#754 Elton Times Ten

I dreamed I was riding home with Sir Elton John in a car.  I asked if he was pleased with the Songs from the West Coast album and he said he wasn't too happy about it. When Elton asked if I could sing, I replied that I could play the piano better than I could sing and invited him in to hear me play Carla Etude when we got back to the house.  He seemed pleased with the suggestion of that little-known song.  When we arrived home, I ran ahead, organized my piano music, and put Elton’s music on top, so he would know how much I loved him.

And Elton loves me too.  For 40 years, he has followed me around the country.

When I lived in...

•  ...Bartlesville, Elton played two Tulsa concerts in 1980 and 1982.
• ...Kansas City, Elton played outdoors at Sandstone Amphitheater in 1986.
• ...Indianapolis, Elton played at Conseco Fieldhouse in 2000 and 2005.
• ...Charlottesville, Elton played at John Paul Jones Arena in 2008. 
• ...Aurora, Elton played outdoors at the Woodlands Pavilion in Houston in 2015, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls in 2015, at the Pepsi Center in Denver last week, and at the Sprint Center in Kansas City last night. 

And while he was in my neighborhood, I attended each of those ten concerts.  It would have been rude of me not to go after he had traveled all that way.

Each of the concerts was fantastic whether I was sitting in third row seats in Charlottesville or sitting near the top of the arena in my usual cheap seats.  No matter my proximity to the stage, I usually cry a couple of times during an Elton concert. Many of his soulful songs evoke such strong emotion: Candle in the Wind, Your Song, Tiny Dancer.  My least favorite is Bennie and the Jets and my most favorite are Levon and Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting.  I also love Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters and wish he'd play that more often. 

It was the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road double album that rocked my world in 1973.  Since then, I've loved his albums, his concerts, his movies, and his musicals.  And just last year, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s first season ended with Curtains (1975).  So now I love his television music too.

Last night in Kansas City, ten friends from Charlottesville, Colorado Springs, Kansas City, Loveland, and Sparks, NV came together to celebrate Elton's musical genius during his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.   

To properly celebrate Elton's farewell and the reunion of our friends, something flashy was required.  So we stopped by the US Toy Company to get the one thing we need for an Elton farewell concert: feather boas. 

And when we picked up our friends at the airport, it was not too difficult to distinguish between us and the other drivers waiting at the gate.

Elton and his fans have been a constant throughout my life. Just as six of Elton's albums are included on the Rolling Stones' list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, all of these friends are on the Johnston list of Greatest Friends of All Time.

Last night, the Kansas City crowd was beyond enthusiastic.  Elton and the band seemed so happy to be on stage.  They were having fun and we were having fun.  Elton rocked Levon better than ever.  For three hours, he made me dance, he made me laugh, and he made me cry.  We were even interviewed for the Kansas City news!

Thanks, Elton, for all of it.  And thanks, friends, for sharing it all with us.  I'm emotional, sappy, and grateful.  And from now on, I promise to wear more feather boas.

Yours in loving Elton and his fans,
Mary

#751 Tea House Concert

Every Monday afternoon on the top floor of perhaps the most famous tea house in China, musicians gather to play traditional Chinese music. We joined them, thanks to Michael and Sheila.

We drank tea and ate exotic food.

For two delightful hours, we listened, enjoyed, and applauded their dedication and skill.

Yours in music appreciation,
Kelly

#577 Dublin theater

Another quality of a favorite city is good theater.

So we tour the Abbey Theater, ie National Theater of Ireland, founded by Yeats and Lady Gregory in 1904.

And with some friends from the ship, we return to the Abbey Theater for a terrific production of Major Barbara, written about the same time by the Irish playwright Mr. George Bernard Shaw.

Also on our theatrical list is a walking tour of Once, a charming Irish musical film and one of my favorites.  We find Walton's Music Store, scene of the Falling Slowly song - winner of the Academy Award for best original song.  We learn that shopkeepers now ban the playing of Falling Slowly on store pianos!  So, we're not the only Once fans to find our way here.

Yours in falling quickly for Irish theater,
Mary

#542 Vacation Virginia #3 - Great Big Sea

Vacation Virginia #3 is really just a late night.  But that happens so rarely, it counts as a vacation.

Great Big Sea, one of my all-time favorite bands, is playing at the Warner Theater in Washington DC.  We convince our DC friend Trista to join us and we drive 3 hours north to meet her, along with Alan, Sean, and Bob.

The boys open with Ordinary Day, though it's not.  On this their 20th anniversary tour, they play two full sets from 8:00 to 11:00, including many of our favorites.  I especially love those a cappella songs with Sean on the drum - like River Driver. 

I've been lucky enough to see Great Big Sea six times - but never twice in the same state.  My goal is to one day see them play in front of a home-town crowd at Mile One Stadium in Saint John's, Newfoundland.

Yours in looking forward to the next one,
Mary

#520 Happy birthday, Yamaha!

My piano is 30 years old! 

This loyal Yamaha console piano has stayed with me through quiet times, through 10 moves, and through 30 years of 1960s and 1970s folk music.

And my first post-college purchase was a great investment!  Calculations show the cost to be less than $10 per month.

Yours in music appreciation,
Mary

#402 Sam and Shannon and Bono Vox visit Charlottesville

Although they needed 80 tractor-trailer trucks to carry all their things, Sam, Shannon, and Bono Vox all came together in the Johnston Visitor Plan this weekend in Charlottesville.

During Sam and Shannon's visit, Mary and I were

• entertained by Bono Vox and his three friends under a full moon on a gorgeous fall night at Scott Stadium.

• entertained by some seafaring friends on our back deck without the need of even one tractor-trailer truck.

• entertained by the fabulous actors at the Blackfriars Playhouse, the world's only replica of Shakespeare's indoor theater.

• entertained by a discussion of iPhone augmented reality over some of Mrs. Rowe's pecan pie.

Yours in appreciating excellent entertainment,
Kelly

#397 Swiss music

I like the music of Switzerland. They offer something for everybody. Those haunting Swiss Alpine horns... And atmospheric Swiss yodelers... And metallic Swiss cow bells... And timeless Rod Stewart... OK, so Rod Stewart isn't Swiss, but the Swiss like him. Yours in enjoying the music of Switzerland, Mary

#396 Fabulous Fourth

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic..." On July 4, we watched and listened as 66 new US citizens declared their loyalty in a moving outdoor naturalization ceremony on Monticello’s west lawn. The flags were flying, the band was playing, and our librarian friends were everywhere! We came away full of American pride.

Yours in patriotic fury,
Mary

#379 An Albemarle Overture

Our friend Fred is a composer. And last week, we got to hear Fred and the Charlottesville Municipal Band play the world premiere of An Albemarle Overture. Fred, a science librarian by day and a clarinetist by night, composed An Albemarle Overture as a way to evoke what each of us likes about living here in Albemarle County.

Look, I even got him to sign my program...

Yours in appreciating the musical stylings of Elton, Fred, and Bono right here in Charlottesville,
Mary

#360 Christmas with the Germans

No one does Christmas like the Germans. That’s what my sister has been telling me, so we went to see for ourselves. Kathy and Mark moved to Wiesbaden (birthplace of John McEnroe) in October, so they had plenty of time to find a home, move out of temporary housing, start a new job, and plan our holiday vacation.

We took the train south to Bavaria (just steps away from the Austrian border) to visit two castles, Germany's most popular attractions. Thousands of visitors come each day in the summer to see the castle that inspired Cinderella's castle at Disneyland. Christmas week is definitely a better time to visit! Schloss Neuschwanstein (new swan stone palace) is visible from Schloss Hohenschwangau (castle of the high swan county). These two castles were built by father and son, each Bavarian kings. Neuschwanstein was built by the son in homage to the operas of Richard Wagner and the rooms are decorated according to each opera or story.

We also took a road trip on the autobahn to visit two of Germany's medieval walled cities - Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbuhl - both on the Romantic Road. We enjoyed the German Christmas Museum with its giant nutcracker, the bratwurst and other wursts, the spaetzle, the strudel, the Riesling, the Hefeweizen, the efficient German rail service, the German Christmas markets, the German word for five, saying Gesundheit in its native land, seeing the Christmas tree in its native land, the artistic tombstones, and the outstanding German hospitality.

In addition to our family (who sort of have to), we were welcomed especially well by the train conductor, the train dining car staff, the Fussen bus driver, the Fussen taxi driver, and the non-English-speaking Dinkelsbuhl restaurant staff.

Yours in planning a return trip,
Mary

#359 Snoopy's Christmas

Remember Snoopy's Christmas?

The Baron made Snoopy fly to the Rhine
And forced him to land behind the enemy lines
Snoopy was certain that this was the end
When the Baron cried out,
"Merry Christmas, my friend"

According to wikipedia, The Royal Guardsmen recorded Snoopy Vs The Red Baron first,

then recorded The Return of The Red Baron,


and finally Snoopy's Christmas.

Sure - I learned the words to Jingle Bells first, but it's Snoopy's Christmas that I still sing today!

So to properly celebrate my first Christmas in Germany, my sister took me across the street from her home in Wiesbaden (not that far from the Rhine) to the Südfriedhof Cemetery and the final resting place of Manfred "The Red Baron" von Richthofen

Christmas bells those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land
Bringing peace to all the world
And good will to man. 

Yours in crying out, "Merry Christmas, my friend,"
Mary

#354 Christmas with Lilah

To kick off the 2008 holiday season, we nostalgically present a 16-year-old Christmas video!

For Christmas 1992, I invited my hammered dulcimer teacher - the one and only Lilah Gillette - to play some holiday dulcimer tunes for a party in our Overland Park home. Lilah and her son Don thrilled the crowd with their flying hammers and their heartwarming personalities. Thanks to the thoughtfulness of friend Allison for the original recording in 1992 and thanks to the magic of digitization in 2008, you can see and hear the sweet melody of Jingle Bells and Silent Night.

Yours in loving Lilah, the hammered dulcimer, Christmas music, and the magic that comes from combining all three,
Mary

#353 OKLAHOMA!

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

Right out of college, Phillips Petroleum offered to pay me a whopping $17,000 for a year's worth of computer programming. So, I jumped all over that and moved to Bartlesville, OK. It was the perfect place for me. To relive my Oklahoma years (the 1980s), I rounded up a passel of non-Okie friends on Saturday night and we headed over to the theater to see the Rodgers and Hammerstein account of Oklahoma life. Richard and Oscar got it exactly right - that's just how I remember life in Oklahoma.

To continue my walk down memory lane, I've been busy scanning photos. Here's a volleyball photo from 1980 - I'm the geeky one sitting on the court.

I've added some of these pictorial gems to our photos page. (Scroll down until you get to the really old ones.) If I knew you in Bville in the 1980s, then you might find yourself here. You'll for sure find plenty of heart and plenty of hope.

Yours in O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A OKLAHOMA!
Mary

#349 PS Piano Girls

Mrs Tomlin is the saint who taught my sisters and me to play the piano. I'm not sure how she managed it. Despite her decision to teach the Hill sisters, she was one smart woman. She tackled us on different days of the week.

Here is Mrs Tomlin in 1975 when my brother and I graduated from Mount Vernon High School.

Yours in musical memories,
Mary

#348 Piano Girls

We're a family of piano girls. Here's Mom in about 1937 playing the family piano (a 1925 Vose and Sons.) The piano originally belonged to my grandmother who lived in Cleveland and worked for the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Here's 3-year old me - more interested in my book and doll than the family piano behind me. By this time, the piano belonged to Mom. I can remember Mom playing Chopin's Minute Waltz while my sisters and I all learned how to play.

Here's me today trying to play Elton John's Carla Etude on the family piano. The piano now belongs to my sister Kathy but, in a stroke of complicated maneuvering on my part which included moving my sister overseas, the piano is now (temporarily) making its home here with me.

Yours in the Piano Girl family,
Mary

#345 Great Big Sea

I've loved the music of Great Big Sea ever since I visited Newfoundland and long before I sailed across the great big sea. So when the Canadian celtic-rock band came close to home, we planned a road trip to the other city named for Queen Charlotte (Charlotte, North Carolina.)

Driving past the Dana Auditorium about 4 hours before showtime, we spotted Alan (the lead singer) standing outside the Great Big Sea bus. (He must have thought he'd be safe from the likes of me at this hour - but not so.) Coolly, I rolled down my window and yelled, "Hey Alan! We're looking forward to the concert tonight." Even more coolly, he replied, "Yeah. Me too. Thanks!"

As Kelly predicted, they opened with Donkey Riding - his favorite. Then they sang a lot of our old traditional Newfoundland favorites mixed with the new ones.

We especially liked Captain Wedderburn, Consequence Free, General Taylor, Helmethead, Jack Hinks, The Night Patty Murphy Died, and River Driver. Two hours later (with nary any sitting), the band closed with the rousing, audience sing-along The Old Black Rum and the a capella version of Old Brown's Daughter. Sweet. Many thanks to Liz for introducing me to Alan and the boys.

Yours in appreciation of the aligning musical planets which bring me Elton and Great Big Sea on two consecutive weekends,
Mary

#342 Elton: His Gift is His Song

I've been in love with Sir Elton John since about 1970. Of course, he wasn't a knight back then. But that's the year he wrote Your Song - just for me.

Elton has played in all 50 states in the US and last night we were lucky to see Elton in his first-ever appearance in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Elton started with Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding then kept it going with The Bitch is Back. It was crazy. He was crazy good.

Our friend Melinda used her amazing ticket karma to provide us with 3rd row seats - from where I never took my eyes off Elton. (I didn't really need that chair, though.)

He played and sang for 2.5 hours and was able to fit in a lot of the classics (Bennie and the Jets, Crocodile Rock, Daniel, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues, I'm Still Standing, Levon, Pinball Wizard, Rocket Man, Saturday Night). Elton would have to sing for weeks to get them all in. He saved the best for last and closed the show with my song, Your Song.

Yours in appreciating the genius of Elton,
Mary

#302 A City of Pianos

Bergen is a city of pianos!

Maybe it's because Bergen was home to composer Edvard Grieg. (I still remember trying to learn Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King during my piano lesson days.)

We enjoyed a piano/cello concert in the Troldsalen concert hall adjacent to Grieg's home featuring the music of Tellefsen, Chopin, and - you guessed it - Grieg.

We enjoyed an outdoor piano concert on the streets of Bergen in Torgalmenningen Square.

Even the Bergen public library is sporting a baby grand.

So as we sail away from Bergen, we are happy to have the three MV Explorer pianos on board. It's almost like taking a bit of Bergen with us.

Yours still a little bit in the hall of the mountain king,
Mary

#26 No Ordinary Day

As we cross this great big sea, we’re thinking of our favorite Newfoundland band, Great Big Sea, and their Ordinary Day song.

It’s up to you now if you sink or swim,
Keep the faith and your ship will come in.

Hey Judy – do you have a report of the GBS concert in Seattle on Sunday night? Did you tell Alan and Sean and Bob hello for us?

Yours in thinking about the easternmost place in North America when we’re the farthest west we’ve ever been,
Mary