The Masked Parade that wasn't

We had arranged to meet with my wife's blog buddy, who has lived here in Prague with her husband for some eight years, in front of the Starbucks in Malostranské náměstí to view the masked parade that I mentioned in my previous post.

costumed family on Nerudova Street

As it turned out it was more of a masked milling about in another square up the hill from ours called Loretánské náměstí. As we were hanging around Malostranské there didn't seem to be any sign of a parade, but there were more people in the streets than usual who seemed to be going up Nerudova Street toward Loretánské; we decided to follow along and see what the score was.

up the steps

While we were walking up the hill I noticed a couple in costumes going the same way and decided to follow them, but they ducked into a coffee shop. A few minutes later I noticed a costumed family of four going up Nerudova and decided to follow them. I figured they must know where the action is. Soon they turned off to the right in what was a long flight of stairs towards what I knew to be Loretánské náměstí. Lo and behold there was music coming from the square and, as I puffed up to the top of the stairs and turned the corner there was the action. A large crowd, some costumed others not, was gathered around a group of musicians and milling around drinking some small glasses of alcoholic beverage, and taking photos of each other. So, we decided to do the same and took lots of fun and colorful pictures.

lovely young women of Prague

Vinohrady park

Later on we took my dear old tram 22 to meet with our friend's husband for lunch at a Mexican restaurant (Las Adelitas) near their flat. My wife and I had Blue Margaritas (tequila and Blue Curacao) before lunch—starting rather early in the day, but, what the hell, it's Carnevale time, right? The food was excellent and after lunch we walked around a bit in a beautiful nearby park in the Vinohrady (means vineyards) district of Prague, bought some wine and ended the day drinking wine with the great view from their flat, before returning, again on tram 22, to our own apartment in Malostranské.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday, and tonight we are looking forward to a costumed baroque concert and dance. It's beginning to feel like the season is slowly turning.

Old Man Winter Fare Thee Well

poster for Carneval

It's been a rather long and bitterly cold snap this winter in Prague and throughout Europe. People were bundled up to the eyeballs (literally) in -15 C. temperatures. It was long underwear, woolen caps and triple and quadruple layers on the upper body.

carnevale mask

Now, it's time to bid winter goodbye and party before the Lenten season—yup, it's Mardi Gras time. The Venetian Carnavale and New Orleans' Mardi Gras are a couple of the better known ones, but Prague also has a long tradition of pre-lenten carnivals, interrupted during the Communist era, but being revived again as the Bohemian Carnevale.

comedy show in Old Town 

The festivities last about a week and end with Ash Wednesday signaling the start of Lent in Roman Catholicism. Lent, of course, is supposed to be a time of fasting and penance for one's “sinful life”, but before the penitence let the party roll on (adding on, I suppose, to the shopping cart of “sins” for which Lent is all the more necessary).

anti-ACTA demonstration

We have had a look see at some of the events (comedy shows every hour in the Old Town Square) and are going to watch a masked parade from Prague Castle, past our neighborhood, and on to the Old Town Square today. These events are free for the watching. BTW, there happened to be a large demonstration opposing Internet censorship at the same time as that comedy show the day we were there. The demonstration attracted far more people than the show in fact.

Clam Gallas Palace entrance

Tomorrow night we have tickets for an evening concert of baroque music and dancing to be held in an old baroque palace with an interesting name—Clam-Gallasův palác—across the Moldau River from here in Lesser Town. Not an opera, but we like baroque music and are looking forward to this concert.

Not a bad way to live

Reading some comments on my most recent posts I sense that I may have given the wrong impression, particularly in relation to the manner of Whitney Houston's death.

Let me be quite clear on one point: I am not advocating for slow suicide through drug and/or alcohol abuse.

...at a burning pace like a white hot sun...

Being nearer the ending than the beginning of my own life (Alec Guiness in the movie The Bridge on the River Kwai); surveying the canvas of my past 70 years it seems to me that we spend a good part of our lives wrestling with our inner demons—some successfully others not so. Many artists, not only wrestle with them but actively seek to express (and communicate) their struggle not only with their own inner demons, but the ones imposed on them by the societies they live in. This is why we are moved by music and art. These, dare I say, semi-divine beings live their lives at a burning pace like a white hot sun, such intensity perhaps too strong for mere mortals to withstand without the aid of relaxants and stimulants—think of that cup of coffee you have to have to get going in the morning, or that beer, or glass of wine or martini before dinner to relax in the evening.

So, these gifted people (Whitney, Elvis, Janice, Kurt, Michael [maybe Mozart?], the list is endless), their time in the limelight passing, killing the pain of declining popularity, perhaps ill health or abusive relationships, and what must, for them, be an incredible absence of adulation with the abuse of alcohol and drugs, chose consciously or unconsciously not to endure the unacceptability of obscurity; neither could they, unassisted, intentionally step through the exit door.

When I say “Not a bad way to go”, I am not saying that we should all drink and drug ourselves into oblivion. At 70 I am in good health, most of my demons banished, and, as long as I am able to do what I want to do, find life enjoyable and worth living, and I don't scoff at enhancements.

The immortals who will stay forever young in our memories shouldn't be mourned for the time nor the manner of their passing, but remembered for the gift of art and music they gave us.

That is what I meant by my “Not a bad way to go.” Not that they died young, but that they shared themselves and gave us so much in their short but intensely lived lives. That, I believe, is the greatest love of all, or the greatest gift of all.

Not a bad way to live, either.

The Greatest Love Song of All Time

The Greatest Love of All

This is probably my all time favorite song since I first heard it by George Benson on his “Weekend in LA” album. Some critics contend that he sings the song better than Whitney Huston. I will say they are very different as are both the singers' voices. A person who commented on the above linked YouTube said it better than I can. He (or she) called it the “Greatest Love Song of all time.” BINGO!

I recommend listening to both versions (linked to this post and the previous one titled “Whitney”). Both are just an excuse to listen to the song again after all these years.

Oh, yeah, and listen carefully to the words.

Whitney

Greatest Love of All

What on opera singer she could have been.

This is one of my favorite soul songs.

I first heard it performed by George Benson.

Whitney gives it another dimension with the gospel riffs here and there in it--and the incredible range and rapid octave shifts she could make.

She, like so many others before her, will stay forever young.

Not a bad way to go.