As I was driving home from the airport this afternoon, having taught organ lessons on Kauai, the traffic was absolutely wretched. I had decided to take Dillingham Boulevard (surface streets) instead of staying on the freeway, which I immediately found out was a bad decision! There are lanes closed off due to the ongoing construction… Read More In love with Requiems
This morning I was at my old stomping grounds, Iolani School, where I was the Chapel Organist for 20 years, and played for daily chapel services. Since I retired in 2015, the school has gotten so big (in enrollment as well as in number of buildings on campus), that it’s no longer possible to have… Read More They clapped!
Today I went back to Iolani School for its annual Winter Concert by the Orchestra and Chorus, an event which took a hiatus during the pandemic but resumed this year. It is a time when retired teachers and staff are invited to come back to the school, listen to a concert in the gym, and… Read More Back to school!
People probably don’t know that I was once a Major League Baseball fan in my childhood and I faithfully listened to all the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games with broadcaster Vin Scully who recently passed away. In baseball, a doubleheader is a set of two games played between the same two teams on the same day. Historically,… Read More Double or triple doubleheader?
“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement early Sunday. When I read the news about Desmond Tutu, anti-apartheid leader and voice of justice, dead at… Read More Desmond Tutu memories
If she had not told me, tonight might never have happened. What I am talking about was the conversation I had with Cynthia Scheinert in 2003, former fifth grade home room teacher of Joey Fala, who told me about his fascination, no, his obsession with the organ so much that every school assignment, whether it… Read More A kid who had a dream …
The last I heard from Daniel J. Werning, former organist/choirmaster of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, was that after the death of his wife, Terry, he met a woman in Thailand and moved there to retire. Here is a picture of them on his Facebook page: According to his Facebook page, Dan has master’s degrees in… Read More A retirement project
Yesterday I atttended the annual Iolani Christmas concert with the orchestra and chorus, an event to which the “Retirees” are special guests, with a luncheon following. I “retired” after twenty years as Chapel Organist at the school, but even now, continue to accompany the Iolani Chorus and Hokuloa Singers for their winter and spring concerts,… Read More I’m a Retiree, really?!
If you were one of the email subscribers to the blog you may have been puzzled by my mention of the Kona Choral Society when I wrapping up my time on the Garden Island, Kaua’i. I must have been tired when I wrote that last post, because of course I meant the Kauai Chorale, directed… Read More In a fog
In my last post, “A leap of faith,” I wrote about the beginnings of our Annual Organ Concert series, and how it all started with the concert with Paul Jacobs in 2006. Since then we have hosted twelve more annual organ concerts of “rising stars” — you can see a list of the artists here.… Read More Meet Adam Pajan