Junius Burrows Stone 1909 - 2004

Jay's dad passed away Saturday. For the first time in a long time, Jay has no obligations to take care of anyone sick and dying. His father did have some labored breathing, but at the very end, he was in his son’s arms and slipped away peacefully. It was so very gentle. I’ll miss his smile and his laugh - and especially the way his whole face would light up with a good joke. I’ll remember the All Night Eggplant dinners with Jay and his dad - especially how his dad’s face would light up with surprise each time over the Belgian Waffles with mounds of whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. Or the smiley face pancakes at IHOP.

I really love singing for a living. When you have a great director, conductor, and a hard working cast, things can really be fun. And I’ve been blessed twice in less than 6 months. First Little Night Music, and now Pirates. My grandfather is right. It’s not work if you enjoy it. I hope I always get gigs like this. And I hope I have great work for the summer. I’d love to get Schroon Lake (Seagal Colony). It seems like a great company to work with, and I can do the rep. Either that or a good summer musical would be nice - Cortland Rep has stuff I can do - especially Music Man.

Artist's Way Thoughts:

The one thing holding me back: weight (still)

Jettison accepted limits. We say we can’t do something when we really mean we won’t do something unless we do it perfectly. We unrealistically expect and demand success from ourselves and recognition of that success from others.

Get rid of inappropriate clothes.

Don’t accept shoddy materials

Weight Loss

Creative Luxury

Don’t be jealous of others’ successes.

Some people from Hospice were at the nursing home today. They are a wonderful group of people, and Jay is beginning to realize that too. His dad doesn’t look like he’s in much deep pain, but his breathing is labored. He’s a fighter. He knew I was there - squeezed my hand a couple of times. Reached for Jay. And he did see the pictures that Jay brought. Those are the most important I think. That, and the chaplain for Hospice that prayed with us, did some grief counseling, and did a memory “service” - that’s not a mistype - where we shared positive memories of his dad - directed to his dad - thanking him for these things, and she had me sing Amazing Grace - I only did one verse, not being too sure if I should do more. It was enough, I think. They gave him a patch of sorts to help the fluid in the lungs be less bothersome, and it really helped. If anyone reading this wonders about Hospice, do yourself a favor and go check them out. At least the people in Madison County are wonderful, and I’ve heard great things about the group in the Syracuse area as well. I just hope Jay keeps realizing all the people that are out there pulling for him.

Musical Thought For the Day (I am still trying to find time for myself in all that's going on - I've learned the hard way how important it is)

In re-reading some of the Artist’s Way notes, I want to jot down an idea I need to follow through on in greater depth:

True North: know where yours is, and have a role model. Three singers to look at: Edita Gruberova, Beverly Sills, and Ileana Cotrubas.

Junius is at the nursing home.

Dad and I helped Jay get his dad to the nursing home today - well, the disabled van drivers drove him. We followed up with two cars - his, and one to get back in so he could ride with his dad. The doctors have said its probably only a few more days (so why not just leave him in the hospital, right? The question on everyone’s mind). Knowing my work schedule over the next few days, this was probably the last time I’ll see him on this earth, so I said my goodbyes and prayed with him. Jay is staying with him 24/7 at this point so he won’t be alone. Mr. Stone seems more relaxed now that he’s in the home rather than the hospital, so that’s a huge plus. I’m glad I can remember his laugh - and the way his eyes would light up at a good joke, his enthusiams for sports (especially basketball), and especially the love he has for his son. And I’m glad he still knows people - gives a wink and a hand squeeze to his friends! I’ve heard some great stories over the last few days - especially from former caddies who remembered how great he was to them. I will miss seeing him at the concerts - he always told me how much he liked my voice (I think its because he could actually hear me, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.) And he loved - loves it - when Jay teases me or I tease him. And how his laugh builds until it fills the whole room and you can't help laughing with him.

I’m living up to my promise to take care of me, so I’m really learning how to use this lovely new laptop. So far, I’m not impressed with the “Radio” portion of iTunes - it rebuffers way too much to really enjoy a piece. Although I’m sure its just me needing to learn how to use it. But it’s annoying to have something rebuffer every 10 seconds. I’d like to have it playing in the background, but when I do, or Entourage checks the email, it rebuffers. Very odd for a Mac. I’m thrilled that I’m going to be able to burn my own CDs. Very handy. And to have exercise DVDs with me when I’m on the road. Ok - so I’ve checked preferences - buffering stream was on medium. Well, a small buffering stream is worse - about a 3 second clip of music. Let’s try large. That rots too. I know - you’re saying “Why don’t you get your user’s manual out and read the blasted thing.” I will - I just need to find time to do it. However, I’m not opposed to playing around to figure things out on this machine. I know enough not to do anything stupid. Any advice is greatly welcomed. I’ll just stick in a CD for right now. I need to upgrade my internet connection.

I keep forgetting to include a link of the day - or entry - whatever. Anyways, today’s site:

http://aria-database.com/

It’s a good starting place to research an aria - it gives range and tessitura, or double check a translation (I firmly believe in translating as much as you can on your own, but if you need help, get it so you can give a literate, well-thought out performance).

Update on Junius:

Jay's father is still with us, but beginning to suffer. I wish I could do more to help them. I hope Jay realizes how much I care and that he's not alone. Junius knows it's probably time, but he doesn't want to leave his son.Jay's father is still with us, but beginning to suffer. I wish I could do more to help them. I hope Jay realizes how much I care and that he's not alone. Junius knows it's probably time, but he doesn't want to leave his son.

It's been forever since I've posted. I adored working on Little Night Music with roughly the same production staff as Magic Flute last year. It only further cemented my desire to do theater. But I'm still not in NYC yet. So many sub jobs came up after LNM finished up that I couldn't turn down the money. Even so - when I was doing the show, I had my father take care of depositing a couple of checks that came up - he screwed up and put my money in my sister's account. Long story short - I'm still paying for it. Sigh. Thinking of that, I need to remember to pay a few bills today.

I've also been playing around with this new computer (speaking of bills), and other blog sites. I like the clean look here the best (I like my skin the best here, although the ability on LiveJournal to back date entries is really attractive, and it turns out I have several friends there. Not that I just can't browse there. I do like having the easy access of iJournal right on the laptop as well - without having to open up a browser to write. I think iJournal also takes blogger, but I can't figure out how to put both of them on the program without losing the other. I'll figure it out eventually.

Other than being pretty sleepy right now (I know - "Get to bed - you don't want the bug that's going around!", I'm pretty up, which is strange, considering I sang a funeral and went to calling hours for a friend today. I've never been to two seperate wakes/funerals in one day before. The family from the first one was very grateful that I was able to come sing on short notice - nothing terribly complicated. Just the Schubert Ave Maria, 4 verses of Amazing Grace (I still had to use the hymn book - I'm always concerned that I'm going to sing the wrong ones!), and the Malotte Lord's Prayer. I forgot about the few bars of accidentals in that last one. It's been a while since I've sung it, and I had no accompaniment source. I never thought I'd be grateful for the ear training classes, but they've turned out to be among the more important classes I've ever taken. Even though they were among the bigger pains in the butt.
But that's life.

Oh - my link of the day, speaking of ear training:

http://musictheory.net/

It's a site that contains online and downloadable trainers so one can keep up with (or learn) music theory skills. I like it, even though I prefer acoustical instruments to digital sounds. But, hey, it's free! I like being able to pick and choose the scales/modes (yes - the basic church modes are on this) or chords, so you can compare and contrast specific things rather than waiting for the computer to randomly generate scales, hoping it comes up with the ones you need to practice.

It was wonderful to have my sister home over the holidays. I'm hoping her surgery goes well - she has a cyst on her thyroid. I'm praying it doesn't muck up her voice - it's really pretty. Mom and Dad will be going up when she has it done, so I'll be dog-sitting. More practice time.

While here, she introduced me to this fabulous web site:

http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/

These wallpapers are great. I wish I were that talented on computers. I think I'll stick to singing.

New Year's Resolutions:

1. Keep up with the weight loss and physical fitnesss
2. Keep eating better - less junk
3. Focus on singing business.
4. More auditions
5. Better financial control
6. Start with new acting coach - YAY!
7. Improve piano skills
8. Keep working on languages
9. Do a formal recital 1x/year
10. More quality Quiet Time