The world of music has many classic works, ranging from Beethoven and Brahms to the Beach Boys and the Beatles. A few musical works that stand as monuments to western culture: one of them is the B-Minor mass by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is perhaps the most difficult piece I've ever performed; it is also one of the most stunning.
The Madonna Chorale performed the B-Minor mass today, along with singers from the Archdiosis of Detroit, and younger singers from a local academy. We sang with a small orchestra at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, just north of Downtown Detroit---a church visited by John Paul II on his trip to Detroit, whos chair is on display in a corner of the church.
The performance went well...with a few exceptions: one of the tenors entered early in an exposed section during the last movement---a spot that had caused problems (including problems with this singer) in rehearsals---and owning to the increased sound, and the overlay of the orchestra, I wasn't able to pull us back together, as I often could in rehearsals. But, from what I could tell it wasn't terribly noticable to the audience---and we were able to get more or less back on track by the end of the piece.
One of our singers died last week, just after our first rehearsal at the Cathedral. He was a bass, named Patrick Wright, and he collapsed and died of a heart attack after returning from our first trip to the Cathedral. We dedicated the last song---a version of Dona Nobis Pacem, to his memory.
All in all, quite an exhausting season.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Good bye, Jeanie-O
Today was the funeral luncheon for Jean Harriman, an old family friend.
Jean and her husband, Myles, owned the house next door to my grandparents' cottage on Potter's Lake, near Lapeer, Michigan. Their family, the Phelps family, and ours spent many pleasant summer days there, and over the years the Phelps, Harrimans, and Caminsky families were linked by bonds of friendship, and memories of carefree days when we were all very much younger.
Jean died last week, after a long illness. I drove with my parents to Merrill, Michigan for the luncheon---and was able to see Pam, the Harrimans' daughter, and Libby, their son, along with many of their friends are relatives.
It's sad when old friends pass, especially when the years have flown by and you've all but lost touch.
It's sadder to think that none of us is getting younger, and that our own days will come to an end.
Perhaps saddest of all is realizing that all too often, we get together with old friends only at funerals.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Jean and her husband, Myles, owned the house next door to my grandparents' cottage on Potter's Lake, near Lapeer, Michigan. Their family, the Phelps family, and ours spent many pleasant summer days there, and over the years the Phelps, Harrimans, and Caminsky families were linked by bonds of friendship, and memories of carefree days when we were all very much younger.
Jean died last week, after a long illness. I drove with my parents to Merrill, Michigan for the luncheon---and was able to see Pam, the Harrimans' daughter, and Libby, their son, along with many of their friends are relatives.
It's sad when old friends pass, especially when the years have flown by and you've all but lost touch.
It's sadder to think that none of us is getting younger, and that our own days will come to an end.
Perhaps saddest of all is realizing that all too often, we get together with old friends only at funerals.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Judging Books by the Cover
Last Saturday, a new singing sensation appeared on the world scene: she's a 47-year old, plain-looking British lady named Susan Boyle, a cheeky spinster who lives alone with her cat.
She appeared on "Britain's Got Talent," the UK's equivalent of American Idol. And she was being laughed at and dismissed by the audience, and the judges...until she opened her voice and began to sing "I Dreamed a Dream," from Les Miserables.
It's not often that a truly magical moment is captured on tape. Most modern television is overly commercial and overblown. But watching the reactions of the crowd and the judges---as their derision turned to cheers---is both touching and inspiring.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
She appeared on "Britain's Got Talent," the UK's equivalent of American Idol. And she was being laughed at and dismissed by the audience, and the judges...until she opened her voice and began to sing "I Dreamed a Dream," from Les Miserables.
It's not often that a truly magical moment is captured on tape. Most modern television is overly commercial and overblown. But watching the reactions of the crowd and the judges---as their derision turned to cheers---is both touching and inspiring.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Goodbye, Bird
It's yet another sign that Time waits for no one.
Mark "The Bird" Fidrych died yesterday, at his farm in Massachusetts. He died in an accident, while working on his truck.
In 1976, when I was still in law school, The Bird was a sensation in Detroit. In a year when the country was still reeling in the aftermath of Watergate, and an oil crisis and mideast tensions were sending shock waves through the American economy, Fidrych made us feel young and carefree and happy. His mannerisms on the mound belied a gifted athlete---who, however goofy he might be, was deadly serious when it came to pitching.
He was 19-9 that year, and the American League rookie of the year. Two years later, he was washed up---the victim of an injury, and a team hungry for talent that rushed him back into action before he had healed.
Today, the mideast is still a bubbling cauldron; oil is still casting shock waves through the ecomony---and the country is in economic and political turnmoil.
But now, we're no longer young. And The Bird is now gone...another sign that time is relentless. And, sooner or later, it catches up to all of us.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Mark "The Bird" Fidrych died yesterday, at his farm in Massachusetts. He died in an accident, while working on his truck.
In 1976, when I was still in law school, The Bird was a sensation in Detroit. In a year when the country was still reeling in the aftermath of Watergate, and an oil crisis and mideast tensions were sending shock waves through the American economy, Fidrych made us feel young and carefree and happy. His mannerisms on the mound belied a gifted athlete---who, however goofy he might be, was deadly serious when it came to pitching.
He was 19-9 that year, and the American League rookie of the year. Two years later, he was washed up---the victim of an injury, and a team hungry for talent that rushed him back into action before he had healed.
Today, the mideast is still a bubbling cauldron; oil is still casting shock waves through the ecomony---and the country is in economic and political turnmoil.
But now, we're no longer young. And The Bird is now gone...another sign that time is relentless. And, sooner or later, it catches up to all of us.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Book Review: Betrayal by Jaimey Grant
Though I’m not a big fan of romance novels in general, I must confess that I have enjoyed the novels of Jane Austen. (In the interests of full disclosure, all my testosterone tests have come back normal, though the doctors did insist on double-checking the results). Even through the mists of a different era, Austen’s timeless insights into the dynamics of human relationships always struck me as intriguing. And as a history buff, her view of life in early 19th Century England and witty, biting sense of the contradictions in the society around her, always appealed to my more cerebral side, letting me rationalize my fondness for her writing. As a result, I approached modern novelist Jaimey Grant’s Betrayal with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism—curiosity about whether a modern writer could evoke a similar feel for relationships, and a mild skepticism about whether she could pull it off. What I found, to my surprise, was the delightful discovery of a modern author with both a deft feel for the period and an Austenesque depth of characters that was at once surprising and refreshing.
Betrayal tells the story of Lady Brianna Derring, a headstrong heiress, and the equally headstrong Adam Prestwick, whose attraction to her is unsettling to both of them. Trapped by the constraints of social convention, as well as Brianna’s conniving family, both are left to grapple with their conflicting and often frustrating emotions until a series of crises brings their feelings into the open. From there, human nature and convention are at war, as the two struggle to sort through the emotional swamps and social pitfalls that so often conspire to keep people apart—in our own day, as well as in Regency England.
Tightly paced and well-written, Betrayal offers an intriguing glimpse of life in the England of two centuries ago. The book is the first in the author’s series of Regency romances, and demonstrates both a sophisticated sense of plot and a graceful style of writing. And in the end, Betrayal leaves the reader anxious to see more of her work.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Betrayal tells the story of Lady Brianna Derring, a headstrong heiress, and the equally headstrong Adam Prestwick, whose attraction to her is unsettling to both of them. Trapped by the constraints of social convention, as well as Brianna’s conniving family, both are left to grapple with their conflicting and often frustrating emotions until a series of crises brings their feelings into the open. From there, human nature and convention are at war, as the two struggle to sort through the emotional swamps and social pitfalls that so often conspire to keep people apart—in our own day, as well as in Regency England.
Tightly paced and well-written, Betrayal offers an intriguing glimpse of life in the England of two centuries ago. The book is the first in the author’s series of Regency romances, and demonstrates both a sophisticated sense of plot and a graceful style of writing. And in the end, Betrayal leaves the reader anxious to see more of her work.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
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