Author: Stacy Horn

I now have an Emergency Cupboard in addition to my Go Bag. This is for hunkering down. I wanted all my power outage supplies in one place so I don’t have to go searching around for them when the lights go out. As you can see, I’ve got my battery operated lantern, battery operated radio, (that’s the black thing on the right) a manual coffee press, candles, plastic and staples in case a window is blown out … hmmm. That’s it, it seems. I’ve got a flashlight closer by on a shelf, and one in my purse, and a drawer full of batteries.

Seems like I should need more stuff. What am I forgetting? Food yeah, but what else?

So sad. Thank God, for now there will always be another concert. We’re doing Bach’s Mass in B Minor in the spring. This may be my favorite piece of all time to sing. Here was the line for our Saturday matinee concert. This was an hour before the concert! We have fans!

I also made a really short movie of the concert. Just a few behind-the-scenes snippets.

I’m sitting here, listening to Christmas music. John Lennon’s So This is Christmas just played, and now Cyndi Lauper’s Early Christmas Morning. All my work for the day is done (I got an early start) so now I can relax.

Morning everyone! The Choral Society of Grace Church has one more holiday concert, this afternoon. More Mozart, Mendelssohn, Muhly, Bruckner and carols are in my immediate future! I messed up the Muhly, but I wasn’t the only one. Still. AND, there’s one part in the Mozart where half the time I just panic, thinking I’m going to mess up, and so of course I do. SCARY PART coming, here it is, brain stops functioning, can’t think, damnit, then I jump back in. That happened last night. Let’s see if I can not do that today.

This is a picture of me with my band Manhattan Samba. I haven’t played with them this year at all. The Halloween Parade, which I never miss, was cancelled. I thought there was supposed to be another announcement about rescheduling, but the effects of Hurricane Sandy were too terrible and too great to even think about parades. I miss you Manhattan Samba!

I’m not terribly political, but right now I am appalled at our country. It is to our shame that we did not vote to upgrade Palestine to a nonmember observer state of the United Nations. It was the right thing to do and we failed. If we want peace between the two states, we have to recognize that Palestine is a state. How can negotiations ever be fair if both sides don’t have the same rights and privileges? And Hamas has to do the same about Israel. Yes, it sucked about how it all came about, but that genie is never going back into that bottle. Transcend and help make the world a better place.

I also just read this in the Times, “In response to the Palestinian bid, a bipartisan group of senators said Thursday that they would introduce legislation that would cut off foreign aid to the authority if it tried to use the International Criminal Court against Israel …” I don’t understand. If they have a valid case (or cases) to bring, why shouldn’t they have their day in court? Is the International Criminal Court a bad thing or something? I honestly don’t know a lot about it.

I took this at our dress rehearsal last night. If only we could form a chorale and orchestra from Israel and Palestine.

My first mistake was deciding to not go swimming after going to the dentist. “It’s a half an hour walk there and back,” I thought. “That’s enough exercise for the day.” Except the day fell apart after that. I’ve got a to-do list a mile long, and what did I do today?

– Wrote a new to-do list.

There is one bright spot in a couple of hours. Tonight we rehearse with the orchestra, and that is always such a pleasure. I will also get to hear the voices of those who will be singing around me. I already know I’ve got one great bass beside me, so, so far so good.

A rare shot of all three of us together. It’s hard to make out just what is going on in this photograph, but I’m sitting in a chair (doing nothing) with Finney on my lap (who is being nice and not killing the kitten) and Bleeck beside me on the chair (who is also being nice by not doing anything kill-worthy for five minutes straight).