Stacy Horn

On the recent anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire I posted about a young victim, Gaetana Midolo, who lived near me on Commerce Street. Some believe that she lived at 143 Commerce Street because that’s what it says on her death certificate. But Commerce Street only goes up to #50. It may have once gone further, but not in 1911. On an 1854 map it ends at the same place it ends now, at Barrow Street.

I found a 1913 picture showing this, and here is a side-by-side comparison. I didn’t get the angle exactly the same, but it’s close! Amazing how little is changed 101 years later.

As I said before, I suspect Gaetana lived at 14 Commerce Street and some tired, harried, possibly distraught city employee inadvertently added an extra number to her death certificate.

That house on the far corner at the right, which is identical to the one next to it, (and there are a lot of stories about these two houses, #’s 39 and 41) has been gutted. Someone is completely redoing the inside. Perhaps they had no choice, but I hope some things were salvaged and will be incorporated into the renovation.

Whatever happened to the USA show It Takes a Choir, the show that was supposed to premiere last year? It was going to be Gareth Malone’s show The Choir, but set here in the U.S. I just heard about another choir show though, Fix My Choir, from Oxygen.

“In this bold and uplifting music-driven series, struggling choirs will get a chance of much needed mentoring with the help of gospel superstar Deitrick Haddon (“Preachers of L.A.”) and Grammy-Award winning recording artist Michelle Williams of “Destiny’s Child” fame. Each week, the duo will surprise a community, school or gospel choir and help them find perfect harmony both within their music – and their members. They will dive deep into the members’ lives to tackle the choir’s core issues including leadership, inter-personal conflicts, artistic direction and presentation, doing whatever it takes to get these choirs back on track with perfect pitch and newfound confidence.”

Musicians setting up in Washington Square Park.

I’m participating in a symposium at Harvard University, sponsored by the Harvard Music Department. John Maclay, the director of The Choral Society of Grace Church, and I will be talking about singing and community. From their program:

“Exploring the neurological, therapeutic, and social benefits of community singing. Musicians, researchers, and disability advocates will explore the intersections of music and disability, neuroscience, wellness, and community. Renowned conductor, composer, and educator, Alice Parker, and Joyful Noise, a chorus of adults with significant physical and/or neurological disabilities, will lead symposium attendees in song.”

Of course I’m nervous and stressing out about it. Harvard! Smart people! And you know how they got to be so smart, right? By turning into brain-eating zombies from time to time. I used to live in Cambridge, I’ve personally witnessed the occasional slaughter. And I also used to work at Harvard, at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. So, basically I’m the help.

A naked woman riding some sort of sea serpent. This is just a tad pornographic, I think.

I turned on the news. CNN was, as usual, reporting endlessly but saying nothing new about missing flight MH370. And, as usual, they were flashing the now meaningless, comical words “Breaking News.” It’s absolutely maddening. I still turn on CCN first because it used to be such a great, sober, informative news channel.

I switched to the new Ronan Farrow show on MSNBC. He was talking about food drops in Sudan. I learned something! The rest of the show was as informative. I’ve watched a few times before. Unfortunately, he’s on at an hour when my tv is rarely on. When I’ve seen him though, he always manages to explain and report while assuming you know nothing, which I usually don’t, but he doesn’t talk to you like you haven’t gone to school past the 5th grade.

So there’s him, Rachel Maddow, and the BBC. I keep forgetting to go back to the radio, that’s probably still good. And of course there’s the internets! I had hopes for the new Al Jazeera news channel, but the few times I watched I didn’t get the range that I’d hoped for. Although I remember catching a few minutes of a piece about the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. They said they had evidence that Iran, not Libya, was behind the bombing. It was like, 2am or something, and I fell asleep, missing what that evidence was. But when I woke up I expected to see a big reaction to the piece but there was nothing. ZERO. That was a while ago too and still nothing. Has anyone looked into their claims?

Children playing with bubbles in Washington Square Park.

We had an extra choir rehearsal this afternoon. This was for the people who have missed rehearsals and/or need extra help and we have a couple of them every semester. Everyone needs extra help this semester though, because what we’re singing is so challenging. (I’m looking at you, Charles Ives, and your Psalm 90. Oh, I just read that he suffered from anxiety attacks. Okay, I forgive him for the challenging music. Anxiety attacks are the worst thing in the world, I used to get them when I was in my twenties. If you’ve never had them, you just don’t know. They are horrible.)

On the way to practice I passed by pigeon man in Washington Square Park.

And on the way back, on 14th Street, I met a singer/musician named SK. He told me to take his picture because he’s going to be famous someday. I’m rooting for you, SK!