Gordon's Acoustic Living Room at the Free Times Café 8-11 pm Sunday Feb 21

From Jonathan Rudin:

The singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III wrote a tune on his first album, released many decades ago, that included the lyrics:

Four is a magic number
But then again so is five.

(The song also included this great verse: “Every time I sit you down/To tell you what is true/For safety sake, remember please/I would shut up if I knew.” But more about that another time.)

I think what Loudon was getting at here is that we often invest numbers with more meanings than they might necessarily have.

Take for example, let’s say, the number seven.

We have the Seven Dwarfs (shouldn’t it be the Seven Dwarves?): Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, etc.

Then there are Seven Deadly Sins: Dopey, Grumpy, Sleepy, Doc etc.

In film we have Kurosawa’s masterpiece (and my dad’s favourite film) “The Seven Samurai.” We also have the inferior American remake (when using the term “American remake” is the word “inferior” always redundant or implied?) “The Magnificent Seven.”

I could go on but this would require increased reliance on Google for searching things relating to the number seven and I would get caught up in all the trivia I was reading and probably not get back to this missive.

Where was I? Oh yes, the number seven.

While then not wanting to weight this number with undue and unwarranted relevance or meaning, I would point out that Gordon’s Acoustic Living Room is now in its seventh year of monthly shows at the Free Times Café at College and Major. I think that says something – I’m not sure what that is, but I think its something.

Anyway, this month we’re playing on February 21 at 8 p.m. As always, its free and there will be lots of good food and drink.

Hope to see you there.