Welcome Back

Get those robes cleaned and ironed...it's time. From Kathy, with emphasis added:

Hope your summer was pleasant!

First of all, there is sad news.  Some of you are not aware that our superb alto, Bev, suffered the death of her husband, Tony, early in the summer.  Our sincere sorrow goes to Bev.  Those of you who have experienced this type of loss understand all that is involved.  May Tony rest in peace!

But on a joyous note, Eric and Theresa celebrated the baptism of their beautiful son, Noah, a couple of weeks ago.

Some of you have still not returned your music from last choir season.  Please turn in the music as soon as possible.  If you need another turn-in sheet, please let me know and I will forward one to you.

Choir rehearsals will resume Tuesday, September 26, in [our usual location].  7 PM, as in the past.

We are always in need of new people.  Please let me know if you are bringing or referring someone new so that I can prepare music.

I am willing to do the pre-rehearsal chant classes if anyone wants to do that.  I need to know soon, however, so that I can prepare for that as well.

I look forward to seeing you on the 26th!

Some notes on "Welcome Back, Kotter," a favorite show of my childhood:

The show lasted from 1975 to 1979. According to IMDB, it was originally going to be named just "Kotter," but that didn't give songwriter John Sebastian enough to go on for the theme song. Since part of the premise was that Gabriel Kotter was coming back to the high school where he had once been a "sweathog," Sebastian decided to focus on the words "welcome back." That became the name of the theme song, and the producers liked it so much that they changed the title to the one we all know and love. The song reached #1 on the Billboard charts.

By the final season, both Gabriel Kaplan and John Travolta had all but left the show, just making a few token appearances each. Travolta, of course, became a movie star via Saturday Night Fever and Grease, and continues to make movies to this day. Kaplan became a professional poker player. Marcia Strassman, who played Julie Kotter, passed away in 2014. Robert Hegyes (Juan Epstein) and Ron Palillo (Arnold Horshack) died within weeks of each other in 2012. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington) made promos for the re-airing of WBK on MeTV.

I caught a few episodes when they aired on MeTV, and I still found them quite funny. I recently came across Kaplan's comedy album which was largely the basis for the show, but I passed on buying it. I would likely have to go to confession if I were to listen to the rest of it; Kaplan's comedy was quite off color. He joined the likes of Redd Foxx and, more recently, Steve Harvey who had to clean up their acts for television.