November 2007


Once again its time for the annual performance of Handel Messiah by the International Festival Chorus at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. This year we are privileged to have guest conductor Dr. Martin Dennis directing from the harpsichord. Dr. Dennis is none other than the man responsible for the tutelage of our own conductor Nick Smith, and after the vocal calisthenics the chorus was put through in preparation for our recent performance of the Bach B Minor Mass, this year promises to be the best ever, perhaps even our best performance ever… period! Or, perhaps I should say, “full stop”!

International Festival Chorus performs Handel Messiah Dec 8, 2007 at the Forbidden City Concert Hall

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My friend Malcolm Nerva was recently asked if he could put something together for entertainment at a charity fundraiser at the Old Factory 798 art district for an orphanage in Hebei Province outside Beijing. Inspired from a performance of the Maimi University Cheezies that he’d seen on YouTube, he scraped up a small ensemble of fellow International Festival Chorus members, and painstakingly arranged a version for us to perform - complete with notation - and in a different key!

The result… ? Malcolm and his Makeshift Band (aka Malcolm and the Makeshifts) delivered, to an appreciative audience, a heartfelt and entertaining rendition of The Facebook Song…

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Investors in Liberty Dollars are poised to earn windfall profits in the fiat currency they were meant to replace, while Liberty Services, formerly known as NORFED, Inc., the producers of Liberty Dollars, have been shut down, perhaps for good. The Ron Paul gold Liberty Dollar reached $3,537 on eBay and Nolan Chart gives an account of one investor who is already cashing in. They summed up the situation nicely:

Those who invested in Liberty Dollars from NORFED are poised to reap huge rewards, particularly since it seems likely at this point that they are no longer going to be minted. That makes them collector’s items, and collectible gold, silver, and platinum tend to sell at many times the intrinsic value of a precious metal coin, with the final value tending to be based on how many or few of those coins are in circulation. By raiding NORFED, the Feds are trying to punish that company for conducting transactions which clearly have enriched their customers many times over as a result of that raid.

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