Another birthday, another telling of the tale…

sixstr stories was born on Sunday, April 18, 2010 in Somerville, Massachusetts.

I was visiting my daughter and casually mentioned to her that I was thinking of starting a blog. (At the time, she had a blog.) Before I knew it, she’d opened up her laptop and gone into WordPress.

She asked me if I had a name for my blog.

I did.

“Password?”

“Sure,” I replied.

Click, click. Tap, tap.

“There you go, Dad. You’ve got a blog!”

Nine years later and sixstr stories is still up and running and, I believe, going strong. I may not be prolific, but I’ve never missed a month. And I still enjoy it immensely.

In my very first post, I established the sixstr stories motto: “Good music doesn’t get old.” That quote comes from Mr. Ferdinand “Jelly Roll Morton” LaMothe (1890-1941), the man who invented Jazz. In November of 2018, I added a co-motto: “All valuable stories need to be told over and over and over again.” That one’s from Mr. Bruce Springsteen.

Over the years, I’ve celebrated each birthday with a number-appropriate piece of music. Last year, I rocked out with “Eight Miles High” by The Byrds. For No. 7, I shared a seven verse original called “Weekdays, Weekdays.” For No. 6, I couldn’t decided between Livingston Taylor’s version of “Six Days On The Road” or The Rolling Stones’ live take on “Route 66.” So I ran with both.

When I started planning for the big #9, the very first thing that came to mind was…

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Ludwig van Beethoven.

That’s right.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) started work on his Ninth Symphony in the Fall of 1822 and finished it in February of 1824. It is referred to as the German composer’s “Choral Symphony” because he chose to augment the symphony orchestra with four vocal soloists and a full choir in the piece’s fourth and final movement.

(This epic masterwork, with its then-completely deaf composer “conducting,” was performed for the first time on May 7, 1824 in Vienna, Austria. The crowd, to say the least, went wild.)

Beethoven chose a poem by Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) as the basis of the text for the choral part. Schiller’s poem, written in 1785, was titled: “Ode To Joy.”

The melody that Beethoven wrote for the choir to sing Schiller’s verses to has also become known as “Ode To Joy.”

So, in celebration of sixstrstories’ 9th birthday, I give you “Ode To Joy.” My way.

Hope you enjoy it.