“Well, I'm back.” – Sam Gamgee
Sorry for the lengthy hiatus. For some
of the time, I have a good excuse for not posting – I was away on
sabbatical for a year – and for the rest of it, I have an even
better one – general malaise, with a side of laziness.
Thanks to those kindly who inquired as
to the fate of the blog, and even in a few rare instances, my own
well-being. The requests to have the blog start up again were all
greatly appreciated and truly touching. Any fellow creeping along a
high ledge, hearing the crowd below encouraging him to 'jump!' would
be so moved.
After rubbing elbows with the peculiar
brand of paranoia extant in the orchestra for many years, I find it
difficult to divulge my exact whereabouts during my time off. With
the beginning and endpoints shrouded in secrecy, details of my
travels to other points around the globe must remain necessarily
vague. Flirting with treasonous candor, a few nuggets of information
are more than I should provide.
My goal was to spend the entire year
out of the zip code, in a different time zone, and for at least half
the time, off the continent all-together. For four months, I
sojourned in an American city, famous for its bridge, if not other
things. During that time I prepared a possibly ill-advised (as if
there was any other kind of) double bass recital, which I presented
in my hometown.
The next four months were spent in an
island nation, notable for the tendency of its inhabitants to drive
on the left-hand side of the road. After that, the remainder of the
year passed in a city on the European Continent, formerly a great
naval power, now celebrated for its scenic canals, if not its
cuisine.
I returned to work in September 2014,
with every intention of starting up the old blog again. But, as I
found out, it's hard to get on when the merry-go-round is already
spinning. And after a year away, the orchestra can seem a bit
overwhelming, like gazing at one of those Bruegel paintings of
teeming village life. The longer you look, the more quirky and
curious things you might see – there are always small scenes of
cruelty or debauchery lurking at the corners.
The only incident worth recounting from
my sabbatical happened right at the beginning.
A couple days drive from a Large
Midwestern City will bring you to the congressional district of a
former vice president, ironically the man most responsible for
ushering the phrase 'undisclosed location' into common usage. When
choosing a roadside motel, especially with a year's worth of
belongings crammed into one's car, the often warring desires for
cheapness or comfort are subsumed by the need to park as closely to
the room as possible. Finding myself in this particular undisclosed
part of the country, I had very low expectations.
The first surprise came at finding a
cheap, clean motel, with parking right at the door to the room. Next
was discovering the place had a happy hour with all the free beer you
could drink. The bartender, who I vowed never to forget but whose
name flew right out of my head after the second large plastic cupful,
kept the tap flowing freely. Besides myself and the bartender, the
place was deserted except for a group of four thickly bearded men in
camouflage, and a bunch of animal heads bearing doleful witness
through their glass eyes.
How about a little television? The
friendly barman snapped on the set before supplying the room with
another round.
Even with the set behind me, it wasn't
long before the hairs on the back of my neck began standing up. That
unmistakable sound – I can't bring myself to really call it music.
I'll be damned if LOTR:TTT* wasn't on TV. Almost unbelievably,
those were the last concerts I'd played with the {redacted}SO before
my sabbatical began, a few days earlier.
One of the camouflaged gentlemen, and
it struck me I had no idea whether they were dressed for an excursion
of animal or human slaughter, was out of his seat, quick as a cat,
heading for the TV. With a hand on the knob, and in a voice that
left no doubt anyone in disagreement would likely find their head
mounted on the wall among the glassy-eyed creatures, he asked
rhetorically, nobody's watching this, are they?
My sabbatical went on for another 363
days, but I might as well have headed home the next morning. I
didn't learn a more profound thing the entire time: You can find a
kindred spirit in the most unlikely of places.
*Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
