Connections

The show that got me hooked on cable TV was called “Connections.”  This madman historian, James Burke, produced this fabulous show on science and history that was absolutely riveting.  His premise was that history does not proceed in a straight line.  So he would talk about one invention and then somehow connect it to something that you wouldn’t believe had any relation to it.  It’s hard to describe, but it’s still one of the best shows ever.

I had my own Connections last week while in the PRB (People’s Republic of Berkeley).  Thursday was concert day and on three separate occasions the most interesting “connections” occurred.  The first one happened during the break in the dress rehearsal.  I was introduced to the gentleman who runs the performance venue, a Mr. Robert Cole.  Very nice man, retiring this year.  Somehow it came up that I was from Buffalo, N.Y.  He asked me “did you go to any of the children’s concerts at the Buffalo Phil when I was conducting from 1973-78?”  DID I????  Of course I did!!!! I have very vivid memories of those concerts, including one fabulous rendition of the Sabre Dance complete with dancers.  These concerts were instrumental in my development as a young lover of music, and suddenly here was the guy who had conducted them all!  What a terrific moment to get the opportunity to thank him for all he did for me.

Later that evening I got into a conversation with a cellist in the orchestra named Farley.  Seems he’s an architect by trade with an interest in acoustics, and so the subject went to the recording studio project my wife and I are currently finishing (more about that in another post).  He mentioned that he had been roped into working on a project some years ago for a guy named Peter Gabriel.  My jaw hit the floor. I’m a huge Gabriel fan, and Gabriel’s studio in England is one of the most famous and beautiful studios in the business. My friend and colleague Tony Levin, fellow Eastman grad and phenomenal bass/stick player, has recorded there, as has many of the greatest talents in World Music.  Farley mentioned, with a smile, that he had never heard of Gabriel prior to meeting him, something that Gabriel thought was quite hilarious.  Another interesting connection.

After the concert I stumbled to the reception.  Sleep deprivation due to my serious sleep issues, along with back-to-back dress and concert, made me as tired as I’ve ever been in my life.  I could barely walk and I’m sure I wasn’t close to coherent.  Suddenly I was accosted by this gentleman named William Knuttel. Turns out he is a wine maker who takes an interest in the Berkeley Symphony, so he provides them with post-concert libations.  Drinking his wine was fun, and meeting another winemaker a strange deja vu thrill (another post again) but what really caught my rather limited attention was the joy the man radiated.  It turns out his first wife, now deceased, was Czech.  During one of his sojourns to that great land he heard his first Martinu and since then has become something of a Martinu freak.  His words: “I’ve got a shelf full of Martinu!”  He was beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to hear Symphony #1 in concert. He had originally had a function with his wife scheduled for that evening, but he told her that come 7 pm he was getting in his car, driving down from Sonoma, and hearing our concert.  The gleam in his eye was wonderful to behold – we had made his year that night.

I love odd connections like these.  They happen to me all the time in this business, and it’s one of the reasons I keep doing what I do.