PLAY IT, SAM

Generally after lunch at Avenidas there is some form of entertainment, and a while ago one of the aides conducted a session called Remember When.  A fun time.  Then this past Friday morning before leaving for Avenidas, an idea struck me.  I emailed Laura, and asked, “What do you think of the idea of having a Name that Tune in a Remember When session?”  When I arrived, Laura saw me and said she thought it was a great idea.

She had me get together with Audrey, one of the aides, and she and I collaborated on the idea.  It was to work like this:

I was to bring my Bose player and remote.  After explaining to the group what was up, she would insert a CD into the player, let the first tune play for a bit, and while I held the remote, when someone had an answer, she would signal me to turn it off.  Then she would ask for the next track, and I would play the next tune.  And so it would go.

Over the weekend I made three CD’s -- a real mix of styles and artists, for a total of 63 songs, which amounted to about 3-1/2 hours of music.  I did that deliberately because I knew that the songs would not be played all the way through.  And these were all instrumentals from iTunes on my computer.

So at 1 p.m. last Monday, we were ready to go.  But first Audrey and I had a bit of a joke to play on the group.  I was sitting in my wheelchair in the first row in front of the Bose, holding the remote in my lap.  Audrey said she was using a new technology where all she had to do was wave her hand to start the music.  She waved, and I pressed the PLAY button.  She waved again, and I pressed PAUSE.  Someone in the group asked the music would start if she waved.  “Sure,” said Audrey.  A wave -- music.  Another wave -- no music.  I think they were impressed.  (Later on I held up the remote to show that it was not all that mysterious.)

All in all it went quite well.  We went through two full CD’s, plus about 8 or 9 more on the last one.  And the group was quite good at coming up with the song titles.  I think that out of all of the melodies played, only 2 or 3 were missed.  Some songs were named after only 3 or 4 notes into the melody.  And where there was a bit of difficulty, Audrey did a great job of pantomime to help the memories.  We had a lot of fun! 


Oh!  You’re wondering about the title of this blog.  Of course!  As Time Goes By was a prominent song in the movie Casablanca, with Humphrey Bogart.  “Play it, Sam,” it what Bogart said to his pianist.  He did not say “Play it again, Sam.”  You don’t believe me?  Go back and watch the movie.

Humor --

60-PLUS

Q: My wife is going through menopause. What can I do?
A: Keep busy. If you're handy with tools, you can finish the basement. When you are done you will have a place to live.

Q: How can you increase the heart rate of your 60-plus-year-old husband?
A: Tell him you're pregnant.

Q: How can you avoid spotting a wrinkle every time you walk by a mirror?
A: The next time you're in front of a mirror, take off your glasses.