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I lived in that pink house on the beach for years and never noticed that big arrow in the sky. |
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Alamitos Bay jetty, out to the Pacific |
I was working for a small computer manufacturing company in
marketing support and this was the position where I crossed the bridge from
being a techie and starting my sales and marketing career, which opened the
world to me.
There was this very shy girl working in our software
department that had a crush on me. She
was completely sweet, kind and nice and I wish I could find a better word to
describe her than “mousey” but I can't.
One day, she tells me that she is a member of a choir group
and her group was doing a concert on the next weekend with the Anaheim
Philharmonic. She finds the courage to
ask me to join her and sit in the audience as her guest. She wanted someone there to listen to her big
moment and I gathered she had no one else to ask.
Out of pity, I suppose, I agreed to be her date. At least, I might hear some interesting
music. We agreed to meet there and she
gave me the details.
The venue was an old Anaheim church and music hall. We met and she left to prepare and I moved to
find a seat in the balcony.
What followed changed my life.
As you know, Anaheim was founded by Germans and its name was
a corruption of the German phrase for “My home on the Ana River.”
This building was right out of the Black Forest, with shaped
ceiling beams, flowers and birds painted in pastels around them. It had the real look and feel of a church in
the Bavarian Alps.
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The chorus stood quietly and the orchestra moved skillfully
through the first three movements. The
sounds filled this tiny German church spectacularly. The acoustics were superb.
Upon starting the famous Fourth Movement, the choral group
rose and their first response to the opening of “Ode to Joy” was a pure
explosion of beautiful sound and showed the power and passion that Beethoven
had desired to capture.
The climax of this piece brought tears to my eyes.
It was always, always my number one fantasy
to that age old question, “Where would you go with a time machine?”
Yes. Opening night. May 7, 1824. Vienna, Austria. LVB himself.
The Gary Oldman movie, “Immortal Beloved” captures this
night very beautifully but got sidetracked by a back story.
I must have now seen my friend as more than “mousey” as we
then dated for over a year. I miss that
time with her and this night will always be remembered as one of my top ten
days.
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I can't believe Mr. Reynolds stole my idea and it appears he did it about 40 years earlier! Kudos on the follow up line. Point to you Mr. R. where ever you are. |
Ah...Belmont Shores, Long Beach, California; I have fond memories from my time there. Think Hamburger Henry' s is still there and just as good as it was at 2 am after working swing shift?
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