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From:
Charlie Lester <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Wed, 1 Jan 1997 22:09:13 -0800
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well, not "cathedral" actually, but couldn't resist the alliteration...
 
     oh, and happy new year, piporg-l colleagues.
 
     {{{-BLAAAATTT-}}}   -- your choice of party horn; but the louder
and nastier, the better.
 
 
 
today i accompanied a fervently Catholic pal to a certain religious
institution here in lost angeles, to light a candle and pray for a
friend.
 
in progress was a new-year's-day mass in Spanish.
 
up front : a choir of a dozen or so; standing around and bellowing into
a microphone -- accompanied by guitar, tambourines, and an occasional
burst from what sounded to be some sort of organ.
 
the acoustics in the place are WUNNNNDERFUL; even a kazoo would sound
like a cavaille-coll. (or silbermann ---- name yer poison.)
 
the tones SEEMED to be that of a pipe organ, yet not -- peculiarly
distant, as if coming from another room, or ?? i mean, i thought perhaps
someone had recorded music on a pipe organ beforehand, and was using a
tape playback. yes, that's exactly what it sounded like.
 
my ears strained all the more to discern the sound, and where it was
coming from. the pipe organ in the gallery was dark, silent and alone.
besides, the tones were wafting from the front. finally the choir sat
down, revealing a gentleman laboring away at some sort of electric
keyboard device. the organic sounds were issuing from a big FENDER amp.
 
closer inspection afterward revealed it to be a certain make of
synthesizer, complete with a "pipe organ" button. that was what he was
using.
 
i am ashamed and mortified to confess that it had me going for a few
minutes -- what with the wailing choir, guitar, tambourines, and lovely
acoustic it was rather convincing --- that is, until he was playing all
alone and the sound really stood out.
 
pipe organ in a can. instant music. no fuss, no muss. ready in seconds.
microwaveable. disposable. no assembly required. causes cancer in
laboratory rats.
 
the casiotonist did a bang-up job on the postlude, an elongated 9/8
arrangement of "Silent Night" which the choir earnestly joined in on.
the priest, glad-handing, seemed oblivious.
 
this, in one of the largest parishes in the area; a fairly well-stocked
house -- what, maybe 1500 attendees??
 
cultural considerations duly considered, and the same notwithstanding,
the music was shameful.
 
 
so we lit two candles, paid the demanded-for three-dollar ransom fee
("please deposit three dollars BEFORE lighting a candle," the bullyish
sign admonished) and we left.
 
my friend : feeling better having satisfied his religious duty as a good
Catholic.
 
me : feeling not so much better as a little angry, and bewildered, at
the list-price placed on prayer --- along with, of course, consternation
regarding the counterfeited organ.
 
 
 
the moral : not to take sides, but i think it was the "ported-ence" of
such a vision that led Ingrid in Golden to post as she did.
 
 
 
p.s. do those candles REALLY cost three dollars? or did i just overlook
the biblical precedent for placing a price-tag on prayer and petitions
for healing?
 
a little puzzled. this was a new concept...
 
 
 
~
~~~
~~~~~~~
Charlie Lester
[log in to unmask]
http://www.137.com
___________________________________________
"Music's wordless gospel proclaims in a
 universal language, what the thirsting soul
 of man is seeking beyond this life!"
                          -- Bruno Walter

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