The party�s over�
8:52 a.m.
I remember her New Year�s Eve parties with her dynamite egg nog (one glass was enough to send you to a heart specialist, there was so much heavy cream in it), and her various craft projects. She built a dollhouse which just blew me away, engendering a fascination with all things miniature for a while. For my 16th birthday she made me a wooden jewellery box, lined with purple velvet, which I still use. Then there was the preservation of flowers, often petal by petal, in a sand-silicate mixture. I wonder what became of all those various projects. We used to buy fabric together and then make matching outfits. We experimented together with makeup, following instructions in teen magazines (remember thick eyeliner, bouffant hairdos?) and came away looking like someone had punched us in both eyes.
I remember the time I accidentally spilled nail polish remover on her dresser, and while wiping it up wiped off the painted-on pattern. Then there was the time she came home from my house, reeking of G�elixir, the fortified wine on my windowsill left there by my dad to ward off sore throats and colds, and her mom was convinced I was turning her into an alcoholic. Ah, good times.
Anyway, this particular entry is to explain the history of the UpIands MusicaI S0ciety and why it has taken me so long to get the fuck out of it. When Vlad (who was then implicated on the board of directors of the museum) started this group in March 2000, the focus of the repertoire was Victorian schlocky parlour music, mostly solos, duets and trios, exploring the music written at the time the museum was built. It was truly terrible music, but it was also fun to perform and the audiences loved it. The museum actually got a grant from the provincial government to pay us, which was rather nice, except that we were encouraged to donate our fee back to the institution for a tax receipt. The only problem with that is that I would have to claim the honorarium as income, and I�d only get a small percentage of the charitable donation deducted from my taxes. I confess that after realizing this fact of life, I kept the fee and didn�t give it back.
Now in the beginning, the group consisted of people I really liked alot. The Duke and Duchess were among the founding members, as well as Herr Doktor Professor and TD (the guy who kept me from slitting my throat last summer when my zIp disk failed). Our tenors were Vlad�s son and Dr. M (the husband of Dr. M), who was then merely a doctoral candidate complaining all the while about his dissertation (I�m sure there are plenty out there who can relate), and for altos we had my children�s former nursery-school teacher and a woman from the community who happens to have the same name as a famous Jewish cookbook writer, although she is neither Jewish nor authors cookbooks. Many of these people are still with us: TD, Vlad�s son, the nursery-school teacher (retired), and Vlad herself. The Duchess quit when she found out she was ill, the Duke did not want to stay without his wife, the other alto waffled constantly about her involvement in the group (although I think she was one of the better singers we have had, even though she is largely untrained), Dr. M felt he needed to concentrate on his dissertation (I really miss him, being the only other secular Jew in the bunch) and Herr Doktor Professor couldn�t be with us for this particular concert because he is busy directing the drama/music spring musical which opens next Friday. However, he did send his oldest son to sing baritone with us.
Anyway, while we were still performing music that demanded more soloistic voices, all was well. But then Vlad started changing the focus of the group, researching and finding choral arrangements of things. This presented an interesting dilemma. We were only two to three on a part, which meant blending was out of the question. But she would still insist on a blend. It was at this point, about two years ago, that I should have just walked away, but by then it really was a volunteer thing for me, the grant having run out after the first couple of years (it did help the museum buy a new piano, which it desperately needed) and I felt that I had made some sort of community commitment. When the Duchess got ill, that�s when I should have left too, but I still felt some loyalty to the ensemble.
Anyway, in answer to your question, zitagsd, this is why I didn�t get out of there years ago. We only perform two concerts a year, a Christmas show (at the museum, free admission, donations accepted, followed by a reception of pastry, spiced apple cider and Dinah�s dynamite mulled wine) and a spring benefit (which takes place now at the music department and for which Vlad augments the group), and I figured that for what I�m giving the community I could afford a little bit of humiliation. Well, I can�t anymore. This most recent experience has just confirmed it.
And now that I�ve said all that, I hope, since the concert is tonight, that that is the end of it.
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