Kith & Kin

For full context, please read Part 1 and Part 2 . Part Three The Concert: A Few Words from Dorothy After Psycho ’s last note echoed through the great edifice and the applause subsided, Dorothy Herrmann approached the chancel: it was time for her to share some warm—and humorous—memories of her beloved dad. Well, before I tell you this story, I’d like to thank all of you for coming tonight. I know that it would have meant a lot to my father. I don’t think he would have ever believed that such a nasty, morally corrupt piece of music would have been played in such [a] divine setting! First of all, my father had reservations about Psycho from the beginning, and that had to do with the money that he was to receive for the score. Hitchcock wanted to make a movie very cheaply, and so he cut down on the budget. And one of the first things that his eagle eye looked at was the music budget. So he wanted to offer my father a car instead of his usual fee. And, as a matter of fact, I wish that m...

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Yes, this is a true story, related as accurately as I can, considering that the events occurred thirty years ago. Have you ever heard the expression “There’s no education in the second kick of a mule”? According to this article , the saying “is a proverb meaning that one should have learned the lesson the first time. L. Mendel Rivers (1905–1970), a Democratic U.S. Representative from South Carolina, used the saying many times.” For some reason that aphorism comes to mind when I recall turning pages for Samuel Sanders as he accompanied the legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman at the Peace Center in January of 1994. I had already been kicked by the page-turner mule once, but when the house manager asked me if I wanted to do it again when Perlman came, I bent over and said, “Yeah! Kick me again!” If you’ve read my previous blog post, “ Adventures in Page Turning, Part 1 ,” you will know that in October of 1993 I had the privilege of turning pages for Emanuel Ax,...

My program from that evening, signed by Ma and Ax. AUTHOR’S NOTE: Yes, this is a true story, related as accurately as I can, considering that the events occurred thirty years ago. There I sat, alone—alone on stage at the Peace Center . Alone in front of a packed house—over 2000 people in attendance. And I wasn’t supposed to be there. You ever have a nightmare where you find yourself in public in your underwear? Yeah, well, this was kind of like one of those dreams. Except I was wearing a suit. How in the world did I end up here? My mind began to drift back . . . “That Would Be . . . Amazing!” Months back, at my interview for an usher position with the Peace Center, Gary, the House Manager, asked me why I wanted to be an usher. Part of my answer was that I loved music—I played the piano, sang in choir, loved classic Broadway musicals . . . Gary remembered those comments when an unusual need came up. “Hey, you read music, right?” “Yeah.” ...