Sunday evening service

I have been told one person had confusion about what "JD" means in a recent blog entry. It does not mean "juvenile delinquent". It is the initials of a priest at St. John the Divine. I do not usually give the name of the preacher for a couple of reasons. First I do not have approval from the person. I probably do not need it but it would be polite. Secondly I use the sermon to make comments. I do quote or paraphrase the sermon but often I inject, without making it clear when, my own opinions. So this is me blogging with a sermon as a starting point.

Anyway when JD preaches at 6 PM we always know beforehand because her husband comes in to visit with us in the coffee room. (He is a very extroverted guy.) We rest for about thirty minutes between rehearsal and the actual service.

So he came in and we discussed the situation in Mexico and discussed the possibility of legalizing drugs. He thinks Mexico might give in to the cartel in order to keep murders down. JD comes in in the middle of this and says "pragmatism has its limits". But the husband says that he has a friend who has recently come back from Mexico. They are on the verge of giving in and letting drugs traffic through Mexico without hindrance. The discussion then went to other places. That may have been the most lively discussion we have ever had before church.

A great old tenor from the past Steve Duson, made a surprise visit as a singer. He leads a jazz service at Trinity Episcopal (on Main street). He used to sing with us all the time.

Steve says his oldest is about to enter high school. I remember when he sang with us his son being born. He is still a pretty good athlete. They are creatively talented family. His wife is a former actor for AD Players. They, as a family, did "Best Christmas Pageant Ever" last Christmas at a theater out I-10 way. He said they did nine performances. All the family had parts and Steve and his wife were the parents. That is a big commitment. I wished I have known. I may not have been able to make it but I would have like the opportunity.

Oh this Sunday was our bass section leader's last week. I was surprised to have him say he'd been there 2 1/2 years. (Is that what he said?) Wow. Time sure flies. I would never had thought it had been that long. He's been a great leader. He has patiently helped me with getting pitches. He has spoken on theory of harmony, something that always interests me. He kept us up to date on Pittsburgh sports on his ipod.

As we were saying our goodbyes he mentioned we could keep up on Facebook and then he admitted to reading my blog sometimes. I think that slipped out, hehe. Which blog entries I wonder. That was a stunner. So now I have facetiously commented I have to train a new section leader.

He is driving to New England for the summer and after the summer he will drive to San Francisco to spend a year. He will be learning from new voice coaches and also will still audition for things. Good luck Jeff.