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Posts Tagged ‘scullers’

Baby Responding to a Song

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on November 10, 2013| 4 Comments »

In April, singer Will McMillan read a post at Suzanne’s Mom’s Blog, here, about research on why people feel joyful when singing with others.

Having dug into the physiological research and found that heartbeats often synchronize, Will wrote a blog post of his own and included an MP3 of singing “Blue Moon” with his frequent collaborator, Bobbi Carrey. “(They perform at Scullers in Cambridge this coming Thursday.)

It was in the comments at Will’s blog, here, that I found this YouTube recommendation — a deeply empathetic baby listening to a sad song. You see what music can do.

I hasten to add that for me, there are fewer happier moments than crying to a sad song. Don’t know how old you have to be to feel  happy-sad. I hope the baby feels good.

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Will McMillan Sings Harold Arlen

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

My husband and I are big fans of Broadway music and also of Boston area singer Will McMillan, who gave a free concert in the Brighton library today.

The show was centered around the composer Harold Arlen, beloved for songs such as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” “Blues in the Night,” “Let’s Fall in Love,” and “That Old Black Magic.” Interspersed with his songs, Will gave a delightful rundown on Arlen’s life, work, and main collaborators (Ted Koehler, Johnny Mercer, and Yip Harburg).

For my money, no one puts over a song with the emotional truth of Will McMillan. He becomes the story. In fact, he almost skipped a beat on the little-known intro to “Rainbow,” when the words seemed to carry special meaning for him. And I really liked how he tied the words of “If I Only Had a Heart” to an important goal in his life: “to be a friend to the sparrows and the boy with the arrows.” Or, to see all sides.

Joe Reid, a fine jazz improviser, accompanied Will on the piano and got “Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe” in his honor.

Read more at Will’s blog, here, where you can listen to his MP3s, too. Catch him and frequent collaborator Bobbi Carrey at Scullers November 14.

Cabaret singer Will McMillan with a fan after his show in Brighton today.

Will-McM-with-fan

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Artist Colony, Boston

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 29, 2012| 2 Comments »

I met Mary Driscoll in playwriting class last summer.

Mary has had a lifetime focus on social justice for marginalized people. She has traveled to foreign countries to work with refugees. For people with HIV, she has taught pilates and the healing art of telling one’s stories. She has performed with mission-oriented theater troupes. And she is the founder of  OWLL, On with Living and Learning, which helps ex-offenders build new lives after prison.

At Mary’s invitation, my husband and I found our way last night to what is a virtual artist colony in the long-abandoned but reemerging warehouse district of South Boston. In Mary’s loft apartment, one of the artists she has drawn into her orbit presented a wonderful cabaret show to raise money for OWLL’s production of Generational Legacy about mothers and children after prison.

Michael Ricca interpreted songs by Michel Legrand with great humor and feeling (including the theme song of our wedding, “What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?”). Ricca is performing the songs and others by Legrand at Scullers in March.

My husband and I enjoyed talking to Mary’s guests  — artists, actors, musicians, social activists, old  friends. We’re especially keen to keep an eye on the doings of the Fort Point Theatre Channel in the Midway Studios building, where Mary  lives and works. The collaborative productions in the Black Box Theatre sound intriguing and offbeat. We like offbeat.

Phot0 Credit: OWLL

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