It’s been quiet on these pages lately, my friends, due to business travel – here, there and everywhere! But I can’t miss a chance to share with you some fun we had last night, listening to the University of Miami Frost School of Music’s Christmas Concert on YouTube. It was timed very well for me during my two days at home between international trips, a lovely interlude. There’s no time to get a tree and decorate it, but there’s always time to tap your feet to a jazzed-up Christmas tune.
If you’ve been following Glover Gardens for awhile, you’ll know that our Musical Millennial, AKA Thomas Wenglinski (my son) is in the middle of his doctorate in Jazz Studio Arranging at U Miami, and that we love to watch the concerts when they stream, loving it even more when we can go in person.
I’m typing this at the airport, almost ready to board for the next trip. So it will be mercifully short, just a couple of links to Thomas’ contributions to the concert last night. The first one is his arrangement of Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.
The next is Thomas joining his good friend and amazing singer Maria on Oh, Holy Night. He is playing the melodica, partway into the tune.
The whole concert is fun!
I’m starting to get into the spirit! I hope there are some Christmas trees left to buy when I get back home in about 12 days. We’ll need to rock around that tree at Glover Gardens!
Happy holiday season to you, whatever you celebrate.
And how do you get jazzed for the season?
© 2023, Glover Gardens
Guess how we get “jazzed” for the season. Don’t glorify business travel. It’s not all that. I started on June 2 and finished on November 5. It’ll change next year because two weeks ago I crossed the outer boundary. I turned 70.
70 is the new 50! Happy belated birthday and I hope you have a fabulous 70th year.
I totally agree there’s nothing glamorous about biz travel, all that waiting in passport control lines, sitting on planes, rushing to make connections, trudging with heavy suitcases in airports and on trains, unpacking and repacking in small hotel rooms. But the places and the people: priceless. I was blown away by the warmth and hospitality in Rio two weeks ago, for instance. I definitely want to go back for a longer stay and soak in the local culture.
Never mentioned Rio. That’s where we found out Musical Miss’ dad died and we fled like bandits breaking out of jail. Be careful in Rio. It can be very dangerous. You need a road crew and a tour manager. The only hellhole for us is Great Britain. Because of Brexit people like us can get hung up for a week if we came from Europe, which why we played the run coming from the US.
If 70 is the new 50, what is dead?
Rio is where we met the guy with death on his mind. That’s where we learned NJ’s dad died and we fled like bank robbers. Be careful if you go back. It’s like NOLA, danger pops up everywhere. The worst place for us is Great Britain if we are coming from Europe. Because of Brexit it can take us a week or more to get into the country and we have to buy work permits on site, not online. If 70 is the new 50 (it hurts more), what is death?
Painful memories stick with us, don’t they? Sorry to resurrect that. If 50 is the new 70, then perhaps death is still inevitable, but postponed?