La la la

Walking to TMC for dinner last night, I noticed signs around the edge of the part of the mall I was walking past. There were four or five of them, and each had a couple of words. Something about a show tonight, in Oyate's light (Oyate being the name of the place it was held), at half passed 7--not half past, but half passed--and the last one said BURMA SHAVE (and, yes, I did use the combination caps lock/bold button to write that, of course!), which mde me laugh.

I showed up at half passed 7 in Oyate's light (after a fair bit of work to scrouge up a dollar for admission) because I like the popcorn concert. They call it the popcorn concert because everybody finds a bag of popcorn on their seat upon entering. For some reason, it's one of the choir's more popular events, and I think it's not just the popcorn. It's the informality, and the popcorn.

There was Jake Rowan, who played a great song about loving someone more than his car and his guitar (all the girls screamed at the mere mention of his name ... well, maybe not all, since I didn't, and wouldn't have even if I didn't have a sore throat) and another guy who played guitar and sang "High School is Stoopid Stupid." As soon as he started, I leaned over to Jenn and whispered, "He has a really nice guitar!" (I can't help noticing that kind of thing these days.) She leaned over to me a few seconds later and said, "I would have sex with him." I think that nicely defines the differences in how we perceive the world.

There were "fellas in falsetto" and also in wife-beaters, suspenders, and pants rolled up above their socks, singing an Ace of Base song. There was "Stevens County Dreamin'," which is like California dreamin' only for Morris. But the song that's been stuck in my head all bloody morning is called "In the Shield of Darkness," which two girls sang. They explained that they wrote it one night on the way back from St. Cloud ... which nicely explains their inspiration for such a thing (if you've driven from St. Cloud to Morris at night, you'll understand). It had nice harmonies and a melody that's apparently catchy, and they sang it well. The chorus went like this:

Poop, poop in the shield of darkness
Poop in the shield of darkness
Poop under the cover of darkness
Poop in the shield of darkness

I was humming that as I took my grammar quiz this morning.

Not keeping up appearances

( And not 'Keeping Up Appearances,' either! )