Italy. Photo by Paul Goldfinger Re-post from 2014 on Blogfinger.net.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net
The writing on top is in Hebrew. It is the blessing for lighting the candles on the eve of the Sabbath. If you try to read it, you need to go from right to left.
Is it wrong to mix these two religions in this post? I don’t think so. Religion in its most elemental form consists of people seeking God in one way or another.
Candles give off light, just like the sun, the moon and the stars. All people share the gift of light, regardless of religion or no religion. So, as in this church, anyone can light a candle anywhere and find peace in the light.
And anyone can find God when listening to Mozart, even in the dark.
And the Bible mentions music such as harps, vocals, flutes, tambourines, angels singing, and trumpets. I noticed a reference to music in the pre-concert prayer, in the Great Auditorium last night, and I especially loved the reference to the “rams horn” which is blown during the Jewish high holidays.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor @Blogfinger Reposted from 2011 on BF.
Nineteen years ago, when Tony Bennett appeared in the Great Auditorium for the first time, the tenor soloist in Ocean Grove, Ronald Naldi, was asked to sing the Star-Spangled Banner. He did so gladly because he is a great admirer of Mr. Bennett’s work. When Mr. Naldi learned that Tony Bennett was returning this season, he volunteered to sing the National Anthem again.
The audience of over 4,000 people was thrilled by Mr. Naldi’s performance. He was accompanied on the Hope-Jones organ by his 23 year old grandson Sean Gough of North Plainfield, New Jersey; his magnificent tenor voice resonated and soared through the massive wooden structure.
Ronald Naldi sings the National Anthem at the Bennett concert. Photo by Tracey James
Mr. Naldi is a professional singer with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and he has been the tenor soloist in Ocean Grove for the last 38 years. Several years ago he was honored by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association when they named him “Artist-In-Residence.”
Ronald Naldi was born in New Jersey. He is a member of the Italian-American Hall of Fame. During the summer, he and his wife spend weekends in their tent. He is a member and soloist with the Great Auditorium Choir and, when he is not in the Grove or traveling around the world, he lives in North Plainfield.
We discussed the acoustics in the GA with Mr. Naldi, who has appeared throughout the world in great opera houses. He said that the acoustics are “incredible” in the GA and he loves to sing in that “unique huge” building. He told us that he sings without amplification in the GA as do all the singers and musicians who perform the famous sacred and classical works that are staged regularly in Ocean Grove each summer. The only time they use a microphone is when a recording is being made. Performing in the Great Auditorium has been likened to playing inside a giant cello.
Ronald Naldi is a Blogfinger fan, and we were delighted and privileged to be able to speak to him. He has recorded four CD’s: two are of Neapolitan music while the other two contain songs composed by Maria Lombardo and Dennis Hyams—both from New Jersey.
This song, Santa Lucia, is from Mr. Naldi’s album “Torna a Surriento.” It is a traditional Neapolitan composition from the 19th century. If you were to take the boat ride into the “Blue Grotto” off the Isle of Capri, near Naples, the boatmen like to sing this song while they row around in circles inside the grotto. If you emerge through the small opening unscathed, you will have this song reverberating in your dizzy head for days.
Paul Goldfinger St. Emilion, France. Dordogne region. Growers of Bordeaux wine. Silver gelatin dark room print by the photographer. Click once for full view.
SIDNEY BECHET (soprano sax) with “Si Tu Vois Ma Mere” from the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris.
“Though April showers may come your way
They bring the flowers that bloom in May
So if it’s raining have no regrets
Because it isn’t raining rain you know, it’s raining violets.
And where you see clouds upon the hills
You soon will see crowds of daffodils
So keep on looking for a blue bird
And list’ning for his song
Whenever April showers come along.”
The song was introduced for a 1921 Broadway musical Bombo.
It must have been sometime in the winter of 1961-62. We were two soldiers on leave, exploring the mysteries and enticements of New York City for the very first time. Probably on someone’s recommendation, we sought out a place on 7th Avenue called the Village Vanguard, eager to hear some jazz. The chairs were uncomfortable, the tables were tiny and crammed together to make the most of the space, and the cover charge and liquid refreshments cost more than we could afford, forcing us to nurse our drinks all evening in spite of the waitress’s judgmental looks. It was one of those situations where you have to hang onto your glass for dear life lest the waitress scoop it away before it’s empty.
The featured artist that night played jazz piano with a heavy gospel flavor and sang with an air of authority rare in one so young (she was probably not yet 20). She had an enormous voice. I was gobsmacked by her performance. I remember writing a letter to a friend back in Texas, a fellow jazz lover, saying, “You’ve got to listen to a singer named Aretha Franklin. See if you can find any of her records.”
I don’t think I heard of her again until four or five years later, by which time she had altered her repertoire and become the “Queen of Soul.” I never hear her music now without thinking of how she sounded to me on that cold, long-ago night, as I sat huddled in that overcrowded club on 7th Avenue.
This song, a standard from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, provides a good approximation of how she sounded that night.
By Paul Goldfinger and Charles Layton. Editors, Blogfinger.net. August 2012. Paul Goldfinger photographs—see show below.
Ocean Grove becomes transformed late at night. Another side of the town’s beauty — at once calmer and more dramatic — emerges.
Streets, porches, vegetation and storefront displays turn ghostly and mysterious. Over on the Asbury side, some of the murals on the Casino (like the one above) become downright scary.
The contrasts of encompassing darkness, silvery moon and spots of artificial light point up architectural features that are less obvious in the brassy light of the day. Sounds strike the ear differently; the ocean surf suggests the breathing of some giant, sleeping thing.
As humans withdraw from view, wild creatures begin to roam noiselessly – a rabbit grazing on a darkened lawn, a possum scuttling in the shadow of a curb.
Walking through town at midnight, one is surrounded by a world filled with secrets.
In an effort to convey that feeling, we offer a multimedia show: a collection of nocturnal photos by Paul Goldfinger and a musical performance by Ben Webster on tenor sax, Oscar Peterson on piano and Ray Brown on bass.
The tune is “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.”
To enjoy this sight/sound combination, click on the audio arrow below. Then, as the music plays, put your cursor on the photo slide show and use the tool that appears to freeze a frame in place or to move forward or backward from one photo to another. — Charles Layton
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married when they made this “film noir” in 1948. The poster says “suitable only for adults.” Clair Trevor won the Academy Award for “best actress in a supporting roll.”
Paul Goldfinger, Editor. Blogfinger.net. 11/24/12
Bertie Higgins: “Key Largo” Higgins is a Florida singer who recorded this top ten hit (his only one) in 1982.
When Christina Aguilera flubbed the lyrics to “The Star Spangled Banner “at this year’s Super Bowl, it revived the perennial argument that America needs a new national anthem.
It won’t happen, of course, but it’s fun to review the issue once in a while.
The most persuasive argument against “The Star Spangled Banner” is that most people can’t handle its range of more than one and a half octaves. At a baseball game or other such function, you’ll see people silently mouthing those unreachable high notes. Or they’ll drop down an octave when they get to “laaaand of the freeeeee…” Or improvise a few lines of alto harmony. (Aguilera switched very awkwardly into falsetto and still didn’t quite nail the high note.)
Another beef you’ll often hear about Spangled Banner is that it’s too militaristic. It’s about bombs.
Any song proposed as an alternative, though, needs to meet three tests: Are the lyrics appropriate? Is it singable? And (my favorite) does it meet what has been called the “Casablanca challenge”?
Alfred Gingold, writing in Slate, once proposed that a national anthem, when sung by patriotic partisans, should be able to silence those arrogant Nazis in Rick’s American Cafe. The French anthem, La Marseillaise, met this test splendidly in the movie. I think Spangled Banner would also succeed in that situation — but only if the people singing it could reach those stirring high notes. If not, it would be pathetic.
So, here are the two most commonly suggested alternatives:
America The Beautiful. Are the lyrics appropriate for a national song? Yes, they are; they declare that the country is beautiful. Is it singable? Yes, it is. Does it pass the Casablanca challenge? Unfortunately not. Waves of grain, fruited plains — that won’t scare very many Nazis.
This Land Is Your Land. Many people champion this song as a national anthem on the grounds that it’s assertive about democracy, expansiveness and inclusiveness on a continental scale. And I agree. It is easily sung, for sure, spanning one note less than an octave. It passes the Casablanca test in my opinion. Furthermore, it’s often sung to guitar and/or banjo accompaniment — what’s more American than that? And it’s structured like an American folk song, with a repeating chorus; it’s designed for group singing.
Here it is, performed by country music artist Lee Greenwood. Sing along if you want to; it’ll make you feel good.
