FASCINATING CONCERT

We have season tickets for the Los Gatos Community Concert, and Sunday was the first of four in the 2010-2011 season.  This first concert featured the Quartetto Gelato, quite an intriguing group.  The fellow on the left, Colin Maier, plays oboe, among other talents.  Next is Elizabeth McLellan, cello, followed by Peter De Sotto, violin and tenor.  Finally on the extreme right is Alexander Sevastian, and yes, that is an accordion he plays.

What do they play?  Practically anything.  Classical masterworks, operatic arias, tangos, folk songs, and gypsy music!  Peter is a classically trained tenor with a beautiful voice, and he is no slouch on the violin.  Colin?  Well, I will just quote from the program:  “Colin also plays clarinet, English horn, violin, five-string banjo, acoustic/electric bass, piano, flute, guitar and harmonica.  Outside of music, Colin also works as a dancer, actor, stuntman, singer, choreographer, acrobat and martial artist.”

They pulled one stunt that had me agog.  Peter and Alexander took two chairs, and had the fronts of the chairs touching.  Then Colin, from a standing start, jumped on the chairs, one foot on each.  He started to play something, and as he did, Peter and Alexander slowly pulled the two chairs apart so that eventually Colin was doing a split while still playing the oboe.  Yikes!

One joke they told -- Imagine you are in Paris.  You see this immense tower, and you are able to take the elevator clear to the top!  And the view of Paris is magnificent.  You really get an eyeful!  (Ok, if you don’t get it -- of course you will -- email me, chippep@earthlink.net  and I’ll explain it.)

FROM THE MORNING PAPER

San Jose Mercury, Sunday, October 17.
The headline read “Taming the Tantrum”.  I’ve never been the father of a young child, nor was Amalie (Cliff is adopted), but the headline caught my attention.  The article started off telling about a mother who was out shopping with her two-year old, when her young daughter started throwing a tantrum.  Other shoppers were watching, and she didn’t know what to do.  “So I threw myself on the ground and started kicking and screaming and saying everything she was saying,” said the woman.  “People were staring and a couple people were laughing.  A store employee came over and looked like he was going to call security.”

How did the two-year-old react to suddenly having the tables turned?  “Almost immediately she stopped and just stared at me,” she said.  “Then she started lightly crying and asked if I was OK.  I said ‘I am now,’ and we finished our shopping.  And it was the last time she ever did that.”