For the first time since moving here in 1987 (to the best of my faltering memory), I have been asked to do something with the music department at Hope College. My friend Rhonda passed on an organ gig with the Hope Honors Band this weekend. So many thanks to her. Since I am such a whiner about being invisible to the locals I felt like I better sign on to do it. It turns  out to be a very interesting piece called “Angels in the Architecture.”

Composed by Frank Ticheli, it’s a fifteen minute extravaganza of a wind ensemble piece. It begins (and ends) with a soprano solo, an elegant little take on a 19th century Shaker hymn. In between Ticheli imagines an aural battle between light and darkness. The organ comes in briefly at the climax (11:43 in the video above).

I quite like the piece and look forward to performing it with the Hope Honors Band. Thank you Rhonda.

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A modest attempt to get the Senate working again.

2. China Blames Xinjiang Separatists for Stabbing Rampage at Train Station – NYTimes

Some members of my family and I are following this story in China. My daughter Elizabeth and her husband Jeremy living in Kunming for a while and Eileen and I had a lovely visit with them at one point.

3. At Carnival, Where Challenging Normal Is the Norm – NYTimes.com

An unusual Carnival celebration in Rio De Janeiro which includes psychiatric patients, their doctors and others.

4. Alain Resnais, Acclaimed Filmmaker Who Defied Conventions, Dies at 91 – NYTimes

Maker of “Hiroshima Mon Amour.”

5. Tennent H. Bagley, Who Aided, Then Mistrusted a Soviet Spy, Dies at 88 – NYTimes.c

I am drawn to real life spy stories.