Interview answers...
Aug. 16th, 2005 07:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoAnswers to questions posed by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
songdogmi, original meme can be found here.
1. What's one thing you miss most from your days in metro Detroit?
Tough one. My first inclination is to say "nothing." I've never been really happy in an urban environment, and Detroit was the most restrictive and unpleasant of those I've lived in. Some of the things I did like are gone now, such as the old J. L. Hudson department store downtown, Sander's ice cream counters, and Grinnell's music stores. Others, from what I hear, are so changed that I would avoid them now. Does the band still play summer concerts on Belle Isle? I assume the Detroit Theatre Organ club still holds forth from its home in Dearborn, where they reinstalled the Wurlitzer pipe organ in the Senate Theatre. You can probably still drive through parklands at sunset along Outer Drive or Edward Hines Drive, and hopefully those parks are as good or even better than I remember them and not just littered and full of junk. I miss the Michigan State Fair, which must be coming up in a week or two, and the mounted police (I hope they still have those.) Greenfield Village is a treasure, but I understand it is now quite expensive to get in. We used to pay (I think) a dollar to get into the Edison Museum and then an additional dime to walk out the back of the museum into the Village. I miss driving out to the cider mill in Franklin when the trees are in full color and the air is a little nippy, to get real apple cider and hot donuts and just be away from the city (used to go north on Inkster Rd. which wasn't even paved at the north end, though I'll bet it is today.) I miss having Canada at my front door, certainly. Windsor and Sarnia are not the most attractive parts of Canada, but they are Canada. And you didn't have to go far to be out into the Canadian countryside. The bridges and the tunnel were always fun. I miss Oakland County, at least as it was in my childhood. I imagine today it is just one huge sprawl of subdivisions but it used to be green, spattered with lakes, and full of history. My father and his ancestors for three generations back are buried in Franklin, and I need to visit there again. Beyond Oakland is St. Clair County, some of which may have so far escaped the greedy developers. As you can probably tell, I haven't been in Detroit for a while. The last time was in January of 1993. Most of these reminiscences date much farther back, to the 50s and 60s, when I was still a kid in school. I left for college in fall of 1967, and never came back except for short visits after that. You asked for "one thing" and I can't really choose one, but there's a selection at least.
2. You don't strike me as someone who plays the lottery, but... suppose someone gave you a ticket (and then disappeared so you couldn't give it back to him), and later you found out you won. Not a million or two, that would be easy; you won $200 or $300 million dollars. What would you do with the money?
You're right. I've never bought a lottery ticket in my life. $300 million? Before or after taxes? ;) Maybe I'd buy the Cavel International horse slaughter house in DeKalb, Illinois and burn it to the ground again the way it should be, preferably with the owners trapped inside. Is $300 million enough to buy a seat in Congress or the Senate? (Let's be honest, that's how it is done.) Well, wishful thinking aside, I would first look for ways to invest it that met my stringent ethical standards, which limits the amount of income that would come from it. I'd like to support some charities, but I'd have to take a long hard look first because so many of them are just money gathering mills that do little of the actual work they are supposed to do. I'd hire out some work we need to get done here on the farm and just can't seem to find time for, but that would be only pennies out of such a sum. I'd buy a grand piano. I might quit my job, but I'd think carefully about that.
3. What piece of music do you play for escape or meditation? (If you have such a thing.)
For many years I did put on music to soothe myself, though I rarely do that any more. The typical choices were all works by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Arctic Symphony, Fantasia on Greensleeves, The Sea Symphony, Fantasy on the Theme by Thomas Tallis, The Lark Ascending. Preferred conductors would be Sir Adrian Boult or John Barbirolli. Alternatively, when possible, I have chosen to sit down and play something myself, which ties into your last question. I left my piano behind when we moved to the farm, though. (No space for it.)
4. How different are your Furry personae from yourself?
I like to think that 'Tivo isn't very different at all. Shy, thoughtful, slow to act, but dedicated to what he believes is right. Gentle, even though sometimes opinionated. In one or two respects, better than myself as I see it. 'Tivo is, of course, an absolute vegetarian, something I have been at times in my life but have fallen out of through mostly laziness. 'Tivo bestows his love carefully but when he gives it, he gives his all, which is pretty much characteristic of me. Unlike the reputation furries have, I and my character are not sexually profligate, quite the contrary. But 'Tivo is hungry for touch, both physical and spiritual, and demonstrates that frequently. 'Tivo has been called a prude (he's not) and a pacifist (he's not) but neither is he promiscuous and he never resorts to violence as a solution. If you haven't read my early journal postings, from March, April, and May of 2004, you might want to have a look. Some go into great detail about all this.
5. You might've mentioned this somewhere already, but I don't remember: Do you play any musical instruments, and, if so, which ones?
Well, we should distinguish between "playing with" and "playing well" I'm sure. ;) My first instrument was the piano, though I make no claim to be any good at it. I do enjoy playing one when I can, and have always wished I had the room and money for a grand of some sort. I can't stand the feel of the keyboard on console or spinet instruments, but an old fashioned upright is tolerable as a substitute for a baby grand. Some of today's electronic pianos actually have a decent sound, but the only ones with the right keyboard touch cost just as much as a real piano, sometimes more. I played flute and piccolo in school bands and orchestras, and in a classical sense, that is the instrument I am best at. I can sight read nearly any music on the flute, and wish I had more opportunities to play it in ensemble with others. The classic woodwind quintet (flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, and french horn) is my favorite combination, and alas, anywhere other than in a university school of music almost impossible to put together. We had a blue ribbon quintet when I was in high school, and I still miss playing in it. I also play the recorders, or have. I dabbled with the clarinet (both my brothers played clarinet and oboe, and my younger brother got his bachelor's in music and a teaching certificate but didn't stay in the field) and own two cheap ones. I have a decent violin that I used for Irish and American fiddling, never classical music (not nearly good enough for that.) I can do a credible job with the piano accordion, and own three of them, most recently used to provide music for my mate's Morris dancers but I stopped that when we moved. (He still participates, driving to Chicago weekly for rehearsals.) I aspire to the pipe organ, not the church instrument but the rare and delightful old monsters that used to be installed in movie houses. The opportunity to actually play one of those is rare. Owning one requires a huge space and as much money as your hypothetical lottery ticket above. I did keep my electronic substitute when we moved out here, a Wurlitzer 750 from the 1970s. I have large external speaker cabinets for it, and it can give just a hint of what the real thing is like. The theatre organ is best at popular music of the 20th century, and that's what I play on it. Movie tunes, silent film accompaniments, Broadway stuff. What is sometimes referred to (with distaste) as "Lawrence Welk music" I guess. But schmaltz is what the theatre organ was made for, and that's what it does best. Oh, I should mention guitar as well. No child of the 60s could have missed the guitar unless he had a tin ear. Strictly acoustic, and I once aspired to the true classical guitar style, but that is just too hard and I wasn't dedicated enough. I own a cheap nylon strung "folk" guitar and a decent student model 12-string. If I hauled them out of the closet, I could probably still play but I confess I have completely lost my calluses. :) I have perhaps an unusual relationship with music. It's hard for me to explain. I don't like to "perform", never have. But I love to play, just play. Sight read the music, I can sit and noodle for hours. For me, it's very much like reading a book: a private conversation between the composers and myself, a little challenge and a sense of both communication and accomplishment when I make it work. [Afterthought: I can also play the mountain dulcimer, and have two of them, gathering dust on top of the bookshelves, alas.]
Nostalgia, money, furries, and music. What more could I ask for? ;D
songdogmi, original meme can be found here.1. What's one thing you miss most from your days in metro Detroit?
Tough one. My first inclination is to say "nothing." I've never been really happy in an urban environment, and Detroit was the most restrictive and unpleasant of those I've lived in. Some of the things I did like are gone now, such as the old J. L. Hudson department store downtown, Sander's ice cream counters, and Grinnell's music stores. Others, from what I hear, are so changed that I would avoid them now. Does the band still play summer concerts on Belle Isle? I assume the Detroit Theatre Organ club still holds forth from its home in Dearborn, where they reinstalled the Wurlitzer pipe organ in the Senate Theatre. You can probably still drive through parklands at sunset along Outer Drive or Edward Hines Drive, and hopefully those parks are as good or even better than I remember them and not just littered and full of junk. I miss the Michigan State Fair, which must be coming up in a week or two, and the mounted police (I hope they still have those.) Greenfield Village is a treasure, but I understand it is now quite expensive to get in. We used to pay (I think) a dollar to get into the Edison Museum and then an additional dime to walk out the back of the museum into the Village. I miss driving out to the cider mill in Franklin when the trees are in full color and the air is a little nippy, to get real apple cider and hot donuts and just be away from the city (used to go north on Inkster Rd. which wasn't even paved at the north end, though I'll bet it is today.) I miss having Canada at my front door, certainly. Windsor and Sarnia are not the most attractive parts of Canada, but they are Canada. And you didn't have to go far to be out into the Canadian countryside. The bridges and the tunnel were always fun. I miss Oakland County, at least as it was in my childhood. I imagine today it is just one huge sprawl of subdivisions but it used to be green, spattered with lakes, and full of history. My father and his ancestors for three generations back are buried in Franklin, and I need to visit there again. Beyond Oakland is St. Clair County, some of which may have so far escaped the greedy developers. As you can probably tell, I haven't been in Detroit for a while. The last time was in January of 1993. Most of these reminiscences date much farther back, to the 50s and 60s, when I was still a kid in school. I left for college in fall of 1967, and never came back except for short visits after that. You asked for "one thing" and I can't really choose one, but there's a selection at least.
2. You don't strike me as someone who plays the lottery, but... suppose someone gave you a ticket (and then disappeared so you couldn't give it back to him), and later you found out you won. Not a million or two, that would be easy; you won $200 or $300 million dollars. What would you do with the money?
You're right. I've never bought a lottery ticket in my life. $300 million? Before or after taxes? ;) Maybe I'd buy the Cavel International horse slaughter house in DeKalb, Illinois and burn it to the ground again the way it should be, preferably with the owners trapped inside. Is $300 million enough to buy a seat in Congress or the Senate? (Let's be honest, that's how it is done.) Well, wishful thinking aside, I would first look for ways to invest it that met my stringent ethical standards, which limits the amount of income that would come from it. I'd like to support some charities, but I'd have to take a long hard look first because so many of them are just money gathering mills that do little of the actual work they are supposed to do. I'd hire out some work we need to get done here on the farm and just can't seem to find time for, but that would be only pennies out of such a sum. I'd buy a grand piano. I might quit my job, but I'd think carefully about that.
3. What piece of music do you play for escape or meditation? (If you have such a thing.)
For many years I did put on music to soothe myself, though I rarely do that any more. The typical choices were all works by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Arctic Symphony, Fantasia on Greensleeves, The Sea Symphony, Fantasy on the Theme by Thomas Tallis, The Lark Ascending. Preferred conductors would be Sir Adrian Boult or John Barbirolli. Alternatively, when possible, I have chosen to sit down and play something myself, which ties into your last question. I left my piano behind when we moved to the farm, though. (No space for it.)
4. How different are your Furry personae from yourself?
I like to think that 'Tivo isn't very different at all. Shy, thoughtful, slow to act, but dedicated to what he believes is right. Gentle, even though sometimes opinionated. In one or two respects, better than myself as I see it. 'Tivo is, of course, an absolute vegetarian, something I have been at times in my life but have fallen out of through mostly laziness. 'Tivo bestows his love carefully but when he gives it, he gives his all, which is pretty much characteristic of me. Unlike the reputation furries have, I and my character are not sexually profligate, quite the contrary. But 'Tivo is hungry for touch, both physical and spiritual, and demonstrates that frequently. 'Tivo has been called a prude (he's not) and a pacifist (he's not) but neither is he promiscuous and he never resorts to violence as a solution. If you haven't read my early journal postings, from March, April, and May of 2004, you might want to have a look. Some go into great detail about all this.
5. You might've mentioned this somewhere already, but I don't remember: Do you play any musical instruments, and, if so, which ones?
Well, we should distinguish between "playing with" and "playing well" I'm sure. ;) My first instrument was the piano, though I make no claim to be any good at it. I do enjoy playing one when I can, and have always wished I had the room and money for a grand of some sort. I can't stand the feel of the keyboard on console or spinet instruments, but an old fashioned upright is tolerable as a substitute for a baby grand. Some of today's electronic pianos actually have a decent sound, but the only ones with the right keyboard touch cost just as much as a real piano, sometimes more. I played flute and piccolo in school bands and orchestras, and in a classical sense, that is the instrument I am best at. I can sight read nearly any music on the flute, and wish I had more opportunities to play it in ensemble with others. The classic woodwind quintet (flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, and french horn) is my favorite combination, and alas, anywhere other than in a university school of music almost impossible to put together. We had a blue ribbon quintet when I was in high school, and I still miss playing in it. I also play the recorders, or have. I dabbled with the clarinet (both my brothers played clarinet and oboe, and my younger brother got his bachelor's in music and a teaching certificate but didn't stay in the field) and own two cheap ones. I have a decent violin that I used for Irish and American fiddling, never classical music (not nearly good enough for that.) I can do a credible job with the piano accordion, and own three of them, most recently used to provide music for my mate's Morris dancers but I stopped that when we moved. (He still participates, driving to Chicago weekly for rehearsals.) I aspire to the pipe organ, not the church instrument but the rare and delightful old monsters that used to be installed in movie houses. The opportunity to actually play one of those is rare. Owning one requires a huge space and as much money as your hypothetical lottery ticket above. I did keep my electronic substitute when we moved out here, a Wurlitzer 750 from the 1970s. I have large external speaker cabinets for it, and it can give just a hint of what the real thing is like. The theatre organ is best at popular music of the 20th century, and that's what I play on it. Movie tunes, silent film accompaniments, Broadway stuff. What is sometimes referred to (with distaste) as "Lawrence Welk music" I guess. But schmaltz is what the theatre organ was made for, and that's what it does best. Oh, I should mention guitar as well. No child of the 60s could have missed the guitar unless he had a tin ear. Strictly acoustic, and I once aspired to the true classical guitar style, but that is just too hard and I wasn't dedicated enough. I own a cheap nylon strung "folk" guitar and a decent student model 12-string. If I hauled them out of the closet, I could probably still play but I confess I have completely lost my calluses. :) I have perhaps an unusual relationship with music. It's hard for me to explain. I don't like to "perform", never have. But I love to play, just play. Sight read the music, I can sit and noodle for hours. For me, it's very much like reading a book: a private conversation between the composers and myself, a little challenge and a sense of both communication and accomplishment when I make it work. [Afterthought: I can also play the mountain dulcimer, and have two of them, gathering dust on top of the bookshelves, alas.]
Nostalgia, money, furries, and music. What more could I ask for? ;D
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 10:22 am (UTC)I could write a huge LJ entry on all the things you mentioned about Detroit in question 1, and maybe I will in the next day or so. The short version is, yes Detroit stretches to almost Flint and Lansing and Toledo now, and nothing that was old and good is left.
Figured your answer to number 2 would go like that. That's a lot like me -- a million bucks would only fix my immediate material needs and debts, but several hundred million dollars requires a strategy to do some good with it. Me, I used to think I would buy one of the old hotels in downtown Detroit and renovate it for business. The greater good of that would be (1) preserving a historic building and (2) doing something that I think needs to be done regardless of whether the return on investment was what Wall Street demands. But now I think more along the lines of charitable foundations and such.
I get what you mean about "performing". Playing the instrument (or singing) is only part of the experience when you're on stage. The other things one has to do to be a good performer aren't related to the music much at all, and would only get in the way if what you really wanted was the enjoyment of the music. I get enjoyment out of performing well enough to get the audience to go with me on the musical journey, but over the last few years I miss playing music for its own sake. (Hm, this could be a lenghty LJ entry too.)
It's sad to hear you had to leave the piano behind. I'm not much of a pianist, but I've had stray thoughts that I'd like to have one. My house would only accommodate an upright at most, unless I wanted to get rid of all the living room furniture. ("Only one person can sit, and he/she has to play piano.") I've been really tempted by electronic pianos; they are getting a lot better, with realistic sounds and reasonably good key action. They're at least easier to lift, but I'd guess just as fragile as a regular piano.
My mountain dulcimer sits atop a bookshelf too, gathering dust. It really needs new strings. Good reason to go to Elderly Instruments, eh? :)
I was guessing that 'Tivo the character wasn't much different from the everyday you.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 01:17 pm (UTC)Cold-weather symphonies
Date: 2005-08-16 10:39 am (UTC)Re: Cold-weather symphonies
Date: 2005-08-16 11:09 am (UTC)While we're at it, let me add George Butterworth's Banks of Green Willow and A Shropshire Lad to that list. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 05:04 pm (UTC)I've told you that I'm partly of Canadian descent, haven't I? If you count loyalists who left the US after the American Revolution to live in Ontario as Canadian, then my father was 3/4 Canadian and I'm 3/8. My paternal grandfather was son of Canadian parents who came to Michigan during the US Civil War. And my father's grandmother was a French-speaking daughter of two immigrants from Quebec who entered the US during the Rebellion of 1837.
Recent events in Canada have certainly born out my respect for the nation, as well. While the US is giving in to jingoists and religious partisans and taking away personal freedoms, Canada's government is standing up to the same kind of people and affirming the rights of individuals. It's quite a contrast.
We ran into two old friends on Saturday, by the way. Hadn't seen them in at least six or seven years. They told us they ran away to Toronto and got married last year (on their 25th anniversary, actually) since the US wouldn't let them get married here. Yay, Canada.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 05:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 03:53 am (UTC)Comment from the north suburbs of Windsor
Date: 2005-08-17 08:00 am (UTC)Poor Windsor. It suffers from being just south of ... Detroit. /* insert doleful music here */
I have a Canadian penny collection now, so a Canadian stamp collection held by an American does NOT surprise me.
Re: Comment from the north suburbs of Windsor
Date: 2005-08-17 11:01 am (UTC)Canadian coins are something we rarely see here, and many people will refuse them outright if they notice. Certainly the banks won't take them unless you let them charge an exchange fee plus whatever the current discount rate is. But I seem to recall that as a child growing up in Detroit, Canadian coins and even occasionally paper currency were accepted at face value by most people, without question. Of course, the exchange was closer to even back then, and sometimes the Canadian dollar was actually as high as $1.05 US.
In general, Canadian coinage and stamp designs are much more aesthetically appealing to me than the US equivalents. Our paper money is ugly, our coins too busy shouting PATRIOTISM! to be pretty. The Canadian nickel with its beaver, the dime with the Bluenose, the quarter with the elk have always appealed to me. The US has had some handsome coins, but none of them are in circulation any more. True, they cheat and show Queen Elizabeth II much younger than she is (or maybe ever was) but certainly she's better looking than most of the old politicians we have on our money and stamps. (And now they want to take FDR off the dime and put Ronald Ray-gun in his place. Talk about going to hell in a handbasket...)
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 03:30 pm (UTC)OK, OK, so I actually think it's fun to watch curling. Pretty condemnatory, eh? ;P
<</confession-mode>
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 09:27 pm (UTC)/* charlie hands over his Wannabe Canadian card in shame */
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 03:59 am (UTC)If you haven't seen the film Men with Brooms (available on DVD) try to find it and see it. You still won't know how the scoring works, but you'll have a much more amused appreciation of the sport and its fanatics. ;P