Today is World AIDS Day. On the New York City Gay Men's Chorus and Alumni Facebook page, my friend Jim Vivyan posted a 20-minute video of photos of the 200+ members who have died. Too many of them were friends during my tenure as staff arranger between 1981 and 1998, and I would swear that between 1984 and 1995, the Chorus sang for a memorial service for a dead member or friend or supporter of the Chorus.
The photos got to Michael MacDonald, the dear man who hanged my window blinds for me, and I lost it. His partner, Neil Bickford, had already died, and I remember Michael telling me, I'll be gone soon. Neil was a huge opera queen and he adored Renata Scotto. She called him shortly before he died.
My dear friend Bill Tynes gave me a career, and I orchestrated for his company, The New Amsterdam Theatre Company, until his death in January 1986. JUBILEE was his gift to me, and there have been so many times since January 1986 that I've wanted to call him and dish about recordings and revivals. I think he would have fallen completely in love with John McGlinn's complete Show Boat recording.