Jarrett House North http://www.jarretthousenorth.com Now with 80% less politics! Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:00:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 en hourly 1 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ links for 2009-07-02 http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/07/02/links-for-2009-07-02/ http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/07/02/links-for-2009-07-02/#comments Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:00:39 +0000 Tim's Bookmarks http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/07/02/links-for-2009-07-02/ ]]> http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/07/02/links-for-2009-07-02/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ Ark time http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/07/01/links-for-2009-07-01/ http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/07/01/links-for-2009-07-01/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:00:28 +0000 Tim's Bookmarks http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/07/01/links-for-2009-07-01/
  • June weather, 2009 – Boston.com
    How bad was June? Pretty bad. Great infographic showing deviation from average rainfall (high), average temperature (low), and percentage of possible sunshine (0).
    (tags: boston)
]]> http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/07/01/links-for-2009-07-01/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ links for 2009-06-30 http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/30/links-for-2009-06-30/ http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/30/links-for-2009-06-30/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:00:18 +0000 Tim's Bookmarks http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/30/links-for-2009-06-30/ ]]> http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/30/links-for-2009-06-30/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ Free is not free http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/29/links-for-2009-06-29/ http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/29/links-for-2009-06-29/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:00:24 +0000 Tim's Bookmarks http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/29/links-for-2009-06-29/ ]]> http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/29/links-for-2009-06-29/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ The Virginia Glee Club disbands — in 1912 http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/29/the-virginia-glee-club-disbands-in-1912/ http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/29/the-virginia-glee-club-disbands-in-1912/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:48:51 +0000 Tim Jarrett http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/?p=8018 gleeclub_1914

This week’s Virginia Glee Club history post comes a little late, but better late than never because it sheds light on an interesting chapter of the Club’s history—its apparent, and apparently intermittent, disappearance in the years between 1905 and 1915. Thanks to a new item that has turned up in Google Books, and which I finally got a photocopy of today, I think we can piece together a fairly decent timeline.

We can piece together the history from a few scraps of evidence. First, UVA historian Philip A. Bruce, who wrote the history of the University’s first hundred years, alluded to the Club’s troubles between 1905 and 1915:

…no play was offered in 1910-11. This fact led to the revival of the Glee Club, an association which had disbanded in 1905. A mass-meeting of all the students interested in music was held; a new vocal and instrumental club organized; and rehearsals at once began. This club was composed of twenty members. It gave two concerts in Cabell Hall and four beyond the precincts. Choruses, quartets, and vocal and instrumental solos, were skilfully rendered. This association failed to re-form in 1912-13 and 1913-14, as the result of the absence of an experienced and attentive director and manager.

We know that the group was still active in the fall of 1905. A letter written on October 29, 1905 by Sue Whitmore, the mother of a University of Virginia student, mentions her enjoyment of hearing the Glee Club perform.

We also know that the Club was around in January 1914, from photographic evidence (above). Then, in 1915, the group was “reorganized” and “trained scientifically” by Professor A. L. Hall-Quest.

But what happened to the group between 1905 and 1914? What did Bruce mean that it “failed to reform”? He laid its failure to succeed on poor leadership, but on what evidence? Here’s where the new discovery sheds some light.

In early October of 1912, the following notice appeared (and was reproduced in the Alumni Bulletin, series 3, vol, 5):

We, the officers of the University of Virginia Glee Club, in consideration of the disadvantageous circumstances under which the afore-mentioned club has operated within the past three years, do officially declare said club disbanded, believing that by so doing an ultimate success may be achieved along another line. (Signed): Roger M. Bone, president, Robert V. Funsten, vice-president, Vaughan Camp, secretary, C.A. McKean, treasurer.

(Thanks to the fine folks at Special Collections for sending me a photocopy of the bulletin.)

So now we have a timeline:

  • In late 1905 or maybe early 1906, the Glee Club disbands.
  • In 1910, the Club reforms, responding to a musical vacuum left by the demise of the Arcadians, a musical theatre group, and struggles for a few years with inexperienced musical and logistical leadership.
  • At the beginning of the third season, in October 1912, the officers of the time disband the group temporarily.
  • At the beginning of the fall 1913 semester, the group re-forms (though the photo is dated January 1914, the re-formation must have happened in the fall—the odds of getting so many young men into matching suits for an official portrait in less than a month are probably no better then than they are today).
  • In 1915, the students connect with a professor, A. L. Hall-Quest, who has connections to the Princeton Glee Club tradition and who sets them on a sturdier footing.

Bruce overstated the hiatus by a year, based on the photographic evidence, but otherwise he was right on. The timeline speaks of an organization that was making it, or not, year-to-year, with little to no institutional support. That sort of existence resonates with my memory of the group between 1990 and 1994, with one difference: we had alumni who cared about the group enough to keep it afloat, and the Club guys of the early 20th century did not. There wasn’t a real alumni association, to speak of, until the first World War.

The next question, which will have to wait for another post, is: what happened after Hall-Quest left? He resigned in 1918, and Arthur Fickénscher didn’t take his job at UVa, and the directorship of the group, until sometime in the 1920s. But this answer might have to wait until I can get back to Charlottesville to do some real research.

]]> http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/29/the-virginia-glee-club-disbands-in-1912/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ Using XSLT with iTunes playlists http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/28/links-for-2009-06-28/ http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/28/links-for-2009-06-28/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:00:30 +0000 Tim's Bookmarks http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/28/links-for-2009-06-28/ ]]> http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/28/links-for-2009-06-28/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ New mix: september grrls http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/28/new-mix-september-grrls/ http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/28/new-mix-september-grrls/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:40:55 +0000 Tim Jarrett http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/?p=8011 My latest mix, “september grrls,” did not start out to be (almost) all women artists, but it ended up that way. After strong releases this year from Shannon Worrell, PJ Harvey, Neko Case, and others, plus Kim Gordon’s contributions to the latest Sonic Youth… well, I couldn’t resist. Add to that a few songs that have been kicking around my library forever, waiting for a home, and you’ve got yourself a mix.

  1. This Is What You Do – Gemma Hayes (Hollow of Morning)
  2. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) – Kate Bush (Hounds of Love)
  3. Black Hearted Love – PJ Harvey & John Parish (A Woman a Man Walked By)
  4. Iamundernodisguise – School of Seven Bells (Alpinisms)
  5. Song To Bobby – Cat Power (Jukebox)
  6. Jericho – Greta Gaines (Greta Gaines)
  7. Lake Charles Boogie – Nellie Lutcher (Oxford American 2003 Southern Music CD No. 6)
  8. If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me) – The Staple Singers (The Stax Story: Finger-Snappin’ Good [Disc 3])
  9. When the Other Foot Drops, Uncle – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (100 Days, 100 Nights)
  10. Diamond Heart – Marissa Nadler (Songs III: Bird On the Water)
  11. If I Can Make You Cry – Shannon Worrell (The Honey Guide)
  12. For Today I Am A Boy – Antony and the Johnsons (I Am A Bird Now)
  13. Massage the History – Sonic Youth (The Eternal)
  14. Crater Lake – Liz Phair (Whip-Smart)
  15. I’m an Animal – Neko Case (Middle Cyclone (Bonus Track Version))
  16. Who Is It (Carry My Joy On the Left, Carry My Pain On the Right) – Björk (Medulla)
  17. The Way I Am (Recorded Live on WERS) – Ingrid Michaelson (Be OK)
  18. Sweet Like You – Shannon Worrell (The Honey Guide)
  19. At Constant Speed – Gemma Hayes (Hollow of Morning)
  20. September Gurls – Big Star (#1 Record – Radio City)
]]> http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/28/new-mix-september-grrls/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ Grab bag: Music and passion http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/27/links-for-2009-06-27/ http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/27/links-for-2009-06-27/#comments Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:00:10 +0000 Tim's Bookmarks http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/27/links-for-2009-06-27/ ]]> http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/27/links-for-2009-06-27/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ Improving iPod FM adapter reception in a VW Passat http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/26/improving-ipod-fm-adapter-reception-in-a-vw-passat/ http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/26/improving-ipod-fm-adapter-reception-in-a-vw-passat/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:22:38 +0000 Tim Jarrett http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/?p=8004 This one was counter-intuitive, but it worked. I’ve been suffering through static and interference ever since my Monster iPod FM adapter burned out and I replaced it with a different model. My Passat has the rear-roof-mounted antenna, and it’s apparently too far away from the FM adapter that I use for my iPod. It’s great at pulling in distant radio stations, which tend to swamp the empty channels that I’d normally listen to the iPod on.

So I removed it.

Yep, just unscrewed the antenna and now the reception for the iPod is crystal clear. Smart but totally counter-intuitive.

Credit goes to this anonymous poster on MacOSXHints. I read this a while ago and just today had the nerve to try it. No more static for me!

]]> http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/26/improving-ipod-fm-adapter-reception-in-a-vw-passat/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ Grab bag: Brackbill research edition http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/25/links-for-2009-06-25/ http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/25/links-for-2009-06-25/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:00:37 +0000 Tim's Bookmarks http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/25/links-for-2009-06-25/ ]]> http://www.jarretthousenorth.com/2009/06/25/links-for-2009-06-25/feed/ 2 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/