I should get one of these. Not the ponytail, the bike, so I can drop it and kill myself. I’ve got plenty of money to buy one, but that would shoot the so-called house down payment right between the eyes. What a way to go, though. I think of this every time I hear that V-twin rumble, which is any day in Taos when I leave the house.
I went to town twice yesterday, once to see the fiestas parade with my wife, and again in the evening to see an incredible concert by students of the Taos School of Music. Most of these “students” are actually performing professionals already, and it’s easy to see why. We were blown away by the intensity and talent, also the innovation. Two players in one string quartet used MacBook Pros instead of sheet music, tapping a USB foot pedal to advance the score, and another did the same thing with a freaking iPad and a wireless (Bluetooth) foot control! The cellist had the traditional xeroxed music pages stapled and taped together, hanging off the music stand. I wish I had been able to take a picture of that: what an amazing visual symbol of changing technology.
The last ensemble was even more remarkable: the cellist sat (of course) on a raised platform, while the violinists and the viola player stood and followed the music on the two MacBook Pros. I have never seen a cleaner stage setup for classical music. They played a late Beethoven string quartet that was absolutely bizarre. Ludwig didn’t have a Harley, but he was a couple hundred years ahead of his time. If this is unfamiliar territory for you, I sympathize. Not everyone can have a classical pianist for a wife to introduce them to this world.
John Hamilton Farr lives at 7,000 feet in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A. As New York Times best-selling author James C. Moore tells it, John is “a man attuned to the world who sees it differently than you and I and writes about it with a language and a vision of life that is impossible to ignore.” This JHFARR.COM site is the master writing archive. To email John, please see CONTACT INFO on .png)
i had a classical pianist for a father, so i know what you mean. 🙂
then of course in high school (30 years ago) i discovered synthesizers, and had to go off in my own weird direction! 😉
I’ve learned so much from being married to someone from that world. Can’t imagine how ignorant I’d be otherwise. And now I dig a lot of it myself!
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