HighNotes is brought to you by the Evanston Symphony , Evanston’s own community orchestra. Much of this booklet of musical notes and activities for seniors is based on the ESO’s KidNotes, which we write for middle and high school kids for each of our concerts – but many adults also like them for their different, less formal approach to the concert materials than that of our Musical Notes and Activities for Seniors excellent traditional classical music program notes. from the Evanston Symphony Orchestra HighNotes always has articles on a specific musical theme plus a variety of puzzles and some really bad jokes and puns. For this issue we’re focusing on “scary music” - quite appropriate for Wagner The Overture 2 October! Sit back and listen to lively musical tales of ghost ships, Saint-Saëns Danse Macabre dancing skeletons, a wild mountain, a troll king’s lair, and an 4 apprentice who didn’t follow orders. You might want to turn on the lights, though – or even turn them off if you dare! Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain 5 Our “Bygones” features are for those of us who are “of a certain age” and can relate to objects that were big in our childhoods, Grieg In the Hall of the Mountain King 6 but have now all but disappeared. This month we’re highlighting machines – cameras, hair-dryers, and the coolest car Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice 7 ever from the 60s. Good discussion starters!. We also have some “tangential” features, articles relating to the Ghost Ships 8 theme of the month or to a piece of music, but not necessarily musical in and of themselves. This month we have an article on Bygones, Puzzles, famous ghost ships plus a bit of fun with a piece. And, just because the World Series is in October, we absolutely Jokes & Other Amusements 10 had to talk a bit about baseball! This time it’s the Cubs. Maybe next time the Sox…We hope you enjoy this edition of HighNotes! Anderson The 13

Vol. 1, No. 4 HighNotes October 2020 Editor ...... Kelly Brest van Kempen Technical Advisor...... David Ellis October 2020 Puzzle & Maze Checkers …………………………..Connor, Addison, Ryan, Calli, Ciara & Gus HighNotes© - Copyright 2020 - ESOA (except for original authors’ copyrights) ESOA makes no claim to copyrights held by others and uses such materials for educational purposes only under the “fair use” exception to copyright law. xxX X The stranger meets Captain Daland and, learning that he has a daughter, Senta, offers a treasure chest in exchange for her hand in marriage. Daland yields to the temptation and agrees. The When Richard Wagner (1813-1883) storm subsides and both ships set sail for Daland’s home port. was just nine years old, his parents took him to see an opera in the Meanwhile, Senta and her girlfriends are spinning thriving German city of Dresden. He and singing. But Senta is also daydreaming about was hooked on opera from then on. a gorgeous picture of the legendary Dutchman that Wagner was extremely intelligent; hangs on the wall of the room. She tells his sad tale when he was just 13, he translated to her friends and vows to save him. Enter Erik the 12 volumes of Homer’s Odyssey Huntsman, Senta’s old boyfriend, who warns her from ancient Greek and also began that he had a dream in which her father returned with a mysterious work on a tragedy in five acts. With stranger who carried her off to sea. Senta is delighted. Erik is not. all of these talents, however, there Daland and the stranger arrive. Senta and the stranger have eyes was one thing that he wasn’t good at: piano. Even though he only for one another. Later that evening, the girlfriends bring food studied piano for many years, he never learned to play it well, an and drink and invite the crew of the stranger’s ship to join the fun. unusual failing in a composer. Despite that weakness, he became Understandably, the crew decline. Suddenly ghostly figures appear arguably the greatest of Germany’s composers of opera. at work on the ship, now revealed as The Flying Dutchman. The most ambitious of Wagner’s operas is the famous Ring of Erik chastises Senta for deserting him, the Niebelung, which is filled with Nordic gods and goddesses claiming she had said she loved him. The and takes 18 hours to perform; obviously, it is presented over a stranger overhears Erik and despairs, period of several days! Most of his operas, however, were much certain he is forever cursed. He tells Senta shorter. One of his earliest operas is The Flying Dutchman, an the truth and sets sail. She, however, is amalgamation of various tales of the 1600s ghost ship and its ill- true to her word and casts herself into the fated captain and crew. It premiered in Dresden in 1843. sea, pledging to be faithful to him unto In Wagner’s version, a Captain Daland sails his ship into a death. “This is his salvation. The spectral Norwegian port because of a fierce storm. When Daland and his ship disappears, and Senta and the Dutchman are seen ascend- crew are asleep, a ghostly vessel rams the ing to heaven.” [The End.] stern of Daland’s ship and grappling irons The ESO has played the Overture to The Flying Dutchman a hold the two ships together. “Invisible hands number of times over its 75-year history. Part of the charm of furl the sails.” A pale man dressed in black overtures is that they give you a taste of what’s to come, the and with a thick black beard steps on shore, operatic equivalent of the “coming attractions” trailers at the lamenting his fate: he once invoked Satan and movies. And, just like the movies, if you want to know what hap- is therefore cursed to sail the seas forever. pens, you have to sit through the whole thing! Most overtures use However, an angel intervened, telling him that leitmotif, a theme that occurs over and over again in an opera every seven years he may go ashore and, if he finds true love, and is the “theme song” for each of the main characters. This the curse will be lifted. This is a seventh year, one of many over technique was perfected by Wagner himself and is prominent in his two centuries with no reprieve. operas. You can listen for the various leitmotif in the recordings. 2X 3X

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was The family of Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky not an ordinary child; he was, in fact, a (1839-1881) were wealthy nobles who could prodigy of extraordinary talents. He give their children every advantage. His could read and write at two, started mother was a trained pianist and began giving piano lessons at two-and-a-half, and him lessons when he was six. He was quite had composed his first work at three. talented and at nine was playing complicated At seven he started the formal study of works for family and friends. When he was composition and at ten he gave a ten, he and his brother were enrolled in the concert that included piano works by elite St. Peter’s School in St. Petersburg. He Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Handel and continued his piano studies there and at 12 others. He was also a whiz at school; published a piano piece called “The Standard- he learned languages and math very Bearer Polka.” easily and also had a lifelong interest in geology and astronomy. The title of this piece would seem to herald a Saint-Saëns was just as talented as a composer and wrote all new period in young Mussorgsky’s life: at types of music: operas, symphonies, concertos, songs as well 13, he continued a family tradition by entering as choral, solo piano and chamber music. He was also the first the Cadet School of the Imperial Guard. composer to write music specifically for the movies. Despite the rigorous program, he was able to continue his music The ESO has played Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre (“Dance of studies and often entertained fellow cadets with dance music Death”) several times over its 75-year history, the last and his own improvisations. At age 17, he became an officer in time in 2013. At that time we remarked in KidNotes the most prestigious regiment of the Russian Imperial Guard. that the piece “will make you think more of scary After a few years, however, he resigned from the Guard to devote Halloween than sunny June!” so it seems himself to music. appropriate to highlight it now, in October. Many Russian composers of the time based their music on West- According to legend, "Death" appears at midnight ern European models, and Mussorgsky’s early works reflect this every year on Halloween. He calls forth the dead style. Then came an eye-opening trip to Moscow, after which he from their graves to dance for him while he plays his produced a uniquely Russian sound. Many of fiddle. The piece opens with the harp playing the his works were inspired by Russian history and same note 12 times to signal midnight. Then the solo folklore, including the “tone poem” Night on Bald violin plays as Death’s fiddle. The other instruments Mountain. Unfortunately for Mussorgsky, his join in, all in a minor key, and the dance becomes wilder. At the purely Russian style was not much appreciated halfway point another melody is added in a major key, church during his lifetime; the Tsar even crossed his music to signal the approach of All Saints’ Day. The wild dance opera off the list of works to be performed at the Imperial Opera continues, with the xylophone imitating rattling bones. All of a in 1888! As for Night on Bald Mountain, it was highly criticized and sudden, the music stops. The oboe gives the rooster’s crow. It’s conductors refused to perform it, so Mussorgsky never heard it sunrise and the dead must return to their graves until Death played during his lifetime. Today, however, it is a very popular calls them out again next year.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX work – and a scary one! 4X 5X

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) was lucky enough to have Paul Dukas (1865-1935) was born in Paris. been born into a family that was very involved in the He started piano lessons as a child but, unlike music scene of Bergen, Norway. He loved music the other composers featured here, showed from the time he was a child and would sit at the no particular talent and wasn’t a child prodigy. keyboard for hours discovering what the piano could When he was 14, however, he started to com- do. He especially loved finding chords! When Edvard pose while recovering from an illness, which was15, the famous Norwegian violinist, Ole Bull, gave him a direction for his life. At 16 he came to visit the Griegs’ summer estate. He heard entered the Paris Conservatory to study piano and became good Edvard play some of his own compositions, then friends with fellow student Claude Debussy. Dukas took second said, "You are going to Leipzig to become an artist.” place in the Prix de Rome (Rome Prize) the Conservatory’s most Graduation from the Leipzig Conservatory in 1862 set Grieg on the prestigious competition, which disappointed him so much that he path to success as a composer. He became known for his left the school a year later. After required military service, he began “Scandinavian” music, particularly that based on Norwegian folk a long career as a respected composer and music critic. themes. He worked on an opera about a famous Norwegian king, Unfortunately for us, Dukas was an overly perfectionist composer. and composed music for some works by the great Norwegian He decided that many of his works didn’t live up to his own high playwright Henrik Ibsen, including the tone poem Peer Gynt. standards, so he destroyed them. All we have left are a handful of Peer Gynt's father was a well-to-do farmer who used up all the brilliant pieces, the best known being The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. family's money in lavish living. He took a job as a door-to-door The most famous presentation of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is salesman, leaving behind the farm and his debts for his wife, in the Disney movie Fantasia, with Mickey Mouse in the title role. Ase, and son to take care of. Ase hopes her son will restore the This magician-in-training was tired of doing the chores while his family fortune, but Peer turns out to be pretty useless. He's a poet, boss, the Great Sorcerer, got to do wonderful, magical things. a braggart, a dreamer, and a teller of tall tales, So, one day when the Great Sorcerer was out, and is finally banished from his community. the Apprentice decided to try a magic spell. The story is filled with fantastic twists and Suddenly the broom came to life and started turns and love lost because of Peer's poor carrying buckets of water. The Apprentice sat choices, bad behavior and strange dreams. In back, very pleased with himself. But then the one dream he is in the kingdom of the trolls, broom split into two and each started to carry which inspired Grieg's In the Hall of the water. And then again to make four …then Mountain King, a very descriptive piece (and included here as eight, then 16, and 32 and…and… Thousands truly “scary music”!) After more adventures in Morocco, Egypt and of brooms, and the Apprentice couldn’t make them stop. He a madhouse, he heads home to Norway, is shipwrecked along had of course forgotten the first rule of sorcery: Don’t cast the way, but finally makes it. By the end of the play, he a spell unless you know how to UN-cast it! At this point, confronts his inner self and realizes all of the things he didn't do, the Great Sorcerer returns, makes all of the magic his unsung songs, his unmade works, his unwept tears, his brooms disappear – and hands the Apprentice the unasked questions. In short, he's wasted most of his life by single, original broom to get on with his chores! It’s not as scary as being selfish. Lessons learned, but perhaps too late. the other selections here, but this is indeed a fun piece of music! 6X 7X The Flying Dutchman is usually spotted from afar, sometimes glowing with ghostly light, as claimed by those sailors in 1923. Some say that if she is hailed by another ship, her crew will try Imagine that you’re a sailor on the deck of a to send messages to loved ones they left behind, people long ship. It’s late – just after midnight -- and there since dead. Others claim that seeing The Flying Dutchman is a are four of you on watch. Suddenly you see a sure sign of disaster to come, especially from violent storms. Given strange light in the distance. You look through the ferocious hurricanes of these past few months, we would not be your binoculars and see the shape of an old sailing ship with at all surprised to hear of sightings of this sinister ship! two masts, glowing in the dark, and a thin swirling mist where One of the most famous unsolved-mystery “ghost ships” is the the sails should be. You pass the binoculars to the other three Mary/Marie Celeste. On the 7th of November in 1872, Captain and they all say they see it, too, and, what’s more, it’s heading Benjamin Briggs, along with his wife, daughter and crew of six, left right toward your ship! You all watch it get closer – then all at New York for Italy. The cargo was 1700 barrels of raw alcohol. A once, poof! It disappears! This happened on January 23, 1923, month later, another ship came upon the Mary Celeste drifting at and the four seamen swore that they had seen that most sea, abandoned: no captain, no family, no crew - and no lifeboats. famous of all ghost ships, The Flying Dutchman. No one knows what happened. A 17th century Dutchman is the model for the captain of this ghost The mystery received little attention until 1884, ship. He was famous for the lightning speed of his trips from when Arthur Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes Holland to the Dutch East Indies. There was no Suez Canal in the fame) wrote a story in which he called the ship 1600s, so ships had to travel down the west coast the Marie Celeste. His story was based on the of Africa, round the southern tip at the Cape of real one, but he added a lot of details from his Good Hope and then travel back north before imagination, stirring up controversy and capturing the public’s heading east to Java. It always took a long time, interest. (19th century fake news!) To this day, no two versions and people said the captain must have had a of the story are alike, but most people think of the ship by her deal with the devil to achieve such great speed. fictional name, the Marie Celeste. One story is that the captain was rounding the Cape when a The Queen Mary was built in Scotland and sailed between terrible storm arose. Instead of sailing for a safe harbor, he Britain and New York from 1934 to 1967, for years the fastest ship cursed the wind, shouting that he would “rather sail until Judg- on the Atlantic. She was used as a troop transport ship in World ment Day” than make for safety. And that, we’re told, is exactly War II but, tragically, had an accident at sea in which one of her what happened: the Captain and his crew are still sailing the escort ships sank, losing over 300 Seven Seas and can never go home. lives. In 1967, the “QM” was sold No one knows if the name “Flying Dutchman” and is now a wonderful floating originally referred to the captain or the ship hotel in Long Beach, California. and today it has both uses. Richard Wagner Some people have said that they uses the term in his opera to refer to the captain, sometimes see the ghosts of former passengers or even hear while the film : Dead Man’s Chest uses the screams of the men lost in the WWII shipwreck. We visited it to refer to the scary ghost ship whose captain in this Disney the QM a few years ago, but didn’t see or hear any ghosts. version is Davy Jones, another legend from the sea. Perhaps you’d have better luck… 8X X9

The ancient Celtic peoples lived primarily in what are If you had good English teachers in school, you’ll get the point of all now Scotland and Ireland, as their descendents still of these delightful (and self-explanatory) grammar funnies! Credit do – some of them still speaking Gaelic and most to Jill Thomas Doyle. of them still celebrating what we now call All Hal- • A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a low’s Eve or “Halloween.” But it didn’t start out that cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the way. For the Celts it was New Year’s Eve, a night when, the veil evening passes pleasantly. between this world and the spirit world was thinnest, making it possible for evil spirits to come back to haunt the living. • A -on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment. At dusk, the Celts would put out all of the fires in their houses so that the evil spirits wouldn’t be attracted there, then • A bar was walked into by the passive voice. go to a large gathering where there was a huge • A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a bonfire. (Apparently evil spirits were only afraid of strong wind, even turkeys can fly. really big fires!) The celebration ended at dawn of the next day, when the evil spirits had returned to • A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting their world. Then the people would light a torch from the bonfire on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud. and take it home to rekindle their fires, a new start for the new • A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for year. In later years, people dressed up like the evil spirits and all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap went from house to house “trick-or-treating,” much as we do today. clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting (Note: When Christianity was introduced to Britain in the First dispersions on his magnificent other . Century, the Celtic festival was re-cast as a lead-in to All Hallows/ Saints Day, now on November 1, hence “Halloween.” And see the • Hyperbole totally rips into this insane resulting – and very appropriate - Scottish prayer on the next page!) bar and absolutely destroys everything. Bonfires, trick-or-treating and Jack-o-Lanterns were popularized in • Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. North America by Irish immigrants in the 1840’s. Jack-o-Lanterns They sit. They converse. They depart. got their name from the story of a man named • The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense. Jack who played a trick on the Devil but then made a deal. Instead of being sentenced to Hell, he was condemned to wander forever in the cold dark between Heaven and Hell. How- ever, he was given a single ember to light his From ghoulies and ghosties and way. It was put in a lantern made out of a turnip so that it would last longer. In Ireland, “Jack’s Lanterns” were lang-leggetty beasties and, made out of turnips, but when the immigrants came here, they things that go bump in the night, discovered that pumpkins were much easier to use because they’re already hollow! Over the past 180 years, Halloween has dear Lord, deliver us! evolved, but is still a fun holiday for everyone! Old Scottish prayer 1X0 1X1

Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) was a classical More “Bygones,” things we enjoyed as kids that are completely pianist, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard, gone now or hard to find. In this issue of HighNotes, we’re and a WWII intelligence officer who spoke nine featuring obsolete machines – things that most of us had as languages, including Icelandic. He is best known teens and young adults but, just like our teen and young adult today, however, as someone whom composer and days, are well behind us! How many of these were part of your life Boston Pops maestro John Williams calls "one of growing up? How have they changed and evolved since then? the great American masters of light orchestral music." It is these “light orchestral” works that have made Anderson a popular composer with both school groups and professional musicians. Beginning with its annual Holiday Concert in 1992 (cancelled, alas, for 2020 during this pandemic), the ESO has played Anderson’s Sleigh Ride in just about every December concert because it is such an audience – and orchestra – favorite. His works have also been featured in a number of ESO concerts since 1955, but this article will focus on an obsolete, “bygone” piece of machinery whose “music” remains a fan favorite: The Typewriter. Anderson premiered The Typewriter on September 8, 1953, during a recording he and the made for Decca Records. Its name refers to the fact that its performance requires a typewriter, here used as a percussion instrument and usually modified so that only two keys work to prevent jamming. Anderson’s score calls for three basic typewriter sounds: typing; the "ring" indicating the end of a line (here a standard desk bell is used); and the sound of the typewriter’s carriage returning (often flutes or strings). The typewriter part is usually performed by a percussionist or drummer. According to the composer himself, the typewriter part is difficult because of the fast typing speed: even professional typists cannot do it, and only professional drummers have the necessary wrist flexibility. Look for a link on the information sheet to a delightful performance by “Voces para la Paz” (“Voices for Peace”), whose percussionist is obviously having a good time hamming it up as he types, even tuning the bell to the oboe with the rest of the orchestra! 1X2 1X3

By the time this issue of HighNotes reaches you, “Believe it or not,” and are the only two the start of the 2020 World Series will be just a people in ever to play on two opposing few weeks away. We don’t know if the Chicago teams on the same day on the same field! Cubs are in the Series this year, but in the mean- Max Flack retired after just three years with St. Louis, possibly time, here’s an article from the October 2016 because, when still a Cub, he may have been involved in throwing KidNotes, when the Cubs did indeed go on to win the , leading to a Boston win, but the the Pennant. Ripley’s Believe it or Not calls it “Baseball’s Strangest evidence is vague. Cliff Heathcote did much better. Just Trade.” (Cue Harry Caray singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame!) three months after becoming a Cub, Cliff set a modern It was a classic -header, two games played on the same record by reaching base seven times day between the same two teams on the same field. There in a nine-inning game. And what a game it was! He appeared as aren’t many double-headers in Major League Baseball these the center-fielder for the Cubs on August 25, 1922, when the Cubs days, except maybe in the case of a make-up game because of and the played to a 26-23 Cubs win, setting bad weather, but in the earlier days of the game they were quite the all-time record for most runs scored in a single Major League common. On May 30, 1922, the and the St. Louis game. Cliff went 5-for-5 that day, scoring five runs. Cardinals played a Decoration Day (now known as Memorial In 1929, Cliff had his sole opportunity to play in the World Series. Day) double-header at Cubs Park (now known as ). Despite batting .313 during the season, he was, inexplicably, on The first game was in the morning. The Cubs won 4-1. the bench for Game One of the Series against the Philadelphia The custom of the day was for players and Athletics. It was the first Series ever played at Wrigley Field and management to go out for nice, long, leis- had more than 50,000 spectators in attendance. With one out in urely lunches between games, so Cardinals the bottom of the seventh, Cliff pinch- for the catcher with a Cub center-fielder Cliff Heathcote, a lefty, went on third and a Cub on second and his team trailing 1-0. Alas, he out for a nice, long, leisurely lunch with his “flied out” to short left field for the second out and Chicago failed St. Louis teammates. On this particular day, to score. Philadelphia held on for a 3-1 win and Uncle Cliff’s World however, the managers of the two teams Series batting career was over. OK – full disclosure: Cliff Heath- decided to have lunch together, but they cote is your editor’s great-uncle-by-marriage, and we have always were doing more than just eating: they were loved this story of Uncle Cliff and “Baseball’s Strangest Trade”! dealing. Cliff came back to Cubs Park to discover that he had been traded for another lefty, a top Chicago hitter named Max Flack. Cliff Heathcote was no longer a St. Louis Cardinal. He was now a Chicago Cub. So, Cliff went into the Cubs’ locker room, put on his new team’s uniform, and went out on the field against his old teammates. Sure enough, ace hitter Max Flack, the ex-Cub and brand new Cardinal, led off for St. Louis, but Cliff went 2-for-4 at the plate in his new uniform and helped the Cubs to a 3-1 win.

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1. Richard ______composed the opera Some important people, and items are hidden in this puzzle! can you find them? Remember: Words can go up, down, “The Flying ______.” He across, OR diagonally, AND backwards or forwards - 8 used “______,” a musical directions in all! And, can you find “OZ” at least 23 times? theme for each character or event in his works. O Z O B Y L E F L U T E 2. ______Z O N A K L R T S O H G wrote the wild “Night on ______Mountain.” T Y A S S A I Z O Z N Z 3. Saint-Saëns “Danse ______tells Y R I S G B F O Z O E L the story of dancing skeletons and a fiddler named Death. P A P P R E N T I C E M 4. Peer Gynt had many fantastic adventures, including an encounter with a troll in Grieg’s E M M W O S O Z O I W O

“In the Hall of the ______King.” W N A A S A B Z T V O U

5. “The Sorcerer’s ______” R E C G S B O M B I L N learned that you also need to know how to UN-cast a spell! I E A N U Z O A Z O L T 6. The Celts built a huge ______for T U B E M T L Z O L A A their New Year on ______. E Q R R I D T U B A H I 7. The ______was the R Z E F D U T C H M A N fastest ship on the Atlantic for many years.

8. The Marie Celeste is a famous ______ship.

9. “Rain check” is an expression we get from How many ______. TRIANGLES 10. Obsolete office machine: can you find? ______(Answer on 11. Can you also find these instruments in the puzzle? Page 19.) Viola Flute Piano Tuba Bass 16X 17X XXXXXXXXx A bit more on baseball just because it won’t be back until spring, the pan- An orchestra was performing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. There demic permitting. Baseball is indeed is a long passage of about 20 minutes during which the bass America’s game – invented here, players have nothing to do. Rather than sit around twiddling their played here, loved here. – and there- thumbs, the entire section decided to sneak out to the bar next door. fore has had a profound influence on our culture and language. Check out these expressions from baseball that we use in situa- After they all chugged several beers in quick succession, tions that have nothing to do with baseball at all. one of them looked at his watch. "Hey! We need to get back!" he cried. "No need to panic," said a fellow bassist. When people say that they have struck out in trying to do some- "I thought we might need some extra time, so I tied the thing, they are using one such expression. We often speak of last few pages of the conductor's score together. It'll take ballpark figures or estimates. We call some him a little time to untangle the string." A few minutes unexpected quirk of fate or tricky question on an later, the quite drunk musicians staggered back into the exam a curve ball. We talk about minor-league or concert hall and took their places on the stage. bush-league players in a field or business, who might one day enter the big leagues. If we can't About this time, a member of the audience noticed the go to lunch with someone, we take a rain check. conductor seemed a bit agitated and pointed this out to her date. "Well, who wouldn’t be?” he said. "It's the We can go to bat or pinch-hit for a friend. We can be off base bottom of the Ninth, the score is tied, and the basses are loaded…" about something or so out of touch that we’re out in left field. When we cooperate we’re playing ball, and when we get serious or even ruthless about something, we are playing hardball. Some unfor- tunate people are said to have been born with two strikes against them if bad things come their way right off the bat. (We could go on and on - but that would be running up the score…) How many triangles? 13!

It took some digging, but we actually found some bad jokes about BOTH music and baseball! Something to ponder: Why do we sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game when we’re already there? On the other hand… There once was a pitcher so bad, the crowd started singing Take Him Out of The Ball Game! Why are singers good at baseball?XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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