Colored girls, rainbow flags and enuf

The chorus (at least a small segment of the chorus) is singing tonight at a memorial service for a guy I’ve never even heard of. But apparently he was rather prominent in the gay community, because the service is supposed to be huge.

And apparently he (or his surviving loved ones, at least) had a great sense of humor. Because we’re singing “Tap Your Troubles Away” from Mack & Mabel (show tune alert! possible homosexuals in the building!) and Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” complete with white guys colored girls singing doot-do-doots in lovely harmony.

The “Wild Side” arrangement is all a cappella, with really cool voice splits and syncopations. As an upper bass, I do some syncopated tss-tss-tssing at the beginning and then just sing low, harmonious doo-doo-doos behind the more interesting stuff.

And last Sunday night when we were learning the piece, I kept finding myself bursting into tears in the middle of my doo-doo-doos. Which is so weird. I didn’t cry over my breakup in December. I didn’t cry over my friend Joanne’s death in April. And here I am crying over a silly pop song (albeit one I’ve always liked) that’s going to be sung at a memorial service for a man I never even knew.

Which I guess means I’m not totally dead inside.

In any case, it’s not the most upbeat way to kick off a holiday weekend, but it’s definitely fitting for Memorial Day.

And after the service, I’m spending the weekend with friends. We’ll be doing as little as humanly possible. Which sounds like the best way possible to kick off the summer.