Hear the Glass (h)Armoica in Paradise

One of the best jokes i have ever made was in a an elevator going up to the executive floor of the IBM 590 Madison Building. My colleague and I were having a harmless elevator chat about someone's upcoming birthday when she asked, " Hey. How do you say Happy Birthday in German?" I thought for a second and answered, "Heppy Birssdey." The doors opened on our floor and we spilled out, but not before I heard the chuckle of none other than the GM of Sales worldwide laughing to himself at the back of the elevator. I bet he totally told that joke to someone else as his own. He seemed like the type. I once sat behind him at a huge customer event. He dug around in his teeth for about two whole minutes, found something, looked at it and then ate it again. Then, we wiped off his hands, gots up, walked on stage and did an interview with Charlie Rose. I loved that guy. Once a salesman, always a salesman.

But the point is that this year, 2006 is the 250th birthday of Mozart. Heppy Birsdey, Mozart. Every single music festival, concert, orchestra in the world has a full mozart program this year zzzzzzz. I've heard three already... Someone very close to me who doubles as artistic director for a music festival in colorado created the greatest program around mozart for this summer. Each week will feature music and composers from four different citites that Mozart traveled to with only one Mozart feature per week so that there is room for other things. For one of the Mozart features he found one of Mozart's later pieces that features what? The glass harmonica.




A little research shows that there are only two professional glass harmonica players in the whole world. One is French and the other an American. You can't have a Frenchman go to the wild west to play something that was invented by Benjamin Franklin for a bunch of rich Texans. Unacceptable. So if you are interested in hearing the moody, moving sounds of the glass harmonica surrounded by the Paradise Divide and you need to celebrate Mozart's birthday more than you already have, I know how you can get tickets. I may even have a place for you to stay.