It's Monday and it's time for music!
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Today I am joining up with other Music Moves Me bloggers (and you can join us at the linky above). We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post link may be labeled "No Music" or even removed.)
Our head host is Xmas Dolly, and our co-hosts are Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, joined by the knowledgeable Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and, last but not least, me.
Every other week we have a theme. This week's theme is "You Pick"
My last living uncle passed away earlier this month at the age of 100. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend his memorial service via the magic of the Internet (aka Zoom). I mentioned a little bit about him in my blog post yesterday.
My uncle was the lastborn of his six siblings (one of whom died as an infant), born into an immigrant family who had settled in Brooklyn. (Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City). My father's father owned a candy store in the Ocean Hill section of Brooklyn and all the children were expected to work long hours in the store. They lived in poverty, in an apartment that only had heat in one room (the kitchen).
My uncle excelled as a student, but his mother died when he was only 10 years ago. He was raised by his older siblings (including my father) and, eventually, he earned a PhD in chemistry. Much of his life was spent in the field of organic chemistry. But that only tells a part of his story.
As a college professor, he mentored many of his students. When I first visited him as a teenager, he and his family were hosting an exchange student.
He loved to work with his hands, and loved poetry. He memorized entire (long) poems like the one I posted yesterday. I remember him reciting Oscar Wilde's The Ballard of Reading Gaol on a long drive.
When my spouse was in basic training in the military, I lived with his family for two months in a small town in Iowa called Fairfield. Several years previously, my father and I had flown out to stay with him and his family for a week. What an adventure that was for a New York City born and bred girl.
Here are a couple of my blog posts about my visits to Fairfield, Iowa.
Why I Didn't Become a Librarian
Some of the memories shared at the memorial service brought back happy memories of that time.
I wanted to share a song I remember from that time, and a couple of songs played at the memorial service.
Mason Williams and Classical Gas was released in 1968, when we visited my uncle and his family out in Iowa for the first time.
One of my Iowa cousins introduced me to Larry Fast/Synergy and their cover of Slaughter on 10th Avenue during my 1976 stay with them. You have to love electronic music to listen to this - for me, it was instant love.
And from the memorial service, two of my uncle's favorite songs.
Danny Boy was played by the pianist at the service so I decided on an instrumental.
Finally, John Denver and Take Me Home Country Roads.
My uncle didn't have an easy childhood or, in some ways, an easy adult life, but he impacted everyone (I suspect) he came in contact with. May he forever rest in peace.
And that's a wrap.
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.
