#735 My First Concert- Felisberto Hernandez

#735 My First Concert- Felisberto Hernandez

You can practice all you want, for years on end. Your technique could be perfected and your understanding of the music impeccable.  In the comfort of your own studio you may be the greatest musician ever, but unless you can overcome the nerves of stage-fright, you will never be as good as you think.

This is a charming and all-too realistic look into the fragile nerves of a first time performer. Having been a musician myself, I am very sensitive to these feelings. The days leading up to the performance is a steady roller coaster of emotion that Hernandez writes perfectly. Here are just a few of the telling quotes in this story:

“Rounding a corner I saw my name written large on two huge posters stuck on either side of a cart, and felt even more miserable. If the letters had only been smaller, perhaps less would have been expected of me.”

“I distrusted myself that morning and started going over my program like someone counting his money because he suspects it has been stolen from him during the night, and I soon found out I didn’t have as much as I had thought I did.”

We see the performance, and thankfully is wasn’t a disaster. The lighter moments on stage make for a great tension/release. I love using both a coffin and cannon as metaphors for the piano.

Rating: 9-8-9-8 Total= 34

#529 Mississippi Ham Rider- Toni Cade Bambara

#529 Mississippi Ham Rider- Toni Cade Bambara

Mississippi Ham Rider is an old southern bluesman, long forgotten by most of the world. Record executives from New York have come calling to bring him north to record some of his songs. They are trying to revive some of this old music for a collection, included in the records are the old blues stories:

“The payoffs, the bribes, bargains and deals, interviews in jail cells, drug wards, wino bins.” (seems like these could all be names of bands...Ha!)

Ham Rider is quite a character: “He’s quite a sketch—jackboots, the original War-one bespoke overcoat, razor scar, gravel voice and a personality to match.”

There is a cultural divide here. White-Black, Rich-Poor, Old-New, North-South—the oldies, but goodies. Trying to hold on to the past in modern terms always seems false:

“Ole Ham Rider besieged by well-dressed coffee drinkers wanting his opinion on Miles Davis and Malcolm X.”

But, as long as there’s a deal to be made, there’s a deal to be made—as long as you can take it.

Rating: 7-8-7-7 Total= 29

#257 The Singing Woman- Rebecca Makkai

#257 The Singing Woman- Rebecca Makkai

I have seen Rebecca Makkai’s short stories printed in several Best American series, but they have finally been published as a collection called Music for Wartime. Her work is poignant, emotional, and written with an original voice, important and powerful.

This first piece isn’t truly a short story, but as we see sometimes with themed collections, the book begins with a statement of purpose; It’s a elegy, a lament, a psalm. Like an amuse bouche before a great meal, this one bite of prose sets the tone for what’s to come.

A composer crosses enemy lines during a slaughter, hoping to capture on record a dying music. He find the last three singers. “He lived with them for a week and recorded…their songs, of which they were the world’s last three singers. A song of lamentation, a song of mourning, a song of protest and despair. They had forgotten the song for weddings.”

If that’s what we are to expect from Makkai, I think I’m going to enjoy this book.

Rating: 9-7-8-7 Total= 31