Icono Clast

The following has been added to the "Dance Vignettes" pages at the
sites in the sig:


SAINT CROIX STEEL
Some time in the '70s, I stept out of my Saint Croix hotel to take a
walk. One way was busy with shops and restaurants and bars catering
to my fellow tourists. I went the other way.
A few blocks up a gentle grade I came across a plaza lined with
food vendors and filled with people. I saw no face that wasn't black
but they could have seen one.
Enjoying the milieu, I soon learned the reason for the crowd:
At one end of the plaza was an 80-piece pan band that gave a
thrilling concert that included works by Beethoven, Chopin, Gersh-
win, Ellington, Tchaikovsky, and included numbers from the US Pop and
Broadway song books.
The musicians included children as well as a few who could have
been their great-great grandparents. Some were in normal business
wear, others dressed as workmen, and others obviously very poor.
There were pans of every conceivable description playing the parts
written for other instruments.
There was neither amplification nor sheet music but there was a
highly animated and very enthusiastic conductor. The musicians might
have been amateurs in the strictest sense of the word but their
performance could have proudly shared a concert stage with any
orchestra on the planet.
It was a joyous and musically thrilling evening. I was a bit
saddened by the apparent absence of my fellow tourists but the thrill
of that lovely evening's full and swinging sounds lingers and will no
doubt stay with me 'til I die.
__________________________________________________ _________________
A dancing San Franciscan who sometimes just listens.
< http://geocities.com/dancefest/ >-< http://geocities.com/iconoc/ >
ICQ: < http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 > ---> IClast at SFbay Net

Marika

"Icono Clast" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:1118487496.49512bc8d6fd973b23391438271e2249@t eranews...
    > The following has been added to the "Dance Vignettes" pages at the
    > sites in the sig:
    > SAINT CROIX STEEL
    > Some time in the '70s, I stept out of my Saint Croix hotel to take a
    > walk. One way was busy with shops and restaurants and bars catering
    > to my fellow tourists. I went the other way.
    > A few blocks up a gentle grade I came across a plaza lined with
    > food vendors and filled with people. I saw no face that wasn't black
    > but they could have seen one.
    > Enjoying the milieu, I soon learned the reason for the crowd:
    > At one end of the plaza was an 80-piece pan band that gave a
    > thrilling concert that included works by Beethoven, Chopin, Gersh-
    > win, Ellington, Tchaikovsky, and included numbers from the US Pop and
    > Broadway song books.
    > The musicians included children as well as a few who could have
    > been their great-great grandparents. Some were in normal business
    > wear, others dressed as workmen, and others obviously very poor.
    > There were pans of every conceivable description playing the parts
    > written for other instruments.
    > There was neither amplification nor sheet music but there was a
    > highly animated and very enthusiastic conductor. The musicians might
    > have been amateurs in the strictest sense of the word but their
    > performance could have proudly shared a concert stage with any
    > orchestra on the planet.
    > It was a joyous and musically thrilling evening. I was a bit
    > saddened by the apparent absence of my fellow tourists but the thrill
    > of that lovely evening's full and swinging sounds lingers and will no
    > doubt stay with me 'til I die.

on the cruise i went on the other day, they had pretty lame canned steel
music. A guy played the drums live, but the rest was taped. It was strage
hearing him do a very odd variety of tunes, from auld lang syne and danny
boy to brickhouse. no matter what though that music has a very slow
deliberate beat and the fastrer poppy tuns sounded WEIRD and you just
couldn't dance to them no matter how hard you try. the people i was with
said i danced real well, but that i danced as if i was tripping on acid.
but what else can you do when you hear a dance standard like ace of base,
and the odd pace makes you do a stutter in the middle of your move.

mk5000


"persuasion is a great song. the cover picture tricks you into thinking
Disney, but it's more like Jim Jones. It's not so cheery when you know that
cliff is a suicide spot"-cedric bixler zavala