58th Eurovision Song Contest: Denmark Wins, Russia’s Dina Garipova in Fifth Place

Da winnah!

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Here’s the winning song

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Here’s the Russian entry… Ura for the home boys!

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On Saturday, Denmark’s Emmelie Charlotte-Victoria de Forest won the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 before an international TV audience of around 125 million, winning the annual competition with a barefoot performance backed by flutes and drums. The 20-year-old won with the song Only Teardrops, competing against contestants from 25 other countries in a final held in Malmö in southern Sweden, scoring an overall 281 points. Eight out of the 39 participating countries gave the Danish contender the highest-possible score of 12 points. Russia’s Dina Garipova took fifth place, singing What If, scoring 174 points. She received top scores from two countries… Latvia and Estonia.

19 May 2013

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Dina Garipova

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Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Aleksandr Misurkin wished singer Dina Garipova success and victory at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden. Vinogradov said in a transmission from the International Space Station (ISS), “Our hearts ache for Dina Garipova, who represents our country at Eurovision”. Misurkin added, “We wish that our compatriot wins; she has beautiful voice, and we hope that she’ll win”. The Eurovision final kicked off at the Malmö Arena on Saturday evening. The 58th annual Eurovision song contest is underway in Malmö, Sweden. Russia’s Dina Garipova has already sung her soulful ballad What If. bookmakers consider Garipova, 22, who became Russia’s entry at Eurovision after winning the popular “Voice” television show last year, as one of the favourites at the contest, although Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest with Only Teardrops is still on top of the most-likely winner list.

19 May 2013

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Loreen, last year’s winning contestant

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Last Year’s ESC winner

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The Winner Takes It All… 2013 style

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Singers from 26 countries began battling it out on Saturday night for the crown of glitzy pop in the Eurovision Song Contest, returning this year to the homeland of ABBA, the Swedish band it propelled to global superstardom. One of them is Russian Dina Garipova. Bookmakers are tipping Denmark’s entry, 20-year-old Emmelie De Forest with her song Only Teardrops, to take out the competition comfortably. Other hot contenders for the title include Norway, the Ukraine, Russia, and Azerbaijan. The 26 countries competing in Saturday’s final are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the Ukraine, and Britain. The show, one of the world’s longest-running television programmes, landed in the city of Malmö on Sweden’s southern coast after Loreen (Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui) won the contest last year in Azerbaijan with her dance track Euphoria. Former ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus together with Swedish DJ and producer Avicii (Tim Bergling) composed the opening act; Swedish singer Sarah Dawn Finer will belt out the ABBA classic The Winner Takes It All during the three-hour programme.

18 May 2013

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Alyona Lanskaya of Belarus

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Zlata Ognevich of the Ukraine

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On May 18, the popular Eurovision Song Contest will have its finals, which, this time, take place in the Swedish city of Malmö. 26 participants have already made it to the finals, and one of them is Russian Dina Garipova. Some people estimate Garipova’s chances to win as high. Amongst other participants with good chances, they name Emmelie De Forest from Denmark, Margaret Berger from Norway, Zlata Ognevich from the Ukraine, Farid Mammadov from Azerbaijan, and Alyona Lanskaya from Belarus. Belarusian singer and TV host Georgi Koldun is a big-time fan of his compatriot Alyona Lanskaya, and he said, “The finals of the contest will most likely be a hard battle. It’s quite hard to predict who’ll win in the end, because the singers who made it to the finals are all very talented. Their songs are quite remarkable, and each of them has their own distinctive manner of performing”.

Dina Garipova decided that she‘d wear the same romantic pink dress in the finals in which she sang in the semifinals. However, some of the spectators found this costume a bit “sugary”. Others, on the contrary, liked it, because, as they say, in this dress Dina strikingly resembles Princess Madeleine of Sweden (Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland). Meanwhile, Dina doesn’t care what people think of her dress. She just likes it and feels comfortable in it. Unlike many modern singers, Dina doesn’t move in tune with her song on stage. She just stands and sings, because she wants to draw the listeners’ attention, firstly, to the song itself. The song that Dina chose for the Eurovision contest is What If. Its main message is that people should unite to make life better. In a VOR interview, Dina said, “I’ll try to sing this song with all my soul. I think that the songs’ authors put a very important message into it, and I’d like to get this message across to the audience”.

According to Eurovision’s rules, the votes of TV viewers determine the winner. TV viewers from countries that take part in the contest can vote in the contest, but a viewer can’t vote for their country’s entrant. Besides, there’s also a jury at the contest. The choice of the winner is split between a 50 percent share from the TV viewers’ choice and a 50 percent share from the jury’s vote. Yuri Aksyuta, the musical director of Pervy Kanal, which is broadcasting the Eurovision contest in Russia, said, “As a rule, all the songs sang at this contest are new. the audience only knows a few of them befroehand. The majority of the contest’s participants are trying to surprise the public with some unusual performance or special effects. Dina Garipova just stands and sings her simple, but very nice, song”.

Dina herself said that she’s taking part in the contest not for the sake of winning, noting, “Of course, I’d like to win, but if I don’t, I won’t take it as the end of my life. There is a saying that I find very wise, ‘Believe in success, but be ready for the worst’. This year, many young singers are taking part in the Eurovision contest… everyone is talented in their own way. It’s very hard to guess what the public may like and what not, but I’d accept any decision of the public, whatever it may be”.

18 May 2013

Natalya Viktorova

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_05_19/58th-Eurovision-Song-Contest-Denmark-wins-Russias-Dina-Garipova-is-the-5th-078/

http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_05_19/Cosmonauts-wish-Russian-singer-success-in-Eurovision-final-091/

http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_05_18/The-Eurovision-2013-final-has-begun-096/

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_05_18/Eurovision-Dina-Garipova-s-simple-song/

Ukrainian Church in Woonsocket RI Will Honour Firemen Who Battled November Fire

There was a typo in the last line… “St Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church” was mistakenly inserted. I corrected it. The people doing the poster were rushed… shit happens. It’s put to rights, now…

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St Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Woonsocket RI is still recovering from the November fire that heavily-damaged its ornate 70-year-old granite and wood church building at 74 Harris Avenue. Nevertheless, coping with the near loss of their church won’t keep St Michael’s parishioners from offering a special tribute to the firefighters who kept total disaster at bay back on 21 November 2012. Fr Anthony Perkins, pastor at St Michael, said, “At the end of the Liturgy on Sunday, we’ve invited them to come. We’re going to present them with an icon of St Michael, who’s not only our patron saint, but he’s also the patron saint of firefighters”. The parish had the icon specially-made; it’s giving it to the firefighters in the hope that they’ll remain safe in their dangerous work to help others. Fr Anthony said, “We pray for them at every service”.

The parish hasn’t been able to hold services in their Ukrainian-style church (highlighted by two stone towers topped by gold-leaf ornamental domes) since the accidental fire broke out inside the structure. Instead, parishioners gather for liturgy in their church hall across the parking lot. For now, they’ve installed an iconostas… a separating wall between the altar and the congregation… borrowed from another church. Speaking of the temporary modification, Fr Anthony said, “Now, it’s recognisable as a worship space”.

The parish is still working out the details of the repair of the damaged church with its insurance company and Fr Anthony said that he expects repair work would start in the near future. He added that the fire damage could’ve been much worse if city firefighters weren’t as successful at saving the significant city landmark as they were, saying, “It was pretty close to being destroyed, really close, because the fire had gotten up into the rafters. Once that happens, it usually becomes a total loss”. However, the firefighters and their scene commanders kept in constant contact with parishioners as they battled the blaze, and they were able to work out a strategy that saved the church. Fr Anthony noted, “We told them where they could poke a hole into the rafters through the choir loft and they were able to go through that to put it out”.

The firefighters also went into the sanctuary of the church to rescue important parish religious artefacts that would’ve been otherwise lost to the fire. Fr Anthony stated, “After they put the fire out, they were like a moving company and got everything out of there. We weren’t able to salvage everything, but the important things were. We had religious relics in the church and they were able to get them out. They were tremendous. They kept talking to us and telling us what was going on. They were able to stop it. It’s going to need a new roof, but we didn’t have to tear down the walls”.

In the aftermath of the fire, the parishioners held services outside the church right away, but didn’t get a full understanding of the damage occurring in the fire until recently. After visiting the church to see the damage himself, Metropolitan Antony Scharba, the First Hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, told Fr Anthony that he should take his congregation inside the fire damaged church. Fr Anthony told us, “He said, ‘You have to bring the people to see this’. So, the parish held a prayer service inside their church about a month ago, and it was a powerful experience for the congregation”. The parishioners of St Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church continue to work toward the day they’ll once again hold services inside their church and Fr Anthony said that the ceremony honouring city firefighters would be another step along that road.

In an effort to help repair the church, a benefit concert will occur on Sunday, 19 May, at the Blackstone River Theatre (click here for directions) on 549 Broad Street in Cumberland RI at 19.00 EDT. The concert will feature Ukrainian musician Julian Kytasty (click here for a vid). Admission is 20 USD (630 Roubles. 15.60 Euros. 13.20 UK Pounds) for adults, 15 USD (423 Roubles. 11.70 Euros. 9.90 UK Pounds) for seniors and 10 USD (315 Roubles. 7.80 Euros. 6.60 UK Pounds) for children under 12. For more information, call (401) 725-9272.

18 May 2013

Joseph Nadeau

The Call (Woonsocket RI) 

http://www.woonsocketcall.com/node/8284

Editor’s Note:

These guys ain’t fly-by-night Johnnie-come-Lately newbies… they’re the real deal; hey, send ‘em a fin or two, if you can. They’re on the up-and-square. This is a typical Orthodox parish founded by hard-working immigrants, sustained by their faithful kids. It’s what Orthodoxy in the American diaspora is all about… give ‘em a hand… they need it.

BMD

One of My Favourite People… Stompin’ Tom Fans, Friends, Family Throw Joyous Memorial

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A public memorial to Stompin’ Tom Connors was a joyous celebration Wednesday night, as thousands of devoted fans packed the Peterborough Memorial Centre to pay homage to the late Canadian country icon with songs, signs, suds, and one standing ovation after another. An eclectic mixture of Canadian musicians, politicians, and Connors’ close friends remembered the unique, black-hatted songwriter behind Bud the Spud and The Hockey Song, whilst jovial spectators… who’d spent the day lining up for access, some singing Connors’ songs and sipping beers… responded enthusiastically to every tribute, clip and anecdote.

Connors’ long-time promoter Brian Edwards said as he introduced the festivities, “We’re going to show you we really know how to throw a party”. Whilst the ceremony had its sombre moments, from the start, it was clear that this wasn’t meant to be a mournful event. Given that Connors had an integral role in planning the memorial before his death last week, Edwards and others were able to say with certainty that the rousing remembrance was conducted exactly the way Connors would’ve wanted. He even handpicked most of the line-up of performers, beginning with a spirited fiddle medley from Billy Macinnis, who frequently played with Connors. Calgary’s Tim Hus performed his original tribute Man in the Black Hat, Connors collaborators J P Cormier and Dave Gunning teamed for an inspired medley of Little Wawa and Gumboot Cloggeroo, Sylvia Tyson and Cindy Church collaborated on an elegant version of Connors’ Farewell to Nova Scotia, and former Rheostatics frontman Dave Bidini contributed his take on Bridge Came Tumbling Down.

Testimonials from Connors peers including Rita MacNeil and Liona Boyd were read aloud, whilst country legend Tommy Hunter sat close to the stage. In a series of speeches, Connors was remembered as tolerant, authentic, clever, and surprisingly warm for a guy who, as Bidini attested, could occasionally level a stare so intense it was “terrifying”. Connors was even, according to Edwards, a savvy Scrabble player. Former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson spoke at particular length about her friendship with Connors, whom she remembered as “truly wonderful”, saying, “Stompin’ Tom, the man that we’re celebrating today, is that very unusual thing… something that we can all agree about as Canadians. He was a gift to us as Canadians. I think the secret to his gift was that he knew that he was giving it. When Stompin’ Tom stomped on that board, he stomped ‘Canada, Canada’ into our hearts. We didn’t ask for Stompin’ Tom. He just blew onto us like a wonderful wind”.

Canadian politician and author Ken Dryden, famed of course as goalie for Connors’ beloved Montreal Canadiens, reminisced on the joy he felt hearing The Hockey Song ring out in arenas during his NHL days, saying, “Tom could do two things I always wanted to but couldn’t… sing and wear a cowboy hat”. Dryden later asked the audience to stand for the “national hockey anthem”, and a collective sing-along of Connors’ most famous tune commenced. Indeed, the crowd was rarely quiet for long. The speeches were intermittently interrupted by outbursts of applause, cheering or the odd shout of “We miss you, Tom!” from the passionate assemblage.

The evening did begin with a rare solemn moment, as nine members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police carried Connors’ casket… covered entirely in a Canadian flag… onto the stage. Connors’ wife, Lena, then, walked out to a rousing standing ovation and placed a black cowboy hat on top. Other personal effects surrounded it, including a piece of plywood like the hunks of wood Connors used to bury his boot in onstage. The memorial then began, and the fans were ready. A technical glitch prevented the audience from hearing the sound during a video of Connors performing The Peterborough Postman, but some observers were undaunted. “Everybody sing!” shouted one spectator. Added another, “Come on, we all know it!”

Many pointed out that Connors would’ve relished the celebratory mood. Tyson said, “Tom orchestrated this whole thing. This is his show… and he’s here”. Damhnait Doyle sure seemed to understand the spirit of the evening, pausing dramatically just before her performance of The Coal Boat Song, saying, “I need beer… it feels weird not to do this without beer”, before charging offstage and returning with a brew in hand.

While Connors actually lived a couple hours away in Halton Hills, Peterborough made sense for a few reasons. It was there that Connors first received his famous “Stompin’ Tom” moniker, a nickname conjured up by a waiter at the King George Tavern back in 1967 after observing Connors hammering the stage with the heel of his left boot to keep time. He subsequently found a particularly warm reaction from the southeastern Ontario town, and he was given the keys to the city years ago in an honorary gesture. Brian believes Connors played Peterborough more than any other town. However, on Wednesday night, fans flowed in from all over, from Vancouver to Prince Edward Island, where Connors spent his early life. Many shared their memories of Connors as they waited for the service to begin.

Musician Joe Bulger recalled that when he put out a CD in 2006, Connors sent him a postcard of congratulations, saying, as he clutched a laminated copy of the letter, “We’re all here for the same reason. He’s a class Canadian and that’s all you need to say about the man. There’ll never be another Sir Tom”. Added 34-year-old Sara Maclean, “It was very cool to know that this is a piece of history that I got to take part in”. The final speech of the evening belonged to Connors’ son, Tom Jr., who noted that this was the first time the late singer’s four children ever gathered in the same room. In his tribute to his dad, he looked to the future.

Tom Connors Jr, who bears a striking resemblance to his famous father, said, “We’re giving him the best send-off we possibly can because he did everything he could for us to feel better about being Canadian. He travelled coast to coast seeing all of you. There would be no Stompin’ Tom without all of you. I heard some people comment at the funeral, saying there’d never be another Stompin’ Tom. Well, I got news for you. We still have a Canada, and we still have the roads, towns, people, jobs… and that’s what Tom wrote about. So, never say ‘never’… he never liked anyone copying him, but anyone who wants to sing about Canada, keep ‘er on going. It’s nice to travel south. It might be warmer on the skin, but if you go east and west, it’ll be warmer on your hearts”.

After the casket was carried offstage, Edwards said that Connors specified that he didn’t want the night to end on a down note. So, a flock of musicians returned to the stage to sing Sudbury Saturday Night, while audience members danced in the aisles.

RELATED STORIES

• Stompin’ Tom remembered as ‘dart smoking, plywood banging’ Canadian icon
• Watch Stompin’ Tom Connors perform his best-loved anthems
• Stompin’ Tom Connors helped plan his own public memorial, set for Wednesday

13 March 2013

Editor’s Note:

Stompin’ Tom wasn’t known much “south of the border”… that’s because all too many Americans are navel-gazers, who think that Canadians are a form of American (they’re not, emphatically not). Don’t forget, English-speaking Canada sprang forth from the United Empire Loyalists, who rejected the “American Revolution” root-and-branch. Need I mention that Stompin’ Tom’s particularly loved by the NDP set? I didn’t think so…

That is, Canada is what it is, and it’s most definitely NOT “America North”…

BMD

 

4 March 2013. A Quote to Live By…

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My boy, don’t you ever forget what I’m going to tell you. You mustn’t study Beethoven’s music. You must reincarnate it.

Anton Grigorevich Rubinshteyn

Russian composer and pianist (1829-94)

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here’s some of Rubinshteyn’s music… it IS Romantic in the Beethovenesque sense, no?

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This has relevance for us as Orthodox Christians today. There are konvertsy running about, telling all and sundry how learned and educated they are. Let’s not put too fine a face on that… it’s utter and unabashed bullshit to the core. They’re trying to tell us that they’re qualified to speak on the Faith without having any real experience in it. We speak of baptism being “enlightenment”… if that’s true, one has to discount all reading, study, and experience prior to reception. It’s an inescapable conclusion… if one was blind, how could one distinguish colour?

These people are fond of gabbling about their prowess in the Fathers. I’d say that the Fathers were Christians who wrote only after long and serious involvement in Orthodox Christianity. The Fathers steeped themselves in prayer and the liturgy so much that it wasn’t only second nature; it was as unconscious as breathing is. None of the konvertsy are at this point… it takes YEARS to acquire such a grounding (don’t forget Paffhausen was a shake n’ bake abbot who only spent one year as a rank n’ file monk… you can see why he failed, and why he failed utterly and without mitigation), and one can’t acquire it on one’s own by reading this-or-that willy-nilly. You MUST “live the life” under obedience to a real spiritual master to even get a glimmer of it (pseudo-gurus such as Gleb Podmoshensky, Aleksandr Schmemann, or Panteleimon Metropoulos don’t count).

You need to incarnate Orthodoxy… and that’s not a task of a day… or of a year or two. That’s why you can’t take anything posted on Monomakhos as credible… they’re all toddlers with shitty nappies who’ve broken into Pop’s muscatel and gotten pie-eyed. I’ll confide… I’m not the only person who feels this way. Think on this for Lent… it’ll be a fruitful meditation; I guarantee you that.

BMD