Dear Doc Daniel Shoskes,
Greetings and mucho congratulations to you, Doc Shoskes. Though I have enjoyed
your videos for months, I just signed up for this list after first learning
about it at Vancouver 2009. I heard you were the major player in setting up
the list, so thank you! With regard to VAncouver 2009, I believe the less than
30 students who attended are still recovering/replenishing their electrolytes
after enduring near 100 F at 65% humidity and sleeping in rooms with no A.C.
Early Music Vancouver director Jose Verstappen was sympathetic, but when my
insulin pump shorted out from the heat and humidity, I had to complain to him
that it had Verstoppen (Medtronic replaced it in two days). Jose offered me
his own personal fan, as all the fans throughout Vancouver had been snatched
off the store shelves at the onset of the heat wave. On the positive side, I
didn't hear of any lute bridges coming loose.
I will allow others to relate the story of the thunderstorm mishap at Vancouver
airport, forcing some arriving participants and instructors to deplane without
their luggage and instruments.
Being of a gloomy disposition as a pathologist, I suspect my return to LSA
after 24 years of absence could have been behind all the unfortunate events.
Perhaps Divine displeasure at my offering Damian my services in obtaining
casings for human gut strings added even more bad karma. Some good things
happened anyway. All the concerts were fantastic, including special
presentations by Dominick and his wife who attended the singing school, and
Sylvain Bergeron's marvelous demonstration of the special capabilities of the
baroque guitar.
AFter wandering lost (forgot the map) and unable to find anyone for hours, my
first happy encounter was Pat OBrien when I stumbled upon the internet cafe at
the student Union. Pat was vigorously exchanging messages and files with his
fans. Throughout the conference, he was in rare form with his infectious
enthusiasm, encyclopedic knowledge, and sheer joy in all things musical.
Incidentally, he was also the most helpful to me back in 1985 at Oakland Univ!
Grant Tomlinson was a model of patience, technical mastery, superb
organization, and dignity in his lute making and maintenance classes. Finally,
after 24 years doing it wrong, I know how to tie gut frets thanks to Grant.
I don't have my minidisc with all the pictures on it here, so I will try to
find it tonight and send some attached photos, assuming I don't get thrown off
the list today. My last two pics were Guy Smith at a cafe and a long distance
photo of Robert Barto backlighted by the morning sun as if he had some sort of
weird halo or uncanny Kraft surrounding him.
Mark Seifert (le luth sauvage)
---- Daniel Shoskes <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm surprised at the lack of usual post LSA chatter. Any list members
> attend? Any photos, videos, sound clips?
>
> DS
>
> --
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
