It just seemed a bit much this year.  It’s not the high cost of beef.  I’ve got a 4 pound brisket in the freezer.  We’re nearing our limits again on available refrigerator space for leftovers.  I was drawn to another of my favorites.  Didn’t have any pie for pi day yesterday, so maybe this dish can count for that, too.  It’s fine Irish fare and perfectly suited for St. Paddy’s day.  Plus it’ll use up some of the garlic mashed potatoes left over from the Speis’ Christmas party at Cowboy Creek Lodge 3 1/2 weeks ago.  If you want a break from beer -whatever color – you can wash this pie down with a nice Syrah.   Can you get more sophisticated than that?

Of course, this affair calls for a soundtrack.  There are a couple discs we always pull out for this day.

The late Danny Doyle always leads off, with sometimes soaring sometimes tear-jerking old Irish songs.  Try to make it through “Kilkenny”(1), about the correspondence between an aging Irishman and his son in America, without blubberin’.

Next, we get a little more formal and ask the Irish Tenors to take a turn.  Their songs are so classic they’re enumerated on the CD with Roman numerals.

I can’t find a link to the whole album, but here’s an hour plus performance by them live in Belfast (2).  

Then, if we want to go deep Irish, I’ve got my record of Brendan Behan singing Irish Folksongs and Ballads.  Picked it up used back in med school.  Was inspired by one of my professors, an English cardiologist named Rory Childers who used to do a one man show as Brendan Behan.

Brendan for sure has the singing voice of a poet, but he puts his soul into it.  The whole album is on YouTube!(3)

If those discs are all spun and we’re hungry for more, there’s always Spotify.  They have several Irish music stations and I’m sure will have at least one made-up special for St. Patrick’s Day.

Less than two days to go.  I’m sure Beidh dea-am ag gach duine!

References

1.         Maire McSorley.  Kilkelly with Lyrics.  YouTube 11/24/08. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N76kAivCb20

2.         The Irish Tenors. Live from Belfast.  YouTube 12/22/21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETfPKnaN0I0

3.         Brendan Behan.  Sings Irish Folksongs and Ballads.  YouTube 11/13/11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx-3iVp4Fa8

Today, March 10^th, marks the second anniversary of the report of the first 2 COVID cases in Michigan (1).  In response, our Gov. Bimbo – a.k.a. “That Woman from Michigan” (2), Gretchen (half) Whitmer of the plastic face and the 40Cs – declared a State of Emergency.  Within a week, she urged social distancing and community mitigation strategies, closed all K-12 schools, banned gatherings of 250 or more (reduced to 50 three days later), imposed price controls, restricted visiting hospitals, nursing homes, and jails, and closed all bars, restaurants, coffee houses, and gyms (3).  In another week, she closed all hair, nail, tanning, massage, spa, tattoo, body art and piercing services and issued infamous Executive Order 2020-21 (4), keeping all but “essential” workers at home and also restricting all manner of shopping transactions.  Boy, with that roping off flags and gardening supplies, keeping our empties at home, and staying away from restaurants, that ol’ curve didn’t know what hit it, did it?

In honor of the occasion, I have gathered up all the non-essential face diapers in our house and cars (38 in there, including 6 N95s).

And cast them into the fire, for they certainly have not borne good fruit (5)

These chain-link fences have stopped their last mosquito.  We had scallops and champagne as we watched this, this joyous conflagration.  Yes, we engaged the Harry Nilsson soundtrack.

Such events are always better with a soundtrack.  The late great Harry Nilsson had one for this (6).

Of course, I kept a few, like the cute ones and ones with a message

Neither did we cast in the first masks we bought, as they had borne the fruit of laughter when we wore them to the grocery store that one time (7 8).

And of course, we saved those wonderful “unMasks” that Kathy found, which look like legit masks – even having a midline seam to look like an N95 – but have pores large enough to let you breathe comfortably and not fog up your glasses (9).

With mask and vaxx mandates falling left and right all over the country, the U and local AA businesses are holding fast to theirs, although the U buckled a bit Wednesday.  So Kathy and I will continue to spit into a tiny funnel weekly and will never leave the house without an UnMask in our pocket.

The fun folks at Babylon Bee have offered up some alternative uses for those old masks. (10)

This ain’t over yet.  Eric’s gotta keep singing his song (11)

PS.  Before masks became a hysteric controversy, I reviewed the features of various ones and how they may or may not work against coronavirus.  (12), if you’re at all interested.

PPS.  If you want to dive deep, check out the accumulated tweets from Ian Miller on masks  (13).

References

1.         Haddad K.  Michigan confirms first 2 cases of coronavirus, both in Metro Detroit.  Cases confirmed in Wayne and Oakland counties.  CLICK ON DETROIT 3/11/21.  https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2020/03/11/michigan-confirms-first-2-cases-of-coronavirus-both-in-metro-detroit/

2.         Smith A.  ‘That Woman from Michigan’: Gov. Whitmer stands out in the pandemic.  Just ask Trump.  nbcnews.com 4/8/20. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/woman-michigan-gov-whitmer-stands-out-pandemic-just-ask-trump-n1170506

3.         Haddad K.  Michigan coronavirus timeline: Key dates, COVID-19 case tracking, state orders.  Tracking coronavirus in Michigan.  CLICK ON DETROIT 4/27/20.  https://www.clickondetroit.com/health/2020/03/24/michigan-coronavirus-timeline-key-dates-covid-19-case-tracking-state-orders/

4.         Read Michigan Gov. Whitmer’s entire coronavirus stay-at-home order.  MLive.com  3/23/21,  https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/03/read-michigan-gov-whitmers-entire-coronavirus-stay-at-home-order.html

5.         Matthew 3:10.  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%203%3A10&version=KJV

6.         #HarryNilsson #JumpintotheFire #OfficialAudio.  YouTube 7/14/16.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfjNpgZ4C5Q

7.         Ike B.  masks.  WordPress 4/30/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/04/30/masks/

8.         Ike B.  masks II.  WordPress 5/1/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/05/01/mask-2/

9.         the UnMask.  breathe with us.  https://getun

10.       8 Fun Uses For Your Masks Now That Mandates are Lifted.  The Babylon Bee 3/8/22.  https://babylonbee.com/news/8-fun-uses-for-your-masks-now-that-mandates-are-lifted

11.       Eric Clapton – This Has Gotta Stop (Official Music Video).  YouTube.  8/27/21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNt4NIQ7FTA

12.       Ike B.  Who was that masked man?  WordPress 4/16/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/04/16/who-was-that-masked-man/

13.       Harambe.  If you’re still on the fence about masks, consider this fellow who’s been using government data to savagely debunk mask myths every day for nearly 2 years straight.  Not the Bee 3/8/22.   https://notthebee.com/article/if-youre-still-on-the-fence-about-masks-consider-this-fellow-whos-been-using-government-data-to-savagely-debunk-mask-myths-every-day-for-nearly-2-years-straight

This is about a family event that happened 2 and a half weeks ago. Since the event was a Christmas celebration occurring 8 weeks after Christmas, what’s a little further delay?

Dateline Onstead, MI (pop’n 1,132): Cowboy Creek Lodge

40 or so of the spawn of my late bio–Dad Dick Spei plus their spouses have gathered here and as of this morning (Sunday 2/21/22) are dissipating back to their homes.  The gathering – our first in 2 years – was joyful as always, maybe more so this year.  And what was the biggest hit?  You’d think among descendants of a gourmet who taught them all to approach each meal as if it was their last, the spread would win the prize.  Indeed, there was the usual dazzling delicious variety.  Beasts of all stripes were slaughtered, broiled, smoked, grilled, braised, fried, and baked so no one seeking protein felt deprived.  Perhaps the winner in this category was my brother Nick’s deer heart chili, a mere side dish, but always a hit.  Nick never misses a year without bagging a few carriers.  The plant kingdom offered up stuffed grape leaves, out-of-season tomatoes of many varieties, and even my lowly mashed garlic spuds plus oh such more, including all those products of fermentation.

But all attention was pretty much decentralized among the eaters and drinkers, that is until my sister Suzanne stepped up to the front table beside two big boxes and clapped her hands.  Everyone knew what time it was – Chimney time! – and snapped to.  The Christmas Chimney is a Spei family tradition started by my Suzanne’s maternal grandmother more years ago than anyone can remember.  Suzanne took it over from her mother maybe 20 years ago and has it down to both art and science.  Before I tell you how it works, see the main box.  There’s a smaller box for the kiddos, added as Suzanne and her sibs became grandparents.

Those white vertical strands on the side of the box are ribbons, tied at one end to a gift and on the other end to a card.  The gifts tend to follow a different theme each year.  This year, the girls all got bags of some sort while the guys all got some multifunctional implement that usually could open beer bottles.  Each gift has some specific significance to the identified recipient.  Retrieval of the loot comes through a very organized process.  Family members approach the Chimney based on age, oldest first in each category.  Children and adults alternate.  Once at the Chimney the potential recipient must scrutinize the cards to find the one with the cryptic message that syncs with him/her.  Mine was “professional blogger”, Kathy’s was “52^nd anniversary the women made it happen”, and Nick’s was “2^nd amendment”, for example.  The ribbon on my card pulled up a 2” button bearing my phrase backed with an opening clearly meant to pop a top. 

Kathy got a bag depicting those NASA mathematicians as depicted in the movie “Hidden Figure”.  Nick got a keychain with a large bullet on which the text of the 2^nd amendment was inscribed.  All the rest were similarly apt, including the tag.  Suzanne sure does her background work.  Delight of the chimney goers is palpable. See here some examples.

a.  brother Nick admiring his bullet

b.  Kathy loving her “52^nd anniversary of the NASA women mathematicians” bag

c.  Suzanne gets a bag with a flamingo on it! (she has a thing for flamingos)

d.  Suzanne marshalling the kids

e.  kid loving his bag with the big tiger on it

The Chimney is followed by inspired spontaneous gift giving, exchanges ranging from little art works from Marty’s daughter, and many food items – spices, jams & jellies, infused oils, and our garlic paste among others – getting passed about.  Dan’s many pies follow, which usually send the endorphins and CCK levels high enough to leave folks no choice but to roll off to bed.  And I believe it truly is those brain chemicals – not the alcohol – that are responsible.

It’s a wonderful affair, and one of the main things that make me happy to be part of this family I didn’t even know I had 11 years ago.  Can’t wait till next year.  I’m making less potatoes.

John Phillip Sousa – the March King – died 90 years ago Sunday March 6^th in Reading Pennsylvania.  He was 77. 

His prodigious output – 134 marches, 690 total recordings in an era spanning a time when placing a needle on a wax cylinder was considered an advance (1)  – included some songs about Michigan.  “The Wolverine March”, written in 1881 and premiered that same year by the U. S. Marine Band at a reception given by the Michigan State Association in Washington DC, was dedicated to “His Excellency Hon. David H. Jerome, Governor of Michigan, and Staff” (2).  In 1926, at the request of Detroit mayor John W. Smith, he wrote “The Pride of the Wolverines” (3).  A year later, he penned a lovely waltz for U of M “The Coeds of Michigan” (4).  He had other interactions with U of M and Ann Arbor.  He was an inspiration to our own legendary bandleader William D. Revelli, who dedicated himself to becoming a conductor upon hearing Sousa’s band at the Illinois State Fair at age 10 (5).  Both began their musical careers on violin.

While researching how these came to be, I came across an interesting story about our own Sousa-like fight song “The Victors” that Sousa himself called one of the four greatest fight songs he had ever conducted.  Sousa conducted the first public band performance of the Victors right in Ann Arbor (6). 

The story of how University of Michigan student Louis Elbel came to write The Victors is lovely, stirring, and true (7), but maybe just a bit controversial? (8).  Thanksgiving Day 1898, he was in the visitors cheering section at Marshall Field (really, that’s who gave the money for it, and it later became Stagg Field and was the site of the first controlled nuclear reaction (9)), home of those fearsome Monsters of the Midway, Amos Alonzo Stagg’s University of Chicago Maroons, who had won the previous two contests.  Fielding H. Yost was 4 years away, coaching Nebraska.  Gustave Ferbert, in his second season, brought an undefeated team into the contest.  The game on that cold blustery day was described as a literal slugfest and at the final whistle, the scoreboard found the Wolverines had one more point than the Maroons, 12-11.  With the victory, they secured not only their first-ever conference title (then the Western Conference) but a share of their first National Championship as well.  The Michigan faithful went understandably crazy.  Once they tired of slapping backs and shaking hands in the stands, they formed a snake line to course through the Hyde Park campus of the University of Chicago, accompanied by the year-old Michigan Marching Band.  On the mile and a half walk to his sister’s in Englewood after for Thanksgiving dinner, a song began to form in Elbel’s head.  At his sister’s, he wrote a few things down.  At home in South Bend at his piano the next day, he wrote the score, and on the train back to Ann Arbor finished the piece as a march to be played by 23 instruments.  He also composed the lyrics.  Everyone knows the chorus, but the first 2 verses are pretty complicated (6).

The Elbel family businesses included publishing, so he published The Victors as sheet music for a piano solo shortly after he returned to campus.

Elbel also took his march to E. R. Schremser, conductor of the City Band of Detroit, and paid him to orchestrate it for band.  A U of M professor from the DuPont family helped finance the transaction.

The song was performed in parlors around campus and by spring was popular enough to go public.  On April 5, 1899, Elbel conducted a 7-piece pit orchestra to play The Victors at the Athens Theater in downtown Ann Arbor as the curtain was being raised on the opening night performance of “A Night Off” by the University Comedy Club.  John Phillip Sousa was in town as he and his band had been invited to perform at U of M’s University Hall in a benefit concert for the University Band (10).  On April 8, shortly after Elbel had handed him copies of the sheet music for the march, Sousa conducted The Victors as part of that concert.  So the first band to perform The Victors was John Phillip Sousa’s.  How about that.

“The Victors” is known round-the-world.  I sang it in Stockholm in ’96 along with fellow U of M alum Steve after a dinner for the faculty of an arthroscopy course held at the Karolinska.  The only U of M alum President (so far), Gerald Ford (’35), often had the Naval Band play it in place of “Hail to the Chief” at state occasions and asked that it be played at his 2006 funeral.  It was.  His wasn’t and won’t be the only dead Wolverine’s funeral that includes a playing of “The Victors”.

Could it be possible that this hallowed and much-loved march is perhaps a little bit shrouded in controversy?  I’ll leave the telling of the full tale to the links, but the crux of it is this: on April 11, 1898, Tin Pan Alley composer George Rosenberg (“Rosey”) applied for copyright on a “two-step march” the “Spirit of Liberty “

Everyone knows how “The Victors” goes.  Few have heard the “Spirit of Liberty”.  Now, you can join them.  Here it is played by the US Naval Academic Band conducted by Lt. Commander Allen Beck (11).

I think you’ll agree there’s more to this than Spirit (“Taurus”) vs Led Zeppelin (“Stairway to Heaven”) (12, 13)

There is no record of whether or not “The Spirit of Liberty” was played at the famous Thanksgiving Day ’98 game, but the U of C – having no band of its own – hired the Band of the First Regiment, also known as the Pullman Band, for the game.  The Pullman Band had played the “Spirit of Liberty” at a free concert, less than a month previously, on October 27, the debut of that song in the Midwest.  Might that tune have been in their repertoire at that game?

What to make of this?  Even though my U has been quite generous of late doling out $$$ to the aggrieved, I don’t think much will come of this particular conflict.  Fans of classical music know that the greats “borrowed” from each other all the time.  And it’s hardly new news.  The piece I came across is from 2008 and I subsequently found a piece from 10 years later (7).  In the much more detailed newer one, the author mentions that legendary U of M band director William D. Revelli was well aware of the similarities between the two works and had the sheet music for “Spirit of Liberty” in his desk.

I don’t know much about “Rosey”.  It would be great if he had been born sometime in the fall.*  At halftime of one of the games in Michigan Stadium his name could be commemorated, and the Marching Band could play “Spirit of Liberty”.  “Hail!”

If you’re up for a rousing chorus of The Victors, here’s those marching men and women of Michigan playing it as written (14)

And let’s close with the biggest hit from the rouser himself, played by the U of M Symphony Band, from the stage of Hill Auditorium (15)

*alas, born April 18, 1864 (16)

References

1.         DAHR Directory of American Historical Recordings.  UC Santa Barbara Library.  John Phillip Sousa.   https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/102569/Sousa_John_Philip

2.         Marines.  The Wolverine March.  https://www.marineband.marines.mil/Audio-Resources/The-Complete-Marches-of-John-Philip-Sousa/The-Wolverine-March/

3.         SOUSA “The Pride of the Wolverines” – “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band (1978).  YouTube.   2/15/16.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU7ZQC9kgSk

4.         United States Marine Band presents John Phillip Sousa, The Coeds of Michigan.  YouTube 3/22/13.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEg3Cql3m1g

5.         Clarke K.  Revelli: The Long Note.  M Heritage Project.  The University of Michigan.  https://heritage.umich.edu/stories/revelli-the-long-note/

6.         The Victors.  MGoBlue.  University of Michigan Athletics Official Site. 6/19/00. http://websites.umich.edu/~mgoblue/sounds/lyrics-victors.html

7.         Dubois J.  History of “The Victors”.  Band Alumni Association.  University of Michigan.  M-Fanfare 70 (3), 2018.  https://www.umbaa.org/members/m-fanfares/m-fanfare-volume-70-issue-3/history-of-the-victors

8.         Leslie DL.  Whose Victors? Did Louis Elbel copy part of another march?  MLive.com/Ann Arbor News.  8/31/08.  https://www.mlive.com/annarbornews_opinion/2008/08/whose_victors_did_louis_elbel.html

9.         Stagg Field.  Wikepedia. 10/12/21.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagg_Field

10.       Arwulf A.  Sousa.  A Living Portrait.  Ann Arbor Observer. April, 2016.  https://annarborobserver.com/articles/sousa.html

11.       US Naval Academic Band conducted by Lt. Commander Allen Beck.  Spirit of Liberty.  YouTube.  3/5/14.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQRJmsZ9Mnc

12.       Beaumont-Thomas B.  Plagiarism case over Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven finally ends.  The Guardian.  10/6/20.  https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/oct/06/plagiarism-case-ends-led-zeppelin-stairway-to-heaven-taurus-spirit-us-supreme-court

13.       Stairway to Heaven and Taurus Comparison.  YouTube. 3/6/19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deVNnnuf24w

14.       Michigan Marching Band plays The Victors as written.  YouTube 9/6/16.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFBh2dXykv0

15.       UMich Symphony Band – John Phillip Sousa – The Stars and Stripes Forever (1896).  YouTube 4/12/17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK0OjVKyMZo

16.       DAHR Directory of American Historical Recordings.  UC Santa Barbara Library.  George Rosey.   https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/106537/Rosey_George

Is that horse dead yet? (1)

Reference

1. Flam F. Mask mandates didn’t make much difference, anyway. Washington Post February 11, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/mask-mandates-didnt-make-much-of-a-difference-anyway/2022/02/11/57760db6-8b3b-11ec-838f-0cfdf69cce3c_story.html

P.S. My sweetheart sent this pic to remind me there are indeed effective anti-viral masks