Holidays collide

Yesterday was St.Patrick's Day.I felt like I should dress like a leprechaun at work and hand out Easter eggs.... Sunday was Palm Sunday...the choir sang in both morning masses.In between masses the whole alto section walked 8 blocks in downtown Charlotte to Starbucks....there were tons of people in downtown Charlotte at 10:00 in the morning....usually it is pretty sleepy on a Sunday morning....then I remembered that the ACC was in town....Palm Sunday and basketball.......and green beer right around the corner.
As with most Holy Weeks,I chose a few things to listen to during my 30 minute drive to work this week.This year I chose the studio version of Jesus Christ Superstar from 1970.I also chose Pilgrim Heart by Krishna Das.This is a disc full of Hindu chants which are mesmerizing with the percussion and vocals.There is one song where basically Hara Krishna is sung throughout .Then in the middle there is a wonderful verse of "Amazing Grace".Another CD is called Prayer Cycle.The composer is Johnathan Elias.There are several movements to this piece.....many a combination of symphonic music with world music percussion,and singers from various African and Mid-Eastern countries....then there are movements sung by Alanis Morrsette and James Taylor.Finally Anthology of Chant by Celestial Harmonies...Fabulous textures and harmonics by vocals and some instruments I have never heard of before....as my friend Fred has mentioned before in his blog....the car becomes a sanctuary,a place of meditation...the steering wheel an altar......today I listened to no Cd's....but NPR instead.