What do CMGers do for Memorial Day weekend?

[Lance]

Of course, I'm sure we all realize the true meaning and existence of Memorial Day. Without all those who gave the ultimate price, we might not be sitting in the comfort of our homes listening to great music. Many families use this time to get together for picnics and get-togethers, which is one of our rewards for those who gaves their lives.

[Ralph]

Tomorrow night the New York Philharmonic - my last subscription concert of the season.

Sunday, street festivals and a movie.

Monday I'll take my son and his friend to see "Brick," an "R" movie that they were turned away from last week when they tried to buy tickets.

As always I'll watch the annual D.C. Memorial Day concert on PBS.

[Lance]

Tomorrow night the New York Philharmonic - my last subscription concert of the season.

Sunday, street festivals and a movie.

Monday I'll take my son and his friend to see "Brick," an "R" movie that they were turned away from last week when they tried to buy tickets.

As always I'll watch the annual D.C. Memorial Day concert on PBS.

Such a diversified life lives our beloved Ralph! I also hope you're taking very good care of yourself. Remember sir, we care!

[Corlyss_D]

I'm going to cut down some trees, plant a couple of shrubs, try to catch some Book-TV, and maybe a good show on TMC.

[Wallingford]

With the conditon I'm in (surgery hovers about sometime next week), I've stayed at home as much as possible; often I'm too MENTALLY exhausted to want to hear a "heavy" classical piece, so I put on a DVD or two.....last night it was about a dozen 30s & 40s cartoons from the Max Fleischer studio. This was the series called "Color Classics," a remastered set of the whole series.

[jbuck919]

Wish that everything on post were not closed for three days. Except the school. I like it that the school is closed.

Now let's see, how am I going to get to 4000 posts before I leave for the States on June 23 without baiting Corlyss, stating something Ralph can successfully contradict, or just taking up space like I am now? Hmmmm, interesting challenge.

[Corlyss_D]

Wish that everything on post were not closed for three days. Except the school. I like it that the school is closed.

Now let's see, how am I going to get to 4000 posts before I leave for the States on June 23 without baiting Corlyss, stating something Ralph can successfully contradict, or just taking up space like I am now? Hmmmm, interesting challenge.

Ain't you going concertizing, like you did last year?

[david johnson]

i'm sounding taps at the local cemetery for the 3 pm national moment of remembrance.
that evening it's sunset taps on the courtsquare.

dj

[jbuck919]

i'm sounding taps at the local cemetery for the 3 pm national moment of remembrance.
that evening it's sunset taps on the courtsquare.

dj

Presumably pure bugle, lips only?

[Lark Ascending]

Pardon my ignorance, but could someone explain what Memorial Day is supposed to commemorate as it's not a British holiday. I'm guessing it's to do with remembering the victims of World Wars 1 & 2 - please correct me if I'm in error.

[jbuck919]

Pardon my ignorance, but could someone explain what Memorial Day is supposed to commemorate as it's not a British holiday. I'm guessing it's to do with remembering the victims of World Wars 1 & 2 - please correct me if I'm in error.

Kein Problem.

It is a holiday in remembrance of all American war veterans, especially those who died in the service of their country. It is a particularly sentimental US thing, since we already had Veterans' Day (Armistice Day, which I understand is not celebrated in the UK on November 11). Americans are incredibly weepy about these things, even elevating only within the last few years the Veterans Administration to the level of a cabinet department. And before anyone accuses me of being callous, I have my family losses too. But to eveything there is a season and a time, and sometimes the season and the time deserve to pass, especially when we prolong the situation with unnecessary wars.

[taisiawshan]

Solomon Islands was an important base for American during WW2.
There's a monument(very simple one) here on top of a hill. I love the scenery there.
They fly US flag on 4th July every year.
I wonder if they do this too in this weekend.

[RebLem]

Pardon my ignorance, but could someone explain what Memorial Day is supposed to commemorate as it's not a British holiday. I'm guessing it's to do with remembering the victims of World Wars 1 & 2 - please correct me if I'm in error.

Originally, Memorial Day was called Decoration Day, as it was a day for visiting the graves of the dead fallen in war and decorating them with flowers and wreaths and such. It still is, to some extent, and it was first proclaimed by Gen John Logan in General Order 11 in 1868 to honor the dead--of both sides--in the American Civil War, which is why you don't celebrate it in the U.K. Since then, it has become a day to commemorate the dead of all our wars, and, to a lesser extent, beloved deceased relatives generally. To find out more, go to
http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

Veterans Day, celebrated in November, also began with a different name, Armistice Day, as it was intended to celebrate the Armistice which ended the fighting in the First World War. I have no idea why you don't celebrate THAT in the U.K.

[david johnson]

i'm sounding taps at the local cemetery for the 3 pm national moment of remembrance.
that evening it's sunset taps on the courtsquare.

dj

Presumably pure bugle, lips only?

nah. trumpet.

dj

[Ralph]

With the conditon I'm in (surgery hovers about sometime next week), I've stayed at home as much as possible; often I'm too MENTALLY exhausted to want to hear a "heavy" classical piece, so I put on a DVD or two.....last night it was about a dozen 30s & 40s cartoons from the Max Fleischer studio. This was the series called "Color Classics," a remastered set of the whole series.

*****

Hang in there. After the surgery you'll spring back fast. And you've got the best wishes of everyone here!!!!!!

[jbuck919]

i'm sounding taps at the local cemetery for the 3 pm national moment of remembrance.
that evening it's sunset taps on the courtsquare.

dj

Presumably pure bugle, lips only?

nah. trumpet.

dj

Piker.

Here they play Retreat and To the Colors every afrternoon with a recording of a trumpet, even though for years the First Infantry Division Band was stationed here. I imagine that before I arrived and they started being deployed to Iraq on secondary combat duties, they had formal Retreat now and then. But the only place I have ever heard true bugles is at West Point, where they do this live and formally every single day, and the MPs stop all traffic on post and make everyone get out of their car and stand.

[Febnyc]

Get the pool heated for the first official 2006 invasion of the water-bound grandkids.

Drive into NYC on Sunday for a couple of hours - it's easy to park on the middle day of the weekend - and splurge at the Lincoln Center Tower store while my wife treks through a street fair in the vicinity.

Take my dog on endless walks through our rural area.

Admire the magnificent rhododendrons now blooming all over our property. Finish planting the annuals - many flats still left to do. And watch, each morning, in awe and with respect, the female cardinal who is majestically and with admirable patience sitting on her nest in amongst the climbing roses, just under the eaves, outside the sliding doors of our bedroom.

And, of course, listen to some music - in my secluded room, down the end of the house - with all the french doors open to allow accompaniment of the outside sounds.

[Donald Isler]

Going to a friend's wedding.

[Corlyss_D]

where they do this live and formally every single day, and the MPs stop all traffic on post and make everyone get out of their car and stand.

When I was a kid, and we were stationed in New Orleans area we lived on post, and that was the highlight of my day. When it was time I'd rush to the window where I could see and hear the entire thing. One of my favorite memories.

[Lark Ascending]

jbuck919 and RebLem, thank you for answering my question. In Britain the nearest equivalent is the two minutes silence observed at 11am on November 11th in memory of the First World War dead.

[Ralph]

Pardon my ignorance, but could someone explain what Memorial Day is supposed to commemorate as it's not a British holiday. I'm guessing it's to do with remembering the victims of World Wars 1 & 2 - please correct me if I'm in error.

Kein Problem.

It is a holiday in remembrance of all American war veterans, especially those who died in the service of their country. It is a particularly sentimental US thing, since we already had Veterans' Day (Armistice Day, which I understand is not celebrated in the UK on November 11). Americans are incredibly weepy about these things, even elevating only within the last few years the Veterans Administration to the level of a cabinet department. And before anyone accuses me of being callous, I have my family losses too. But to eveything there is a season and a time, and sometimes the season and the time deserve to pass, especially when we prolong the situation with unnecessary wars.

*****

Memorial Day ought to be an occasion of reverent reflection and honors to our fallen without any reference to current political or policy issues.

Fleet Week in New York City saw many, many members of the Armed Services enjoying perfect weather and deep hospitality. It was a pleasure to see them on the streets, often with family or close friends.

[Richard Mullany]

Here in the South it is still the time for the family to get together and clean up the family grasvesites, plant fresh annuals and such.
A few years ago I saw a woman on her knees scrubbing a tombstone. I pondered any theology that might lay behind this activity but got nowhere. She just cared about it enough to do it and good for her.

[RebLem]

Well, I listened to some music over the weekend, as follows--

1) 10/10 Ives: Emerson Concerto; Sym 1--Alan Feinberg, pn., James Sinclair, cond., Natl Sym Orch of Ireland--NAXOS

2) 10/9 Schumann: Syms 1, 2--Knowitschny, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orch--CD 1 of 3 CD Berlin Classics set.

3) 10/10 Shostakovich: Hypothetically Murdered, orchestra suite, Op 31a, reconstructed by Gerald McBurney |4 Romances on poems by Pushkin for brass and chamber orch, Op 46 (1937) |5 Fragments, Op 42 (1935) |Suite for Jazz Band (1924) Mark Elder, cond. CBSO--Signum Classics.

4) 10/6 Beethoven: Syms 2 & 7--Mengelberg, Concertgebouw Orch--from live recordings of 4/1940--Grammofono

5) 10/10 Bernstein: Mass--Bernstein, cond, pickup orch, Norman Scribner Choir, Berkshire Boy Choir, Alan Titus, baritone--2 CD Sony.

I have owned the Bernstein Mass for some time; the others were recently purchased recordings.

One of the most interesting of these discs is the Shostakovich. Hypothetically Murdered was described in the posters announcing its first (and as it turned out, only) run in 1931 as "a light music circus entertainment in 3 acts" composed for a troupe run by a remarkable Soviet entertainer named Leonid Utiosov. He was a clown, a jazzman, violinist, guitarist, singer, bandleader, vaudevillian, acrobat, and movie star rolled into one whose artistic life extended from the 1920's to his death in the 1960's. This particular play (the suite lasts 39:18 ) was a play involving lots of slapstick about a civil defense exercise in which the principal character was supposed to play dead so that what we today would call "first responders" could practice and sharpen their skills. The principal character refuses to consistently play his assigned role, however, and various hilarities ensue.

The work was panned by the usual unimaginative party hack critics who thought the subject should be treated more nobly and with truly deadly seriousness, always, and it never saw a second run. In fact, the orchestral parts and libretto were lost, probably during WWII. All that survive are some posters announcing the show, still photos taken during performance, and, among Shostakovich's papers, a folder with about 40 pages of piano score and marginal notes on orchestration. Gerald McBurney has used these materials to construct a suite so it can be performed as a purely orchestral piece.

I didn't watch the National Memorial Day concert. Too much of it involved sappy stuff that treated our current wars as if they were as honorable as the fight against Nazism, and I just can't take that. But I did watch the A&E program on LIMA company from the Ohio reserves, and thought it was very interesting and, at times, heart rending. I watched a lot of Book TV, too, including the film of Noam Chomsky's speech and Q & A at West Point on Just War theory.

Except for some grocery shopping, I didn't go out at all. Early Saturday morning on the 20th, my dog Scout (almost 5, 25 lbs., and a pug/lab mix) got away from me as I was walking him at 2 AM. I was paying attention to picking up his poop and had a loose hold on his leash, and he got away to chase a cat who had appeared in the vicinity. This has happened before. Usually, he comes back within 2 hours (usually less than that) because he knows where his water bowl is. But it had rained that day (a rarity here) and there were a few standing pools. I was very worried and stayed up past dawn, going out several times to look for him, because I thought his leash might be caught in a chain link fence or something someplace, but I couldn't find him. At 5 AM, I happened to see him on the property, about 100 feet away, in a patch of grass on the other side of a parking lot in front of my building. (I live in a 10 building condo complex with 100 living units that used to be Section 8 housing). He was lying on the grass and looked exhausted. I went to him and took him home. He seemed hurt, but he trotted along just fine, the same spring in his step as always. Only when I got him back home in the apt did I see that he was seriously injured, but all his injuries were to his head. He had a bleeding, shallow gash in his head, and his mouth was bleeding. He couldn't open his mouth because dried blood had shut it up, and the front of his snout was bent over to the right.

Luckily, less than a mile from my apt, there is a 24 hour emergency veterinary hospital, just like an emergency room for pets. I took him there, and they kept him all day and overnight, feeding him and medicating him with both an antibiotic and pain meds intravenously. They cleaned up his mouth a bit, at least washing the blood away so he could open and close his mouth.They told me he had been hit by a car. I picked him up about noon Sunday, about 30 hours after I had brought him in. They said he had lost 2 1/2 teeth in the accident, and gave me two meds--a capsule with an antibiotic and a pain pill to give him with food twice daily, and told me to bring him to my regular vet Monday. They also gave me two chest x-rays they had taken which showed the dog had clear lungs and that he had no abdominal injuries.

So Monday, I took Scout to my regular vet; they recommended surgery to remove some of the remaining teeth--4 small ones in the upper front jaw and two others, one of which was the half tooth remaining from the accident. So, I had them do the surgery the next day. Every time he walks now, he is unsteady on his feet; his rear feet give out a lot because of the effects of the pain meds. But he is on the mend after a $1500 expenditure on medical bills. This has shot my CD purchasing budget all to hell for most of the rest of the year. I just finished giving him his last meds dose today, Tuesday. I was worried for a while because from Tuesday when I picked him up at the clinic after surgery to Thursday morning, he did not defecate at all, and he usually does twice daily. He urinated a lot, and on Thursday, he not only defecated, but lifted his leg to urinate for the first time since the accident, which is a good sign. He is still a little weak; he doesn't jump up and stand on his hind legs to be petted when I am standing, and he can't jump up on the sofa right now, but he is getting his strength back. But I decided not to go out much, because I wanted to spend most of my time with Scout.

[Corlyss_D]

Oh, Reb! I'm so sorry about your dog's injuries and fervently hope he makes a full recovery. Injuries to a loved pet can be so hard on the pet's person, as well.

[Ralph]

I'm very sad that your dog was hurt and I hope he makes a full recovery fast. Corlyss went through a similar experience not long ago.