ANTHEMS
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Dear Friends,
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are here, and I’m wearing my orange hat in support of the Edmonton Oilers. As a child, the Montreal Canadiens were the team I followed with some degree of fervor. Those were the days of Larry Robinson, Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt and Ken Dryden. Legendary. But a chance encounter at the age of 13, when I met Mark Messier and Kevin Lowe at a lunch in Edmonton, had me change allegiances. More recently, and again quite by chance, I met Zach Hyman while touring the Vatican in Rome. Okay, those are both longer stories than what this e-blast will hold… so back to the music.
If you heard the US and Canadian anthems presented on Wednesday evening in Edmonton, you heard first the ably voiced Tea G sing the US anthem. Every note was sung with great attention to detail - I liked it a lot! But then the Canadian anthem was sung by Robert Clark. If you don't know the story, he's a fantastic opera singer who was diagnosed with leukemia a couple of years ago. But he's back! And when he started singing the Canadian anthem on Wednesday night, he only completed the first verse before the entire crowd took over and sang the rest of it in its entirety. It was incredibly powerful and moving. Oilers are rabid fans of their hockey players, and they're also good singers! They've been doing this "complete the anthem" routine for a while. Here's a version of what happened on Wednesday, but from a different season:
Isn't that amazing to hear?
Back in the world of baseball (I'm a Jays fan), every batter approaches the home plate to take a swing accompanied by a piece of music of their choice. Something to get the energy moving. The range of music you hear over the course of a game is actually quite stunning. From old-time rock, to modern hip-hop, to the odd classical ditty, baseball players have their own personal anthems.
Many of you have told me what your favourite pieces of music are over the years. I take special note of these interactions. So if anyone wants to write and let me know what they'd like to hear in a future season, that door is always open.
Here's that hilariously bad, almost entirely made-up version of O Canada that I've posted before. It is good for a laugh when you need it!
Have a great weekend!
Mark and the SSM Team
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