starcatcher.ca

That was quick, wasn’t it? No sooner did the Tattoo start, it was over. As usually, I’m a little sad to see it go, but because I’m working during the day it’s not as all-consuming for me as it was in the early year. Melissa is glad that I’m home in the evenings, though, and it’s good to see Emilia again for more than 1 hour at a time.

By and large, it was a good show for the choir… The music was wonderful, to be sure… My favorite scene this year was easily the “Band of Brothers” scene (the NATO anniversary/Highway of Heroes military tribute), mainly because we had a pronounced presence, and also because it was the only scene to give me chills every night (the pipes usually do too, but that wears off after the first few nights). As for least favorite, I’d have to go with the “Songs to Remember” scene with “Somewhere Out There”, which required us to sing ridiculously high notes that effectively served to accent the soloists’ performance. Generally speaking, though, the good outweighed the bad mediocre, as it usually does in this sort of thing.

The last night was DEFINITELY a night of surprises, with some as-yet unseen faces popping up all over the place (particularly in the choir, where we had at least two “honorary members” - one of the Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums girls in our alto section, as well as one of our stage assistants, who is an interesting story in and of himself: a member of a Swiss group that was in the Tattoo in the past, he came over from Switzerland on his own dime to volunteer in the show this year. The show graciously took care of his room & board). Some people were concerned about the whole H1N1 thing, but as usual it was the media and other nervous nellies that blew the whole thing out of proportion (although I did hear one person was denied access on their flight back to Europe, I don’t know how true that is).

The parties were thin this year for me… Once to Boomer’s for the Piper party, then at the Fleet club for the Cast party, and finally at the Dome for the Wrap party ($2.50 beers? Check. On the dance floor for over one hour straight? Check. Skankalicious riff-raff being allowed in after 1AM? Double-check and Lysol-wiped). Maybe I’m getting old, or perhaps it’s that maybe I just don’t need the partying as much as I did back in the day. Who’s to say? The main thing is that I enjoyed myself.

All in all, it was good times. Thanks to my cronies in the choir (my flanks Greg and Alan, the Half-Time Hooch crew, the Posse, Luke and Catherine, the boys in the back, the Old Guard, all those crazy young girls, and of course Walter, Valda, Coleen and the rest of the choir wranglers) for making this year’s show one for the ages. Hopefully we’ll see each other again before 2010 (or 2011)!

Oh yeah… No pictures yet this year, but I’ve linked to some YouTube videos. I really hope nobody complains about these being on YouTube because there are TONS of them, and they make for great grassroots promotional material, as well as souvenirs for those who went to or were in the show (and who really couldn’t see it properly).

Choir singing Abide with Me in the finale (video zooms in on the choir at around 1:45; I’m visible at 2:35, in the middle of the back row):

Choir singing Before the Parade Passes By:

MacPherson’s Lament:

There are many more videos around… Double-click on one of those vids to bring up YouTube.