Monday, February 9, 2009

What we’ve all been waiting for our whole lives.


I have been casting about in my mind for a couple of days now as to what I should post next, and just when I thought nothing at all would ever occur to me, I discovered the very thing we’ve all been waiting for. Most of us probably aren’t even aware of it.

In this time of controversial government spending bills and much-debated stimulus packages and non-tax-paying nominees heading various cabinet-level departments, I have found the very thing that can turn us around as a country, restore our image around the world, and enable us to hold our heads high once again.

Here, ladies and gentlemen, for your edification and listening pleasure, is something you have probably never experienced before, and yet, when you do experience it, you will immediately realize that it is exactly what you have been waiting for all your life.

From the sanctuary of Trinity Church on Wall Street in lower Manhattan -- that’s New York City, for the completely clueless -- here is organist Cameron Carpenter performing John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” on the pipe organ as you have never heard it or seen it before. Well, you may have heard something like it because the tune does sound pretty much the same every time you hear it. But I’m willing to bet you have never seen anything like it. For example, Cameron plays the piccolo part (usually played on the piccolo) on the organ pedals with his feet.

And there’s this added benefit, too. If you watch and listen to this video clip three times a day for the next three weeks, you will no longer care how much the government spends or how long the debates over the stimulus package last or who heads which cabinet-level department. Because all you will want will be to get that tune and those images out of your head.

Immediately.

9 comments:

  1. Pretty amazing. I can't imagine coordinating my feet and hands like that. Wow! I bet you could do it Bob.

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  2. Hi
    Came across your excellent blog. we are both 'getting on' a bit but I am very jealous of your technical abilites. I struggle like hell, still trying to put a moving picture on my blog. (I use the same type of set up as you so you prove it is possible.) I even have a blog ready. Re blogs I tend to keep off the topical but find it difficult. I am a novice with no technical background. Please don't tell me you are self taught! Will be back. Loved the organist in his long johns!

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  3. Two new readers and two old friends!

    Lula's daughter, it is mesmerising, isn't it?

    Ruth, my sentiments exactly!

    Vonda (Egghead), I do play the organ, but I don't know about doing that. And you wouldn't want to see me in white tights and spangles!

    Grumpy Old Ken (who probably isn't so old or so grumpy, welcome to my blog! No, not self-taught; I used to be an IT (information technology) specialist at IBM, LOL! But it's fairly easy to do. If all else fails, click on "View" and "Page Source" to get to the HTML code for my page. Then do an "Edit" and "Find" and search for something unique from the text in my link. This should bring you to the area of the HTML code you want to examine to see how it's done!

    Short of giving you a tutorial, hope that helps, and come back often....

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  4. what are you talking about...i am on a fiend's computer and he is haovering ovr me while i post so i don't run his computer like i did mine

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  5. Putz, a question and an observation. First, what are you talking about? Second, it's never good to be on a fiend's computer, especially when he is haovering over you while you post. Oh, and third, I was talking to Grumpy Old Ken....

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  6. For some unbeknownst reason, on the day this was posted I was not able to play the You Tube video. Happily, that was not the case today. I have spent at least fifteen minutes watching and listening to videos of this amazing young organist! The Sousa piece was amazing, but so were the themes from Superman and Star Wars which some wonderful soul also placed on the Internet. I have not adequate words to praise his abilities.

    Thanks for bringing his music to my attention.

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  7. Glad to be aboard--Mesmerising with an 's'!!---How wonderful! A fellow anglophile!

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

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