Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

L is for Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber received seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, and an Academy Award.

AndrewLloydWebber3Like many people of a certain age, I first became aware of the name Andrew Lloyd Webber when Jesus Christ Superstar, the 1970 “rock opera” with music by Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice was released. The two-LP package stoked a great deal of theological discussion at a point in my life when I had begun questioning my religious upbringing.

The story is “loosely based on the Gospels’ accounts of the last week of Jesus’s life, beginning with the preparation for the arrival of Jesus and his disciples in Jerusalem and ending with the crucifixion. It highlights political and interpersonal struggles between Judas Iscariot and Jesus that are not in the Bible narratives.” I played it incessantly, and know much of it by heart to this day.

Moreover, it generated two Top 100 singles for Yvonne Elliman, who played Mary Magdalene. I Don’t Know How To Love Him went to #28 and Everything’s Alright reached #92, both in 1971. Helen Reddy’s version of the former went to #13 that same year.

Superstar, essentially the title track, got only to #74 in early 1970, but was rereleased and eventually reached #14 in 1971. It was sung by Murray Head, the Judas Iscariot performer, with the Trinidad Singers.

Though written before JCSS, I next became aware of the single album Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which, in the US, was a reissue of the 1969 Decca UK album. This music has been greatly expanded since then, with some song titles I do not recognize.

Evita, a musical based on the life of Eva Perón, turned out to be the last Lloyd Webber/Rice collaboration. It was first released as a concept album in 1976, then was performed in the West End in 1978, where it ran for ten years. Patti LuPone created the role of Eva on Broadway in 1979, for which she won a Tony.

Don’t Cry for Me Argentina is the best-known song, performed by a group called Festival in 1980 (#72 US), and Madonna (#8 US in 1997, from the 1996 movie starring her and Antonio Banderas).

“Lloyd Webber embarked on his next project without a lyricist, turning instead to the poetry of T. S. Eliot. Cats (1981) was to become the longest-running musical in London, where it ran for 21 years before closing. On Broadway, Cats ran for 18 years, a record which would ultimately be broken by another Lloyd Webber musical, The Phantom of the Opera.”

Memory is the big hit from Cats, which I heard LONG before I ever saw the show only a few years ago. “Elaine Paige, who originated the role of Grizabella in the West End production, released a version of the song that… peaked at No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart in July 1981… Barbra Streisand’s cover reached #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #9 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart in 1982. In the UK this version peaked at #34 the same year. Barry Manilow released a cover as a single in late 1982; this became the highest-charting version on the Billboard Hot 100 when it reached #39 in January 1983. Manilow’s recording also made the Billboard adult contemporary chart, reaching #8.”

This could go on – the most recent production of Andrew Lloyd Webber is School of Rock, based on the movie – but I did want to cite some of his awards. He was knighted in 1992, and “received seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award… a Golden Globe Award, a Brit Award, the 2006 Kennedy Center Honors, and the 2008 Classic Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is an inductee into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, and is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.”

LISTEN TO the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber

I Don’t Know How To Love Him- Helen Reddy

Everything’s Alright – Yvonne Elliman & Ian Gillan (from JCSS)

Superstar – Murray Head With The Trinidad Singers (from JCSS)

Close every door – Donny Osmond (Joseph – 1999, a straight-to-video film)

Don’t Cry For Me Argentina – Madonna

Memory – Barbra Streisand

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ABC Wednesday – Round 18

The lesson of the birthday

THAT was my favorite birthday present this year.

cake.candleOne of the traditions in my office, when we have our monthly birthday party, is that the persons celebrating their natal day need to:

1. Say what they did on that day, and
2. Provide some words of wisdom.

What did I do on that day earlier this month? Mostly respond to all the kind comments from you all. This picture came from one of them. And I saw the video of the Daughter’s musical. More on that eventually.

Most people find the latter to be a difficult exercise. So what’s MY takeaway?

The day before my birthday, the sermon was a story about a fictional town, but with a very real message about unwarranted chastisement and forgiveness. I’m reminded of the cliche that you don’t always know what kind of impact you have on others, for good or for ill. This story, A principal met a student she expelled, and it changed her approach to discipline, is also in that vein.

One of those birthday comments I got from a friend of relatively recent acquaintance reads: “‘It’s good that you are alive…’ Thank you for your birthday blog quote, Roger! Happy Birthday! You have the gift of making people feel good to be alive — there were often times when I’d be feeling a bit false, and your cheerful, warm hello often made me feel completely present in the room again.”

And THAT was my favorite birthday present this year, better than the new backpack I desperately needed, or the certificate for snacks at the Spectrum Theatre.

A shot at redemption

“As I spent more time listening, and really learning the root causes of poverty, I realized I was wrong.”

homeless-woman-with-signThere was a woman outside of my building at work on Good Friday. She had a sign made from a cardboard box that said, “HOMELESS.” I gave her a dollar; sometimes I’m moved in these situations, and sometimes not, I don’t know why.

I could see the man right behind me with the Look. You know, “Don’t give that woman money. She should be working. Maybe she’s on drugs. You’re enabling her. She may be lying to you.” Or whatever.

Well, maybe, but that’s on her, not me.

And I can just read about what I thought was a revolutionary transformation by an unlikely source: Paul Ryan (R-WI), the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He said, as reported in the religious magazine Sojourners, of his past comments about the poor:

“There was a time when I would talk about a difference between ‘makers’ and ‘takers’ in our country, referring to people who accepted government benefits. But as I spent more time listening, and really learning the root causes of poverty, I realized I was wrong. ‘Takers’ wasn’t how to refer to a single mom stuck in a poverty trap, just trying to take care of her family. Most people don’t want to be dependent. And to label a whole group of Americans that way was wrong. I shouldn’t castigate a large group of Americans to make a point.”

Now some folks, understandably, thought these were cheap words, and I understand that. What actions will come from the budget process? Still, he’s a guy apologizing, when admitting culpability, in this election cycle, has been in short supply.

And on this Easter Sunday, I choose to believe, in the lyrics of Paul Simon, “These are the days of miracle and wonder“. Perhaps Ryan wants “a shot at redemption.” To which I say, “‘Amen!’ and ‘Hallelujah!'”

The Lydster, Part 144: An Even Dozen

She’s now #1 in New York State in First in Math

Lydia.kente.
Earlier this month, the Daughter appeared in the church musical, for the third year in a row. This year’s effort was called SPEAK LOUD, SPEAK PROUD, and had readings written by the performers, as well as dancing, and singing, and rapping. My daughter wrote something about me, which was only slightly mortifying because it was true.

She continues to excel in school, particularly in math. She may be a tad obsessed with First in Math. She’s now #1 in New York State with over 20,000 points, in the Top 20 for her grade nationally, and trying to make the Top 100 nationally. More importantly to her, she’s helping to close the gap between her school and the #1 school in the district.

She enjoys reading but is less than enthralled about writing about the readings. The class requirements DO seem to have a bit of mechanical feel to it, with X number of paragraphs, all starting with certain words such as First or Then or Next or Finally, and X paragraphs, each with Y sentences.

To my surprise, she’s given up the clarinet. I thought she was doing well, and that she both enjoyed it, especially playing with her mother, and that she was pretty good at it. The Wife wants to sell the Daughter’s instrument, but I’m opposed; I think she might come back to it.

She had to deal with a bullying incident in school, which has been resolved. The principal to him noted that his remarks were not only hurtful to others but, taken the wrong way, dangerous to himself. It was difficult for her to report him, as it seemed to draw attention to herself, and perhaps even harder to hear his apology.

Her room is…not as tidy as it might be, even by my fairly lax standards.

There’s undoubtedly more to say, but I’ll just note that I love the girl.

Music Throwback Saturday: Dead Skunk

Loudon Waniwright III played a singing dentist, Captain Calvin Spaulding, in a few episodes of the TV show MASH.

loudonLast week, the Wife and the Daughter were out taking a walk about dusk. They saw a white skunk departing from underneath our neighbor’s front porch. We’d seen the creature before.

He went under a parked car, and must have emerged on the other side at a most inopportune time, as my family heard the sickening thud of a vehicle hitting the skunk.

A couple hours later, I got a ride home from choir rehearsal. We saw, and more importantly, we smelled the results of the accident: “Dead skunk in the middle of the road, stinkin’ to high heaven.”.

When I came in through our door, I could STILL breathe the stench in our living room, though the doors and windows were closed. That night, the Daughter slept in the back of the house with her mother, while slept in the Daughter’s bedroom, with the smell somewhat dissipated, but not gone.

That morning, after the garbage collectors had picked the trash, the Daughter and I noted that the dead skunk was still in the road, and I was thinking I would have to find a shovel to remove him. Fortunately, someone – I’m thinking it was a staff person from the nearby school – removed the deceased creature before a lot of the kids went to school.

The Wife drove off that morning, and while her car was about five car lengths away from the accident, it still reeked that that malodorous perfume.

The song

Loudon Waniwright III is a singer-songwriter who played a singing dentist, Captain Calvin Spaulding, in a few episodes of the TV show MASH. He also played the dad on Undeclared, a short-lived sitcom from 2002 that I loved.

He was married to women in similar lines of work. First, to the late Kate McGarrigle of the McGarrigle Sisters, who’s the mother of singers Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, then to Suzzy Roche of the Roches, mother of singer Lucy Wainwright Roche.

Dead Skunk, a song my daughter does not believe exists, got to #16 in 1973 on the US Billboard pop charts.

Listen to: Dead Skunk here or here.

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