What every true artist wants, really wants, is to be paid.
-Terry Pratchett, Soul Music
—–
After I finished with my small portion of today’s concert, I headed on up to the top of the balcony where they seat latecomers. (WHY do they seat people in the middle of a movement though, I wonder? And why do the ushers go in and out of the hall, allowing the door to shut noisily behind them?) I was able to hear a wonderful performance of Mozart’s Flute & Harp Concerto. Maria Tamburrino (flute) and Dan Levitan (harp) did a beautiful job. The instruments carried all the way up to where I was sitting … no need to try to “listen hard” to hear them. They were very musical. The second movement was really stunning.
I had a very enjoyable time, although I confess that the woman who was dressed in perfume, sitting in front of me, was a tad annoying. (Why, oh why, do these women douse themselves in this powdery, strong scented stuff anyway? I’m thinking we should have some sort of device that the audience walks by before entering a hall that causes phones and pagers to automatically shut off and de-scents them at the same time. But what to call it? Hmmm. NoRingDeScent or something like that I guess.)
—–
In my dream last night (or, more likely, this morning, since I usually dream right before I wake) I dreamt that I was playing in Carnegie Hall. So I was thinking, “Oh good, I can add that to my bio.”
Oh well.
I seem to recall, too, that I was playing something very funky. I think it was with a high school group. But I figured that that didn’t matter. My kids’ high school has had groups perform there, and I’m sure if any of them go on they’ll use that in their bio!
Have you ever read a bio and realized that things can be interpreted in several ways? Same with when someone uses a small snippet from a review. My kids and I often play a game with these. For instance, when someone has “imaginative and fiery” as a quote, we figure it probably said “The reviewer wished he could say the performance of Carmen was imaginative and fiery but, alas, it was merely dreary.”
But anyway, I cannot add Carnegie Hall to my bio.
Oh … but if I go there and bring a Gameboy (no, I don’t own one, but I could borrow one, right?) and I play it while in the hall then I guess I could say I’ve “played in Carnegie Hall” … can’t I? 😉
—–
