1. 8 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 3.15
IllustrationbyKendallRegan
“Let It Be” — the gospel version in Across the
Universe. It plays during a scene that parallels
two funerals: one of a boy caught up in
the ’67 Detroit riot and one of a Vietnam
soldier. My eyes well up every time I hear
Carol Woods sing, “I wake up to the sound
of music.”
Mary Chellis Austin
Deputy editor
I do not jibe with musical theater. All the
heaving diaphragms, dainty dance routines
and faces strained with emotion — be it joy
or anguish — freezing for applause at the
end of a number? It’s just not for me. But
the 1965 movie adaption of Rodgers and
Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music thrills
me. It’s my favorite flm. I adore nuns, so
that partially explains my obsession. (I’ve
been on The Sound of Music tour in Austria.)
Plus, there’s a delightful innocence to kids in
lederhosen. And that Julie Andrews has the
voice of a goddess. When she and the von
Trapp Family Singers perform “Edelweiss”
before feeing the country, I’m a weepy mess.
That high note she hits at the end? It’s Pav-
lovian. My hands wipe tear after tear.
Anne Marshall
Senior writer
Being a country fan (I’ll admit it), a lot of songs
make me cry. The frst one that comes to mind is
“Don’t Take the Girl,” by Tim McGraw. It’s about
this boy and girl who meet as eight-year-olds, then
grow up and fall in love. At the end, the girl dies
giving birth to their baby. Doesn’t get much sadder
than that.
Amy Talbott
Special publications editor
That anthem to self-pity: “Alone Again (Naturally),”
by Gilbert O’Sullivan. It was my dad’s favorite song.
Jenni Laidman
Writer at large
The instrumental “Telstar," by the Tornados, just
rips me up. Incredible sadness, possibly tied to the
Cuban Missile Crisis.
Jack Welch
Copy editor
Duke Ellington and John Coltrane playing “In a
Sentimental Mood.” The frst phrase whispers
through Coltrane’s upper register. Shouldn’t
project myself onto the music, but it makes me
think like this: The mailbox squeaks closed. A letter
from a lost friend. You feel the tangle of handwrit-
ing indentations on your fngertips. Then a gust of
wind sucks the letter skyward. You’ll never read
it, never know more than a memory of touch. But
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2. LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 3.15 9
now it twirls above. Now its black ink
fades with distance, and the page, the
bright white whole, fies stark against
blue. It looks like God has scratched a
little tear in the wallpaper sky.
Dylon Jones
Associate editor
“Goodbye My Lover,” by James Blunt.
I saw him performing it on Oprah
quite some time ago. Goosebumps. I
think Oprah even shed a tear.
Emily Douglas
Advertising account executive
The hymn “Come Thou Fount of
Every Blessing.” Because each time
I hear it, I transport to a wooden
church pew beside my granny, my
legs swinging free, my hand in hers.
Elizabeth Myers
Editor, Louisville.com
When I was four, we lived in Denver,
Colorado, and the family car was a
Chevette. Some of you may remem-
ber this compact, low-horsepower
go-kart of a car. It couldn’t make it up
the Denver mountainsides with four
in tow. The day we traded it in for a
new VW, we listened to John Den-
ver’s greatest hits on the way home
from the dealership. I missed the car
already and started to cry; then my
me. It’s more than a year later, and the
song still makes me sad. It’s a year later,
and I still don’t know if I know how to
deal with death. It’s a year later, but I
always thought that I’d see you again.
Michelle Eigenheer
Executive assistant
Lately, “Cat’s in the Cradle.”
Phillip M. Bailey
Columnist
“Landslide,” by Fleetwood Mac. Con-
fronting the themes of time passing, life
changing and love gets me every time.
Mariah Douglas
Editorial intern
If I’m looking for a one-way ticket to sob
city, I’ll put on Leona Naess’ self-ti-
tled album. If I make it to “Star Signs”
without crying or searching for an old
bottle of Xanax, I turn on the Cranber-
ries’ “Zombie,” because I’ve decided
to embrace the heartless/dead-inside
method of coping.
Jaren Cooley
Editorial intern
Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance.”
For a parent, this song is everything you
will ever want to say to your child.
Kevlen Goodner
Illustrator
brother was crying, and soon the
whole family was a blubbering mess. I
still cry when I hear “Follow Me.”
Suki Anderson
Art director
The four worst songs of all time:
“Family Affair,” by Mary J. Blige; “Cot-
ton Eye Joe,” by Rednex (with an x!);
“Get the Party Started,” by P!NK (hey,
P!NK, you think you’re the Yum! Cen-
ter or something?); and, of course,
Buckcherry’s “Crazy Bitch.” Hate
tears. But really: “One Sweet Day,” by
Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey. And
“Falling Slowly” from the movie Once.
And that one Adele song.
Josh Moss
Editor
I woke up on New Year’s Day 2014
to a text message that said, “(Great)
Uncle Jim passed away this morning.”
I’d made it 21 years without having
anyone I know die. Two weeks later,
my mom’s father died and, in one fell
swoop, I had lost both of my grandfa-
ther fgures.
I was too old for anyone to sit me
down and tell me how to cope with
death, so I had to fgure it out myself.
I stumbled across Birdy’s cover of
“Fire and Rain” (originally by James
Taylor), and somehow, that did it for
kdf.org
Sometimes I wonder if I should even
be here. What if I were tumble-weed-
ing the great U.S. of A. and beyond
with a lover or a tambourine? On
an anywhere street corner belting
“Everything Is Free” in the tune of Ben
Sollee (me sans cello)? I’d forget all
those who hit the big score, and I’d live
on nothing, need nothing, except me:
open-eyed and -hearted. Passing that
sentiment on, I’d belt: If there’s some-
thing that you want to hear, yeah, you
can sing it yourself. So much freedom
in possibility. I’m lucky, I know this, but
I tear in the moments I remember I’m
bound.
Arielle Christian
Associate editor
“Seasons in the Sun,” by Terry Jacks.
Because the stars they could reach
were just starfsh on the beach and
everybody pretty much dies by the
time the song is over.
Jon Lee Cope
Contributing editor
“Last Kiss,” by Pearl Jam. I have to
change the station every time it comes
on to stop myself from being in com-
plete hysterics.
Mandy Wood
Advertising account executive

3. LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 3.15 123
arts
the
bits
My
Method
Playing
the
Triangle
It looks simple enough: a
three-sided equilateral triangle,
open at one corner. Terry
O’Mahoney takes a clip and
threads its loop of fshing line
through the open corner and up
one of the sides until it reaches
the top angle, freeing the instru-
ment from his hand. He switches
the clip to his left hand, his thumb and index fnger
pinching the clip and the three other fngers ready
to silence or steady the instrument and ward off any
unruly spinning. With a beater, he strikes the tri-
angle’s base, dead center, then hits the upper-right
outside. Completely different sounds. He can mute
it by quickly squeezing the instrument, can rattle the
beater in the corner to execute a “triangle roll.” For
a little something extra, he’ll hang the triangle from
two clips, take a beater in both hands.
At 54, O’Mahoney, president of the Louisville
Federation of Musicians, has been a percussionist
for 35 years. His dozen or so triangles (he bought
one at a Brazilian fea market) vary in alloy (brass
and gold, for instance) and size (four to 12 inches
on a side). O’Mahoney says that, as a sixth-grader, “I
was fascinated by different sounds, and triangle was
one of those sounds available as a percussionist.”
What else does he play? “Oh, boy,” he says. “I’ll try
to put them into groups for you: mallet keyboards,
hand-percussion, timpani, drum set….” With the
triangle, he says, “You’re the only one doing it. If you
play at the wrong time, everyone knows who did it.
You’re one on a part.”
When O’Mahoney gets a call to play triangle,
whether for the Louisville Orchestra or, say, Sym-
phony Nova Scotia, he studies, studies, studies. The
sheet music denotes the exact time he should play,
but pitch and note length are his call. “You make
some artistic decisions based on the quality of the
piece, the acoustics of the room, how far you are
from the rest of the musicians, and the tonality of
the piece,” he says. “None of that is printed — all that
is what you learn to do. You learn to adapt to the
situation.” For each piece, he will test three or four
triangles to get the “proper dynamic.” He says the
triangle needs to add “sparkle and shimmer.”
— Mariah Douglas
PhotobyShadiaHeenan
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4. 124 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 3.15
arts
the
bits
PhotobyShadiaHeenan
One
Question
Behind
the
Scenes
A Spoonful
of Practice
brazeiros.com
Playwright Charles Mee, 76,
wrote The Glory of the World,
inspired by the 100th birthday
of Thomas Merton, the late
Kentucky-based monk. It will
premiere at Actors Theatre
as part of the 39th Humana
Festival of New American Plays,
March 4 - April 12. This is Mee’s
sixth Humana Festival play
and his ffth collaboration with
director Les Waters.
What was the frst play you ever wrote?
“I wrote my frst play when I was fve years old,
coming home from the playground, thinking:
When he said that
I should have said THIS.
And then when he said THAT
I could have said THIS!
And that’s the way I wrote plays until, when I was
13, my mother took me to see South Pacifc in
Chicago. And there was a moment in South Pacifc
where a guy who had a sailing ship tattooed on his
stomach did a belly dance, so that the ship rocked
on the waves. And I thought: I want to do that!
And so, ever since, I have written plays that are a
combination of text and music and movement.”
Rehearsal is in full swing
on this winter Sunday
afternoon. Four of the
47 students in the Mary
Poppins cast form a
semi-circle at center
stage, scripts in hand.
Downstage, hand on chin,
stands Robbie Steiner,
director of theater arts at
Floyd Central High School
in Floyds Knobs, Indiana.
He pauses the actors,
takes Mary Poppins’ place
and walks three steps to
his left, repeating her line.
“And on that line,” Steiner
says, “you’ll be fying to
the chimneys.” Mary Pop-
pins scribbles notes in her
script and nods.
At this point, seven
weeks from show time,
the set is minimal. Actors
use two black chairs to
block the scene. Bare
wooden platforms and
fats are stacked against
the black back wall. Soon,
two technical theater
classes will transform the
blankness into London,
including the rooftop for
Bert, Mary, the children
and the chimney sweeps
to dance on. They’ll also
design the park, which
is dark and dingy until
whimsy settles in and
the scene changes to a
vibrant, fashy cartoon
world. For Mary Poppins,
Floyd Central’s theater
department (Stage Di-
rections Magazine named
it best in the Midwest
in 2013) has partnered
with Louisville-based ZFX
Flying Effects, which will
make Mary and Bert fy.
“Bert needs to fip upside
down,” Steiner says. “And
Mary will be about 30
feet in the air.” Supercal-
ifragilisticexpialidocious.
(Had to.)
Check out Mary Pop-
pins at Floyd Central 7:30
p.m. March 6 & 7 and 13
& 14, and 2 p.m. March
8 & 15.
— MD