Monday, December 19, 2022
We crept to Orchestra Hall tonight on the slippery, snowy roads. There seem to be too many slippery, snowy roads lately. There were several crashes (the electronic signs on the roads always use the term “crashes”. It makes sense – accidents is longer and probably doesn’t fit – but crashes sounds really ominous to me. Of course, if my car is not going safely in a forward manner on the road, I would consider it very ominous, so it checks out) along our way, so that slowed things down even more. Luckily, we left very early and got there in plenty of time.
We went to see George Winston play a solo piano concert. I really enjoyed it. It sounds so effortless when he plays – though I know a lot of musicians and I understand the years of practice and dedication it takes to achieve that ability. Keith looked up Mr. Winston’s age and kept saying, “This is a lot of music to have memorized. And he’s 73!” (I did not mention how actually close we are to 73. I mean, we’re not there yet, but, ya know). Anyway, that made me think about when we saw him in concert in Eau Claire. We’ve lived here for 30 years, that means he was about 40 when we saw him. Now, that seems like an age we are far from. Whoosh – there goes time, speeding by.
During one song, I suddenly started worrying about what I have to do for school tomorrow. Man, I am not a good compartmentalizer. I squeezed those thoughts away and went back to the music. I am going to admit if the interviewees from today do not work out and they ask me to come back, that will be a thing. I am just really starting to groove on the prospect of no responsibility. I do no responsibility so well!
Then I started thinking about not famous musicians. You know, local people who are really good (like Keith, but I wasn’t thinking about him in particular) and how very hard it is to get people to listen to local musicians. George Winston had a sold-out audience filling Orchestra Hall – and clapping really appreciatively – and local people (who are good!) can’t get anyone to let them play, and if they do, not very many people come to see them. I bet no one came to hear George when he was starting out (maybe they did, I have no idea). I bet he is really glad people come now (I have no idea about that, but I hope he is really glad).
I need to mention something completely separate now. BOTH of my sisters INDEPENDENTLY got the Wordle word in one guess today. WHAT? That is a miracle day. Our brother suggested performance enhancing drug testing should be done – Donna admitted she would be positive for caffeine.
Friends in Eau Claire saw George Winston on Saturday night and loved his performance. They said he limped out on stage and then wiped his forehead, his eyes, and his nose; blew his nose; and put drops in his eyes before he started playing. They forgot all about the odd “prelude” once he started playing, but they said he did it again in before every piece. They thought he must have a bad cold–he sounded congested when he talked. It sounds as though he must have gotten better before he played Orchestra Hall. Healthwise, I mean–evidently he sounds great even when he’s sick. Go, George!
No eye drops, but he had a box of tissues that he needed between pieces. He could barely talk – limiting him to “thank you” and the name of the next piece. Even that was very hard to understand. Poor guy!!! But he certainly was all there musically
Just so everyone knows, 73 is DEFINITELY not old!!! I’m 70, and I’m not planning to be old for real for a long time. I admit that sometimes I feel on the old side, but…. WOW… that’s THREE people who got the Wordle on the first guess this week! I got “probe.” But sisters getting it on the same day – that’s like Disney magic!
That definitely counts as a week to me! I agree – 73 is not old, because we are not old! Slightly creaky, but not old.
Correction… I should have said WITHIN a week…. “Probe” was last week, but within the past seven days…
Definitely a week