7-Dec-99 Klezmer Concert
So the story is, we had invited my father (and Estelle) here for Thanksgiving. He was going to spend the holiday with Estelle's family, but his car broke down and he ended up not doing that either. A few days ago he called to see if he could come up here to take us out to dinner sometime this week, and I realized that if he came over tonight he could come to the klezmer concert.
Anne came over, too. Arlene had roasted a turkey over the weekend (because we hadn't had one for Thanksgiving, and after all,) and we had a good turkey dinner.
My father talked a fair bit about the memoirs he's writing. His unifying theme is pebbles. Apparently back in the days when people were exploring for a northwest passage, the theory in geography was that somewhere in the middle of the continent a tiny stream of water, the source of the great transcontinental river, would be flowing and would be split east and west by a pebble. Some of the stream would end up in the Atlantic and some in the Pacific, all because of one pebble. My dad's memoirs are, therefore, an attempt to find the crucial turning points and decisive moments of his life. One event he told me about, which was less a turning point for him than for others, is one side of a phone conversation he heard in his boss's office: “No, Dr. Land, I don't think this company would be interested in making your camera.”
The concert was unremarkable. We had a terrible time getting any lights on the stage, and everyone had a tough time seeing their music. We had a small but appreciative audience. The band consisted of Glen on piano and directing, two flutes, one clarinet, an alto sax, a cello, electric bass, and me on trumpet and baritone horn. On one piece, Andy Stadtman's Flatbush Waltz, we had flutes soli for one strain, and it sounded really good. I had a trumpet solo for one strain of A yohr nach meine chasene. As a song, that's a young woman's lament of how life a year after her wedding isn't so great -- instead of having a good time with the young folks, she has to cook, clean, and take care of the baby. We play it very up tempo and it loses all the original lament effect.
My father ended up staying here overnight, because he had some trouble with headlights in his eyes when he was driving up here.
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