On The Road Again, I just can’t avoid getting back on the road again.
Yes, I can’t stay home. Travel is to work as onions are to cooking. A few miles are OK, like from home to downtown Plattsburgh… 4.5 miles to be exact and I could even say that an hour or two behind the wheel of my little red truck would not set my eyes to tearing, but putting my life in the hands of the travel industry in these days of hyper-drive security showmanship is like being the guy with the knife in charge of all the onions in a kitchen that serves hundreds of hungry Hungarians. Tears anyone? Check out how many recipes have no onions.
I love to eat, and Goulash is on my love list, but my technique for onion avoidance is to be Barry Barbeque shouldering the “burn the meat” responsibility while leaving all the kitchen affairs to my wife Debbie. Of course technique is never a perfect answer to any policy desire and my resistance to the onion effect on my eyes dissolves when Debbie smiles and asks me to chop, slice, dice, peal, crush or otherwise wield the cutlery I keep sharp in our kitchen. Who can say no to a beautiful woman??? Not to put it too strongly, but she is the most beautiful girl I ever met.
Anyway, summer is just beyond the near freezing temperatures we get at night, and the Barbeque has been warmed twice already. The rhododendrons and tulips are singing at us from our garden. Just about the time everything else in our garden will be tuned up for the wonderful Summer Symphony out back of our house,
Our Secret Garden
I’m faced with having to go north to hand in my ticket, my luggage and my life to those performers pretending to protect us from ourselves. I know I would turn and run back to the car, kiss my wife and beg her to drive me home again but for the fact that I cannot say no to that which I see as my calling. It isn’t a beautiful woman. It isn’t even Beautiful Singing….. No, I am called to promote Great Singing. Garcia is my guide, and I have no way to say no to a request to be the guide I feel called to be. I can try, but over time my resistance always drains away.
Like Willie Nelson I love making “music with my friends” but I will not be singing while spinning wheels on the road to the Airport. First I’m going to Roma:
For a few days I’ll teach with the help of a young pianist, Rita Lo Giudice. She is responsible for inviting me to Italy to do Master Classes in Great Singing which Garcia is all about. After those five days of furious promotion of the best vocal practices, I will move on with Rita to other collaborations she is organizing in Altidona and Firenze.
When I have the details to publish I will post them. I have a place I must visit if I go to Firenze. Debbie would disavow my duty to bring back a remembrance for my beautiful bride. She is so thrifty these days, but if I get close, I must do that Old Bridge.
July will take me to Romania. Now there is a surprise inside a friendship. I have never been to Romania. I never thought I would get the chance to actually travel there. Because of the suggestion of one of my newest friends, pianist Liora Maurer, I was invited to Romania to do a Master Class. Now I have several reasons for my desire to know more about Romania.
Back in 2003, before Miguel Lerin introduced me to Elena Obraztsova, he gave me a chance to sing a duet concert with my only Romanian friend, Nelly Miricioiu. I first met Nelly in London when we made a recording for Opera Rara. I had so much fun making that recording that when Miguel asked me to sing with her in the opening concert of the Concurs Francesc Viñas I jumped at the chance. We had a wonderful time. We rehearsed in the home of pianist, Marco Evangelisti and met Jaime Aragall who had just finished rehearsing with Mr. Evangelisti. The World is really small, and the World of Music could be depicted as a small drop of water, but it is a rare occasion for two tenors to meet without being contracted to do so. I get off subject here, and I admit I am vulnerable to distraction. Anyway, Nelly told us stories of Romania……………
I also came to know a mechanic living within artillery range of Plattsburgh who comes from Romania. We had some long talks while he did some work on that car you can see me working on in “How I Started”. Romania was for him and his family a place from which to escape. Now, in 2012, off I go to invade the place. I bet things have radically changed in Romania since my fellow grease monkey fled Romania for the USA. I hope to turn at least one blog page to a report of what I get to see in the new Romania. My biggest hope is to find open minded singers with really good instruments.
Please come and enjoy some of the new Romania and/or the old reliable Italy. While travel is still fun for you young people, I can recommend it as educational. I also hope you will think of these Master Classes as an opportunity to put me to the test. Do I know what I’m talking about? Come and find out.