Monday, October 23, 2017

Grasping at Straws: Finding a Cure for the Blues

Annamaria on Monday


I am having a lot of trouble hanging on to my reputation of the MIE neighborhood jejune and cockeyed optimist.  The news reports these day could make one despair.  Could make even an optimist like me terminally angry.

The news makes my heart hurt.

If your heart doesn’t hurt, go away now.  I don’t want to know you.

At times like these, I find consolation in music.  The Dies Irae from Verdi’s Requiem or  Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings can turn my anger or sadness into sound and somehow make it bearable. 

But not even that is enough to perk me up now that, here in the northern Hemisphere, the daylight is  dwindling away.  The cold is coming.  This is the wrong side of winter for me.  It’s no surprise that Seasonal Affective Disorder is abbreviated SAD.  

 I imagine we all need ways to cheer up.

My spirits are are so low that I am turning to my surefire cure: dancing!  So I present here my most cheering performances.  If you have a case if the blues, log on to these.  They are sure to make you smile.

My first two choices are pretty obvious, but nonetheless surefire hits.

First Fred, but not with not with Ginger Rogers.  In this case it’s Eleanor Powell.   Rival studio contracts kept Hollywood’s two best dancers apart until they finally got to team up in 1940. 



https://youtu.be/DWW6QeeVzDc


And then Travolta!





Here a great favorite you may not have seen.  Did you know the mega-talented Christopher Walken could do this?



I am smiling now.  I hope you are too.


Annamaria's Events


Dagger Awards Gala Dinner
Thursday 26th October
Grange City Hotel
London

Where our own Leye Adenle and our fellow HOT Writer Ovidia Yu are short listed for the short story Dagger Award.  Hooray for Sunshine Noir!



A Mysterious Affair in PrincetonSat, November 4, 2017
1:00 PM – 5:00
SOLLEY THEATERArts Council of Princeton
102 Witherspoon Street
Princeton, NJ 08540







14 comments:

  1. Keep dancing, my friend!

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    1. I'm on a bumpy flight from Knoxville to Newark, right now. No dancing in the aisles, but I will dance my way to baggage claim in about half an hour. :))

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  2. Mom always did call you "Twinkle toes."

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  3. On Friday I got a new cell phone (to replace the one I broke when I fell on my ass back in July). I decided to test out the selfie camera while visiting my Dad on Sunday, and here's the result. At 95, his fingers are a bit arthritic, but when the world gets you down, here's what you do:
    http://www.kaser.com/family/EverettAndCalvin22Oct17b.jpg

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  4. Oh EvKa, will he adopt me? When I grow up, I want to be like him!!

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  5. Yes, thank you for the dancing films. Musicals do remind us of joy and inspiration, don't they? Powell was the one dancer who really scared Astaire! Not important but nice to know, isn't it?

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  6. Yes, Triss, Powell can certainly match Astaire in dexterity. But for my money, he wins because he does it ALL with such joy and grace. NOBODY tops him IMHO.

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    1. And here are a couple of bonus tracks from the man Fred Astaire said was the greatest American dancer of all time:
      https://youtu.be/7lvsBBNV-U4
      https://youtu.be/4Aa9GwWaRv0
      What do you think?

      Delete
  7. Who was it who said, "Sure, Fred Astaire was great, but Ginger Rogers did everything he did -- but backwards and in high heels." ?

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    1. Zoe, I had a poster that said that on my office wall when I was on the front lines for affirmative action for women on Wall Street. I would love to see how competitive men would be running to catch a plane if they were wearing our shoes.

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  8. I like to watch dancing and old r&b singers in those PBS fundraising specials, where the audience is standing, clapping and dancing.
    Those videos get me up and moving.

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    Replies
    1. Kathy, I have music playing constantly in my apartment, with a special playlist for dancing in the kitchen. Here's a beat that will get you up and feeling good. https://youtu.be/liyi

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  9. Oops. That didn't all paste:
    https://youtu.be/liyiT_DGREA

    ReplyDelete