The Oppenheimer Report 7/9/18

Joe Bamford on the left with his wife Fatima on the far right

At present, we have Shauna’s mom, Ethel “E.T.” Taylor visiting us at Jasper Bark Lodge, and we told her we had a big surprise for her when she got here. Joe Bamford, a music promoter in Parry Sound specializing in charity fundraisers, offered Jeff Carter, managing director of Hunters Bay Radio, four free tickets to see The Glenn Miller Orchestra at The Charles W. Stockey Centre For The Performing Arts in Parry Sound. Last Saturday night, Shauna, her mom, Jeff, and I drove to Parry Sound to see the world famous Glenn Miller Orchestra perform. E.T. hosts a show on Hunters Bay Radio entitled Martini Music which airs on Sunday nights (6pm – 8pm) and is one of the more popular shows at Hunters Bay Radio. Joe Bamford is a fan of the show, and he wanted to meet E.T. While the music E.T. loves might be a little out of my wheelhouse, I have grown to appreciate it,  largely because of this Martini Music show. She has great taste in the music from her era and has exposed me to some fantastic artists from the 40s, 50s and 60s. She plays a lot of big band swing, mixed in with male and female vocalists from the past six decades, covering some of the best songs ever written. I’m all about the songwriting and composition, and Martini Music features some of the best.

We arrived just before the concert was to begin, met Joe Bamford, and later his wife Fatima, picked up our free tickets, and were delighted to discover that our seats were front row center. There was a respectable audience of around 350 people, and the show was great. I’ve always enjoyed swing music but to see a live band perform it, with all the retro feel of the original Glenn Miller Orchestra, was a genuine thrill. The band, made up of excellent musicians from all across the United States, performed much the same way as the original orchestra had, which is to say they were animated and a lot of fun to watch. All in all it was a memorable evening, and a big thanks goes out to Jeff Carter for inviting us to the show. Particularly moving was the shout out to E.T. by Joe as he was introducing the orchestra. As a fan of Martini Music, he gave ithe show and E.T. an excellent plug. The concert was also educational, with the lead singer and band leader offering stories about Glenn Miller and about the origins of some of the famous songs he arranged. Miller was an outstanding arranger, and each song is a well-orchestrated symphony.  I was amazed to hear that Miller had, in his short career, arranged over 700 songs. As for the venue, The Stockey Centre is a beautiful place to see concert. Located right at the water’s edge along the Parry Sound waterfront, the concert hall has soaring 70+ foot ceilings and beautiful stonework lining the walls. The reception area includes a huge bank of windows overlooking Georgian Bay to the west and, during intermission, I came out and took in the remains of a spectacular sunset. A great night all around, and I think very therapeutic for Shauna.

Final note. Today, I wanted to configure E.T.’s computer tablet so that she could get on Facebook. Yes, my 93 year-old is on Facebook, probably to communicate with all her adoring fans. It should have been simple enough, but I'd lost the password for our Bell router, and unlike all the other routers I’ve owned, the password was not affixed to the back of the unit. Bell’s online instructions for how to access one’s password were ambiguous and almost laughable. I tried “chatting’ with an online assistant, but after being re-routed to four different people (I'm assuming) who didn’t know anything, I finally gave up on Bell altogether, instead consulting with the manufacturer of the router to discover that the information I needed was available on the inside of the battery cover. Increasingly I find that with all things computer-related, there is a built in you-can’t-get-there-from-here component. I can’t get no sa-tis-fac-tion.

 - Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED