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.
