Phil Turns Sixty

Friday night, June the 5th, I celebrated the passing of my 60th birthday with friends at Common Ground. The actual May 26th date had arrived while I was accompanying Julie and her students in Guatemala. I did receive a firecracker salute and "tres leches" birthday cake that day, but the real party was celebrated this past weekend. On the way down to Logan on Friday, I had a song show up. That song, taught to the backup singers available at the party is the subject of the following video. Second lead is, Rita Preston. Third lead, Andrew Weiland. Fourth is my dear buddy Nick Weiland. Their verses are improved. This was the first and only take. Wish you all could have been there to join in.

Opón River trip

On my trip up the Opón River with Stewart I met some really great folks. As many of you know I like hanging around with kids. The above photo was taken by the six-year-old brother of the other two kids in the photo. We were having a little digital camera session. After that, Noralba, the seven-year-old girl decided that I need a lesson in grapefruit picking. We used a big long pole, forked at the end to knock them down. Yorlan (4 yrs) is pictured here with some of the harvest. Afterwards we had grapefruit "limonada".




In the afternoon we went swimming in the river. I was a little worried about pirhanas. They told me they didn’t have any, but that the sting rays could be nasty. Wow, that made me feel better. Older cousin Jonathan was fishing with a throw net while we were there. It took several tries, but I finally got a photo gives you the feel. It was fun to watch. He was getting baitfish to use for line fishing later that night.

That evening we had supper with another family, and after supper Juan was working on weaving his own net while we visited. It looked absolutely perfect to me, all done free-hand.

One man’s noise pollution

Put thirty people in room about the size of a three-car garage with concrete floors, and ceiling. Enter the song leader and the keyboard player, crank up the four-foot tall speakers and get to worshipping. Gladys and I had gone to this particular Sunday morning service because we had heard it wasn’t quite as loud as most of the protestant churches. It was still painful. In Guatemala, Julie and I once heard a retired missionary tell the story of a group who had approached him wanting financial help building a new church. “We have everything we need”, they said, “the land, the sound system, everything!” Colombian churches seem to be much the same.

But the sound of life in urban Columbia has an added dimension. Julie had spoken to me about how different it is on the streets of Barranca in the evening compared to Guatemala City. Folks are out walking, sitting in front of their houses or having a beer at one of the many, many little stores and bars that are open into the evening hours. Recorded music, loud music, music for dancing is everywhere. Right now, New Year’s afternoon, our neighbors two doors down are sitting out in front of the house having a beer. (See photo above) You can see the speakers by the door, and I can hear the music still, a block away in the office, as I write this. The music filters in along with overlapping music from other houses in the neighborhood.

The piece of this that has really surprised and delighted me is the amount of singing along that happens with this recorded music. Last week, neighbors on one side of the street had their speakers going, and the folks across the street had a party singing along almost as loud as the speakers. This went on for more than an hour!

It is difficult for me to imagine my neighbors in the states having this much fun together in any place I’ve ever lived. Yeah, there is probably some risk of hearing loss, and as far as I am concerned, the churches are probably the worst culprits. Still, this is a country that enjoys its musical heritage and thrives on the company and playfulness of gathered friends. How sterile and lonely many of our US neighborhoods are in comparison.