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FReeper Canteen ~ Tunes For Our Troops ~ 13 Aug 2016
Our Troops Rock!!
| Canteen DJ's
Posted on 08/12/2016 6:08:28 PM PDT by Kathy in Alaska
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To: Kathy in Alaska; laurenmarlowe; BIGLOOK; alfa6; EsmeraldaA; SandRat; mylife; TMSuchman; AbnSarge; ..
Welcome To All Who Enter This Canteen, To Our Serving Military, To Our Veterans, To All Military Families, To Our FRiends and To Our Allies!
Missing Man Setting
"The Empty Chair"
By Captain Carroll "Lex" Lefon, USN (RET), on December 21st, 2004
"In the wardroom onboard the aircraft carrier from which I recently debarked was a small, round table, with single chair. No one ever sat there, and the reasons, both for the table being there, and for the fact that the chair was always empty, will tell the reader a little bit about who we are as a culture. The wardroom, of course, is where the officers will dine; morning, noon and evening. It is not only a place to eat it is also a kind of oasis from the sometimes dreary, often difficult exigencies of the service. A place of social discourse, of momentary relief from the burdens of the day. The only things explicitly forbidden by inviolable tradition in the wardroom are the wearing of a cover or sword by an officer not actually on watch, or conversation which touches upon politics or religion. But aboard ships which observe the custom, another implicit taboo concerns the empty chair: No matter how crowded the room, no matter who is waiting to be seated, that chair is never moved, never taken.
The table is by the main entrance to the wardroom. You will see it when you enter, and you will see it when you leave. It draws your eyes because it is meant to. And because it draws your eyes it draws your thoughts. And though it will be there every day for as long as you are at sea, you will look at it every time and your eyes will momentarily grow distant as you think for a moment. As you quietly give thanks.
AS YOU REMEMBER.
The small, round table is covered with a gold linen tablecloth. A single place setting rests there, of fine bone china. A wineglass stands upon the table, inverted, empty. On the dinner plate is a pinch of salt. On the bread plate is a slice of lemon. Besides the plate lies a bible. There is a small vase with a single red rose upon the table. Around the vase is wound a yellow ribbon. There is the empty chair.
We will remember because over the course of our careers, we will have had the opportunity to enjoy many a formal evening of dinner and dancing in the fine company of those with whom we have the honor to serve, and their lovely ladies. And as the night wears on, our faces will in time become flushed with pleasure of each others company, with the exertions on the dance floor, with the effects of our libations. But while the feast is still at its best, order will be called to the room we will be asked to raise our glasses to the empty table, and we will be asked to remember:
The table is round to show our everlasting concern for those who are missing. The single setting reminds us that every one of them went to their fates alone, that every life was unique.
The tablecloth is gold symbolizing the purity of their motives when they answered the call to duty.
The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing, and their loved ones who kept the faith.
The yellow ribbon around the vase symbolizes our continued determination to remember them.
The slice of lemon reminds us of the bitterness of their fate. The salt symbolizes the tears shed by those who loved them. The bible represents the faith that sustained them. The glass is inverted they cannot share in the toast. The chair is empty they are not here. They are missing.
And we will remember, and we will raise our glasses to those who went before us, and who gave all that they had for us. And a part of the flush in our faces will pale as we remember that nothing worth having ever came without a cost. We will remember that many of our brothers and sisters have paid that cost in blood. We will remember that the reckoning is not over.
We many of us will settle with our families into our holiday season, our Christmas season for those who celebrate it, content in our fortune and prosperity. We will meet old friends with smiles and laughter. We will meet our members of our family with hugs. We will eat well, and exchange gifts and raise our glasses to the year passed in gratitude, and to the year to come with hope. We will sleep the sleep of the protected, secure in our homes, secure in our homeland.
But for many families, there will be an empty chair at the table this year. A place that is not filled.
WE SHOULD REMEMBER."
Many Thanks To Alfa6 For Finding Capt. Lefon's Chronicle Of "The Empty Chair."
"Träumerei" Robert Schumann (Click)
Never Forget The Brave Men And Women Who Gave Their Lives To Secure Our Freedom!!
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21
posted on
08/12/2016 6:37:37 PM PDT
by
ConorMacNessa
(HM/2 USN - 3/5 Marines RVN 1969 - St. Michael the Archangel defend us in battle!)
To: Kathy in Alaska
22
posted on
08/12/2016 6:37:45 PM PDT
by
2111USMC
(Aim Small Miss Small)
To: Publius
23
posted on
08/12/2016 6:38:19 PM PDT
by
luvie
(I love the troops. That is all...)
To: ConorMacNessa
....till they all come home...we wait....
24
posted on
08/12/2016 6:40:55 PM PDT
by
luvie
(I love the troops. That is all...)
To: ConorMacNessa
Good evening, Mac...*HUGS*...did you make it safely through the week all in one piece?
Lots of rest!!
25
posted on
08/12/2016 6:43:12 PM PDT
by
Kathy in Alaska
( (~RIP Brian...the Coast Guard lost a good one.~))
To: Kathy in Alaska; 2LT Radix jr; acad1228; AirForceMom; Colonel_Flagg; AliVeritas; aomagrat; ...
LULU IS IN DA HOUSE.....
Buddy Clark~Linda
To purchase the artists' music
see the links at the top of the thread!
Ping or FReepmail any DJ
for your requests!
Thanks!
26
posted on
08/12/2016 6:43:26 PM PDT
by
luvie
(I love the troops. That is all...)
To: Kathy in Alaska
Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list
When We Dont Understand
August 13, 2016
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
Isaiah 55:8
Although I depend on technology every day to get my job done, I dont understand much about how it works. I turn my computer on, bring up a Word document, and get to work on my writing. Yet my inability to comprehend how microchips, hard drives, Wi-Fi connections, and full-color displays actually function doesnt get in the way of my benefiting from technology.
In a sense, this mirrors our relationship with God. Isaiah 55:89 reminds us that God is far beyond us: My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Even though we dont understand everything about God, that doesnt prevent us from trusting Him. He has proven His love for us. The apostle Paul wrote, God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). Trusting that love, we can walk with Him even when life doesnt make sense.
Heavenly Father, thank You that although I cannot comprehend You, I can know You. Im grateful. Remind me that even though You and Your ways might be beyond me, I can always count on Your love for me and Your presence with me.
God would not be worthy of our worship if He could be understood by our wisdom.
Isaiah had the unenviable task of proclaiming the sin of Judah and foretelling the impending Babylonian exile. His message, however, is not without hope. Verses eight and nine say quite a bit when seen in light of their context: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Even though the Israelites are facing exile and are in the throes of judgment, Gods grace still shines through.
27
posted on
08/12/2016 6:44:42 PM PDT
by
The Mayor
(Honesty means never having to look over your shoulder.)
To: Kathy in Alaska; AZamericonnie; LUV W; MS.BEHAVIN; ConorMacNessa; left that other site
THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK
IRVING BERLIN
The Civil War changed American musical tastes, as well as morality, as the US followed England into the Victorian Era. The realistic edge of Stephen Fosters songs was replaced by songs of sentimentality. Motherhood was one of the favorite musical topics of the era.
Ragtime changed all that in the 1890s. It was known first as whorehouse music, but it swept the nation when Scott Joplin wrote artistic music of a classical sensibility in ragtime format.
Tin Pan Alley was a section of Manhattan that served as home to many of the nations music publishers. People sat in little cubicles with a piano and wrote songs for a few dollars a pop. Success was measured by the amount of sheet music sold to the nations middle class homes, where girls still learned to play the piano to attract middle class suitors. Many of the writers of the Great American Songbook started out in a cubicle on Tin Pan Alley.
Irving Berlin (1888-1989) was born earlier than all the composers of the Great American Songbook except for Jerome Kern. And he outlived every last one of them. He spent his retirement years, first in the Catskills, and then in a million dollar apartment on the Upper West Side. In his later years, he was a staunch Republican, knew where every penny of his fortune was located and precisely how much it was earning.
Israel Baline and his family arrived in New York from Temun, then in Russia and now in Belarus, in 1888. Izzy, born 11 May 1888 was the youngest of eight children. Escaping the Russian pogroms, the family came to America in 1893 and settled on the Lower East Side. His father, Moses, was a Jewish cantor. Upon arrival in America, Moses worked in a market and filled in as a cantor in local synagogues. As with many immigrant families, times were tough, and even the kids had to pitch in. During his youngest days, Izzy lived a wild and unsupervised life, belonging to a gang. In 1896 Moses died, and Izzy ran away from home. He earned money as a street singer, beginning as a companion to an unsavory singing beggar, something right out of Dickens. Izzy began singing and hung around some popular cafes and restaurants in the Bowery. As a result, he was hired to sing in some of the cafes.
In the days before Muzak, restaurants had live music, usually played on a piano. Classier restaurants would field a string quartet, and the great restaurants of New York, like Delmonicos, could even field an entire orchestra. Vocalists were part of the entertainment.
In 1906 the 18 year old Izzy Baline was hired as a singing waiter at Pelhams Café, and the course of American music would change. After Izzy went on the payroll, he became popular entertaining customers with parodies of current popular songs. Two waiters at a rival café had written an Italian song and had it published. Not to be outdone, Pelham asked its pianist, Nick Nicholson to write a song and tapped Izzy to handle the lyrics. The two wrote Marie of Sunny Italy, and Izzy introduced the song himself. It became popular with the clientele, and when Stern of Tin Pan Alley published it, a printers error on the cover gave him the name I. Berlin. That was how Izzy became Irving. His total royalties came to:
Thats 33 cents. Welcome to the world of music publishing!
Irving began to make a name for himself as a creative lyricist. One of his specialties at Pelhams had been the ability to sing parodies of existing hit songs, much to the joy of the clientele. Though still primarily writing lyrics, in 1908 Irving accidentally wrote a melody. He had written some lyrics for a song about an Italian marathoner named Dorando. When he tried to sell the lyrics to Ted Snyders publishing house, they assumed he also had a tune to go with it and offered him $25 for a complete song, which was a lot more than 33 cents! Though he had a sense for melody, at this time Irving could neither play piano nor any other instrument. Not wanting to lose the opportunity to make a sale, Irving found an arranger to whom he dictated a potential melody. The arranger fleshed out the song, and Irving now had his first complete song, Dorando.
It was as a lyricist that Irving established himself on Tin Pan Alley. For the next three years, he wrote lyrics to a number of melodies by various composers and enjoyed a great deal of success. One of his early songs sold over 200,000 copies!
Irving continued to write melodies through an arranger that reached a fair level of acclaim, but he never credited his arrangers for their collaboration. The brutal fact was that Irving never really learned to play the piano. Over his entire life, he could only play in one key, F# Major, whose six sharps utilize mainly the black keys. Later, he had a pedal device installed on his piano that would allow him to transpose to other keys. Irving had a knack for lyrics and melody, and regardless of his piano proficiency, he was able to write a broad range of songs in different styles while developing a unique musical style and harmony.
ALEXANDERS RAGTIME BANDIn 1911 the 23 year old Irving Berlin hit the jackpot. While this song was more of a march than a rag, it captured the spirit of ragtime that had swept the nation and redefined American popular music. Selling over a million sheet music copies in just a matter of months, it became a national craze.
My aunt was only a toddler when this song took off, but it was the first tune she ever learned. When she died in 2003 at age 93, she could still sing all of it from memory.
Prior to the microphone-based electric recording method introduced in 1924, the horn-based acoustic recording method of the time could not pick up bass lines when played by a string bass. As a result, in recordings the tuba played the bass line. This is one of the first recordings of this song, dating from 1912. Note that Irving used the intro-and-chorus format common at the turn of the century. What we remember today is the chorus, but there is a lot more to the song. Note the short quote from Stephen Fosters The Old Folks at Home.
Billy Murray: Alexanders Ragtime Band
28
posted on
08/12/2016 6:44:59 PM PDT
by
Publius
("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
To: Kathy in Alaska; 2LT Radix jr; acad1228; AirForceMom; Colonel_Flagg; AliVeritas; aomagrat; ...
29
posted on
08/12/2016 6:49:31 PM PDT
by
luvie
(I love the troops. That is all...)
To: Kathy in Alaska
A quick hi! Trying to stay cool!
30
posted on
08/12/2016 6:53:22 PM PDT
by
Biggirl
("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
To: Kathy in Alaska; 2LT Radix jr; acad1228; AirForceMom; Colonel_Flagg; AliVeritas; aomagrat; ...
LULU IS IN DA HOUSE.....
Vocal Majority~Red Head [Live]
To purchase the artists' music
see the links at the top of the thread!
Ping or FReepmail any DJ
for your requests!
Thanks!
31
posted on
08/12/2016 6:53:49 PM PDT
by
luvie
(I love the troops. That is all...)
To: Publius
Good evening, Publius, and thank you for Rachmaninov’s “The Star Spangled Banner”. ((HUGS))
32
posted on
08/12/2016 6:53:53 PM PDT
by
Kathy in Alaska
( (~RIP Brian...the Coast Guard lost a good one.~))
To: The Mayor
If this sort of thing is your cup of tea, then you might enjoy Mark Steyn’s Broadway Babies Say Goodnight. about the people in musicals. Great read.
33
posted on
08/12/2016 6:54:31 PM PDT
by
Chickensoup
(Leftist totalitarian governments are the biggest killer of citizens in the world.)
To: LUV W
34
posted on
08/12/2016 6:55:38 PM PDT
by
Biggirl
("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
To: Kathy in Alaska; 2LT Radix jr; acad1228; AirForceMom; Colonel_Flagg; AliVeritas; aomagrat; ...
LULU IS IN DA HOUSE.....
Dickey Lee~I Saw Linda Yesterday
To purchase the artists' music
see the links at the top of the thread!
Ping or FReepmail any DJ
for your requests!
Thanks!
35
posted on
08/12/2016 6:58:16 PM PDT
by
luvie
(I love the troops. That is all...)
To: Kathy in Alaska; AZamericonnie; LUV W; MS.BEHAVIN; ConorMacNessa; left that other site
THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK
IRVING BERLIN
ALEXANDERS RAGTIME BANDThe measure of what makes a song a standard is its ability to survive the years and transcend styles. Blues and jazz legend Bessie Smith recorded this in 1927 with the intro used for the first verse only. Its not a coincidence that she sounded like Janis Joplin. One of Joplins great charitable acts was to buy a headstone for Bessies grave; Bessie was her greatest inspiration as a blues singer.
Bessie Smith: Alexanders Ragtime Band
36
posted on
08/12/2016 6:59:19 PM PDT
by
Publius
("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
To: Kathy in Alaska; LUV W; HiJinx; AZamericonnie; Jet Jaguar; Soaring Feather; SandRat; ...
Greetings to all at the Canteen!
To all our military men and women, past and present,
THANK YOU
for your service!
WOOHOO! Da house is rockin' tonight!
37
posted on
08/12/2016 7:00:27 PM PDT
by
radu
(May God watch over our troops and keep them safe)
To: Publius
Awesome stuff, Mr. P! Been looking forward to this one and all these great stories and songs!
38
posted on
08/12/2016 7:01:31 PM PDT
by
luvie
(I love the troops. That is all...)
To: LUV W
Lots of work, but with a lot of discoveries. There is much about those composers I didn’t know.
39
posted on
08/12/2016 7:03:18 PM PDT
by
Publius
("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
To: 2111USMC
Good evening, Marine...((HUGS))...is your summer going well?
40
posted on
08/12/2016 7:03:51 PM PDT
by
Kathy in Alaska
( (~RIP Brian...the Coast Guard lost a good one.~))
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