Concert

A friend bought some tickets to a concert this past Monday evening and invited me to go with him - a concert starting at 9 P.M.! What culture!

Culture, indeed. It was the "Newport Debut of World Renowned Russian Trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov" with a Belgian Pianist named Maria Meerovitch. It was held at the Breakers, a "gilded age summer cottage."

Let that sink in. Lots of big words in there. "Gilded age summer cottage." That is to say, a freakin' mansion. Beautiful! To learn more about the Gilded Age, clickity click on these words that I'm writing right now.

Newport, Rhode Island is famous for its mansions, and many a cruise boat make stops at its port to visit the facilities. Who wouldn't want to visit this place? Take a look at the map. Link to map.

Newport is also home to Salve Regina, or, Hail, Queen. This is a university. Imagine this conversation:

"Which college did you go to?"

"Me? Oh. Hail, Queen."

"Hail, Queen?"

"Yeah. It's a Gilded Age thing. I majored in gilding."

"And what do you do now?"

"I'm in marketing."

I imagine that conversation happening quite often in New England.

Anyway, I digress. The concert.

Alas, we got a late start due various thisses and thatses. And finding one's way to Newport is never easy, either (did you even look at the map???). So we arrived stylishly late by about 20 minutes.

The concert was fantastic, but I wanna chat about the myriad (two) opportunities to lie, cheat, and steal.

Opportunity #1: My friend bought the tickets in advance. But we were late arriving, and we hadn't picked up the tickets, yet. Yet we walked right into the concert without tickets. Just imagine if we hadn't even purchased them! Staff at the concert expressed surprise that we got in without tickets when we inquired about acquiring the stubs.

Opportunity #2: The concert was a delight. Take a look at Nakariakov playing Carnival of Venice. (This is not footage of the concert on Monday.) The setting was so intimate that afterwards, in an anteroom, Sergei and Maria met concert goers, freely chatting. What do you say to such experts? Well, everyone, including me, said something to the effect of, "You played marvelously." Witty, I know. Luckily my friend added something original, something to the effect of, "It was quite a pleasure to see you in person rather than on YouTube!" But as we were wandering around the anteroom piano, I noticed the actual sheet music they used on stage. Oh how I pondered nabbing it! (I didn't. All I'm saying is that I really enjoy the trust people share with each other. :))

So concert = good. Culture = good. Not stealing = good.

I suggest you go out and get some culture for yourself soon!