Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Day 56: Songs of my friendships

I love planning events. Big ones, small ones. My own, other people's. I love settling on all the details, putting them into motion. Breathing life into an occasion.

One such occasion comes up in August when two of my friends come for a visit, one from NY and one from Israel. The three of us went to high school together and, with the exception of a birthday party several years back, this will be the first time that the three of us will be in the same place at the same time since I moved to Sweden. Now that's cause for celebration. And an opportunity to introduce people who are near and dear to me to each other. And so the birth of Wine Women and Song.

Soon, I will have to set focus on practicalities such as the menu and seating arrangements and the form the evening will take. For now, though, to get into the mood, I've started on a playlist. Which has got me thinking about songs I associate with different people in my life. Either because we've sung them together, or listened to them together, or danced to them together. Or because they carry a certain energy (and often a message...I am after all such a word person :-)).

This particular gathering of women with, to quote one of them, "indomitable spirit," lends itself nicely to Not Ready to Make Nice (Dixie Chicks). Each of us in her own way has make her mark on the world, lived an active engaged life, and has on more than one occasion been "mad as hell and can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should." It's carried me back to my years in JHS and HS when singing was such a central part of my life. In those days our idea of a fun afternoon or evening was to gather in someone's living room and sing. Our repertoire covered a lot of ground, from Broadway musicals to modern folk to pop and rock and Motown and standards. 

Here's what's on the list so far. What makes you happy singing along to, then and now?



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