Stacy Horn

I made a list!! (I always credit Hart Hanson, the creator and producer of one of my favorite shows, Bones, for the phrase “I made a list!” I first saw it in his tweets.)

But my book Imperfect Harmony made the July 2013 Indie Next List!!

“Listening to choral music has always been moving for me, but I never realized the profound emotions felt by the chorus members. In this delightful, charmingly self-effacing memoir, Horn explains how singing with the Choral Society of New York’s Grace Church has been life-affirming, and even life-saving. Drawing on the reflections of other singers, composers of choral music, and scientific evidence, as well as her own experience, Horn beautifully puts into words the joy of singing in harmony with others. Any lover of choral music will love this book!” —Samantha Flynn, Quail Ridge Books & Music, Raleigh, NC

Thank you Samanta Flynn and the Indie Next List selectors!! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the vote of confidence. Thank you.

One of the tables at the recent street fair on Perry Street. Sad or scary dolls. You decide.

A friend pointed me to Every Noise at Once. Someone created this so anyone can explore a kazillion genres of music [I counted, it’s exactly a kazillion], and from all time it looks like. Someone is Glenn McDonald, I see. I started with Renaissance, and it played something by Purcell, but then if you click on the arrow, it explodes into this packed page of more choices of composers from this period. Oh, and contemporary performers of music from this period.

That’s just what I hit first. If you look at the main page there are so many genres to choose from—if you’re like me there are tons you’ve never even heard of. It’s an insane amount of work for what, the sheer love of it? Ah, I see McDonald works for The Echo Nest, “The Echo Nest is the world’s leading music intelligence company.” Jesus. The world is getting so much better. Some things are getting better more quickly than others obviously. And sadly.

But the fact that things like this are someone’s job though, is definitely in the world-is-getting-better category. Thank you Glenn McDonald, this is GREAT.

I passed by a couple of shoots in the Meatpacking District the other day.

At least, I think this one below was for a shoot. The platform this car was on was so wobbly I practically had an anxiety attack watching them. You could see it sway back and forth. I just got out of there.

Last night I watched the movie Warm Bodies, and I am just stunned I haven’t heard a lot more about this movie. I felt so good by the end of the movie it was like I had just won something really fun, like a bazillion dollars and a puppy. A trip around the world and the perfect haircut.

Why wasn’t everyone talking about this when it was at the movies?? First, it was seriously funny. I don’t want to give examples because I don’t want to take away one laugh, one unexpected moment of pleasure from anyone. Oh god, there are two jokes in particular I’m just dying to share. One of which came from Rob Corddry. Oh Rob Corddry. Can I just … have him? Rob Corddry please be my zombie best friend. Both he and Nicholas Hoult, who was the zombie main character, deserve a special Oscar for portraying such believable emotion while only being able to grunt for much of the film. This has to be seen to be believed.

Just go. Just … just go. Okay? Go. I was going to say more but I don’t want to give anything away. It’s a lovely film. It’s filled with heart, humor, charm. Having a bad day? GO. Having a good day and want that good day to be even better. Go. Oh wait, I guess at this point I should say: rent.

I walked through a street fair a block from me on Perry Street and guess who was everyone’s favorite fair-attraction? This little guy. Want to feel as good as man in the picture? Rent Warm Bodies—the best zombie feel-good movie you’ll see all year.

It’s official! I am a member of the Virtual Choir 4. I submitted my video last night. Quick backstory for the uninitiated: the Virtual Choir 4 was created by composer Eric Whitacre. Singers from all around the world submit videos of themselves singing their part of a piece of Whitacre’s choral music, and those are later edited together into the final piece/video.

It took seven versions before I made a video that was acceptable. Two were never saved due to issues on the VC4 server end, I went flat at one point in three of them (only a tiny bit) my cat meowed in another (thought I put him in the bedroom) and the vase that was holding up my “background” (a blanket) crashed and smashed to pieces in another. I’m not telling which one I went with. Okay, it’s the one with the surprise guest star.

As you can see from the picture of my recording set-up below, I have my priorities straight. It’s not how I sound but how I look. Actually, because I was so self-conscious about how I looked my singing is kinda tense. I sound better when I’m more relaxed.

If you want participate now is the time. The deadline is June 10th. The great thing about VC4 is we don’t have to wait long for the result. The Virtual Choir 4 is going to part of the Coronation Festival at Buckingham Palace in July, so JULY. Next month! The Queen! If you have special equipment like external mics and cameras, fantastic, but you can just use your laptop as I did. Do it!! I’m telling you, it feels great. You’re going to be ecstatic when you’re done.

I swear I’m like a murder-story magnet. No matter what I research I uncover a murder. I was granted access to the Grace Church archives and on my first day there I came across two small articles about an ex-actor named Harry Chauncey Smith who was found strangled in his bed in a rooming house in 1949. Someone had handwritten across the article that Harry was from the first class of Grace Church choir boys.

A vested choir of men and boys had replaced the professional choir at Grace Church at the end of the 19th century, and Harry was one of the very first boys in the new choir.

Later, I found an 1897 newspaper article describing Harry’s solo performance of a hymn that Christmas. “… had he never done anything else the rendition of that piece would have made him famous.” The writer also described Harry as a “sweet-faced, delicate-looking lad, with large gray-blue eyes and short blonde hair,” who was small for his age. Harry loved dogs and flowers, and his parents had to forbid music and books during the summer in an order to get him out of the house and riding bikes and playing with the other children.

By 1949, the year of his murder, Harry was 66 years old, an actor, and going by the name Harry Redding. He wasn’t doing so well. He was living alone in rooming house on the upper west side, and the walls of his room were covered with pictures of him from his youth, wearing theatrical costumes—his former glory days, apparently. His landlady said she’d seen him drunk on the street hours before his murder.

Harry had been murdered by a 23 year old homeless man named James Robert McCormack (the article said McCormack was 26, but this was wrong).  McCormack killed Harry, he said, because Harry had called him a bum. McCormack strangled Harry with a belt, put a jacket over his face, then he stole $8 from Harry’s wallet and fled. McCormack was convicted of 2nd degree murder and sentenced to 240 months to life. I did an inmate lookup and learned that he’d been released on November 19, 1980. I couldn’t find any death records for him, so if he’s still alive he’s 91.

Harry in his “sweet-faced, delicate-looking” days. So sad. He was beautiful boy.