Sheila died a year ago. How terribly fitting she would die in the month of October, which is also Down syndrome awareness month. The little stinker always did have a wicked sense of humor. She loved to laugh and would love the irony of dying in the month dedicated to increasing awareness of Down syndrome and the impact of it on the person with DS.
She also died the day after her father’s birthday, which means there is a bit of whiplash going on in our household at this time. Maybe there is a hidden blessing in this. Her love of birthdays means we better not weep when we should be celebrating, or maybe that’s just me looking for a way to turn this odd pairing into a blessing in disguise. The little pipsqueak would have to find a way to upstage her dad’s day—yup, the mischievousness in her coming out even in her death.
The last few days have been hard for me, and I anticipate a few more of them in the next few days. They are hard because I’m thinking more about the loss of her, rather than the blessing of having her in our lives longer than we initially expected. In the 1980’s life expectancy for people with Ds was around 25 years. It has now risen to just under 60 years, with some living into their eighties. But there will always be exceptions for those individuals that have serious life impacting comorbidities. Sheila had more than her share of serious comorbidities.
In memory of Sheila, let us discuss something Sheila loved, Old Songs concert series and festivals.
Old Songs came into being in 1977 for the purpose of keeping traditional music and dance alive. There have been concert series, various musical instrumental classes and festivals on offer for years. It has been a part of the fabric of our family life since before Forrest and I were married. We met at a contradance (not one sponsored by Old Songs) but once we started dating, we could be found at the twice monthly Old Songs sponsored dances, along with the 8th Step sponsored dances. We attended concerts at both the aforementioned venues and once we started having babies, they attended right along with us. Our children grew up attending the yearly Old Songs festivals. Sheila loved it all.
The fall 2024 concert series opened to a sold-out crowd with John McCutcheon. Our children grew up listening to his children’s albums, “Howjadoo” and “Mail Myself to You” and his “Winter Solstice” album. Whether it was children’s music, hammered dulcimer or multi-instrumental music and songs, they listened to it all. Sheila would have been right up front avidly watching and listening to him if she was alive. This is one prolific performer that spent the pandemic shut down finding ways to continue producing music, started collaborating with the aid of ZOOM and started a weekly writing collaboration with Tom Paxton. His song, “I Am an Immigrant” had at least one person crying in the audience. It reminds us that all of us, unless we are native Americans, are immigrants. His song dedicated to his 70th birthday had the audience laughing so hard, some were crying. And then there was the song that he and Tom wrote about everything that Jesus said about homosexuality.
Upcoming concerts all have a start time of 7:30 pm, tickets for in-house and streaming are available at oldsongs.org website.
Saturday, October 5th Jamcrackers – Peggy Lynn, Dan Duggan and Dan Berggren, they sing a mix of folk, blues, ballads and gospel. There are guitars and hammered dulcimer involved and may include dance tunes in their repertoire.
Thursday, October 10th Alasdair Fraser (fiddle) and Natalie Haas (cello) – if you like hard driving rhythms and lively Scottish tunes you won’t want to miss them.
Saturday, October 19th Magpie – Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino have been “singing the blues” together for years, but that’s not all they do. Their harmonies are exquisite and many of Sheila’s favorite albums belong to this group, or the combo of Magpie with Kim & Reggie Harris.
Friday, October 25th The Clements Brothers – identical twins on bass fiddle and guitar weave their voices through a variety of musical genres.
Saturday, November 9th Cantrip – the excitement of border pipes blending with hard driving fiddles and guitar is another, not to be missed group.
Saturday, November 16th Bon DéBarras – fuse global influences with their traditional Quebecois music.
Friday, November 22nd Lisa Gutkin’s Concert in Klezmer is brought to us by the fiddler (and singer) from the Klezmatics. She is joined by other notable klezmer musicians.
Saturday, December 7th Joe Newberry & April Verch bring us their timeless original songs along with their classics. They accompany them with fiddle and banjo. Some dance may be involved.
Saturday, December 14th Windborne, Music of Midwinter, is a delightful treat of alternative festive songs to brighten the dark days. Some of their songs harken back to the days of Nowell Sing We Clear and some of the tunes they used to bring us. However, Windborne also shares songs from a greater global perspective.
Six of these concerts represent groups Sheila knew and loved, but she also enjoyed hearing new groups as well. Sheila loved tradition, so there is no better way to remember her than to continue enjoying the music (and the people) she loved so much.
Sheila sure loved the concerts and having her family there with her to enjoy them. Her joy was pure magic.