Music, a magic beyond all we do here....

JK Rowling, author of the phenomenally popular Harry Potter books, has Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore speaking those words in the first book of the mega-watt series. A worthy sentiment that is subsequently completely ignored, as music plays virtually no part in the books or the plotline. Small snippets are included in the movies (which, as any Potter fan is happy to explain at length, do deviate from the books in some rather conspicuous ways), but any music heard directly by the characters (I am excluding, for the moment, the movie scores) is incidental. As a musician, that made me a little sad, but I can't really call JKR out on it. After all, she got millions of people to read, among generations that would not have picked up a book they weren't forced to. She can't solve all the world's problems. (But, perhaps in her next series... hint, hint)

Accepted treatment protocols for my type of cancer involve ingesting radioactive isotopes that ablate (kill) the cancerous cells from the inside-out. However, the treatment leaves the patient radioactive for several months, and for the first 7 days, I had to be in isolation from anyone. Anything I used had to be segregated, and what couldn't be thoroughly rinsed down (ie, books) had to be kept separate for 3 months before others could handle them again. In an effort to keep myself sane (one can only watch so much mindless TV), I decided to re-read the Harry Potter series, in order. It took me almost the entire week to finish, which allowed me to simply put those books in a lined bag and leave them at the back of the closet until January. I hadn't read the books since the final one had been published, and I was reminded again of all the wonderful details of Ms. Rowlings' imagination had to be chopped in the interests of the movies. If your only experience with the Potter-verse is the movies, I strongly encourage you to take the time to READ THE BOOKS. This is not a slam against the movies, which I think are quite well done; it's simply that the books are better. In the history of movies-from-books, I challenge anyone to find a movie that is better than its original source book. In recent memory, the closest example I can come up with is The Color Purple, which I would classify "as good as" the original novel. Even then, it lost some things in translation to the silver screen.

But I started talking about music. As I metioned in my "tweet" last night, I had the good fortune of being 1 of only 5 musicians at the local seisun. This was due, I'm sure, to the Superbowl, but since I am not a football fan, I couldn't have been less interested in "the big game." I only learned who was even playing from talking to people at the pub last night. (But when spring training starts, I warn you, there may be more baseball-related blogs than I originally intended.)

So there I was, in a room with 4 other musicians who were, in no particular order, 3 recording artists (one a former Grammy nominee) and a singer from Ireland who has a wealth of traditional old sean nos songs that the Smithsonian archives would envy. And me. And maybe a dozen or so audience members (again, the Superbowl was on). Normally all those numbers are at least doubled, and it's not as intimidating to participate because there's a wider range of experience and talent. It was only marginally easier for me that I was a "regular" at the seisun before my treatments began, and had gotten very positive feedback from audience and other regulars; also the fact that two of the "professional" musicians have known me since I was a child allowed the butterflies to ease somewhat. Still, rather humbling to be in such phenomenal company. Also humbling to know that I held my own in the song swapping. To have a Grammy-nominated musician (who is, quite honestly, one of the most incredibly talented people I've ever had the pleasure of listening to) ask the origins of the songs I did, and ask me to come back more frequently, was amazing.

As I was undergoing surgery and treatment this summer, I began re-evaluating my priorities. I think it's something anyone with a potentially terminal illness does in varying degrees. I thought about my writing (which I'd all but abandoned), music (which I had taken up again about 18 months previously), art (again, mostly abandoned) and theatre (which I had also begun to do again, with a local community theatre). I thought about what I wanted my life to be, and how to blend that better with the life my circumstances require me to live. This blog, and another (work-related) blog, along with a few more tendrils of artistic endeavor, have been born out of those musings.

So I hope that you'll join me on this journey of self-discovery. Re-evaluate your own priorities. Shape your own future a little better. And most importantly, in the words of Patrick Dennis (quoting his "Auntie Mame"), "Live, live, live! Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!"