Tuesday, July 22. I wasn’t planning to start the ‘blog’ for another month ... but returning from a movie tonight changed that. The off-beat movie Young@Heart, playing here at City Cinema, was so great that for the first time in that theatre the audience applauded at the end ... what else could you do? It is poignant and happy for anyone interested in the possibility of an intersection between music therapy, palliation and caring with seniors! The magic and power of music therapy as we have discovered in our cancer treatment centre through Peter Mutch’s sensitive application of his skills, this realistic [movie] presentation is simply wonderful. It couldn’t be more highly recommended for our own integrated palliative care team ... or anyone ... and we just kept saying - Peter has to see this! Heck, he could make one like it pretty soon. The movie is at 7 o’clock each night for the rest of the week. Here is how the advertising stringer puts it: - “To judge from the opening shots - a packed theater, screaming fans - Young@Heart could be your average concert documentary. But then the first member of the band steps forward, opens her mouth ... and seems to be missing a few teeth. She is, in fact, 92 years old and one of the most charming participants in one of the most delightful movies to come along this year. The concept sounds gimmicky... Senior citizens from Northampton, Mass., perform songs by the likes of Coldplay, the Clash and Sonic Youth. But the chorus members and their director, Bob Cilman, take the group so seriously that their story turns out to be a profound testament to perseverance and passion... The movie becomes something special, a unique chronicle that is alternately sweet, funny and heartbreaking. Songs like Talking Heads' Life During Wartime or Bob Dylan's Forever Young take on entirely new meaning when interpreted, with thoughtful sincerity, by someone who's seen the better part of a century. Watch ailing octogenarian Fred Knittle sing Coldplay's Fix You, in honor of two recently deceased colleagues, and you may feel as if you're learning something new about life itself.” - Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News.If you see it, let me know what you think. Missing you all on the IPCT!!!!