Lightning Bolt Nummer Eins
I wanted to make music too and began clarinet lessons. Hated it. Wicked hated it. And then some. I wanted to play trumpet (not that I recall any of the actors playing trumpet in The Sound of Music but, then, I don’t believe there were any clarinet players either).Mia madre ixnayed the trumpet because that was ‘for boys.’ My older sister was already playing the flute, (which struck me as pale—wan even—next to the piercing beauty of the trumpet), so that left me with the, clearly girlish, clarinet.
Why not violin or piano? Saint Bernard’s wasn’t offering stringed instrument lessons within their small music program and pianos couldn’t be easily toted hither and yon across the country with every move we made.
After my sister became bored with her flute and gave it up, I switched over. This meant the parental units didn't have to buy or rent another instrument. I even went on to major in music in college until the fine arts department, painting and clay, stole me away.
Lightning Bolt Nummer Zwei
30 years after seeing the flick, I visited Vienna. The desire to learn more about Austria and one day voyage there, began in 1965, within a dark theater. Julie Andrews blew me away as she came up over that rise, in the very first scene. Those mountains, that vista were powerfully motivating.
As it turns out, when I finally got there, I never got out of Vienna. Never went to those mountains. Nope, Krakow was calling to me a bit louder. One day I’ll get to those mountains by Salzburg—I’m sure of that.
Marionettes! Yup, that Lonely Goatherd scene did me in. I just HAD to have one. More than one! I wanted a herd of goat puppets! I wanted to become a puppet master.
The folks caved and bought me one for Christmas. A goat? No. Cinderella. More feminine than a goat puppet, I suppose.
I loved it madly all the same. A few years ago, Lucy was clearing out the attic and found her. She sent Cindy to me without advance warning or a note. When I opened the box, I was auto-transported back to that, decades ago, happy Christmas.
I'd forgotten all about her, about my dream of putting on clever puppet shows around the world.
Years later, while at a brill craic in, of all places, The American Bar on the Aran Island of Inishmnore I met a crew of festival puppeteers on holiday. They worked the giants at street fairs around Europe. One man performed inside the figure of a giant ogre with a caged prisoner on his back. The puppeteer was the man inside that cell —the creature's controls were all inside the cage with him. Wild stuff!
Lightning Bolt Nummer Vier
OK, this particular fascination died a relatively early death after a tremendously spotty, intermittent existence. I wanted to become a nun—do the convent joining thing.
No, really. Stop laughing already! I think this particular bolt was more about wanting to hide away from the confusing and frightening world and, most likely, wanting to wear black all the time.
I gave up on the idea completely after becoming an art major. I could wear black all the damned time and hide out from the big bad scary world while painting in my studio. The dreary ass nun stuff, like vespers and shit, could now be avoided.
You know, I was all 'Win/Win!'
No comments:
Post a Comment