I owe Ioway

At the gym working the elliptical machine I saw TV footage of Donald Trump landing his helicopter outside the Iowa State Fair. And of Hillary Clinton making jokes about emails and Snapchat.

What fun that all must be, you know? If this were a swing state we would be able to get these people to the Erie County Fair! However they would have a tough time topping that majestic blueberry shortcake pictured above which was one of the things I ate the other day while I was there, hence the gym visit.

By the way The Buffalo News' gallery of all of us at the fair eating and Tweeting is like an exhibit from the Guggenheim, monumental. There is a glory in that food and we in Buffalo recognize that. Reading other newspapers' coverage of the Iowa State Fair I got impatient with the writers' horror at the food and all the frying and calories. It's the fair, it has been this way forever. Get over it. Eat the food and then go the the gym, which is what I did. You will be fine.

OK, do not eat the quite the quantity that I did. I was on that elliptical for some time!

Eventually I disembarked and, ahem, pumped some iron, while I listened to Pennario playing Chopin preludes. But now there is only one thing running through my head and it is this other song from "State Fair." I can't believe I forgot to mention it yesterday.

Here it is in all its 1945 glory. From the comments I learned that the song was left out of the 1962 movie because the 1962 movie was set in Texas. Too bad for that! One person writes, "My favorite song from the whole movie."



What fun! You may thank me later.

After you have been humming this for three days!

The danger of the Erie County Fair

This week I got to go to the Erie County Fair. My friend Ryan went with me and pointed out items of interest I might have otherwise overlooked. Such as the potato pictured above! It is part of Ryan's favorite fair category, Non-Traditional Vegetables.

Here is a snarl of carrots from that category. It is now my favorite too!

However there is a danger to the Erie County Fair and that is that you cannot get the songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein's "State Fair" out of your head.



Wow, that song makes me nostalgic! I remember watching the 1945 movie on TV with my family when I was little. Television, I should say. My father always called it television.

And there is this classic.



The whole movie is on YouTube. That will be dandy gym watching!

Meanwhile one more "State Fair," classic. This is one of those marvelous Richard Rodgers waltzes. Bernadette Peters sang it at Kleinhans Music Hall, I remember, with the Buffalo Philharmonic. I liked Bernadette Peters for recognizing the song's greatness.



Hahaha... I love when he is complimented on his singing and says, "I'm an old Glee Club boy."

All these memories, because of the Erie County Fair! And yes, I know you were wondering, the great pianist Leonard Pennario loved this musical. His tastes were a lot like my dad's, I would find myself thinking that. They were born in the same year and the same city so maybe that says something.

OK, somehow I have to buckle down and get work done today.

It won't easy!

Party around the piano

We observe the Octave of Howard's Birthday. 

In the Catholic Church you observe the Octave of important feast days. There are only a handful such as Christmas and Pentecost and Easter. The Octave is eight days from Sunday to Sunday. You are just supposed to sit and contemplate.

And so it is with Howard's birthday only it is more about excess than contemplation. That is Mari McNeil singing up above and Guy Boleri, great cabaret pianist and Leonard Pennario fan, at the piano. Guy Boleri said that Pennario's recording of Gershwin's Concerto in F changed his life. 

In the background are Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame member Doris Jones in a red dress and Jackie Jocko in a tux.

With Guy Boleri in the saddle we went through all the songs from "Oklahoma!" That is when you know you have achieved momentum, when the piano is surrounded by people with drinks in their hands bellowing Rodgers and Hammerstein songs. And Guy prompts us with the lyrics.

"And the waving wheat!"

"But a little brown maverick!"

"Don't start collecting things!"

He is amazing. He is like someone who would be at a Hollywood party! There was another night when he led another bawling crowd through "The Music Man." So much fun.

I wish I could stay up but I have a lot of work to do tomorrow.

I will go to sleep with Rodgers and Hammerstein running through my head!