Five True Remarkable Occurrences (2005-8)
for voice & guitar
Composer Facsimile Edition, 8 minutes
The ” remarkable occurrences” are five short, humorous pieces for mezzo and guitar. The first, Eating Democrats, was commissioned by conductor George Mabry as one of four such offerings, including one of his own, for his wife, mezzo-soprano Sharon Mabry, on her birthday. Mabry premiered the piece in 2007 on a Dimensions in New Music concert at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. The dedication reads: ” To Sharon Mabry, diva straordinaria, in celebration of her birthday on July 16, 2005″
The other four songs are titled: Mrs. Czermak’s Descent, Traffic, Wheeler-Peelers, and Other Engagements.
To order the score: elizvercoe@yahoo.com
Texts
Eating Democrats
Alfred Packer ate five prospectors whom he was guiding over a high Colorado plateau in 1874.
The judge who sentenced Packer to hang indignantly pointed out that “There was only six Democrats in all of Hinsdale County and you ate five of them.”
The Department of Agriculture startled the official community by dedicating its cafeteria to Alfred Packer. Then the General Services Administration removed the plaque and accused them of “bad taste.”
Vera Czermak
Vera Czermak jumped out of her third story window when she learned her husband had betrayed her. Mrs. Czermak is recovering in the hospital after landing on her husband who was killed, the newspaper Vecerny Pravda reported today.
Traffic
In 1895 there were only two cars in the whole state of Ohio. They collidded. .
Wheeler-Peelers
Grand Rapids Michigan. A local striptease joint must build ramps to accommodate handicapped strippers, state officials have ruled.
Other Engagements
Taipei. A young Taiwanese man has written seven hundred love letters to his girlfriend over the past two years — trying to get her to marry him. His persistence finally brought him results. A newspaper reported yesterday the girl has become engaged to the postman who delivered all of those letters.