CHAUTAUQUA 2012

It is Saturday:  the official arrival day of the Chautauqua community.  However, the joint has been jumping for some time now with all the getting ready preparations.  I have been here since Wednesday, as I have a new job!  Our choir librarian of many years retired at the end of last season, and given a dearth of replacement candidates, the decision was made to have an interim committee of 3 choir members share the job for one season to see just what the job description entailed.  I was approached about this a month ago, and the three of us, Jean, Nancy and myself, have reluctantly albeit willing agreed to give it a go.  So since Wednesday night, we have been hard at work checking in new music, filling folders, working on registrations and all the other many tasks that make up getting a 150+ volunteer chorus off the ground. A chorus that practiced last night (Friday), will do so again tonight and then perform twice on Sunday.


After that we prepare for the weekly Motet Choir that sings Monday - Friday.  It's not exactly the way I wanted to spend my summer.  Working in all the other things I love to do will be a challenge.  But on the other hand, being needed is always lovely and my other two buddies are fun to spend time with.  So what the heck. .  . let this new, one-of-a-kind season begin.


Above you see a picture of the very first edition of the 2012 Chautauquan Daily that arrived on my porch this morning.  Brought to me by Matt, the great delivery kid that I had last year.  You might remember from my blog last year my relating the story of his breaking his arm, but keeping his route. This year he is a manager of some kind at the paper, but still has his route.  This kid is going to be a success!


Inside this weekend edition of the paper is a run down of everything that will transpire in the coming week.  The Theme for Week 1 is "Roger Rosenblatt and Friends on the Literary Arts."  This is a theme that comes around often as author, essayist, playwright Rosenblatt brings some of his literary friends to the amphitheater each day for highly entertaining and enlightening interviews during the 10:45 lecture hour.  This week:   Monday: TV writer/producer Norman Lear,  Tuesday: Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist/author Jules Feiffer,   Wednesday: New York Times best-selling author Meg Wolitzer,  Thursday: from Harvard University, Derek and Sissela Bok.  On Friday: Dame Julie Andrews and her daughter Emily Walton Hamilton.  That's just for the first week!


The author this week is poet Billy Collins.  I first heard him read his poetry on Prairie Home Companion and I was hooked!  While you're at it,  Google "Billy Collins Three Blind Mice" and you'll find the poem he read on  PHC that impressed me so much.   I have bought his books of poetry over the years including the new one for this week:  Horoscopes for the Dead.  This is just the most wonderful book full of funny, profound verse that begs to be read aloud.  I'm so excited to get to hear him speak on Thursday afternoon.


On the performance front this week we have:  vocal group: Under the Streetlamp tonight.  The Swingle Singers (my dad had their records. . . they sang classical, mostly baroque, pieces using vocal syllables.  To hear instrumental Bach sung by this group was a delight to the ears) on Tuesday.  Wednesday night is the Family Special with Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.  The first dance concert of the year is Thursday.  Friday is The Righteous Brothers' Bill Medley, and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap,  Saturday is the first Symphony Concert with Peter Serkin on  Piano.


The play that opens this week is The Philadelphia Story.  And there is a whole menu of movies being offered.


According to President Tom Becker:  "This small, but beautiful and historic site will come alive with song, speech, dance, pictures, films, worship, meditation, play, and so much more.  This is the preeminent expression of lifelong learning on the planet.  Welcome!"


On the friend front, I just looked up to see a woman from the choir drop off a large bag in front of my house.  Last year I had told her about my habit of buying yarn at thrift shops, knitting something with them, and then either giving the item away, or donating the item back to the thrift shop.  She remembered that and brought me a bag full of enough yarn to knit the Titanic!  I'd better dust off those needles while I'm at it!  This is how Chautauqua is. . . . friends who remember what is told to them, and then take action if possible!


I've been battling a sore throat that started on the trip up, and seems to be abating today.  So I'm going to get my body out to the gym for a workout and then get showered and fed before getting to choir early tonight.. . . because, after all, I'm one of the librarians.


I could not be more excited about the upcoming week!   (Here's my home. . . bottom door, right under the flags!)