Consciousness Raising Continued~
Obama's win is having a long-lasting effect on me, which is interesting at this stage of my life.
Last night, my husband sang with the Harmeneers Barbershop Chorus; his quartet also sang a number, and it was beautiful to hear those men's voices blending in harmony, all acapello.
After the intermission, they always bring in a quartet from another area. Sometimes, it is a young college-age group with amazing voices. Once it was a Sweet Adelines group of women one of our guys had met in Hawaii, of all places. My favorite visiting quartet was a foursome of NYC firemen who were easy on the ears AND on the eyes.
But last night, for some reason, they brought in a quartet of older fellows dressed as hillbillies and purporting to be from West Virginia. They sang familiar tunes but with coarse lyrics; they were making fun of mountain people. I found it very offensive, particularly at this time when we need to be moving away from putting people down...any people.
I guess I also took it a bit personally; the audience was primarily composed of SML folks who are very well-to-do. But I don't live at the lake; I choose to live in a very small town nearby, one with an historic reputation for stills and bootleg liquor. As the lyrics and accents became even more pronounced, I squirmed in my seat while everyone around me laughed and laughed.
I don't think I've lost my sense of humor. The last song they sang was awful; they were declaring that all Chinese restaurants serve cat meat in their foods. (Ironically, the chorus usually holds their AfterGlow at a Chinese restaurant.) The laughter wasn't as loud after that piece, and they definitely did not get a lot of applause nor did they have an encore.
After the show, we attended the AfterGlow at the lake's country club for a late-night breakfast buffet at which each quartet was featured. Since my puppy, Sadie Mae, had been home alone for hours...well, not exactly home alone, I brought Winchester, our oldest chocolate Lab, into the house to puppy-sit...I excused myself discreetly and left just before the guest quartet performed.
Will I say anything? Yes, even though Dick is no longer on the Board of Directors, I plan to let him know how I felt, and what my reactions were. I may also mention something to their Director, Jane. Admittedly, the theme of this year's show was The South, and the chorus sang pieces from many years ago. Some dealt with slavery. But we had no idea about the songs the guest group would sing...except, of course, for the person or persons who had heard them sing, and then selected them as guests.
Last night, my husband sang with the Harmeneers Barbershop Chorus; his quartet also sang a number, and it was beautiful to hear those men's voices blending in harmony, all acapello.
After the intermission, they always bring in a quartet from another area. Sometimes, it is a young college-age group with amazing voices. Once it was a Sweet Adelines group of women one of our guys had met in Hawaii, of all places. My favorite visiting quartet was a foursome of NYC firemen who were easy on the ears AND on the eyes.
But last night, for some reason, they brought in a quartet of older fellows dressed as hillbillies and purporting to be from West Virginia. They sang familiar tunes but with coarse lyrics; they were making fun of mountain people. I found it very offensive, particularly at this time when we need to be moving away from putting people down...any people.
I guess I also took it a bit personally; the audience was primarily composed of SML folks who are very well-to-do. But I don't live at the lake; I choose to live in a very small town nearby, one with an historic reputation for stills and bootleg liquor. As the lyrics and accents became even more pronounced, I squirmed in my seat while everyone around me laughed and laughed.
I don't think I've lost my sense of humor. The last song they sang was awful; they were declaring that all Chinese restaurants serve cat meat in their foods. (Ironically, the chorus usually holds their AfterGlow at a Chinese restaurant.) The laughter wasn't as loud after that piece, and they definitely did not get a lot of applause nor did they have an encore.
After the show, we attended the AfterGlow at the lake's country club for a late-night breakfast buffet at which each quartet was featured. Since my puppy, Sadie Mae, had been home alone for hours...well, not exactly home alone, I brought Winchester, our oldest chocolate Lab, into the house to puppy-sit...I excused myself discreetly and left just before the guest quartet performed.
Will I say anything? Yes, even though Dick is no longer on the Board of Directors, I plan to let him know how I felt, and what my reactions were. I may also mention something to their Director, Jane. Admittedly, the theme of this year's show was The South, and the chorus sang pieces from many years ago. Some dealt with slavery. But we had no idea about the songs the guest group would sing...except, of course, for the person or persons who had heard them sing, and then selected them as guests.
Labels: barbershoppers
posted by Marion | 5:02 PM
3 Comments:
You're not alone in feeling that way, Marion. I like to think I have a pretty good sense of humor, but, as a Blue Ridge woman myself, I am quite offended by anyone stereotyping mountain people. I recently read a blogger here in Asheville (a very progressive city) who had moved here recently. She was engaging in the worst kind of stereotyping, making jokes about eating possum and drinking Papst Blue Ribbon and talking about how backward Asheville and North Carolina are. I was sorely tempted to leave her a comment indicating my fervent wish that she leave our "backward," possum-eating city and return immediately to the place she came from. (California)
I would have felt the same way, Marion, we all need to move forward from the place of making fun of others - because all that does is keep us separate when the reality is we will only ever move forward when we realise we're all one. Hope you do tell the director what you think.
Glad I am not the only person feeling that way, and yes, I will let the director, Jane, know my feelings about the choice. I think she will agree with me; this is a chorus of over 40 men, most of them of retirement age, so I suspect they are the ones who chose the visiting quartet.
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