Weather & Music

It’s going to be a cold, wet week. And I mean that in only the happiest way possible. We’ve gone without a good soaking here for months, and it’s about time it got nice and cool.

I know I’m weird, but I actually can’t wait until it starts snowing. It’s just so nice, the first snowfall of the season and all that. I guess I haven’t gone through enough winters up here yet to be over it, or maybe I never will. I’ve always been a warm-blooded animal and like to keep things cold. Unfortunately, Bill enjoys keeping things warm so as you can imagine, there are some compromises that have to be made.

Busy time coming up here. As most of you know, I work for the Boston Philharmonic. Our season-opening concerts are coming up next week. Our first performance is at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, a good hour’s or more drive away. It’s a beautiful facility, but an extra concert makes for a long week. We’re giving the US premiere of a piece that our concertmistress commissioned, a concerto for violin and tabla.

The piece is incredible; I’ve had the cd in my car for a few months now and I can’t stop listening to it. It’s called Svara-Yantra and it’s by Shirish Korde, a Boston composer of Indian descent. He’s a really nice guy. Whatever happened to the eccentric composers?

We’ve also got Musorgsky’s Pictures at a Exhibition for good measure. Sometimes new music doesn’t sell as well as the old favorites so we paired a crowd favorite with the blockbuster. The concerts are doing pretty well, but we’re concerned that Red Sox games might overlap with a couple of the concerts. Unless the Sox sweep the Indians, the final games are going to coincide with our concerts, so even if seats are sold there’s a chance they won’t be filled. And that would be a shame.

In honor of the Yankees being knocked out of the postseason, here are the final two stories sent to me by Kendra. My favorite is the last one. Go Red Sox!

Four baseball fans - a Cubs fan, a Cardinals fan, a Red Sox fan, and a Yankees fan - are climbing a mountain and arguing about who loves his team more. The Cubs fan insists he is the most loyal.

"This is for the Cubs!" he yells, and jumps off the side of the mountain.

Not to be outdone, the Cardinals fan shouts, "This is for the Cardinals!" and throws himself off the mountain.

The Red Sox fan is next to profess his love for his team. He yells, "This is for everyone!" and pushes the Yankees fan off the mountain.

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A Red Sox fan liked to amuse himself by scaring every Yankees fan he saw strutting down the street in an obnoxious NY pinstripe shirt. He would swerve his van as if to hit them, then swerve back just missing them. One day while driving along, he saw a priest. He thought he would do a good deed, so he pulled over and asked the priest, "Where are you going, Father?"

"I'm going to give Mass at St. Francis church, about two miles down the road," replied the priest.

"Climb in, Father. I'll give you a lift!" The priest climbed into the passenger seat, and they continued down the road. Suddenly, the driver saw a Yankees fan walking down the road, and he instinctively swerved as if to hit him. But, as usual, he swerved back onto the road just in time.

Even though he was certain that he had missed the guy, he still heard a loud THUD. Not knowing where the noise came from, he glanced in his mirrors but still didn't see anything. He then remembered the priest, and he turned to the priest and said, "sorry Father, I almost hit that Yankees fan."

"That's OK," replied the priest "I got him with the door."