SOUNDTRACK: SHAWN COLVIN-Happy Holidays from Shawn Colvin and McCarter Theatre Center! (December 19, 2020).
On December 19th, I received an email from McCarter Theatre:
Shawn Colvin, a dear friend of McCarter, gave us a special present to share with all of you!
I have enjoyed Shawn Colvin’s music over the years, but somehow was never quite aware that she played McCarter (apparently many times). At the end of this session, she says that she is arranging something special with the Artistic Director of McCarter for 2021.
I think I’ll certainly have to check that out.
For this special concert, Shawn plays two Christmas songs from her home.
It amuses me that she says she wants to give us a little holiday cheer and then she plays “In the Bleak Midwinter.” Good grief.
her version is lovely and her voice sounds very good.
The second (of two) songs is “Little Road to Bethlehem.” I don’t know this song but it’s similar in tone and it suits Colvin perfectly.
This isn’t exactly the holiday pick-me-up it might have been, but Colvin sounds great and it is nice to hear her.
[READ: December 22, 2020] “The Ones We Carry With Us”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.
This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.
As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.
It’s December 22. Sara O’Leary, author of The Ghost in the House, puts a bowl of candy on her front step with a sign that says “Help yourself.” [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].
This is the second story in this collection which I have read previously (that’s a good ratio 2 out of 22). Here’s a link to the original post. This is a slightly edited version of my original post:
This story starts with a fascinating sentence: ” A few years ago, I accidentally midwifed a death.”
This could literally mean many things, although figuratively it makes sense for what she actually means.
The narrator then goes on to tell us about three women whose lives have impacted her.
The woman who died was Agatha.
Another woman was Marjorie whom she knew from when she had volunteered at a senior center for women with dementia. Marjorie was convinced they’d been schoolmates and the two of them would “reminiscence” together. The narrator was brought up to always tell the truth but, “sometimes you have to tell it slant.”
The third was a young woman who banged on her door and said she was running from her boyfriend. Could she call the police–and have a glass of water?
When the young girl left, she took the narrator’s hand and told her that she was good person. That’s not all she took.
When Agatha died, the narrator had to give a statement since she was there–as if they were looking evidence that it was her fault.
Marjorie would often worry about where her husband was, even though he had died years earlier.
While Marjorie forgot her husband’s death, Agatha never forgot that her son had died when he was twenty one. Wouldn’t it be kinder if she had forgotten too?
The narrator says that she used to be a fiction writer and was often interviewed. In many instances she wrote the questions and the answers and the interview would create a script from that. She enjoyed starting her answers with “Funny you should ask that.” I’m not entirely sure what that has to do with anything, but I did enjoy that observation.
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