Greetings musicians and friends!

It’s hard to believe I’ve sent 33 “Monday Moments” — music links, messages, jokes and puns, and announcements. I hear rumors that y’all read & listen; this encourages me to be brief, meaningful, candid, & supportive.

I am retiring at the end of February — rather than last June / Camp Norge (sadly, cancelled). We’ve had such good times and meaningful ministry –even after Covid kept us physically apart. I can’t thank you enough for all you do for UUSS. Next month is “beloved community” theme (Soul Matters); March is “commitment” (auction, annual pledge, and more), so you can see my timing isn’t random. I am also celebrating a church music career that began in 1979, when I was a music education major at Chapman College. The nearby 1st Christian / Disciples of Christ church hired me. (Below, rehearsing Christmas portions of Handel’s Messiah with a 20 voice choir & pipe organ). I guess I kept my humor under wraps at all those interviews / auditions! 😎 And I thank you all for the best 5 1/2 years ever!

Please consider recording your voice on the offertory response and the Happy Birthday waltz; details and “how-to” coming in a day or two, after Irina Ivan and I set things up.

Please also consider volunteering to record a favorite UU hymn or song — Irina will make a ‘master track’ for you — or / and sing something via zoom.

Please also consider joining me for my Wellspring Wednesday on Jan 20th for my session on “Spirituals & Gospel.” To entice you a bit more, I have put a link below to what fascinates my college students when I teach it – Sister Rosetta Tharpe singing Gospel with backup choir and playing electric guitar (3 min). She did indeed influence rock and roll) And practicing a clean clap on beats two and four is always helpful for us choristers stuck at home!

Also here’s a link here I sent Cynthia Davis, (her late bday ‘gift’), an inspiring story of a young African-American man whose cello & supportive teachers changed his life:

Thinking of you all

Keith