedonio Garrido, and Ricardo Diaz - are from Spain, and together with local performers they put on a show that stole my heart.

Flamenco captivates my soul like few other things.  Canto (singing), toque (guitar playing), baile (dance), jaleo (vocalizations and rhythmic sounds), palmas (clapping), and pitos (finger snapping) are all part of the flamenco experience.  Add to this the elements of traditional dress and musical instruments, and the experience becomes intensely physical.

Something from the spiritual realm draws me into the experience, I'm sure.  Maybe it's the human story that's told in this beautiful art form.  Stories of delight and ecstasy, and stories of loss and despair; stories of connection and stories of loneliness; stories of triumph and stories of defeat; stories of thriving and stories of suffering.  

Come to think of it, it's the stories of heart wrenching hardship that resonate deeply within me.  Mysteries.  The unresolved and unresolvable.  The broken.  The stuff of this world.  These are realities I'm well familiar with not only in my life but also in what I see all around me.  Longing - for connection with the world around me, with my fellow neighbour, and with God.  Longing for the next world.  Heaven.  These are good desires that I yearn to have fulfilled.  And yet, they are not...yet.

I haven't read or studied much about the origins of flamenco but I''ve heard there are Indian, Arabic, and Spanish links.  The wailing sounds of jaleo, for example, are present in all 3 cultures.  This is, in my mind, a great example of the fluidity in space and time of ideas and ways of living.

Equally intriguing is the gipsy connection.  The Roma or gitanos are nomadic, always on the run, never settling, never finding a place to call home.  This makes for an easy connection with people of faith.  We too are nomads, pilgrims, on the run.  On our way somewhere else. One could also state it positively: pilgrims are at home everywhere.  They are resilient, able to deal with whatever comes their way.  The world is their home.  Whatever the case may be, pilgrims are on the go.

Flamenco is a celebration of life.  The colours of the dresses, the powerful guitar riffs, the intense clapping, finger snapping and foot tapping, the trance-inducing rhythms, the stories shared, the elegance and dignity in dance movements, the "oles" and smiles of approval by and between both, performers and audience, these are all attributes that in a simple yet profound way encapsulate the human experience: in good times and in bad, we're all in this together, let's make the best of it...

And to that I would add the exhortation: ...pursuing all that is good, true, and beautiful.

Made Alive

My favourite musical piece - Handel's Messiah - was on tonight at a church in Regina.  What a gorgeous masterpiece!  I never tire of hearing it...

As so often happens, we are impacted by something - a melody, words, a voice, or an instrument - and today what impacted me was the lyrics to Since by man came death:

Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

  

These words speak wonderfully about the role of Christ - the second Adam - in God's salvific plan.

As I heard the same song in my car on the way home, tears were streaming down my face.

Regina Requiem

Sanity is a good thing, and to maintain (regain) my own, I need to leave town at least once every 14 days and head to Regina.  Today was one of those days.

I went shopping for some household stuff, I went for a nice Indian lunch buffet, but I also did a fair bit of sightseeing, and this, in -20 weather!

Below are pictures of Wascana Park, a park right in the middle of the city.  The park's quite scenic, even in the winter.  There's a lake right in the middle, surrounded by a network of walkays, bridges, and trees.  The cultural crown of the park is probably the provincial legislative buildings, although a music concert hall and the university grounds are also very near.  I look forward to exploring the surroundings come spring/summer time.

In the evening I attended the Regina Symphony Orchestra (RSO), which performs at the arts centre just across from the park.  They played Brahm's German Requiem, an amazing piece of work.  A requiem is a solemn song or chant or Mass, in honour of the dead, or for the repose of the dead. Accompanied by a 200+ voice-strong choir, tonight's concert was the cultural highlight of my stay in the prairies thus far.

My favourite piece is the opening song, based on Matthew 5:4 and Psalm 126:5-6.

Selig sind, die da Leiden tragen, denn sie sollen getrösted werden. 

Die mit Tränen säen, werden mit Freuden ernten.
Sie gehen hin und weinen und tragen edlen Samen, 

und kommen mit Freuden und bringen ihre Garben.  

Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, 

shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

But while tonight's concert was the highlight of my stay here thus far, it was at once also the most painful event.  I've said elsewhere that I think God has a terrible (as in, awesome) sense of humour, and in a poignant way this became evident to me again today, when late in the afternoon - just before going to the symphony, actually - it became clear to me that the most significant and consistent friendship I've had in the past 5 years is, well, dead.

After hours and hours of investment - energy, effort, emotions, my very soul - the final result is disconnection, alienation, disappointment, even disillusionment.  I cannot go on like this, I cannot continue overextending myself, trying to save something, someone, that was lost a year ago, if not longer.  Things need to change.  They must change.  My very survival depends on it.  I must turn away from death and embrace new life.

So today's Requiem, then, is more than a musical piece honouring the deceased.  Today's Requiem has deep personal implications.  An acknowledgement of the past, a cherishing of the Good in this past, a recognition of the hurtful, the unwise, and the broken, and a trusting move towards healing, a surrendering (once more) into the arms of Providence.

In the coming days and weeks I will need to come to terms with this death.  How, I don't know.  But it seems to me that a great starting point is found in the Scriptures, which Brahms made such wonderful use of in his matsterpiece.

Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,

shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

At least for me, they provide a foundational starting point for making sense of brokenness, inviting me to contemplate the Hope that lies beyond the here and now.  

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have Mercy on me, a Sinner.

Jesse Cook

Tonight I went to the Jesse Cook show at the Orpheum.  He is, by far, my favourite musician.

He played a good number of songs from his new cd, among them Broken Moon and Ocean Blue, but the best songs were I Put A Spell On You and Ne Me Quitte Pas, with the lovely and sensual Emma-Lee present on stage.

He also played his classics, among them Mario Takes A Walk, Switchback, and Tempest.  He played Gravity, a song he said he rarely plays, and more recent songs such as Bogota By Bus and Cecilia.  But without a doubt his best songs were Gaita and the ultra-classic Closer to Madness (what a brilliant name for the song).

Exquisite.