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Singing Ivories Newsletter
(Music), The cheapest medicine ... and the best 12 March 2009

                         Singing Ivories Newsletter
                           Thursday, 12 March 2009
                          Written and published by
                            David Fritz Mr Music

Table of contents

1. Overture.
2. "Another day in paradise".
3. Intermission: The cheapest medicine ... and the best.
4. "Remember when it rained".
5. Encore.

Since 15 January 2009 Singing Ivories is a weekly publication.
For your convenience all issues are now stored online.
Please click on the following link to read any issue online:
http://www.mr-music.co.za/newsletters.htm

Singing Ivories Newsletter is sent only to my private e-mail list.
I value your privacy and never share your info with others.

To subscribe yourself, please click the following link:
http://www.mr-music.co.za/joinsilist.php

1. Overture.

Last Saturday my helpers and I spent a wonderful
morning as guests of Marie Ras at a function she arranged at
Allen Park retirement village.

The hall was beautifully decorated and hostesses
took charge of a table each, providing the food and drinks for the
guests at their table.

There were gifts for all, a few lucky-draw prizes and
even a couple of small competitions with lovely prizes.

the snacks and food was delicious, home-cooked with loads of love,
the drinks refreshing and the company excellent.

And the entertainment?

Two of South Africa's well-known personalities. Trevor Nasser provided
relaxing music on guitar and mandolin, and Niekie van der Berg,
announcer from "Radio Sonder Grense", regaled us with
anecdotes from his experience as announcer and sport commentator.

What a wonderful time all of us had, and tickets were
only R50 each: for all this!

Pssst - can you keep a secret?

I hear there's another function at Allen Park again on
Friday evening, 22 May, and I will be playing the music!

Okay, enough playing for now. Let's get down to the serious business
of the newsletter.

2. "another day in paradise".

Click on the following link to listen to an excerpt from the
song, "Another day in paradise", as sung by Phil Collins:
http://www.mr-music.co.za/sample-0007.mp3

My options for songs with "new" are limited, so I
decided to use a song with the word "another" in the title
to introduce this "new" section of my newsletter this week.

I have started many new things since the beginning of the year,
have done something new this week, and plan on doing something
new for next week.

Just watch this space.

- Musical term explained: Forte

Forte, pronounced fortay, means the opposite of last week's music term.
Forte means loud, whereas piano means soft.

- Subscribe-to-newsletter link

I always encourage my readers to pass the newsletter on to someone
they think might enjoy it.

Thus someone might be reading this newsletter right now, without
actually being subscribed to it.

That's not a problem, but maybe the "somebody" might want to receive
this newsletter directly.

Maybe the "somebody" would like to make use of the free
and/or highly discounted products and services that are only
available to my subscribers.

Either way, between the table of contents and the first article,
there will now always be a link provided for you to click on
to subscribe to this newsletter.

- Fax number

Look at my signature at the bottom of this newsletter,
and you'll see my fax number.

Feel free to pass it on to someone who may need it,
and feel free to contact me via the fax number, if you wish.

- New album

It's recording time again ...

- Animal Zone - Rescue Squad

I had my hands full with this story, but what matters
is that by 21h00 on Friday night it was up on the
Animal Zone website.

Meg, an abandoned Border Collie's, new-born puppies were swept
into a narrow hole by a mud slide. Now what?!

If you have not read it yet, please read it at:
http://www.mr-music.co.za/animalzone/

You can use the link at the bottom of the story page itself
to pass your comments directly to Ellen.

- Competition

From next week on there will be regular competitions on my site.
Full details will be provided in next week's issue.

- Private functions

- Having a gala dinner?
- Celebrating a divorce, a reunion or any other milestone?
- Having your MP or political candidate over for dinner?
- Fund raising?
- Getting engaged?

Why not turn it into an unforgettable occasion with me providing the
music?

Near or far, for 2 or 200, at dusk or dawn:
I will come and add my magic touch to turn your event into
something memorable.

Not to mention the publicity you'll get via my site and newsletter!

You know the drill by now: just e-mail me with details,
I will respond with a written quote, then we'll take things from there.
So just e-mail me at:
david@mr-music.co.za

3. Intermission.

The cheapest medicine ... and the best
by Alexander Green

When I was eleven, my friend Rocky Wagner came over for a sleepover.

You can't really get into too much trouble when you're eleven. (That
comes later.) But we did our best anyway. We raided the kitchen. We
snuck out the window. We got into my parents' Cold Duck. (Not bad.)

Around 2 a.m., however, my Mom startled me when she flicked on the
hallway light just as we were creeping in the front door and I spilled
a bucket of tadpoles in the foyer.

Exactly why I was carrying a bucket of tadpoles around at two in the
morning eludes me now. But I vividly recall a couple hundred of them
wriggling around on the floor - and that my mother was not amused.

At least, she wasn't then. Now, apparently, it was hilarious. She
practically tears up every time she tells this story. And she remembers
every detail. ("They were pollywogs, not tadpoles.")

Funny how time changes our perceptions.

My friend Rodney, for example, has a foot that is badly scarred. When
he was walking to school in first grade, a woman driving by ran over
it. Aware that she had hit something, she backed up to get a better
look and ran over it again. She then got out of the car, set Rodney on
the side of the road, and sped off.

You hear this story and want to be appalled. But you can't. Because the
way Rodney tells it - with his hangdog expression and deadpan
delivery - you end up busting a gut instead.

If we only knew how we'd look back on our troubles someday, maybe we
could laugh at them now.

As the British poet Samuel Butler said, "A sense of humor keen enough
to show a man his own absurdities, as well as those of other people,
will keep him from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save
those that are worth committing."

Science is proving that laughter really is the best medicine. A recent
study done at the University of Maryland Medical Center shows a good
laugh can lower your blood pressure, protect your heart, improve brain
functioning, elevate your mood and reduce stress.

Laughter is a workout for your diaphragm, as well as your respiratory
and facial muscles. It tones intestinal functioning and strengthens the
muscles that hold the abdominal organs in place. (Who couldn't use
that?)

Hearty laughter can even burn calories equivalent to several minutes on
the rowing machine or exercise bike.

And the alternative? As Henry Ward Beecher said, "A person without a
sense of humor is like a wagon without springs - jolted by every pebble
in the road."

Moreover, studies show that distressing emotions - anger, anxiety,
stress, depression - are often related to heart disease. The quickest
relief - cheap, effective and readily available - is a good laugh.

Laughter relaxes us, connects us to others, and enhances our ability to
fight disease.

So lighten up. Yes, the economy is bad. You may have more than your
fair share of personal problems, too. But as George Bernard Shaw
pointed out, "The world does not cease to be funny when people die any
more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh."

If the folks in your household aren't exactly filled with mirth right
now, try renting an antic movie like "Arthur," "Airplane!" or "Young
Frankenstein." (Sorry, my humor isn't terribly highbrow.)

If you're a reader, let me recommend "The Life and Times of the
Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson, "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David
Sedaris, or "Carry On, Jeeves" by the master himself, P.G. Wodehouse -
all guaranteed to elicit great gales of laughter.

Stand-up comics can also provide welcome relief when life starts
feeling like one damned thing after another.

You can check out a local comedy club or catch a great comic on video.
Some of my favorites are Rita Rudner ("My grandmother buried three
husbands - and two of them were just napping"), Steven Wright
("I spilled spot remover on my dog.
Now he's gone"), Gary Shandling ("They say oysters improve your sex
life, but it hasn't worked for me. Maybe I'm putting them on too
soon") and Jeff Foxworthy ("Changing a diaper is kinda like opening a
birthday present from your grandmother. You never know what's inside
but you're pretty sure you're not gonna like it").

Humor is a powerful, emotional medicine. It lowers stress, dissolves
anger and unites families. More importantly, it reminds us that our
troubles may not be as earthshaking as they appear.

As the Zen monk Shunryu Suzuki said, "When you can laugh at yourself,
there is enlightenment."

Carpe Diem,

Alex

This article was reprinted from Spiritual wealth.
To subscribe to Spiritual Wealth, click on the link below:
http://www.spiritualwealth.com/siup/signup.html

For info or comments on this article, please contact me at:
david@mr-music.co.za

4. "Remember when it rained".

As you know by now, I always try and find a song with "remember",
remind" or something to do with "memory" in the title for this section
of the newsletter in which I remind you of some important things

The song for this issue of the newsletter is
"Remember when it rained", sung by Josh Groban,
written by Josh Groban and Eric Mouquet.

Click on the link below to listen to a sample of the song:
http://www.mr-music.co.za/sample-0008.mp3

Make this week memorable by diarizing and
doing as suggested below:

- DATES TO DIARIZE

- 11 April - Two oceans marathon
- 22 April - Election day

- THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK

- Drink green tea
- Go for a picnic
- When at a toll gate, pay the fee for the car behind you
- Give your old shoes to a charity or a person in need
- Print this newsletter and leave it at your hair dresser

5. Encore

So what is this stuff about English being easy? There is
a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any
other two-letter word in the English language -- and that
is the word "UP."
It's easy to understand UP (meaning toward the sky or at
the top of the list) but when we awaken in the morning,
why do we wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP
and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP
to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room,
polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP
the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the
old car.
At other times the little word has real special meaning.
People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an
appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP
because it is blocked UP.
We open UP a store in the morning, but we close it UP at
night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP !
To understand the proper uses of UP, look it UP in the
dictionary. In a desk size dictionary, the word up takes
UP almost a quarter page and it adds UP to about thirty
definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of
the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your
time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a
hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When
the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP .
When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it doesn't rain
for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP for now.

My time is UP, so ... I'll just shut UP !

I take my leave with the words of the song, "You've got a friend",
as made famous by Carole King.
Click on this link to listen to a snippet from the song:
http://www.mr-music.co.za/sample-0009.mp3

"When you're down and troubled;
and you need some loving care;
and nothing, nothing is going right;
close your eyes and think of me;
and soon I will be there;
to brighten up even your darkest night.

You just call out my name;
and you know wherever I am;
I'll come running to see you again;
winter, spring, summer or fall;
all you have to do is call;
and I'll be there;
you've got a friend.

If the sky above you;
grows dark and full of clouds;
and that old north wind begins to blow;
keep you head together;
and call my name out loud;
soon you'll hear me knocking at you door.

You just call out my name;
and you know wherever I am;
I'll come running to see you again;
winter, spring, summer or fall;
all you have to do is call;
and I'll be there.

ain't it good to know that you've got a friend;
when people can be so cold;
they'll hurt you, and desert you;
and take your soul if you let them;
but don't you let them.

You just call out my name;
and you know wherever I am;
I'll come running to see you again;
winter, spring, summer or fall;
all you have to do is call;
and I'll be there;
you've got a friend;
you've got a friend;
you've got a friend."

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Pianist David Fritz Mr Music - newsletters

Singing Ivories Newsletter (Music), The cheapest medicine ... and the best 12 March 2009

Singing Ivories Newsletter
(Music), The cheapest medicine ... and the best 12 March 2009