Pieces of Peace

As I write this, I’m listening to the Singers & Swing station in my Xfinity TV package. Frank Sinatra just stopped by for a visit. Then Patti Page. Then Harry James & Marion Morgan. Then Billy May and the Swing Era Big Band. I have a slight suspicion that might just be a name invented by the people at Xfinity/Comcast.

Nothing comes up for me with a simple Google search. Billy May I had heard of once or twice. Swing Era Big Band, not so much. Might as well just name a group today as The 21st Century Really Poor Excuse For Music Band.

Save for Sinatra, people who follow today’s music scene might scratch their heads over the mention of many of these artists from yesteryear. Even I am unfamiliar with most of their work aside from a song here or there. I have quite a bit of Frank’s recordings, however. My curiosity began in the early ’80s as a bit of an I-think-I-need-to-learn-more-about-this-artist mood with a copy of the “Trilogy: Past Present Future” cassette. Not a great album — in fact, reviewed as equally “sublime, awful, and just plain bizarre” — but for a guy at the accepted age of retirement, it gave a taste of his differing nuances. In that late ’80s, a friend gave me a knockoff best of LP called Frank Sinatra: The Voice, sort of as a joke, I thought. Even at my young music loving age, I detected a bit of an ego noting himself as THE Voice. Next thing I knew, however, the ’90s arrived and I started acquiring a collection. Today, through purchases, gifts and a gamut of varied best of compilations, my tally is over 25 CDs from The Chairman of the Board. (Side Note: I have it on good authority that Frank never attended one board meeting.)

For all Sinatra’s idiosyncrasies, egotism, and tales into his personality, I get an odd sense of peace from his recordings.

I get an odd sense of peace from music as a whole. I enjoy listening to swing and the vocalists of the ’30s and ’40s, though I might have trouble naming them … well, aside from Sinatra, Ella, Mel Tormé, Duke Ellington, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Tony Bennett, etc. Sure, some people know Tony Bennett nowadays and hopefully not only because of his association with Lady Gaga.

I find comfort and peace when I listen to music. Or not listen. An hour may pass with music blaring and 15 to 20 songs may play and I may not have “heard” a thing. But I will notice my breathing is steadier, my mind is resting and the heaviness of the day/week/life has gotten lighter. But really, what do I know?

I’m also a huge Billy Joel fan. In no particular order, Joe Jackson, Indigo Girls and The Beatles are cool, too. And you can insert Allison Krauss, Bruce Hornsby, Alanis Morissette, k d lang, and Bob Dylan into the mix. (Especially other people singing Bob Dylan.) I could go on and on. And on. I have more than a few faves for when the mood strikes. The artists I enjoy rarely share a category or style. But each brings with them a piece of their art or mood and intermingles with my mood. Assuming I am open to it at that time — they bring me that sense of peace. Or senses of peace. Pieces of peace…

So I am grateful to music as I don’t often have what I would call peace of mind. I am, at times, an over-thinker, which creates disharmony. Music combined with excursions in nature help to bring about a more peaceful mindset. I acknowledge and understand this but I often find myself in a wrestling match, having to convince myself to go for a hike or run — or just get outside — even though I know it will help me to discover and embrace peace.

Cukes and tomatoes.

Odd segue, I know, but I have a select group of vegetables I enjoy.  I like my cucumbers and tomatoes even though there are arguments for and against labeling them vegetables as opposed to fruits. I like a few other things as well and often make a buffalo chicken salad that is replete with cucumbers, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, croutons, sunflower seeds, black pepper and ranch dressing. It’s a staple in my diet 2 or 3 times a week and, in a way, brings me peace.

Even so, to this day, I can hear my brother, circa 1969, saying, “Give peas a chance.”

I know, silly joke. My brother — even approaching 60 years of age — never met a pea that he wouldn’t rather have drop on the floor or align with the underside of his plate. He just liked being punny even if we all heard the joke(s) before.

And speaking of pieces of peace and peas, we rarely hear of someone being admonished to only “mind their Ps.” One cannot mind their Ps without “minding their Qs.” Some may know that it’s an English expression admonishing one to “mind your manners,” “mind your language,” “be on your best behavior,” and the like. Even so, I don’t really hear it much nowadays. But I’m still curious where it came from.

My brief Google searches led me to an origin of the phrase from the middle of the 19th century but having a few meanings:

• Noting the distinction of lowercase letters p and q in the context of the school room or printing office.
• That it is short for “pleases” and “thank yous”.
• In English pubs, bartenders would be watching the alcohol consumption of patrons OR the possible confusion of pints and quarts, written as “p” and “q” on the tally sheet.
• French instructions regarding dance noting to mind pieds (feet) and queues (wigs) while dancing.
• 18th century sailors being reminded to pay attention to the peas (pea coats) and queues (pony tail).
• In the U.S., “Ps & Qs” is used for “points and quotients.”

That latter one I have heard before, but still don’t know what it means.

That’s it. All for now. Gotta pee.

Then I’ll go for a run. With music.

And find some peace.

But after I pee. That will lead to some peace as well.

So I really should stop typing right now.

Peace out.

Gary Trahan of Manchester, NH, has written and performed throughout New England, Colorado, Florida and New York City. Gary has written plays, sketches, screenplays and humor columns, including for almost three years as part of a rotating team of humor columnists submitting for the Encore section of The Nashua Telegraph. “Gare” received his BA from UMass/Amherst another lifetime ago, and has been learning lessons ever since. Writing and other forms of creativity help to keep him sane, uh, sanER. You can reach him at gareman2@aol.com.

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