11:09 a.m. - 2008-06-17
Tolstoy and Boethius
Based upon my last, long-ago entry and others like it, readers of Stevergo would likely conclude that all of my musical endeavors turn out to be horrible, soul-crushing experiences. Not true. Often I take part in quite enjoyable musical activities. I don't tend to record these much because writing about having fun makes for dull copy. I believe it was Tolstoy who wrote: "Every fun gig (or "job") is the same, but every horrible gig (job) is horrible in its own way." It's long been the Stevergo Mission to record and disseminate only the most alienating and demoralizing of experiences. Actually, that's not true, since I just made it up. From now on, it will be the Stevergo Mission to record and disseminate only the most alienating and demoralizing of experiences. That, or I'll just go on about the minutiae of my day-to-day activities.
LIKE, THERE WAS THAT ONE TIME when I was on a long break from opera orchestra. I was walking down the street, looking narc-like in my concert attire, when I happened by the record store where Peter works. I was going to poke my head in and say hello but Peter didn't appear to be inside, so I continued on my way. As I ambled, I remembered a conversation with Tom from a couple weeks before. He had recommended a band, but I couldn't remember the name. As I puzzled over this, I happened upon a kiosk with a poster advertising an appearance by The Nels Cline Singers. This was the band Tom had mentioned!
I turned around and ran back to the record store, determined to find an audio disc that would contain the music of these Nels Cline Singers. But where to look? Rock? Jazz? Song Stylists? I started with the jazz section, meticulously going through the "C"s. No luck. Then, to my left, I noticed the bin that was full of avant-garde and downtown and spoken word, your LaMonte Youngs, your John Cages, your Eugene Chadbournes. Perhaps Nels Cline had taken company with this lot. I looked through the "C"s in this section, and there they were: two cds of The Nels Cline Singers. But which to choose? I surely wouldn't be needing both. One was more expensive than the other. I chose the less expensive one, entitled "The Giant Pin". Also, I picked out a disc by The Stooges, entitled "The Stooges". Listening to "Funhouse" recently had whetted my appetite for more.
Reluctantly, I approached the counter to make my purchase. There were two record store guys there, neither one being Peter. Would my picks pass muster? As I laid the cds on the counter, I was on pins and needles. This was it: the moment of truth. Nowhere to hide, my musical tastes on display for all to see, the arbiters of taste standing before me.
Upon reading the label for the Nels Cline selection, one of the record store guys noted, "Good pick." But then, he noticed the disc of The Stooges, and corrected himself: "TWO good picks!" My picks had passed muster. I felt the weight of the world slipping from my bejacketed shoulders. While they rang me up, the record store guys chatted with me about The Nels Cline singers and how none of them do any singing. I regaled them with the amazing story of how I had come to make this celebrated purchase.
I left the record store on top of the world. Never in all my years of record store shopping had I experienced such record store guy approval. Alas, my euphoria was to be short-lived. I had to return to my opera pit for acts 2 and 3. No longer would I be the man who picked out two good cds. I would instead return to the anonymous schlub in the suit, sitting in the dark, counting measures, occasionally hitting a bass drum or something. I thought again of Boethius, of Fortuna with steely hand turning the wheel. I took comfort knowing that just as the record store triumph had been fleeting, so too would this opera pit degradation. And this, Dear Readers is the TRUE Stevergo Message: Don't forget your Boethius.
