The Lola Shuffle - The "Good Friday" Edition

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Wow! Doing the Lola Shuffle on Good Friday! I realize I've done a couple of these already and I never made the connection of music and Good Friday before today.

When I was growing up I was raised by my beloved, very Catholic, very old-school , very pre-Vatican II, Spanish grandmother. This meant that on Good Friday not only was there no meat - there was also no TV, no playing, and no music - there was pretty much no fun at all, because well, Jesus Christ died for us that day and the least we could do was be miserable.

You can imagine what that was like for a kid all day at home on vacation from school who loved TV! It was awful. It was made worse because, while we couldn't listen to music, my grandmother would turn all the radios in the house to one of the local Cuban radio stations who on Good Friday would only air the reading of the Sermon of the Seven Words on a continuous loop - all day. So my grandmother, and therefore I, would listen to it ALL DAY, EVERYWHERE.

But that was then and this is now. Today Lola shuffles and I'm pretty sure Jesus is cool with that.

1. Movin' On - Elliott Yamin
2. Love Affair - Erasure
3. Behind the Wall - Tracy Chapman
4. Rock and Roll Dreams - Meatloaf (By the way did anyone see Meatloaf last Monday on the awesomest episode of "House" ever? He wasn't in the main story, but he was good...)
5. Get the Party Started - P!nk (Sorry Abi! - that's what I called my grandmother)
6. When I Come Around - Green Day
7. Babe - Styx
8. I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry (Yeah, Lola seems intent on giving Abi a hard time today...)
9. Don't Stop - Fleetwood Mac
10. Clumsy - Fergie

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. If you celebrate Easter, then have a blessed, happy holiday. I hope you get lots of easter candy, and remember - always, always, always, eat the chocolate bunny ears first!

The Leader of the Band

As some of you know my husband and I spent a week in the Philadelphia area for my Hubby's baby sister's wedding. As some of you also know, we've had a rough couple of months after my husband's illness and hospitalization - for a while it looked like we might not be able to make it to the wedding!

Because of this, and maybe because I've been more introspective than usual for who knows what reason, several things during the wedding and its preparations caught my attention and I'll probably write about them periodically.

Today I'm writing about the Father-Daughter dance at the wedding. First a little background about my father-in-law. He - like Hubby's entire family - is a musician. He's also a retired music teacher. Throughout his career he taught all ages and directed school bands and chorales, and even today he is the choir director at his church. In short, he's always been, in one way or another, the "Leader of the Band"., which is the song my SIL chose for the father-daughter dance.

Besides being a talented musician and beloved teacher, my FIL is one of the kindest men I know. He welcomed me into his family from day one, and has always made me feel loved and cared for, I am very, very lucky. Yet another reason the song choice was perfect!

As for the dance itself, it was beautiful but I can't fathom how SIL managed to not bawl her eyes out! I am so impressed by people who can do that. I of course was crying like the dork I am along with a bunch of other people, but FIL and SIL kept it together, although I think FIL got a little misty...it was, after all, his little girl, his only daughter.

I don't know how my SIL came to choose this song, as it was popular when she was very young, but it is really apropos for FIL and the family since all of them are musicians and music is such an important part of thier lives.

It is one of my all-time favorite songs by one of my all-time favorite singers, Dan Fogelberg. Because the words are so beautiful, I wanted to share them with you, and wish that you all have at least one "leader of the band" in your life.


Leader of the Band
Dan Fogelberg

An only child
Alone and wild
A cabinet makers son
His hands were meant
For different work
And his heart was known
To none --
He left his home
And went his lone
And solitary way
And he gave to me
A gift I know I never
Can repay

A quiet man of music
Denied a simpler fate
He tried to be a soldier once
But his music wouldn't wait
He earned his love
Through discipline
A thundering, velvet hand
His gentle means of sculpting souls
Took me years to understand.

The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through
My instrument
And his song is in my soul --
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy
To the leader of the band.

My brothers lives were
Different
For they heard another call
One went to Chicago
And the other to St. Paul
And I'm in Colorado
When I'm not in some hotel
Living out this life Ive chose
And come to know so well.

I thank you for the music
And your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom
When it came my time to go --
I thank you for the kindness
And the times when you got tough
And, papa, I don't think I
Said I love you near enough --

The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through
My instrument
And his song is in my soul --
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy
To the leader of the band
I am the living legacy
To the leader of the band.

At my wedding my father-daughter song was "Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong - what was yours?

Noche Buena

(While I write this I'm watching the ABT Mikhail Baryshnikov/Gelsey Kirkland version of The Nutcracker, filmed in 1977 where he is phenomenally at his "Baryshnikoviest" and Kirkland, although in the midst of physical and psychological devastation, is absolutely ethereal. Their pas de deux in the second act is breathtaking! If you haven't see it, you can rent the DVD. While different from the traditional Nutcracker, I strongly recommend it so you can see what is IMO one of the best ballet pairings in history.)

Noche Buena is what most, if not all, Spanish-speaking countries call Christmas Eve. In Cuba, where my parents are from, it's a bigger celebration than Christmas day.

In my family our big meal of roast pork was tonight. We would get together with family and friends - there was always an average of 20-25 people eating together. Because my family never roasted the pig ourselves (that's a full day event), we would gather at whoever's house at around 6 p.m. and wind up sitting down to dinner at around 8 p.m. There would be roast pork (either the whole pig or the pork leg), black beans, white rice and yuca with mojo (sour orange, garlic, olive oil, onion and more garlic marinade). There was always either a turkey or a capon prepared like a turkey (personally I prefer capon - more flavor). For dessert there's different types of turron , assorted nuts, figs, dates and some kind of pie or cake.

After dinner everyone would sit around the tree and open presents - the kids opening the presents friends and family gave them, as Santa's presents wouldn't arrive until Christmas day. Some years - if we were inspired and sufficiently sober - we'd go to midnight mass, but that didn't happen too often.

On Christmas morning (using the term loosely) everyone would stay home opening Santa's presents, etc. Then at around 3 p.m. someone would have an open house where whoever wanted to stop by would. Whoever hosted the night before would use the left over turkey/capon and pork to make "monteria" which is like a fricasse and is delicious!

As the years passed and the older folks passed away the Cuban tradition has melded with American traditions. Tonight however, we are going to a relatively traditional Noche Buena celebration at a friend's house.

I hope all who read this have a wonderful holiday surrounded by beloved friends and family!