No, they’re not really Bonnie and Clyde. That’s my good friend Laura Deming – (in blue) – a cellist with the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra – and my voice student Trevor Parker. . . and the three of us did feel a little bit like we got away with highway robbery. The reason: we were allowed to go into the record collection at Cardinal Strich University in Milwaukee and take away whatever LPs we were interested to have and willing to haul away- absolutely free. The only thing they asked was that we write down the computer bar codes of everything we took- which took a little while – but that was a mighty small inconvenience compared to the pleasure of walking out of there with such a treasure trove, absolutely free. (That part was actually kind of funny. We ended up splitting the duties between Trevor reading off the bar codes and me writing them down in a notebook- and these were number like “zero zero zero zero four two five eight nine four seven.” It was like the world’s most complicated game of Bingo.)
And for once, I was the model of restraint compared to my cohorts. . . I don’t want to get too specific, for fear of upsetting anyone’s present or future spouse, but between the three of us we walked out of there with fourteen boxes of LPs… and my stash was just over two boxes. Which means that it was Christmas In June for two certain classical music fans of my acquaintance and more like Washington’s Birthday for me. But hey, I am not complaining- I did superbly well. I mean, whenever you manage to grab Puccini’s Turandot with Gertrud Grob-Prandl (one of the loudest singers in history) it’s a holiday! And how about the complete DG recordings of Schubert songs by Dietrich Fischer-Disckau? Pinch me.
This was one of those really sweet Win-Win situations, in that Sister Margaret at Cardinal Strich had to get rid of these LPs and was really anxious that they get a good, loving home. . . and that they did! And we each found all kinds of treasures for our respective shelves. In my case, it was mostly some obscure things that will come in handy for the courses I teach, plus a few things I have long wanted and never quite managed to grab. For Trevor, this was a golden opportunity to just about double his LP collection – for no cost at all except some time and sweat. And it was a fun time for me because Trevor would pepper me with questions like “which of these Tebaldi Turandot recordings is better? Birgit Nilsson or Inge Borkh?” And I could render my verdict and feel like the wise oracle. And all day long it was really fun to hang with Laura, who is so much fun and so interesting to talk to.
What’s almost most amazing of all is that we carted off 14 boxes of LPs between the three of us and hardly made a dent! Well okay, we made a dent – but we left plenty for other other plundering pirates. And Sister Margaret was smiling, happy that at least these LPs have escaped a sad end in the dumpster and gained at least something of a new lease on life.
By the way, there was a great comedic moment at the end when we were saying goodbye to Sister Margaret. As she and Laura were hugging, I thought it would be fun to take their picture. . . so I grabbed my ever-present camera and took one step backward – – – and right into a door armed with an automatic alarm. And as I accidentally pushed the door ajar, an alarm went off which sounded like something which might signal the arrival of an enormous aircraft carrier. It was ear-splitting. . . and it wouldn’t stop until one of the custodians could be summoned to shut it off with one of his keys. I was certainly thrilled to be able to make such a dramatic exit!
Incidentally, something made the day more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been for me. I read an email first thing in the morning from one of my voice students, Jennifer Ledanksi, who has been at the hospital where Austin Krueger has been since collapsing Monday night. She reported some mildly encouraging signs of improvement in Austin, for which we are all very very grateful. This was a positive start to what turned out to be an absolutely wonderful day.