The international as well as the local news is consumed with information about the Maui wildfires where the death toll has risen to 80 and the number of structures destroyed estimated at about 3,000. It’s all a nightmare for the residents of Maui as well as to the entire state of Hawaii. The historic town… Read More Comfort among the ashes
I’ve got 72 hours in Honolulu! No sooner did I unpack my suitcase and wash my clothes, I’m going on the road again and packing for my departure tomorrow. However, I wanted to share some of the photos and videos of events I attended in Seattle so that you can enjoy them too. At first,… Read More Sights and sounds
I am in Seattle this weekend because the Compline Choir is celebrating a streak of 65 unbroken years of Sunday nights singing the last monastic office of the day. I felt special to be included in the festivities, starting with a buffet dinner on Saturday at “Chez Hallock,” the former home of Peter Hallock, now… Read More 65 years of Compline
The first time I heard the word “Compline” was when I was a music student at the University of Southern California and learned about the Daily Offices in Music History 101. That was more than fifty years ago! The Lutheran Church of Honolulu started its own Compline Service modeled after the one in Seattle on… Read More 65 years of Compline
You have NO idea how the following pictures warmed my heart when I saw them on Facebook yesterday: It’s my former student, Joey Fala, who is introducing the organ to the children’s choirs at Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, NC, where he is the Organ Scholar. It was sixteen years ago (May 24,… Read More Passing it on …
When one steps inside St. Mark’s Cathedral Seattle and attends a worship service, one is immediately struck by the fact that … “this is a sacred and holy space; something mystical and magical happens here.” It is the huge space, the magnificent Flentrop Organ, it is the rolling acoustics that make music so extraordinary in this… Read More Mysticism and the sense of the sacred
It’s been four days since I returned home to Hawaii from Italy and I’ve crashed—hard. Talk about jet lag; this time has found me wandering around my apartment from midnight to 4 am, looking for food to eat, and conversely, napping in the afternoon from 1:00-5:00 pm, when I really should be up and about.… Read More A Compline alumnus
Last night, I went to the Compline service at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, and after talking with director Scott Fikse afterwards, it seems that the “old” Compline is back! Well, at least it’s back on a once-a-month basis. There were so many familiar elements: the procession, the prayers, the chants, the final preces by… Read More “Old” Compline is back!
Last night, I attended Compline at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu which was the first time I’ve been to the service since Carl Crosier sang his last Compline service on August 14, 2011. The weekly service was discontinued in 2012, after Carl’s retirement. I went back and reread my post “Bittersweet Compline” about that 2011 service… Read More Familiar, yet different
There’s no question that my last post about the resignation of John Renke and the loss of the music program at St. Andrew’s Cathedral created a firestorm of Facebook shares, comments, emails, plus more from all over the world. Those of you who don’t have Facebook accounts are perhaps wondering what is “trending,” and I… Read More Amid the firestorm . . .