September 12 - Sweet Penguin

~ Excalibur - Carl Orff - O Fortuna

I have been going through the newest Sweet Cheeks video from Eric Weinstein at a furious pace.  I'm almost complete, but I ended up looking back at the previous one and saw that I hadn't built this penguin yet.  Since I've already talked ad nauseum about how much I like these, I figured I would tell you a story centered around why I made this.

Tim is a fellow Bass who sings in the North Carolina Masters Chorale with me, he collects penguins so when I saw this I knew I wanted to bring one to him. We just started our new season - the NCMC is 170 people strong and an amazing group, led by a inspirational, dynamic and musically demanding conductor - Al Sturgis.

Sweet Cheeks & Ate-too-many-sweets Cheeks

My parents forced me to join choir my senior year in high school, but I fell in love and since I had a light schedule - Mr. Rose allowed me to join both the general chorus and the chamber choir.   In college I was part of the men's choir - and I can't even begin to describe the amazing sound 60 men make when singing gospels in a stairwell.  It was magical, I think the stairway is still probably vibrating from it.

After college comes life - and for 20 years I lost touch with one of the great loves of my life.  But 5 years ago, I heard the NCMC season was beginning and they were to be performing Carmina Burana, which has been part of the musical fabric of my life since watching the movie Excalibur over and over again.  It was on my iPod nestled between 80s metal bands.  I nervously auditioned and was accepted, now every Tuesday in the season I feel spiritually renewed at practice.

This season we are once again singing Carmina as live choir backdrop for a modern ballet.  It's the second time I've been part of it, we wear black and sit in the first few rows facing the stage - it's really a magical event.

This school year also marks the last year of Mr. Rose's long career as choir instructor at my high school.  In the last concert of the year, it is tradition to invite all of the returning choir members to come up on stage and sing the final song - this year I'm hoping to return and be part of Mr. Rose's Opus.

A girl pink one.

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Other posts with Eric's designs:


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