I’m always grateful when life serves up a wild, invigorating array of experiences in the course of a single day- and Tuesday the 17th was such a day. It began with a phone interview with an NFL legend and ended with Mozart’s The Magic Flute – and sandwiched in between were a couple of other adventures that made the day just that much richer.
The interview was with Bruce Matthews, one of the most decorated offensive linemen in NFL history. He played 19 seasons, which is more than any other linemen – and was named to the Pro Bowl 14 times, which ties the record set by Merlin Olsen. In short, this guy was an incredible football player and represented the highest sort of excellence while garnering great respect and affection from teammates and opponents alike. But that is far from the whole story because he is also part of what is universally regarded as the First Family of NFL Football. His father Clay Matthews Sr. played 4 seasons in the NFL back in the 1950’s. Bruce’s brother Clay Jr. was an NFL linebacker for 19 seasons, and was almost as honored as Bruce. All three of Bruce’s sons are current NFL players, along with his two nephews – one of whom is Packer linebacker Clay Matthews III. Gathered together they represent the single most successful football family of them all – and of the whole group, it is Bruce who has the most crowded trophy case of them all.
More than once in the book, Mr. Matthews described himself as shy, so I was determined to do what I could to make him as comfortable as possible. Towards that end, I spent more time than normal preparing my questions – trying to come up what would feel like a natural flow of topics – and not probing into anything too difficult or sensitive (like his mother’s battle with depression – or his own, for that matter) until we had been rolling for awhile. Much to my surprise, he was willing to give me 50 minutes, which meant that we had the luxury of time to really be thorough – and by the time we were done, I felt like this was one of the most satisfying sports-related interviews I’ve ever done. (It airs Thursday, January 19th.)
There was no time to rest on my laurels, because the moment the interview was done I was out the door and on my way to the Great Lakes Naval Base in North Chicago (about 40 minutes away.) No, I wasn’t enlisting … although if I had to do so, the Navy is the service I would choose … but rather to receive a tour of the facility from someone in their PR department. The tour was offered to me as prep for an interview I’ll be doing next week with the commanding officer of the base, who is originally from Kenosha. (They must have known that if a football interview was a stretch for me, then a military-themed interview would be a stretch-and-a-half.) I went into this not having any idea what to expect, but it turned out to be a riveting 75 minutes as I tried my best to remember all of the information that was pouring out of my guide. (At one point, he called the tour “A Data Dump” because we covered so much ground, both figuratively and literally, in a rather short amount of time.) I had some sense of how huge it was because I’d driven past a couple of its main entrances, but that still did not prepare me for all that I was going to see. Suffice to say that the place is amazing- but what was even better than seeing it was to hear so much about how naval recruits – by the thousands – are processed and given their initial training. I guess part of what was so cool about it was that I was being given a peek into a whole world that I knew nothing about – a world very much matters and that none of us should take for granted.
The moment the tour finished up, it was time to race up to Carthage (thank goodness there was no ice) in time for that afternoon’s rehearsal for J-Term Opera Workshop. This time around, we are undertaking an absolutely delicious one-act Jacques Offenbach comedy titled “Pomme d’Api.” Never heard of it? I hadn’t either. As a matter of fact, it’s entirely possible that this work has never before been performed in the United States. It’s a tiny work …. 33 minutes long and involving just three singers … one of several dozen such works that Offenbach composed in order to fall within the restrictions imposed for a time by the Paris Opera. (In order to protect their turf, he could only do opera if his works were brief and for very small forces.) It was two of our students who were in France last summer who saw this piece, fell in love with it, and convinced Matt Boresi and I to choose it for opera workshop. It’s proving to be a delightful if challenging project, and spending three hours every afternoon with this lovely work and our gifted singers is a tremendous pleasure.
Actually, I had to sneak away a few minutes early from this particular rehearsal because I was to meet my best friend Marshall by 3:45 in order to head down to Chicago to see that night’s performance of the Lyric Opera’s new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. This is a work he and I had already seen five different times at the Lyric over the years, but this time we were seeing it in a new production that was promising a very fresh approach to this old classic. In a nutshell, it envisioned what Magic Flute would be like if three young boys put together their own production to perform for their families and friends. Dominating the stage was what looked like a life-sized two-story house – the kind one might have found in a typical suburb in 1960 – and many of the props and costumes were designed to look homemade. Going into it, both Marshall and I were expected to hate it because we tend not to enjoy these kind of odd modernizations. But this concept worked to a surprising extent – and even though we found fault with quite a few details in the production, that just gave us more to talk about all the way home! (And by the way, it was musically a superb performance in almost every way. Tenor Matthew Polenzani, pictured below, is the best Tamino I’ve ever seen in person- and just about all of his cast mates were at the top of their game.)
I try to be grateful for every single day, no matter what it may bring- but it’s days like Tuesday that are my very favorite because it feels like the kind of day relished by Auntie Mame when she joyously proclaimed “Life is a Banquet!” I don’t need a banquet every single day – but I sure am happy when they come along … especially the ones with football as an exciting appetizer and Mozart’s Magic Flute as a delightful dessert. My only request? The next time I have this kind of a “banquet day,” I hope that Kathy gets to enjoy at least one course with me. Those banquets are the best.
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(P.S. – the day’s real-life banquet was dinner at the Berghoff – where I indulged in Alsatian-Style Meatloaf. It looked hideous but it was delicious…. even with the pistachios mixed into it.)
