Sanity - What Are They?

What keeps me sane?

That question presumes that I am sane, well, at least sort of sane.  And you could probably get some debate on that question if you really wanted to.  However . . .

I have discovered one thing and that is that as I get older, I worry a LOT less about sanity and more about am I cultivating the properly curmudgeonly attitude.  So, some of my choices may be a bit unconventional, and that doesn't really bother me.

When I was in high school, the Beatles were still together, but not for long, Simon and Garfunkel were still on top, and the Tijuana Brass were flying high.  I got to see the TJB once at the Ohio State Fair, which managed to pull in top acts for the grandstand shows.  But my favorite group of the time was a group called Harpers Bizarre.  They had a number of hit songs including "Chattanooga Choo-choo" and the "59th Street Bridge Song" aka "Feelin' Groovy" (by Simon & Garfunkel).  They also recorded a number of Randy Newman songs, back before Randy Newman became famous in his own name.  This is one of those songs,

"Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear".  I love his satire!  (And Harper's Bizarre sang it - even better!)

I also love jazz.  I discovered Dianne Reeves a number of years back when she was promoting her album "The Calling".  One of the songs on it was this one, George & Ira Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm".  I love not only the arrangement, but the fact that I can understand every word she sings!  What a singer!!!!!

I also grew to love Bob James' music from watching "Taxi", one of the greatest TV shows ever.  This is good music to get mellow, "Angela".

Lastly, but not leastly, I got a love of Bach and organ music.  I actually took organ lessons for a few years after I graduated from college, but it definitely helps to be able to play the piano first.  However, I have seen Virgil Fox, Wilbur Held, Keith Chapman, Peter Richard Conte, Alexander Schreiner, and Richard Elliott in concert on various organs (including the Wanamaker organ and the Mormon Tabernacle organ).  I actually got to play the Tabernacle organ once and didn't make a fool of myself!

At any rate, I am putting in a recording of Richard Elliott playing the Tabernacle organ.  Rick is a friend of mine and I knew him when he was still a student at Curtis.  He is now the Principal Organist of the Tabernacle organ.

And then to finish things off, I am including one of my favorite organ works, Louis Vierne's "Carillon de Westminster".  This is a fairly popular work and not terribly difficult, so it is played and recorded often.  My favorite recording is one made by Alexander Schreiner in the 1970's on the Tabernacle organ.  Schreiner studied with Vierne and Schreiner played his works often.  Unfortunately, the album is out of print and has never been reissued on CD.  So, you will get the next best performance that I could find.

So, sanity - well, it's a bit overrated, I think, but I guess I prefer dealing with sane people than not-sane people.  In addition to music, I like walking in the woods with Jim or alone.  I spent many, many hours in the woods growing up.  It was my place to go when I wanted to talk to myself and see how I was doing with life.  Time spent in a canoe on the water is also wonderful.  Watching clouds  change as they go in the sky.  Being by myself in my house, putting on favorite music, turning the volume up, and dancing, if I feel like it.  Solitude.  Quiet.

Oh, and the title of this posting is a play on a quote from a book I read when I was a kid.  The actual quote was "Brahms - what are they?" so it was a short hop to "Sanity - what are they?"