ITM Withdrawal Pains

Irish Flute
1

I was communicating today with an Irish flute player in Silverhill, AL. He mentioned that he was experiencing ITM withdrawal pains. The Pensocola Beach Pub, where he had been meeting for weekly sessions for years, was destroyed by hurrican Ivan. They are hoping that they can get the pub rebuilt by Christmas, but in the meantime, it is going to be difficult, he said.

I don’t know about you, but when I am forced by circumstances to be away from ITM for any period of time, I too experience strange withdrawal symptoms. The last time, if I recall correctly, I had the urge to listen to the complete Wagnerian Ring cycle. The woman in the apartment next to me was not too pleased, to say the least. :slight_smile:

2

Its not easy to dance to Wagner. :roll:

djm

3

:boggle: I wouldn’t have been too pleased, either!

Dana

4

ITM to Wagner…from the sublime to the rediculous :wink:

I confess my ability to apreciate Wagner was permanently warped by Anna Russell’s “Guide to the Ring.” In grad school in London, my roommate & I were given a copy together with season tickets to the Ring at Convent Garden. Oh dear. The moment “my friend Urda the Green-Faced Torso” made her appearance, we nearly lost it. But then we were notorious for not taking our music too seriously…Handle flute sonatas played on sopranino recorder with double bass fiddle continuo.

5

There was a elderly bald man on TV in the early 50s
who played tunes on his skull with two wooden mallets,
opening and closing his mouth to change pitch.
As months went by he began getting a weird
gleam in his eye and muttering things about
Wagner. Finally, I believe it was on the Howdy
Doody Christmas Special, he announced that he
would perform the entire Ring Cycle then and there.
When they dragged him offstage
the mallets were dripping gore. I never saw him
again.

6

This reminds me of that Monty Pithon segment where the tall guy has trained these mice to sing different pitches as they’re being squashed with a heavy mallet.

7

Is listening to Wagner a symptom of, or an antidote for, ITM withdrawal? Either prospect is horrifying:

The entire overture, long as it was, was played to a dark
house with the curtain down. It was exquisite; it was delicious.
But straightway thereafter, or course, came the singing, and it
does seem to me that nothing can make a Wagner opera absolutely
perfect and satisfactory to the untutored but to leave out the
vocal parts.

My favorite piece of music criticism.

And, for pure guilty pleasure (re Glauber/Jim comments above) see entries for “Marvin Suggs” and “muppaphones” on the following page:

http://www.kermitage.com/html/characterindex/tms/characterm.html