h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I remember when I started college, which is what we call going to university. Since our campus was in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, we were within walking distance of a number of churches. The Presbyterians were across the street from the dormitories in an old-fashioned building, while the Catholics were right up Fifth Avenue - St Paul, it's kind of pretty:

http://d2i8dahqhg9r0j.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/exterior-1.jpg

The Greeks were only a couple of blocks away. They sold Greek food on Fridays, and boy, was it good. If you were up to walking, you could go get fresh bread once a week from the Ukrainians. If you wanted a synagogue, you'd have to walk a little farther, but there were several. They didn't have Holy Week, but they had Passover, usually close to the same time. We even had a Baptist church, if we took the bus, and the folks from the mostly African American Christian Tabernacle would gladly come pick you up with a van.

So, come Holy Week, you were spoiled for choice for musical services.

I never knew you called it Holy Week. We didn't. I never thought about it much until a Laotian child asked me, once, 'Why do they call it Good Friday? It wasn't very good.' Excellent point. But the first year I lived in Oakland, I found out that there were things called 'holy days of obligation', and there was something called Easter Duty, which Elektra and her friends were supposed to do, so I trooped along to the Cathedral of St Paul and inhaled incense. Why not? I also went to hear the Maharishi, but I thought he was rather conceited, and I offended his acolytes by refusing the offer of a blessed banana. Well.

Anyhow, I promised a concert. My point is that just about everybody in Pittsburgh did something, made music about something, or celebrated something around Easter time. And we tended to be inspired by this.

John-Michael Tebelak was inspired by exactly this religious variety in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, the spring before I started school there. Tebelak, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, attended the Easter vigil service in 1970 at St Paul Cathedral. He went over the way most of us did back then - wearing just any old thing, you know students. He had on overalls and a T-shirt. After the service, a cop frisked him for drugs. This upset him - and changed the direction of his master's thesis.

That, my children, is how we got the musical 'Godspell'. Tebelak eventually worked with composer Stephen Schwartz, another CMU alum, to turn the musical into what it is today. It's still popular, so we have a lot of versions to choose from. We can take a selection of different performances for the songs.

So, here's the concert:

ACT I.

1. First, a relatively new stage performance of the opening, 'Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord'. (That's quoting Isaiah.) The original had a lot of foofarah about phlosophers in it, because, well, it was 1970, and Nietzsche was having a big year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQU4iPpWxV0

2. Save the People:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJPCLYXBtMI

Cool baptism.

3. Day by Day, in the Times Square flash-mob version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtaAi5TGle0

4. All Good Gifts, with pretty pictures:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33U8saXFV4E

ACT II.

1. Turn Back, O Man. (Only because Elektra loves this one.) Apparently, Rhianna Pfannenstiel is a real name, but does she know German?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI--LggRcIo

2. We Beseech Thee (Be patient with the dumb ad, it's the original movie. Victor Garber and those hippies.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CtevwhuPtE

3. On the Willows, as imagined by high school kids in Texas. You get the feeling they were really into it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTOGJbNXduM

4. Crucifixion. Everybody does this musical - Catholics, Protestants, amateurs, professionals. Which to choose? Let's take this stage version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtsSPod0Gcs

5. Just for lagniappe, the cast of the 1972 stage production singing their version of 'Day By Day'. You may find it dated, but hey - that's what John-Michael Tebelak imagined back in 1970, and he's not around to update it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_upqMOsj-IM

No matter where you go this Holy Week - and whether you consider it particularly holy or not (please don't tell me if you don't, I don't want to hear it, and I adhere to the notion that all times are holy) - I hope you find good music. And no matter how you're dressed, I hope they don't frisk you.

After all, Ford Prefect always had a copy of this musical with him, along with his .

Wow. That church is pretty. I miss being involved in Easter. It is the most intense and wonderful time in the Christian calendar. And the music... well, I think I miss that most of all.

The piece of Easter music that moves me most of all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ9dXLmRlpo - Lotti's Crucifixus. It makes me shiver when I sing it, and with a good choir it takes me out of myself to somewhere else.

My churches:
Where I grew up: http://adwright.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/img_6086-blewbury.jpg

Where I sang as a lay clerk while at university: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/St_Chad%27s_Cathedral,_Birmingham_-_DSC08859.JPG

Where I rehearsed when living in Leeds: http://www.headingley.org/files/images/06-04-15stm3.preview.jpg

My favourite church where I now live: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2529/4049766946_7023ec3d83_o.jpg

Just realised I needed to share this image of St. Chad's, as it's so similar to St. Paul's.

http://www.guildofstagatha.org.uk/RWCalendar2008/BirminghamStChads.jpg

Impressive churches. And impressive music, there. Thanks for sharing that!

Sorry Dmitri, I don't have any links for you, just a memory;

For about ten years my wife and I lived on our sailboat in the St. Petersburg Marina. It is located on the south side of the approach to the famous pier on Tampa Bay. Across the street from our slip was a small sand beach. Back in the old days of segregation this was the beach reserved for the minorities. The large beach on the north side of the basin could only be used by white people.

Shortly before sunrise on Easter morning we would be awakened by the sound of hymns being sung fairly loudly. The first year or two we were surprised, but it became part of the magic of our home.

Several groups from the local African American churches would gather by the bay and hold their sunrise services. After the sun was clearly in the sky the preachers would take turns giving their messages for an hour or so. The highlight of the service was the baptism in the bay of the new converts and those who had come of age. A few more hymns and Gospel songs would conclude their service an hour or so before noon.

I write this in the past tense only because we have not been there for a dozen years to listen, I am sure come Sunday the faithful will again welcome the Easter sun with another memorable service.

For us it is only a pleasant memory.

F Dolphin> S

memory, FS. Thanks!

Sunrise services can be grand. Unfortunately, this year, I'm afraid it's going to be a bit cold here.

That is a lovely memory. Over this side of the pond many churches hold Easter Vigil, a night-time service (like Midnight Mass) to usher in Easter morning. I think I might prefer sunrise to midnight though, that sounds magical.

A sunrise service atop Mt. Rubidoux, one of the city parks, is traditional in Riverside, CA.

There used to be open air services in the ruins of an old church quite close to where I used to live. I never went. Partly because I was forced to church every sunday when I was a boy, partly because I since lost my faith and partly because I am not a friend of opium for the masses these days

But I bet I would have enjoyed it anyway had I taken the time

My favourite sunrise service was the one I played in a cemetery one year. On a harpsichord in the gazebo.

I'm not a big fan of church services, but I'm a big fan of churches. I appreciate the fact that in the busiest, bustling-est cities, there's always somewhere you can go and sit in quiet. That's no trivial thing!

I have relaxed very well in darkened and absolutely quiet airport chappels

Here, hospitals often have chapels.

Every hospital here have those, but I can wait