By the Very Reverend Sam Candler
Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip
Some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground, on this day, December 4, 1971.
It was the Montreaux Casino, where one of my heroes, Frank Zappa, was playing, with the Mothers of Invention: the ever brilliant Zappa helped calm the crowd and instruct everyone out. The place burned to the ground. There was smoke on the water. The head of the Montreaux Jazz festival, "funky" Claude Nobs, was also running people in and out. Jazz knows how to improvise.
The band, Deep Purple, also knew how to improvise. They were in town, and had to relocate entirely. But the crazy incident inspired Deep Purple to produce one of the great rock songs of the time, "Smoke On The Water," whose lyrics you may recognize: "Frank Zappa and the mothers had the best place around, but some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground."
Beauty can emerge from broken things. I think of another hero, Keith Jarrett. That great jazz pianist arrived in Koln, Germany, in 1967, expecting to play an exquisite Bosendorfer piano. He was greeted with a broken and out-of-tune substitute. He was persuaded to play anyway, by the earnest young man who had put the concert together.
And Keith Jarrett did it. Keith Jarrett exquisitely adjusted his playing, arranging and working completely around and within, the erratic elements of the piano, producing the masterpiece Koln Concerts of 1967. Jazz knows how to improvise.
Beauty can emerge from burned and broken things. There are some broken countries right now, and some beautiful burned ones. There are several stupids with flare guns. We are in broken times. Another of my heroes, Leonard Cohen, once sang, "There is a crack in everything." "Ring the bells that still can ring," he sang.
As we enter this complicated Thanksgiving-Advent-Hanukkah-Christmas-New Years-Epiphany season, "forget your perfect offering." Ring the bells that still can ring. Get everyone safely out of the burning building and sing a new song afterwards. Play the broken piano and make it beautiful. We can make love and truth incarnate again. Love to all of you in this holy season!
4 December 2025