Montreal's beloved Canadiens, the standard bearers for the last viable religion in Quebec, just ripped a page out of the Jewish playbook with a fairly miraculous post-season run. A team that was supposed to last into the first week of April but was still playing in the 3rd week of May has, as of last night, seen its vial run dry!
It's time to move on, go for a bike ride, play a litle golf, maybe even fire up the old barbecue but before we do there is a tradition to uphold. With that in mind let the recriminations begin!!
Pundits, commentators and the like, both professional and amateur, will praise the team and immediately thereafter start the chorus of "that being said". Blame will be parceled out, axes will be sharpened and the miracle will be all but forgotten.
I'm no Jewish ethnocentrist but couldn't we all learn a thing or two from my people (besides philosophy, science, art etc.) and simply celebrate a miracle, as we do even centuries later, rather than dump all over it.
During Hannukah we don't gather every year to bitch about what could have been: "If they'd played it a bit differently the oil could've easily lasted 12 days, like Christmas!! Judah the Maccabee should never have been in charge, I'd have gone with Avrum "the Scythe" Ben Kahan dammit!!"
No, we just eat.
That being said.....
I put the blame squarely at the feet of Les Canadiens' management for not going with a proven winning combination. The Montreal symphony brass have played the national anthems at the Bell Center on several occasions and when they do the team wins...period!
In the playoff run alone they played and the Habs beat Pittsburgh in game 6, they played again and we beat Philly in game 3, they were replaced by little 16 year old rising star, Nikki Yanofsky in game 4 and were soundly beaten.
Sure she's cute and sings well and is cute. In a year and a half she'll be 18, legal, and recording industry weasels will be able to pry her away from her parents guiding hands and finally get her to make slutty naked videos like Rhianna or Christina Aguilera. That's of course, another story.
In this case it's even worse than simply jinxing the team. Let's break it down: When the OSM brass play the anthems people in the stands sang loud and proud because they were being accompanied by a glorious sounding live ensemble, not singing along with someone who made a name for herself during the recent olympics and who many people may have wanted to listen to rather than drown out. The end result was a rousing, crowd stirring OSM anthem that had the house rockin' and home team that came out with fire in their eyes. Not so for Nikki's a cappela rendition. I'll show you the good one of the two....see what I mean??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wvut4Mbhco&feature=player_embedded
A special mention to Blob accolytes and regular comment section participants, Party Bear and Mama Callous for their stunning trombone work and for the former's brilliant arrangement of
O Canada. Take special note of the introduction, artfully and legally lifted from famed dead composer Richard Strauss' fanfare "Stadt Wien".
In Closing
Poor managerial decisions notwithstanding, there's one thing we can all agree on. It's been said before and I'll say it again; Canadiens fans are the most knowledgeable fans in the whole world. Possibly even more than you'd think......
6 comments:
A Joke Explained:
For those unfamiliar, Dukas is a dead french composer. If you've seen Disney's Fantasia, well, he's the guy who wrote the music for The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He also wrote another piece called "La Peri" that starts with a famous brass fanfare. Obscure yes, but therein lies the joke. You'd probably have to be a knowledgeable Habs fan to best appreciate it.
Blobbeleh! Finally you get off your tuckus and write a decent couple a posts! Of coahse these playoffs played out like Channukkah! I've been telling the bridge club girls that since the very beginning! I don't see why just because it's hockey season we have to forget about being Jews! I'm glad someone has the Mazohs to keep the cultuah during the playoffs. Well done my little Mensch! Now I gotta get off my tuckus and finally take a shower. The playoffs are ovah!
Whaaat.......!?!?!? I suppose my "Fanfare for the Common Man" is chopped liver??? With that stiffy- inducing tympani part I wrote??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
Dukas??? La Peri??? Get outta here!!! You know bupkis about music, my little drummer-boy... screw you!!!
Hey, Blobeleh!
Pay no attention to that crotchety, bile-spewing old man ( believe me; I know all about that, my friend!)... do you know of the biography of the former Boston Symphony concertmaster (whose name escapes me), the title of which I've forgotten, in which he tells the story of one of his colleagues (whose name I never knew) who absolutely hated the music of Copeland, because, in his estimation, it all sounded the same? Yeah... that biography!
Anyhoo, this guy, arriving at rehearsal, saw yet another Copeland piece on the music stand, and said to no one in particular, "well, I see that Copeland has composed another title..." hahaha!
Screw you, Copeland (I've got your back, Blobbie!)!!!
Esther, Aaron, Mikexxxster....3 completely different people and yet there's a strange similarity to the commentary. Content?...not really. Style?...perhaps.
I'd say it's more a question of attitude, a seething rage that roils just beneath the surface and sometimes, like untended to oatmeal, boils over onto the stove top that is my blog...a healthy, delicious mess.
While all my friends who write in are filled with rage of one sort or another this is special. Keep up the good, angry work, whoever you are!
Pitiful......just pitiful.........his name is spelled "Copland" you old fraud.......look it up!!!
Signed,
Aaron "Copland's" fan club devotee
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