Make Up a Story
Stories from Around the World
“First Horn”
Prologue:
“How are
you today, John?” He smiles, and says “good!”
“How are
you today?” John asks.
“I am
fantastic today!”
John gives
a big smile then sings a melody from a song about “fantastic”.
“It
sounds like you are a musician.” He nods. “Yes, I played in orchestras.”
“What did
you play?”
“The
French horn”, he replies.
……………………………………………..
The car
belongs to my dad. He’s driving it. He works in Queens in New York City and
drives from Brooklyn. It’s a Ford, maybe around 1960. Usually, everybody else
is ahead of him. He doesn’t drive fast. He taught me to do the same.
If coldness,
you do not hear much of anything because the windows are up. In the summer, you
can hear the outside, other cars driving past you. Whoooosh! I think it’s
delightful that dad’s never had an accident.
We played
music all of the time. In the car it was classic stuff. He was a good singer.
He was very good, but not for a living.
I taught and
played for twenty years. I was completely okay, no problems at all.
I remember
years later my wife, Deb, and I moved from New York City to Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. We were going to live there awhile because the money in New York
City fell apart, so we went to Wisconsin. The guys were coming to unload the
stuff the next day. The first time we came in that night there was nothing to
have so we had to sleep on the floor. There’s a photo of me playing on the
radio. We played Dorian Quintet on the radio. That’s what we were listening to.
When Deb had
the idea of playing around about different cars in 2004, she heard of the
Prius. She said, “Buy it.” I said, “Why?” She said, “you’ll see”. I love it and
I still do. I don’t drive anymore at eighty-six. But before that, I drove the
Prius. I drove the Prius 80,000 miles. That’s not much. I loved virtually
everything about the Prius, especially that it saved so much money. I drove
from here to my son’s place in Connecticut, took me about 55 miles per gallon.
I went there and back on one tank of gas. We stopped on the way to eat. It was
fine. It was good.
When I was
first in Milwaukee, on Fridays there was great stuff to eat. Deb did, too. The
fish fries – It was “have as much as you like” and I would eat more than that!
I was up to 240 pounds, had a stroke, and now I am at 107 pounds. On Fridays,
we would also go to Burger King. I ate three at a time. I loved them so much.
They tasted good. Now, I only drink coffee. If someone offered me a burger today,
I’d say, “YUM!” and have a Coke, too!
I like to
play the most. Teaching is good, but playing more. The ballet was my favorite,
like in New York City you would be outside and go into 1, 2, 3 different
places. I played “1st horn player”. French horn. I LOVED it!
Especially, when the musicians sat on stage and the dancers danced around us. I
also had a connection with the ballet in Philadelphia. I knew the guy who was
first horn in Philadelphia. I played in Milwaukee and he played in
Philadelphia. The dancers went from one place to the other.
A guy I know
said, “Hey, you want to play a gig for us?”
I said
“SURE!” We all played with Sinatra in Las Vegas, New York City, Milwaukee,
Chicago and Saint Louis. Big places. Sinatra was very old by then and couldn’t
finish. His son sounded like him. Where Sinatra stopped, his son would sing.
“la, la, la, la”, not the words, just sounds of songs.
I LOVED
doing that. Two guys, me and a friend who both played the horn in Easton. In
those days the three of us played. I played first, he played second. We looked
different, but played the same way.
I just love
the French horn. When I first learned, it was played like this…(moves his arms
and fingers as if playing, while also demonstrating noisy, heavy breaths). You
never sit on the ground…(moves his arms and fingers as if playing a different
way, while also demonstrating soft, quiet breaths).
I could talk
forever. One of my very fine, very good players I was teaching – when I spoke
to him rather recently, I said “I cannot play, I wish I could.” He said, “I
also play for you and in those days, I also play for you.” He now plays in
Chicago.
We made a
deal. I played it 5-6 years and when I finish no one buys it. I gave it to Neil
Kimmel. He was my student. Then, they give it, so it goes from one to
another.
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