Singing a New Song

Let's just get something straight right off the bat, I do not like the choir director at the high school.  When he talks between songs I just want to start screaming "Shut up, SHUT up, SHUT UP!"  His choices in music are usually just crap.   There are barely any challenges in the songs he has the kids perform.  I believe that is because he lacks the ability to teach anything with any kind of complexity.   And FYI, you are unlucky enough to be an atheist but still want to sing in choir, make sure you open enroll in some other school.  Every other song is about the glory of Jesus.  I kid you not.

All of that said, I am pleased that The Girl is in choir and enjoys singing.  The choir system at the high school multi-leveled.  You are either in Freshman Choir, Concert Choir (all boys), Chorale (all girls) or A Capella Choir, which is the big time.

Here's The Girl in her Chorale dress on Tuesday night for the very last time.  She was in this choir all year and this is the only time I thought to take a picture of her in the dress.

Cute on her.  A bit rough on some of the other girls.

The Chorale Choir performing their last concert of the year.  The Girl is in the back in the middle.

Then last night, she was inducted into A Capella. They still call it the Robing Concert even though those awesome robes are a thing of the past. 

I'm not joking about those robes, I loved mine!  You could wear any crappy thing under them you wanted as long as you had dress shoes on.  They were heavy and warm so I was usually in shorts under my robe.  I loved having all of our contest medals hanging on the front and how soft the satin cowl felt.

The robing ceremony was a very special thing back then.  You were called up and a graduating senior took off their robe (they were dressed up under it) and put it on you.  Then you took their place on the risers while they went down into the audience and took your seat.  It was a tear-jerker to be sure.

In August the girl will get her new black dress which is just slightly different from the one she just had to hand in.  While A Capella guys look sharp in their tuxes, the girls all look like they're just back from a funeral. Instead of getting a robe, the new members got a red carnation as they came up on stage.  Not exactly the same kind of punch.

But I am very proud of The Girl for making it into A Capella.  I hope she enjoys it as much as I did.

Detroit!

Thursday afternoon, The Sister left work early, we pulled the kids out of school and hit the road for Detroit to see the Artic Monkeys!

We got to town with time to spare for dinner so we went to The Detroit Brewhouse where we got a nice meal, lax service and one of their specialy beers that tasted just like Budweiser.  Pretty disappointing.

The show was at The Fillmore Theater which had that wonderful old classic theater look.  So beautiful!


Stock photo.  I didn't actually get to stand on the stage.


 The doors opened at 6:30.  We got in line right after 6 PM.  This wouldn't have been such a big deal if we were having a normal spring, but it was mighty cold and windy standing on that sidewalk waiting to get into the show.  Only The Sister and The Man were close to being dressed appropriately for standing in freezing wind.  The rest of us were just out of luck and cold.

Another stock photo.  The Artic Monkeys are not actually our close friends.

The show was amazing.  It rocked.  I'm not sure if any other words would do it justice, so I'll leave it at that.

The next morning after breakfast we hit the Detroit Institute of Art.  Such a wonderful museum with all kinds of little things to keep you actively involved with the art and not turn into a room to room wandering zombie.

Diego Rivera.  So incredibly cool.

The DIA is extremely patron friendly...unless they catch you chewing gum.  Then you are presented with this from a security guard.

Obviously, I didn't use the paper.  Museum Rebels Unite!