Happy New Year
Here's to a great (will settle for better) 2021, and more time with the ones you (still, after spending every moment of the past year stuck with them in confined spaces) love.
2020 Concerts
It seems like just yesterday I was posting the list of shows I saw in 2019. Little did we know that this year would be so truncated. I miss live shows. Almost as much as I miss youth sports. Regardless, here's a short list of the shows I did see.
This first one is a bit of a cheat, but a New Year's Eve show of Dear Evan Hansen [listen on Spotify]. Thank you, The Unc.
One month later was a difficult (to recover from) double-show week. First was Caspian [listen on Spotify], with The Velvet Teen [on Spotify], at The Casbah.
This was followed by a dad's night out to see Canada's-own indie-rock supergroup, The New Pornographers [listen on Spotify] at the North Park Observatory.
Finally (Finally. How incredibly sad.) was Robyn Hitchcock [listen on Spotify], at The Casbah. He's someone I've wanted to see live for years (decades) so even though by this point we knew tightly packed crowds in indoor spaces were maybe a bit unsafe, it wasn't something I was going to miss.
There was a lot of chatter at the show and a very "this may be the last time we do this" vibe.
Indeed, that's what happened. Here's hoping I can resurrect this post next year at this time.
This first one is a bit of a cheat, but a New Year's Eve show of Dear Evan Hansen [listen on Spotify]. Thank you, The Unc.
One month later was a difficult (to recover from) double-show week. First was Caspian [listen on Spotify], with The Velvet Teen [on Spotify], at The Casbah.
This was followed by a dad's night out to see Canada's-own indie-rock supergroup, The New Pornographers [listen on Spotify] at the North Park Observatory.
Finally (Finally. How incredibly sad.) was Robyn Hitchcock [listen on Spotify], at The Casbah. He's someone I've wanted to see live for years (decades) so even though by this point we knew tightly packed crowds in indoor spaces were maybe a bit unsafe, it wasn't something I was going to miss.
There was a lot of chatter at the show and a very "this may be the last time we do this" vibe.
Indeed, that's what happened. Here's hoping I can resurrect this post next year at this time.
Christmas Recital
"The Christmas Waltz" by Jule Styne
Watch Jenna play "The Christmas Waltz" here."The Christmas Waltz" is a Christmas song written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne for Frank Sinatra, who recorded it in 1954 as the B-side of a new recording of "White Christmas",[1] in 1957 for his album A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra,[2] and in 1968 for The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas.[3]
Cahn recalls, "One day during a very hot spell in Los Angeles the phone rang and it was Jule Styne to say, 'Frank wants a Christmas song.'"[4] Cahn resisted. "Jule, we're not going to write any Christmas song. After Irving Berlin's 'White Christmas'? The idea's just ridiculous."[4] Styne was emphatic, however. "'Frank wants a Christmas song.'"[4]
The two met in Styne's apartment to begin work on the project, and Cahn asked the composer, "'Hey, Jule, has there ever been a Christmas waltz?' He said no. I said, 'Play that waltz of yours.' He did so,"[4] and Cahn began work on the lyrics of "The Christmas Waltz", which many other artists have also recorded. [via Wikipedia]
"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" by Jule Styne
Watch Jenna play "Let It Snow!" here."Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", also known as simply "Let It Snow", is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in July 1945. It was written in Hollywood, California during a heat wave as Cahn and Styne imagined cooler conditions.[1][2]
Despite the lyrics making no mention of any holiday, the song has come to be regarded as a Christmas song in North America due to its winter theme, being played on radio stations during the Christmas and holiday season and having often been covered by various artists on Christmas-themed albums. [via Wikipedia]
You can also watch her previous recital, from September, and hear her original piece, "Everlasting".
