What I Learned From Listening to Ravel's Bolero for 14 Hours
During the course of a lifetime a human being goes through many rites of passage. Birth, for example. First love. The death of a loved one and enduring a Republican primary debate. For me, one of the most memorable rites of passage happened in college during my "pledge weekend" -- the weekend I was initiated into a fraternity.
I realize, of course -- especially in these politically correct times -- that college fraternities are rarely associated with anything remotely smacking of insight, awareness, or transformation. But for me it most certainly was -- at least on the rite of passage night I was initiated into Pi Lambda Phi -- an experience now permanently etched into whatever remains of my mind.
The initiation? To sit blindfolded in a pitch black room, next to 21 of my sweating classmates, all of us holding 17 marbles in our left hands while listening to Ravel's Bolero for 14 hours.
That is not a misprint, folks. Fourteen hours of Bolero. Fourteen.
If you are not familiar with Bolero, allow me to briefly introduce it to you. It goes a little something like this: dahhhh, dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah, dah, dah dah dahhhh, dah dah dah, dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah.
It is, shall we say, an extremely REPETITIVE piece of music, a kind of mental military mantra, one that requires the kind of refined sensibility to appreciate that none of us in that room possessed. I think the operational word here is TORTURE -- a kind of classical music waterboarding experience I still have not yet completely recovered from. Five minutes of Bolero is usually enough for most people. Fourteen hours is like the last year of a really bad marriage.
Now here's where it really gets interesting. By the grace of the Bolero gods and the fact that the recording we were listening to had been made on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, every 17 minutes or so there would be a four second delay before the music looped back to the beginning. FOUR SECONDS. That was it. Every 17 minutes we had a four second reprieve from Mrs. Ravel's lunatic son.
What I learned during those four seconds taught me a lesson I will never forget.
Those four seconds were not memorable because of the SILENCE itself, but because of what happened DURING that silence -- the space that opened up -- a chance for the 22 of us to enjoy a blast of divine humor -- humor initiated by the youngest of us in the room that day, the Honorable Barry "Boonbeam" Birnbaum (now a much sought after attorney in New York City).
What Barry did during those precious few seconds not only renewed and refreshed us, it most likely prevented the lot of us from spending the rest of our lives in a loony bin.
"Nice beat, but you can't dance to it" was Barry's comment during the first of our four second reprieves. "More bass! More bass!" was his commentary the second time around. "I much prefer the London Philharmonic version", he interjected after Round Three. And so and so on it went, 49 times every 17 minutes throughout that dark night of our collective soul.
The smiles and laughter that followed Barry's comments refreshed our minds and rebooted our souls. Humor saved the day. Humor gave us new life. Or as Gandhi once confessed: "If I had no sense of humor I would long ago have committed suicide."
Humor is the great equalizer, no matter who you are and what you do. It opens the heart, relaxes the mind, diffuses worry, energizes, uplifts, renews, restores, and rejuvenates. I like to think of it as one of the core universal truths on planet Earth. Beyond this Earth, I cannot say for sure, other than my perception that ETs from other worlds, at least in the pictures I've seen of them, never seem to be smiling. I don't get it. They are all so serious. All that "advanced consciousness" and still no sense of humor. Really? REALLY?
I have no idea if extraterrestrials listen to Bolero or think George Carlin is funny, but I do know this: HUMOR IS A GIFT FROM GOD. Humor is divine. Humor is wisdom wearing a smile.
Why else do you think the court jesters had the ear of the King?
But wait, there's more!
Excerpted from this book
Photo: Armin Lotfi, Unsplash
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2022ANNOUNCING: Evelyne Pouget's San Miguel Mosaic Workshops
Hello and thank you for your interest in my upcoming mosaic workshops.
I will be teaching a series of 3-day workshops in my garden, in April and May, focusing on different glass mosaic art pieces for each workshop. For the first workshop, we will be making framed mirrors.
We will meet around an enormous table on my shaded outdoor patio, with as much social distancing possible.
You will learn some simple techniques to make very creative and beautiful mirrors out of glass mosaic. No previous experience necessary.
I will provide all of the multi-color glass tiles, mirrors, frames, grout, and other tools and materials necessary to create a mosaic you will cherish forever.
You will have four different sizes of mirror frames to choose from.
If you have flat ornaments (i.e. old earrings, beads, two-dimensional objects) that you want to include in your artwork, please bring them with you and we will try to incorporate them into your mosaic.
If you already have your own mosaic tools, please bring them.
If you want to wear thin gloves and/or goggles to protect your eyes from glass chards, please bring them to class. I will provide plastic gloves.
I will also have some patterns and designs for you to follow, in case you need some design inspiration.
FEE: US $225 (or 4,700 pesos): 3-day workshop (9 hours). Includes your mosaic mirror. Cash only.
CLASS SIZE: Six people maximum
HOW TO RESERVE YOUR SPACE: At least one week prior to the workshop, send me an email (evelynepouget2@gmail.com) and then, by appointment, bring a non-refundable deposit (US $100 or $2100 pesos) to my home -- Stirling Dickinson 16, Centro. I am there most mornings from 10:00 am -- 1:00 pm.
FOUR UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
-- April 4, 6, 8: (10:00 am -- 1:00 pm)
-- April 11, 13, 15: (10:00 am -- 1:00 pm)
-- April 25, 27, 29: (10:00 am -- 1:00 pm)
-- May 9, 11, 13: (10:00 am -- 1:00 pm)
Let's have fun, creating together!
See you soon!
Evelyne
HOW TO CONTACT EVELYNE: evelynepouget2@gmail.com
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)