"In his domestic administration my father had this system . . . to keep a journal and insert in it all occurrences of any note . . . A record very pleasant to look at when time begins to efface the memory of events, and very well suited to get us out of perplexity: When was such and such a thing begun? When completed? What retinues came? How long did they stay? Our trips, our absences; marriages; deaths; the receipt of happy or unhappy news . . . An ancient custom, which I think it would be good to revive, each man in each man's home. And I think I am a fool to have neglected it." (Montaigne, Book I, Essay 35 (publ. 1580))
Something extra-fun: family weddings on back-to-back weekends. After gathering in Florida for Mike & Ally, we quickly turn to Chicago for Mike & Lisa. Guess what: the O'Connell crew is great to hang around with.
Here's what happened.
Thursday night diner crew
PJ and I arrive on Thursday, December 3 - easy flight- check into hotel - late lunch at Gino's East just off Michigan Ave. A short walk from the hotel (also just off Michigan Ave); decent December weather - fun to wander a bit - heck, this is PJ's hometown, and my first job out of law school was in downtown Chicago. Familiarity. Later that evening: dinner with Chris, Kerry, Luis at some local place (I think recommended by NOC) - a nice evening. NOC/POC occupied with rehearsal dinner etc.
On Friday December 4 - milling around at hotel, then we (meaning the dinner crew from Thursday evening) start walking. We end up for lunch at another Geno's - this one downtown - tasty, again. And fun to be hanging out with these folks. Wander into Art Institute, but time is short. We walk back toward our hotel; run into PJr and Nedda (who had recently arrived) when shopping at the local Whole Foods (of all places); back to hotel and prep for the evening.
Obligatory bean-pic on way home from lunch (Friday).
Wedding ceremony and reception are at Revolution Brewing - really, a fine place for this kind of thing. Bus ride over to the venue. Revolution does a good job with its beers! We had more or less serious thoughts of riding the rail, but didn't get close - among other challenges, too much good food. POC ran the ceremony beautifully. Fun evening. Enjoyed getting to know Lisa's family a bit. Always fun hanging out with the O'Connell group.
CPG's selfie at Revolution Brewing.
Another look at the estimable crowd at Revolution Brewing.
The nice thing about Friday weddings - Saturday is a free day to socialize, and the wedding party is freed up. On Saturday December 3 - more milling around through breakfast and morning hours at the hotel. After which our entire group (now nine strong) walks all the way down Michigan Avenue to a MOC-favored pizza-and-pierogi place just south of Roosevelt Road. Lovely day for a walk, all in all. Very fine gathering spot - lots of family and friends showing up (including Jenna). Eventually we repair to another establishment nearby where the fun continues well into the evening.
The groom makes a short trip and returns with a smuggled-in treat (meaning the limited-release beer). Nice move. (Saturday, late afternoon)
Now it's getting quite late . . . courtesy Uber (with a driver who supported, or tolerated, some singing) a group of us make it to a Jenna-recommended restaurant near the hotel . . . this fits the bill quite nicely. Then back to hotel. NOC and POC (our room-sharers) eventually join us . . . POC memorably expresses his appreciation for the situation. And he was right - a really fun weekend.
With four kids at pizza/pierogi place.
At Saturday stop #2.
Sunday, December 4 is short - chattering/recapping at breakfast at hotel - then a late-morning flight out of O'Hare, PJr and Nedda on the same flight. Very fun weekend, passed way too quickly.
Most of us (PJ and me; Nicole and POC; Chris; Kerry and Luis) traveled to Florida for Mike & Ally's wedding over Thanksgiving weekend.
(Photos mostly courtesy CPG . . . still don't have one of the bridal couple! Will add.)
Thanksgiving dinner in Naples, Florida.
We traveled on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 26) - which worked quite smoothly. Flew into Ft. Myers; the hotel and wedding were in Naples. Long day of traveling; we checked in and then went out for Thanksgiving dinner; then we joined other arrivers in the hospitality room at the hotel for chatting, beer, cards, the usual fine things.
Godfather and god-daughter . . . Yuengling and Brocial-Vibe . . . good combinations abound all weekend.
Friday, November 27 - hotel breakfast and some milling around; then we visited Jay, Gisele and family - they live within 10-15 minutes of the hotel. They had put together a really nice lunch, and it was pretty much nonstop talking and laughing; perfect weather; we sit out on their patio and look at some photos etc.; much enjoyed the event. Had never met them but it was unusually easy to (immediately) get acquainted/comfortable. In the evening, Charlie & Beth hosted a quite-fine rehearsal dinner at a hotel up the road - they treated us all very well, I'd say. More fun in the hospitality room later in the evening.
Nearly 100% turnout from this crew! Great to be together.
Saturday, November 28 - another gorgeous day; after breakfast we had some time to wander; our group (Steve, Liz, Cecilia (the birthday girl), Jenna, PJ and me) went and ooh'd and ah'd at some very nice beach housing, then took a walk along the beach.
With my sister and brother on beach . . . Naples, Florida (Gulf of Mexico). This grouping f/k/a/ "Big Guy Club."
Milling around back at the hotel; eventually we make it to the wedding ceremony (#2, actually) and reception at a lovely Naples country club. We all were treated very well again (a theme for the entire weekend). Weather, food, drinks, company - all absolutely nice as could be.
Random photo at the ceremony . . .
Us, at the reception.
Return flight on Sunday, November 29 - PJ and I left very early (around 6a) in a pretty successful attempt to somewhat get ahead of the Sunday-after-Thanksgiving crush. Airports full, but all went smoothly. POC, Kerry, Luis also departed; while Chris and Nicole hung around Florida for a day or two - visited the Wentlings up at Sanibel and were accosted by no-see-ums while otherwise having good-times.
Luis and Kerry perhaps thinking wedding-ish thoughts.
This was a quick but fun trip. Fun to be together in this kind of setting after all the activities during 2015. Missed having Grandpa and Grandma there. (Not to mention Patrick, PJr, Nedda.)
Sanibel - still laughing as bug bites hadn't kicked in.
Unexpectedly, the Notre Dame Glee Club ended up being one of the central activities of my undergraduate years at ND - really, the main one. Demanding from a scheduling standpoint, but a genuine payoff both in terms of the music and the socializing and travel. Met a lot of really fine folks. Still - and given how fine it was - when it was over, that was also OK (if not a bit welcome). And we've rarely attended NDGC reunions - the few we've attended were enjoyable enough and usually had some real high points - but always involved the hassle of a football weekend and fairly sparse/mixed attendance from folks we knew.
A view of the Friday evening doings at the Morris Performing Arts Center, downtown South Bend.
With that said - PJ and I were much looking forward to this year's reunion - which was linked to observing the 100th anniversary of the Club's founding. Preparations were at an entirely different level in comparison to other reunions, and the organizers should be proud of what they accomplished. Based on advance communications we knew there would be good turnout from "our years," and the overall schedule sounded promising.
Yet the weekend turned out far better than our high expectations. Just a delightful experience all around. Everyone in attendance knew that it was a "once-only" experience - there's no way that a group this size, and an agenda this ambitious, will be repeated (maybe in another 100 years)? The "once-only" sensation intensified the appreciation, but suffused events with an underlying wistfulness, if that's the word. This combination of folks obviously won’t ever be assembled again. In terms of our class - one could look around at the various events and quickly see that folks were a lot older than they were in the late 1970s. David Isele seems poised to continue indefinitely - but he isn't getting any younger, either.
(Several times I thought of that so-effective scene in book 7 of Remembrance of Things Past- where the Proust-character walks into a party with a large number of folks he'd not seen for quite some years - he couldn't immediately recognize many of the folks he had known so well (happened to me plenty often this reunion weekend) - the Proust-character was convinced that the party-goers were disguised via wearing masks and/or white-powdered wigs and such (that sensation applied here also) - the unstartling observation being that we continue to see, and see through the eyes of, our far-younger selves - I'd say this weekend was a bit of an eye-opener in that regard. Which could be a bit sobering.)
Wednesday evening was quite lovely as PJ and I walked around the lakes . . .
Anyway, the reunion turnout was just amazing – quite an experience to sing with 550 or so from all those decades of NDGC classes. We were told there was an age difference of 77 years from the youngest singer to the oldest singer on stage for Friday’s concert. Yet there is enough continuity in the programming that all feel comfortably connected - nice! Choral music - among the very-very finest things.
[And it struck me that the NDGC is better-positioned to hold reunions than many or most campus organizations. For example no doubt the 1978 football team would enjoy getting together, but it would be challenging for them to "play football" in any meaningful sense ~40 years after graduation. What does the Observer staff, or the debate club, do if they even bother to get together? Etc. But for the NDGC - this is one organization where we can get together 40 years later and do the exact same things with the exact same folks - rehearse, perform for a big audience, sip a bit, sing informally (or not depending on one's mood), hang out together - the only real difference is that the beer is so much better these days. This is a fine situation to enjoy - and we definitely did.]
Here's what happened during the weekend:
Wednesday, September 30
PJ caught this view looking out from the Grotto (Wednesday evening).
PJ and I catch an early flight to Midway and make our way into South Bend in time for a late lunch - stopped at the O'Rourke's at Eddy Commons (staying at the hotel right down the street). Food isn't the greatest, but it's a familiar starting point. Lovely weather; we took advantage with our typical extensive campus wandering. Lit a candle for Grandma at the Grotto. Walked around the lake. Etc. The day had been designed for us just to have a little time on our own, and it worked beautifully. Dinner in downtown South Bend at Cafe Navarre - where they do a great job. This was a fine day.
Thursday, October 1
PJ and I enjoyed walking the campus on Thursday morning . . .
PJ and I still on our own in the morning. Gorgeous fall day; we walk around campus, stop at the bookstore, etc. Dave Kollar arrives and the three of us have a fun lunch at The Mark (Eddy Commons). Mike Hough sets up a text msg group which is an ideal outlet for smart-ass-ery in addition to useful logistics communications. After lunch the three of us wander all over campus on a lovely afternoon - a nice chance to chat through the old and the recent. Then the three of us went to dinner with Joe Gales and Mike Hough at Corndance Tavern in Mishawaka - this was just nonstop talking and laughs, a great event. (Even if the restaurant didn't meet its rave reviews.)
By the time we finished with dinner and laughs, we were a bit (OK, a lot) late (meaning we had switched seamlessly to Glee Club Standard Time) for one of the opening events on the agenda - some sort of gathering at the "Whiskey Exchange" in downtown South Bend. Weather was turning for the colder by now. Huge crowd down there, it worked well enough as an opening get-acquainted session. If a little noisy for actual conversation. But it was evident folks had arrived, and clearly were fired up for the weekend. So that was good.
We make it back to O'Rourke's by perhaps 11p or midnight - a nice-sized gathering, mostly of folks of our vintage - mostly folks we know very well and like very much - this lasted until 3a and was just delightful. No singing - just catching up, and enjoying hearing the familiar voices talk away . . . this is what we came for. Dave and I learn that Tom Conlin truly grasps the daunting challenges facing piano accompanists. As few others do, it seems. Finally we wrap up and fortunately it's a short if freezing walk to the hotel.
More wandering on Thursday afternoon . . .
Friday, October 2
This was the one day during the weekend that was pretty heavily scheduled, but everything went really smoothly. Rehearsal #1 in the morning included everyone in attendance - so (as one would expect!) this involved reviewing the songs that all reunion attendees would perform. This was followed by a buffet lunch outside the rehearsal venue.
Everyone from all the classes seems to know "Prayer" from Lohengrin (per PJ's rehearsal video immediately below) - definitely a NDGC classic.
Rehearsal #2 (early afternoon) included only the reunion attendees from the "Isele years" - so this group worked on the three or four pieces that Isele would conduct and "just us" would perform. Of course this was a quite enjoyable rehearsal - in undergraduate years we rehearsed one hour every single day for four years - that creates a certain rhythm, and memory set - and while this rehearsal was different from those days, it was close enough to be plenty evocative. Isele continues to be great to work with.
I get a kick out of the "Sleigh Ride" clip below - because it includes a fair amount of DCI back-and-forthing with his singers. For the "Water is Wide" clip, we're mostly doing a straight run-through. Glad PJ caught these even if her phone struggled with audio quality.
Then a short break, after which PJ and Cricket haul too many of us to the downtown concert venue for the next phase of preparation - a fun/funny ride at the end of which we essentially tumble out of the vehicle into the street. Lots of logistics dealing with the big group of 550 singers, plus four smaller segments - but it was so well planned. Interesting video/photo presentations to cover the change-overs - those worked well. We rehearse; PJ/Cricket listen in for this rehearsal, which always is nice as they get a clearer sense of what we're doing, and it makes for a much more "shared" experience.
This is followed by a buffet dinner for singers-only - which works well enough - though of course lots of standing in line with 550 folks. But it's a success, then we go dress for the concert.
Showtime with 550 or so.
Now it's showtime. They attempt to live-stream the performance; doesn't work all that well, but our crew back in Phoenix/VA/SF makes an effort to follow along a bit, which was nice. I of course much enjoyed participating in the performance. They had arranged an effective opening - using Biebl's Ave Maria - the current Club sings verse one while the reunion masses are pretty well hidden behind a screen - then the lights come up and the entire group finishes - nice. Then the entire group did a few songs.
After that the "Pedtke era" folks performed - nicely! While this was going on we "Isele era" folks were sitting in the wings waiting to take the stage - I can say it was an unusual experience looking around and seeing all these guys - we had waited together to "go on" in dozens (certainly >100) of venues all over the United States and Europe in the late '70s - evocative to be waiting together one more (and presumably final) time with this exact group - and then it was a fine and memorable experience to sing together under Isele's direction.
Below video - good quality! - was put together by the local public TV channel. Isele-era performance commences at around 13:20.
We work through the program, end with all 550 on stage for the traditional and ND songs, mill around for photos, talk about how fun it was, and that it's over and won't happen this way again.
There is a reception at the concert venue but the lines are long - which leads to some self-help beer service and lots of fun - eventually we find an accommodating Uber driver who takes way too many of us back to O'Rourke's. Very different gathering than the night before - much larger - lots of singing in one of the back rooms - pulling out the old favorites and not-so-favorites - it was fun - one could move in and out of that room and the overall bar area, which was good. Catching up with many folks throughout the day and well into the night/morning.
Saturday, October 3
We were a little tired after the last two days. Weather getting cold and rainy. Main scheduled event was a luncheon-banquet at the ACC - speeches, some singing. It was fine. We had a fun table group. Monk Malloy gave the invocation, so we had a chance to speak with him. Photos. Typically this would be a dinner event, but the football schedule made that impossible.
Wandering around the ACC; Tom Conlin, Mike Hough, John Walsh (photos in tow, fortunately), Mike Hogan, me.
Hanging around in the hotel lobby with various folks as the afternoon wore on (Dave Kollar and Dan Rumbach as erstwhile bartenders), then another over-stuffed Uber experience out to "The Farm At St. Joseph" (or somesuch place-name) - this venue was set up for supper and a bunch of TVs for the ND football game (lost to Clemson). I was impressed with the high level of interest among most participants. Well-organized event except - if one was interested in catching up with folks - there just wasn't any place to escape the blaring TVs (always my personal nightmare). Still, we made the best of it, which was really quite good.
Class of 1978 - right after the Saturday lunch. L-R me, Dave Kollar, Dan Rumbach, Ed Fayen, Dave Mahler, Pat Dalsin, Mike Keefe, Marty Brauweiler, Tom Clarkson, Dan Lombardi, Mike Hawes. A fine group. Should know: we spent a lot of time together.
Sunday, October 4
By now many folks had left. Arrangements had been made for those still in attendance to sing at the 10:00 Mass in Sacred Heart Church (now Basilica). Said our goodbyes to Dave Kollar before heading over to church (late per usual, so in back row); sat with Mike Hough and Dan Rumbach. Turned out to be a very fine experience, and a great wrap-up for the weekend. We again sang the Ave Maria (Biebl) - that passage with the old formulation - "Sancta Maria . . . ora pro nobis . . . nunc et in hora mortis . . ." - Isele's arrangement of “Let us Break Bread Together” also worked wonderfully in this setting - everyone much enjoyed being part of this.
By the time we got to verse 3 of "break bread" - I gave up and just listened. We had sung Isele's so-fine arrangement together in so many places . . .
Milled around; got some photos outside of the church; then to brunch at South Dining Hall.
PJ 'n me departing Sacred Heart Church, right after 10a Mass.
Some folks I really enjoyed catching up with: L-R Brian Shappell, Mike Hough, Steve Lillis, Dan Rumbach, John Walsh, YT, Ed Fayen, Joe Donovan. Right after 10a Mass.
Made sure to thank Dan Stowe - he does an incredible job driving this enterprise along - he gets it. Also the reunion chairs (Pat Scott and Brian McLinden) - such a success. David Isele remains central to the enterprise.
Then it was time for goodbyes - warm/happy/sad; mostly happy. The goodbyes weren't of the "we won't see each other again" type (though that will be true in too many cases). Folks were of course a bit regretful that the weekend was over, but the overwhelming sensation was appreciation for an unsurpassable shared experience.
This is lucky stuff, and extra lucky for me that PJ also entirely "gets it" - closely connected to NDGC for nigh 40 years. Lucky, indeed.
Saturday evening "watch" party
Saturday lunch at ACC (toast #2 actually; we re-staged it at the request of the event photographer)
After the Mass, after the burial, after the funeral dinner - relatives, friends, community folks gathered at Grandpa's house in St. Joe. Perfect setting for this. Typical amazing support from the locals in terms of food, drink, set-up; especially the assistance from the Capesius bros. Charlie did a good job of recording the scene via photos - all these are from him.
