Schickele Shtick
dd June 17th, 2007
Peter Schickele, aka P.D.Q. Bach
Last night, my wife and I drove to Owings Mills, MD for dinner with friends and then a concert by Mr. Peter Schickele and company. We originally thought this affair was in Olney, MD which still seems like the other end of the world from N. VA. However, upon a closer examination of the email invite yesterday, I discovered this was in Owings Mills. A quick Google mapping revealed that Olney is right around the corner compared to Owings Mills! But, like good musical troopers, we marched on. My wife reminded me during my grumbling about the long drive (about 90 minutes) that we once drove 4 hours to hear Peter Yarrow and daughter along with Doug Mishkin. (True, but they were good I thought). Anyway, for a more thorough introduction to Peter Schickele ( aka P.D.Q. Bach) you can read my spouse’s post. Here’s my take on the evening:
- Mr. Schickele has some good shtick. Think Victor Borge from South Dakota. In fact, I think Peter has borrowed quite liberally from Victor.
- Mr. Schickele’s humor is better than his music.
- I managed to stay awake - I refer you to this post - longer than my wife despite her penchant for this kind of “Bachian” music. However, interestingly, she zzz’d off during the opening song parodies, which I found mildly amusing, and awakened during the music only and interminable string quartet - why I have no idea. I, on the other hand, did not doze off until the string quartet. Another small victory, no?
- After the lonnnnnng intermission, and buoyed by my little nap, I ( and my wife) managed to stay awake for the more modern song parodies, rounds and the rousing finale - Songs from Shakespeare.
In any case, we had a nice dinner and conversation with friends and at least I can say I saw Peter Schickele - whoopee!
I saw PDQ Bach ages ago in San Francisco. I thought he was a hoot.
Love the way Barbara dozed until her kind of music was being played. You two are so funny!
A salute to you for staying awake!
Reya - Thank you, thank you.
happy Fathers Day David!
If you and Barbara are going to shows and nodding off, I don’t care who iot is, you are going to the wrong shows and run the risk of turning into Old Fogeys. Go get with Gewels and make it to wolftrap for “littlefeat” and one of my favorites, “the subdudes”…put on your Sailin’ Shoes!
Thanks, Steve and a happy belated Fathers Day to you too! BTW, it was not exactly my idea to go hear Mr. Schickele.
I like your musical suggestion! We’re going to hear Arlo Guthrie and Richie Havens at WolfTrap later this summer. I’m going to try to talk some people into going to “HippieFest” there too.
I got to see Mr. Havens at a very small venue in Dallas….there were only about 75 people there and I got to sit and have a coffee with him after the show…all in all, it was greaT TO SEE SUCH A LEGEND, but it was sad to find, at least in Dallas, no one seemed to know him.
I’d love Hippie Fest! Woodstock re-visited except for way more comfort..Can you imagine Yasgar’s farm covered with baby boomers’ Fifth Wheels and Winnebagoes??
I love Victor Borge!
Ruth - yeah, hippie fest sounds like just the ticket for us aging baby boomers. I actually liked Victor too. Guess we’ll never know if he could really play…