Hallelujah

“I’ve heard there was a secret chord

That David played, and it pleased the Lord

But you don’t really care for music, do you?”

    “Hallelujah,” Leonard Cohen

Saturday after scrambling up eggs to go with bacon, portabella mushrooms, and raisin toast, I went to Chesterton Library.  POn the free books rack was Robert D. Putnam’s “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.”  Putnam discussed the decline of social organizations, including bowling leagues.  While he admits that most people don’t literally bowl by themselves – it is, after all, a social sport – he cites the decline of league bowling as an example of Americans becoming increasingly disconnected.  I was tempted to take the ten year-old book for Chuck Gallmeier but figured he already had it.  I’ll be interested to see if it is still there in two weeks when I return the novel I checked out, Michael Chabon’s “Telegraph Avenue.”  It was finally in – hallelujah!  Early in “Telegraph Ave” is a scene when two black guys are in an Oldsmobile Toronado and arguing about the meaning of the made-up word Toronado.  Vonnegut would have loved it.

Vanity Fair contained an article about Truman Capote’s unfinished novel “Answered Prayers,” which dealt unflatteringly with New York socialites that Capote hobnobbed with.  When Esquire published an excerpt called “La Cote Basque 1965” many of his former friends, including William and Babe Paley, never forgave him.  He began to drink heavily and became at times suicidal.  His nemesis Gore Vidal characterized his death in 1984 as a good career move.

Among the people who dropped by the IU Alumni Association “Authors Signing” at Lake Street Gallery were 1970s student Jackie Lott and Gina Shropshire.  Marianita Porterfield’s daughter, Gina babysat Phil and Dave when we lived on Jay Street in Miller.  I pointed out that her dad, Jackie Shropshire, was in “Gary’s First Hundred Years,” while Sheriff Dominguez said he was an impressive role model when he started practicing law.  Roy offered “Valor” for just 20 dollars, less than his author’s discount.  He suggested we do another book together about Region police officers who died in the line of duty.  I sold about ten copies of “Gary’s First Hundred Years,” and Ken Schoon, Ron Cohen, Gary Wilk, and Steve McShane were also busy signing copies. 

Next to me, Jennifer Greenberg’s pile of “Rockabillies” got smaller and smaller, but she gave most of them away.  She inscribed one for me, “To my buddy Jimbo.”  I really like her.  She came dressed somewhat in character with bright red lipstick.  After she wiped it off, I expressed disappointment, so she re-applied it.  Her latest project, “Revising History,” takes traditional snapshots of family life and replaces the subject with herself.  In one she’s bowling; in another she’s holding a baby.  She has a show coming up in Philadelphia over the holidays.

One of Jennifer’s best photography students, Walter “Pappy” White, a veteran both of Vietnam and the Gulf War, was in my Vietnam War course.  In my Vietnam Veterans from the Calumet Region” Shavings is his account of returning from Desert Storm.  In Bangor, Maine, hundreds of people, including a high school band, greeted his unit and gave them yellow ribbons.  Those who had served in Vietnam received a second ribbon reading, “Thank You and Welcome Home.”  Local VFW and American Legion chapters organized the event.  White wrote: “The second ribbons were passed out at the insistence of Vietnam veterans in these groups to belatedly honor those who didn’t get a proper welcome home 20 years earlier.”

Sunday we attended the Winter Concert of the Hobart Area Concert Band (previously Rusty Pipes).  Our friend Dick Hagelberg had a couple solos.  My favorite number was Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dance No. 8,” which Dick said they had been practicing for an entire year.  In the trumpet section of the band was our attorney Don Evans (also the narrator) and friend Pat Heckler, whose sister Marianne Brush gave us a big hello.  All of us liked Rusty Pipes better than the new name, but it implied that members were old folks and they have recently added numerous young people.  Cheryl thought Not So Rusty Pipes might be a good compromise.  Afterwards there was free cake, punch, and raw veggies.

While I missed (mercifully) the end of the Bears loss to Minnesota, I was pleased to learn that the Redskins pulled out an overtime victory against Baltimore despite being eight points behind with seconds to go in regulation.  Even though I picked both those games correctly, Buffalo ruined my chances of winning the pool by succumbing to St. Louis.  After the Ravens loss Coach John Harbaugh fired offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, who had been his boss when both were at IU 15 years ago.  Harbaugh called it the hardest thing he’s ever had to do as a coach.

In the news: “Gangnam Style” rapper Psy is attempting to disavow some very uncomplimentary things he said a decade ago about the United States being an imperialist aggressor that have suddenly surfaced.  Mexican-American diva Jenni Rivera perished in a plane crash in northern Mexico.  She sold over 15 million records and starred in several reality stars.  Jenni’s tribute album to slain singer Selena helped make the three-time Grammy nominee a star.  The big story of the day involved two Australian DJs fired after placing a prank call to the hospital where Kate Middleton was staying after coming down with morning sickness.  They pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles asking about the Duchess of Cambridge’s condition.  Nurse Jacinta Saldanha, who unknowingly answered their questions, subsequently committed suicide. 

Michigan Republicans are ramming through right-to-work legislation bypassing the committee process and not allowing amendments or enabling voters to nullify it by referendum.  Under the caption “Proud of our Legislator,” Alissa posted on Facebook a viseo of Representative Brandon Dillon characterizing the effect of the proposed law as going from freedom top freeloading, adding that the procedure being used in the lame duck session makes a mockery of democracy.  Right on!

On the first day that marijuana became legal to possess in small amounts the Seattle police department stated that “it believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a ‘Lord of the Rings’ marathon in the privacy of your home, if you want to.”  Even Indiana’s head of the state police has come out for decriminalization, and a Post-Trib editorial headline read, “Marijuana law reform has merit.”

On “Morning Joe” music critic Alan Light was discussing his book “The Holy or the Broken” about how Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” almost didn’t see the light of day.  Cohen, who lived as a Buddhist monk, struggled with the lyrics for years.  He finally recorded it for the 1984 album “Various Positions,” and CBS Records initially refused to release it.  After it languished for many years, Jeff Buckley discovered it and interpreted it as a song about broken love rather than as a hymn.  Rufus Wainwright’s version is on the soundtrack of “Shrek.” Everyone from Bob Dylan, Justin Timberlake, and Bono to Bon Jovi, Willie Nelson, and Susan Boyle have put out versions.  One of the best renditions of “Hallelujah” was by fellow Canadian k.d. lang at the 2007 Juno Awards in Winnipeg (available on YouTube).  She also sang it later that year at an Elton John AIDS Foundation benefit, making it sound like a funeral dirge about broken faith and disillusionment.

I picked up four packages of Oplatki wafers at Nativity Church in Portage.  Two are for the Okomskis in Florida for their traditional Christmas Eve Wigilia meal.  I guess the churches in Punta Gorda don’t have many Polish parishioners.  In the checkout line at Town and Country afterwards, I picked up snatches of gossip about a guy who got his wife pregnant every time she threatened to leave him. A bald fellow announced that he had long hair until it turned grey when his five year-old son died and he cut it all off.  Heavy.