Seven Quick Takes Friday

1.  Michael and I attended Bésame Ópera last evening, presented by Opera 5, a small group of young singers. Presented at Gallery 345, they staged two Spanish operas, El Retablo de Maese Pedro by Manuel de Fallo and Goyescas by Enrique Granados.  Opera 5 wants to bring opera back to the masses:

When opera was developed it was meant to combine all art forms and we intend to push that to the limit by combining opera with any and every distinct art form such as dance, photography, visual art, performance art, creative writing, and even culinary arts by showcasing new talent in each medium. (About Opera 5)  

Last night's production included shadow puppets in the first half, sangria and tuna ceviche at the break, and some beautiful visual effects involving wardrobe in the second half. The cast was superb, with the only difficulties being the sightlines in the small-ish space. I will definitely be back for next season.  

2. I have failed miserably at getting to anything at HotDocs this week. I went down to try to get a same day ticket for Rent a Family Inc on Tuesday but they only had rush tickets and I was there two hours in advance. I decided not to wait around and risk not getting in. Yesterdays pick was bumping up against the opera. So I need to get better organized next year.
3. I wandered into Belle de Provence yesterday when I was on my dress-hunting expedition. They sell scented soaps, candles, tableware, and other French loveliness. I adore liquid soap from France, even the inexpensive stuff. The scents are very natural, unlike North American products that all seem to have a chemical/not-made-in-nature smell. My in-laws bring Le Petit Marseillais brand soap in these funky earth-friendly tubes when they visit, and when I run out, I get a supply of a similar product in large bottles at Winners (1L of liquid soap for 9.99), which is WAY less expensive than what I saw in the shop. I suspect that the packaging changed, or something. If you see a gal in the bath products section at Winners sniffing all the bottles, it's probably me.
4. We're off to an engagement party this evening, but if we weren't, I'd be joining Michael at Baroque Idol with the Aradia Chamber Ensemble at the Music Gallery. Young composers have been invited to submit works for the baroque ensemble and then the audience gets to vote. The winning composer gets a commission.
5. My new to-list app for iphone is kicking my butt. It's the gamification of personal productivity. Check it out.
   
6. It was HOT outside today.
7. We're seeing two operas next week at the COC. Because of Z's travel schedule, we had to switch around some dates, which left us with Strauss' Salome (directed by Atom Egoyan) on Tuesday and Dialogues des Carmelites (Poulenc) on Wednesday. 

Thanks for dropping by! Feel free to leave a comment below.

Tabatha Southey spends vacay cash on opera.

Nice piece from Tabatha Southey in Elle Canada. A touch silly, yet rather touching!

http://files.coc.ca/pdfs/Elle-Canada-August-2012.pdf#

Jazz.fm Youth Big Band at Jazz Lives 2012

Michael plays in the Jazz.fm Youth Big Band, an educational outreach program of Jazz.fm, the not-for-profit all-jazz station here in Toronto. A couple of weeks ago they played a set in the big annual fundraising drive, Jazz Lives, to a sold-out crowd Koerner Hall, the biggest venue they've ever played.

Michael is the bass trombone, far right of middle row.

Here's a 12-minute video describing the goals and accomplishments of this wonderful ensemble of young musicians.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F22qaPwvNFU]

Jazz FM 91.1 is my go-to radio station in the car, which is pretty much the only time I have the radio on. They broadcast in the GTA and northern New York, and stream online around the world. Their fundraising drive is almost over, and while I miss the music, it's fantastic to hear where people are calling in from. Jazz stations are slowly disappearing...there's no all-jazz format in London (UK), Chicago or Philadelphia. Today there was a caller from Israel donating in the name of her father. This station is accessible to anyone with an internet connection and brings jazz lovers from all over the world together, and showcases a ton of Toronto and Canadian talent. Their educational outreach is the way they hope to build the audience of the future.

Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. It's been a tough week. I surrendered our dog, Wilson, to Toronto Animal Services yesterday after a biting incident earlier this summer. He's a terrier mix, with a lot of Jack Russell in him, and he charged and bit a letter carrier after he got off-leash. It was a horrible accident (although the bite was a minor injury), but I realized that his behaviour was too unpredictable for us to manage. Every visitor to our house was a stress. We have no yard at our current home, unlike when we adopted him in Georgia, and even with 3-4 walks a day, we were unable to provide him with sufficient opportunities to burn off energy. I've been weepy all week, and broke down at the shelter when I took him in. My greatest hope is that they can find a home for him where he will be able to be the dog that he is. I can't really say any more.
2. I got my hair cut after my trip to Animal Services yesterday. It felt kind of like mourning, but at the same time a fresh start. It's shoulder length and layered a bit. And I feel so silly writing about it now.
3. Last night, we attended the Season Opener for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a wonderful program including Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and a commission from Toronto Composer Larysa Kezmenko called Behold the Night, based on a Midsummer's Night Dream. The second half was William Walton's Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario featuring actor Christopher Plummer (who also arranged this work) reciting parts of the play from memory. Walton scored Larurence Olivier's film Henry V, from which this work is derived. It was spectacular, and great finish to what had been a very sad day. The evening was capped by the TSO's after party featuring the Heavyweights Brass Band in the lobby of Roy Thomson Hall.
4. Z and I head to Orlando on Sunday where he is attending a conference and I will take five days to relax in the sun. I was able to score a very cheap flight and there's no upcharge for me to stay at the (very nice) hotel hosting the conference.
5. Michael auditioned for and was accepted into the Hannaford Youth Band and Jazz.fm Youth Big Band, both of which he played in last year. These ensembles are wonderful ways for him to get experience performing repertoire on both the tube (Hannaford) and bass trombone (Jazz.fm) and I'm pleased that he'll be playing with them again this year.
6. While we were downtown yesterday, we picked up tickets for Noel Coward's Private Lives, now in previews at the Royal Alexandra. Starring Paul Gross and Kim Cattrall, it's been getting a lot of positive buzz. Mirvish is also bringing War Horse to Toronto in the new year and I'm looking forward to that as well. 
7. Friends from our parish were featured on the front page of the Star this week. John and Kathleen Rudolph are both professional musicians.  John is Principal Percussionist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Kathleen teaches flute at the Glenn Gould School and University of Western Ontario. Kathleen and I are altos in the parish choir, and Kathleen often fills in on the organ. Their daughter, Theresa, was just hired by the TSO, their first parent-child pair. The piece in The Star is lovely and worth a read.

More Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary.

My father and the Ozark Rambler

I've been browsing through a box of old photos from my father's mother. I've been through them many times before, but these caught my eye and I'm trying to follow up on them.

The first is of my father, Franklin Berkman, who would have been six years old.  

The second has some writing on it.  It says "Bunny's girl Gloria Jane and the Ozark Rambler of KMBC Radio on the roof of Pickwick Nov 8/30." Bunny was the name that my grandmother called my father all his life. I have no idea who Gloria Jane is.

I did some online searching and determined that KMBC (now KMBZ) joined CBS in 1928 and moved to the 11th floor of Kansas City, Missouri's Pickwick Hotel in 1930 (Reference)

[Image courtesy of CardCow.com.]

All I've been able to find out about the Ozark Rambler is from some photos on the site of the Kansas City Public Library's Missouri Valley Special Collections. I haven't received permission to reproduce images here, but you can go to the links to check them out.

Ozark Rambler (second from left) with touring cast of Happy Hollow Gang outside Pickwick Hotel. The Happy Hollow gang performed a radio show that was a precursor to the Beverly Hillbillies. 

Informal group portrait of "Ozark Rambler" (left), Brookings Montgomery, and others.on roof of Pickwick Hotel.

I'm not sure what my father was doing in Kansas City. He was born in Regina Saskatchewan in 1924 and by 1934 he was living in Ottawa. His father David had a fur shop in Regina until 1930 and then owned dress and hat shops in Ottawa where his mother Vera worked. His parents eventually divorced and I never met David, but Vera married Maurice Winer and they were known as Grandma and Grandpa Winer.

[Update Aug 18: A check of my family history records reminded me that one of Vera's younger sisters, Lally, had married a KC man named Conrad Orloff in1929 and so Vera was very likely visiting her.]

Anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone who knows anything about the Ozark Rambler in 1930s Missouri. Or recognizes Gloria Jane.

 

Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. The boys are both away from home this week and it's been nice, in a wierd kind of way. Alex is up at the cottage witih his girlfriend and they're due back sometime today. Michael is working at the Toronto District School Board's Music by the Lake camp for elementary school students. He's a junior staff assistant, asked to work sort of last-minute-ish as they needed a trombone player. From the few texts we've received, it sounds like he's having a good time. We'll pick him up tomorrow around noon and then he needs to study for his exams next week.
2. Saw the absolutely thrilling production of Alice in Wonderland last night at the National Ballet of Canada. I'm not a big ballet afficianado...I've only ever been to The Nutcracker (multiple times, from childhood) but this got such raves that I thought it was worth checking out.  I'm a convert! Originally a production of the Royal Ballet, it's full of surprises with stunning sets, props, and effects, and the score by Joby Talbot is terrific.
   
   
   <Image courtesy of National Ballet>
3. Saw an old friend from high school on Wednesday evening. It's been years, yet we fell into conversation as if it had been a few days. Isn't it wonderful how that happens?  I'll see her again tonight as we're both attending Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, courtesy of Opera By Request, in which a mutual friend (also from high school) is singing.
4. The annual Luminato Festival starts this weekend and we've actually lined up tickets to some events this year! On our calendar:
   - One Thousand and One Nights, a new theatrical production of these Arabic folktales. It's actually being staged in two three-hour segments, but we'll see one of them.
   - We tried to get tickets to hear Lebanese author and creator of the script for 1001 Nights Hanan al-Shayk, but they were sold out. I'm hoping maybe they'll repeat the event. 
   - Next weekend, we'll see "a raw and shocking re-imagination of Racine’s classic play [Andromache] from provocative Scottish director Graham McLaren." Z studied the play in school, but I am completely ignorant, so I should probably do a little reading about it ... 
   - I'm keen to take in the free installation by architect Philip Beesley called Sargasso. It was at the Vienna Biennale. There's a little promo video about it at the link that's well worth a watch.
   - Next Friday is a free outdoor concert in David Pecaut square featuring kd lang. Yay! 
   Can you see why I love Toronto?! 
5. Next Thursday, I'm heading to Stratford with two gal pals to see Seana McKenna in Richard III. As Richard III. The play did NOT get great reviews, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.
   
   
   <Image courtesy Stratford Shakespeare Festival>
6.  Our garden is actually looking somewhat acceptable this summer. There is still a whole section to tidy up, but I've started putting mulch down after I pull weeds, and the grass seed I picked up at Costco on the spur of the moment is doing really well in filling in some of the patchiness of the lawn. Being on a corner lot, everuthing is basically exposed, so it's been kind of embarrassing to have this wild and wooly thing happening on our property.  
7. Just finished a terrific book, Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin. It's the story of a young Irish woman in the 50s who emigrates to Brooklyn and finds herself stuck between her old and new lives.  It's a compelling portrait of that time, relations between Irish, Italians, Jews, and African-Americans in this bustling city of immigrants. As a genealogist, it gave me some insight into what it must have been like for single women to come to the "new world" for a better life, without family, having to make new friends and find their way on their own (or, as in this case, with help from her parish priest.)  I highly recommend this quick read.
8. Bonus: I am desperately trying to break my habit of putting two spaces after a period. There has been so much mockery of old-school people like me who were taught that in the last century, and it's terribly ingrained. But I'm trying.

Visit Jennifer over at Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!

 

Sheet Music and Scores @ Toronto Reference Library

via torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com

Definitely want to check this out!

M is for Ma(r)y

As we move into the month of May, my parish choir presents songs to Mary. This has to be one of the most beautiful choral pieces ever written, and was apparently Rachmaninoff's favourite composition. We sang this on Sunday and below is a version sung (by men only) by the Westminster Chorus.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4zGqHSzajc]

 

Stanley H. Clark: 1933-2011

I found out about Stan's death via Facebook while we were in England.  He was a high school music teacher extraordinaire.  While I didn't take music classes at Glebe, I played percussion in the Senior Concert Band and piano in the Stage Band. The Stage Band recorded an LP, played paying gigs, including in a flotilla on the Rideau Canal, travelled to Cuba, and was an all-round fabulous place to play great music, hang with friends, and get through those teen years. 

I have reconnected with many high school friends through social networking, and there is a special bond with those who were in the Stage Band. Stan's family have put up a Facebook page where many of his former students have shared their memories. As announced on that page:

Stanley H. Clark
1933-2011
Mus. Bac., M.Mus, ARCT, Conductor - Royal Regiment of Canada (Capt. ret.)
Teacher - North Toronto, Parkdale and Glebe Collegiates
Conductor - National Capital Concert Band

After a lifetime of glorious music and marvelous adventure, Stanley H. Clark - teacher, composer, maestro, father, friend - has shuffled off this mortal coil.

Stan’s legacy lives on in the lives of children, grandchildren, countless students and fellow musicians who were inspired under his baton.

No regrets, no condolences. This was a life well lived. Please share your stories and memories at www.crgamble.com. In memory of Stan, support of music and arts in our schools would be appreciated. We suggest musicounts.ca or youngawards.ca or an investment of your time.

A celebration and final blow in Stan's honour will be held at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa, from 12:00 to 4:00, Saturday April 30th. If you’d like to play, bring a music stand; downbeat at 2 p.m.

I would love to be there.

As a side note:  Our son Michael plays in the stage band (among others) at Lawrence Park CI here in Toronto and with the Jazz.fm Youth Big Band. Whenever I go to a concert or gig of his, I get extremely nostalgic for my own high school days. He has an excellent school music teacher who is also a brass player, and someone who knows how to swing.  It makes me immeasurably happy to see his pleasure in playing jazz, and love that he loves the same music I did at that age (and continue to love.) He is looking to music as a career and I know how inspiring great teachers are.

In the search for the Voice of God...

...some believe Gregorian chants are preferable to folk music

Charles Lewis  Apr 22, 2011 

Aaron Lynett/National Post

Brother Brian holds his rosary as he, along with Frater Stanislaus (centre) and Frater Herman Joseph (right) rehearse for their choir specializing in Gregorian Chant at the Holy Family Church in Toronto

When Philip Fournier sings a line of Gregorian chant, it hangs like a puff of smoke in the air before it slowly dissipates above the empty pews below.

The sound, listening to it live from a distance of just several inches away in the choir loft at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Toronto, is ancient, elemental. The sound originates in his abdomen — a line of text that flows out like a wave, sung in tones that are dark and rich. The words are in Latin. It is not a song so much as prayer that is sung.

Mr. Fournier, with his ragged sweater and perpetual five o’clock shadow, is part of a small cadre of traditionalists for whom singing Gregorian chant is an attempt to restore what they see as the real music of the Catholic Church — sounds that go back to the time when King David sang psalms in the temple. 

If they had their way, they would storm the parish churches and hurl all the guitars and drums into the street because they believe substituting modern music for ancient music has eroded worship.

Philip Fournier

via life.nationalpost.com

Read the rest at the link above.

I'm a huge chant fan, although realize that to encourage congregational participation in the novus ordo mass, we need to sing familiar hymns and (re-)inroduce these more traditional forms slowly. Both of the parishes I have belonged to since I became Catholic moved to Latin mass parts for Advent and Lent, and my current choir uses a lot of renaissance (and some medieval) music during the offertory and communion periods. We are also (apparently) ordering the Parish Book of Chant and this should go a long way to including more chant in the liturgy.

Duruflé Mania

I missed choir last week due to illness, but I was happy to be back today, particularly since both of our pieces were by Duruflé.  During the Offertory, we sang Ubi Caritas.

Here's the Chor of King's College Cambridge....

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwR_dM-1MlU]

Then, during Communion we sang Duruflé's Notre Pere.

Here's the Ensemble Vocal de l'AVP singing at l'Église Saint Merry (Paris 4e):

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m15EYvYvvuA]

These pieces are stunning in their harmony and forward movement, and are a joy to sing.  While I'm excited to be travelling to England in the next couple of weeks, I'm sorry to not be singing with the choir over the Easter weekend.

Music bonanza!

I attended the U of T Faculty of Music Spring Record and Book sale last Wednesday and scored some great stuff (no pun intended)! Thanks to Jay Lambie, and old high school friend who works at the Faculty Library for alerting me to this event.

1. RCM Piano and Theory books for Michael
2. 40 French Hits of Our Times (not really MY times, but great tunes!)
3. Ain't Misbehaving arranged for the Canadian Brass (Quintet) - will donate this to Lawrence Park CI's Music Department for their brass quintet
4. Sammy Nestico arrangements for jazz band of Take The "A" Train and The Spirit is Willing  (donated to Jazz.fm Youth Big Band where Michael plays trombone
5. An arrangement for jazz band of "Sunny" (also donated).

I was hoping for some trombone or tuba stuff for Michael but there was very little music for brass. Couldn't get anywhere near the CD table!  Lots of swarming around the piano and vocal scores as well. The prices were great and I was glad I got there early. Afterwards, I dropped into Remenyi on Bloor and picked up the RCM Theory syllabus and a book of etudes for Bass Trombone.

And now, for your listening pleasure.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRGFqSkNjHk]

Today's earworm....

[audio http://janetberkman.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/24167-10_teach_me_o_lord_teach_me_o_.mp3]
10 Teach me, O Lord_ Teach me, O Lor.m4a

...the anthem we sung during the Offertory yesterday.  William Byrd's Teach Me, O Lord, sung here by the Hereford Cathedral Choir.

Gorgeous modulation during the Gloria (about 2:30).

A cure for the common cold? Yes, please...

I think I'm starting to crawl out from under this heavy blanket of my cold.  My sinuses are feeling much better today and I don't have a headache, although that may be due to the migraine meds I took last night before bed.  I missed the Evelyn Glennie concert because I was just too sick to get myself there and it seems like it was a wonder.  Sigh.

This morning, a correspondent told me about a cure that she learned of in Cuba:  a handful of mint leaves, steeped in boiling water, with some honey.  I don't have any fresh mint, but she suggested dried would also work so I've consumed a great mug of that and am hoping for the best. I'm off the cold meds, but may need some pain relief if the headache returns.  

Michael's last Kiwanis event with the school orchestra was this morning, so I had to get dressed and out to transport him, his tuba, and a couple of friends to the venue.  I'm on call to pick him up sometime around noon when it's over and then I'll run some errands.  I'm quite behind in my to-do list but I'm simply knackered with this this cold.  I haven't been this ill for a long time, possibly due to the mega-doses of Vitamin C that I take for something completely different (or has that been disproven?).  Z brought home fixings for dinner last night and assembled everything which was sweet.  Leftovers are available for lunch so I can take it easy. 

I"ll make a chicken pot pie with cornbread crust for dinner (a one-pot meal, and quite easy).  I've got nothing else on until tomorrow night when the man-child has a gig with the Jazz.fm big band at Hart House (Jazz @ Oscar's, 9-11:30 pm). 

Feeling like another cup of tea...

Evelyn Glennie: How to listen to music with your whole body

via youtube.com

Looking forward to her performance with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra tonight in the first concert of their New Creations Festival, celebrating the music of John Adams.

Quote of the day: From "Annabel" by Kathleen Winter

"You don't have to have a solo voice to be in a choir," he said. "In fact, there is something about a choir that brings together imperfections in the voices and uses them to make something new, like an infusion of different kinds of tea leaves.  It can be quite beautiful."

This is said by a minor character in the book, but struck me as so true, and as important to the story on many levels.

Annabel is a wonderful book.  I'm not quite finished, but I definitely recommend it.  Hauntingly beautiful and tender, it tells the story of a child born both male and female in a Labrador coastal village.  Kathleen Winter's sensitive portrayal of the child as he grows is a masterwork.  An incredible first novel.

Aside:  Our choir director always brews a pot of tea on Sunday mornings with (at least) two different types of leaves.  I had never thought of this as a metaphor for the combining of voices in song!

Let's just say it's been a heckuva week

I'm dog-tired.

This week has been a bit of a blur and I haven't felt up to blogging.  Sunday, Michael had back-to-back rehearsals so while he was at his first one, I helped my brother out at his place as he moves into the rest of his four-plex en route to converting it into a single-family-home.  I drove Michael out to his second rehearsal (way out west at Humber College) and then returned home.  We went out to Seoul House for dinner after picking him up, where I forgot my cellphone and had to drive back to get it.

Monday night was his first ever gig with the Jazz.fm Youth Big Band. I took him out to the subway around 3 and then Z and I headed down to the Old MIll on the subway around 5:30. The band was backing Bucky Pizzarelli and I was bowled over by how great they sounded.  I have a lot of wonderful memories from my youth playing in a big band, and I just knew how great the kids were all feeling.  The house was packed, sold out, and it was a great, if late night.  On the way home on the subway, we realised that there had been a mixup with Michael's trombone lesson and he had been expected that evening. He had also just broken up with his girlfriend. I had too much wine along with my terrific dinner which resulted in a migraine the next day.

Tuesday was a relatively normal day (apart from the headache), although Z didn't make it home for dinner due to work.  Michael and I had a "snack supper" which usually means grilled sandwiches or cheese and crackers or popcorn or cereal.   I wasn't up to preparing anything else and Michael is good-natured about all this.

On Wednesday, I had a Catholic Women's League meeting for which I was asked to prepare a reflection just an hour before-hand.  I probably should have realised that I was on the hook for that, but didn't, so I pulled something Advent-y together while making dinner.  We had a very good speaker from Aid to Women at the meeting, although the turnout was quite small.

Last night I had tickets to an advance screening of The Next Three Days courtesy of The National Post and there was a surprise Q&A with director and screenwriter Paul Haggis afterwards. We both very much enjoyed the movie but didn't get home until well after 10, which is late (for me).  

Today, Z had a big presentation at 11 am and pretty much everything went wrong.  We were supposed to meet with our financial planner at 8:30 this morning, but after receiving input from his people for the presentation in the middle of the night, Z realised that he had to cancel.  He was on the phone until 10:30 and asked me to drive him downtown for his meeting.  At 10:45, stuck in the hell that is Avenue Road these days, we turned around and he took the call from home, and then raced off downtown after the call to something else that couldn't be done remotely.  On top of all this, he had a call early this morning to learn that his aunt had passed away.  She was his mother's sister and was in the advanced stages of Parkinson's disease.  It was in some ways shocking when his mother passed this summer before his aunt.

Oh, and it's his birthday today.  

On the bright side, Alex turned 19 today (he shares his birthday with his father), which is "legal" in Ontario.  I queried as to whether he hit a bar after midnight and received an affirmative reply.  He sounds good and has been calling regularly, which makes me very happy. 

My baby...

...heading up to Collingwood with the Hannaford Youth Band to perform for students.

You never know where KISS is gonna pop up...

I attended the wonderful Creepy Classics concert with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night.  It was a great program of short-ish pieces, all with a spooky theme.  The evening started out with Bach's Toccata from Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565, with a stage dark, the organ lit in blue, and a witch in a tall pointed hat on the organ.  We got some Mussogorsky, two pieces from Bernard Herrman from work he did for Hitchcock in Psycho and Vertigo, plus Saint-Saens, Berlioz, and Stravinsky.

The musicians were all in costume, and a number of shots were posted this morning on their Facebook page.  I think the award for creativity goes to the trumpet section who blessed us with their KISS getup.  

It was a great night all 'round.

Photos courtesy of the TSO Facebook page.

The sounds of home.

I've mentioned before that Michael likes to fill the kitchen (and his room) with classic jazz covers.  Between downloading stuff from iTunes and transferring my father's old LPs to digital format, he's got a ton of stuff.  This morning we enjoyed Jack Teagarden, "Father of the Jazz Trombone", during breakfast.  All this is hugely reminiscent of my childhood years.  Whenever my father was home, jazz streamed from the record player in the living room or from various cassette decks he had around the house.  Even our trips to the cottage in the 60s and early 70s included tunes coming from a cassette player that he kept in the front seat of the car.  The only exception to this was Sunday mornings, when the music tended to be Bach.  

When my mother was here last week, Michael put on some Louis Armstrong.  She put her arm around him and told him that he was making her very emotional (in a good way) and that she almost felt like crying.  I feel that way sometimes too.