I had two good cries today. The first was when I happened to catch the last half hour of Mr Smith Goes To Washington on the TV at lunchtime. Gets me every time.
The second was when my friend Arthur sent me a link to - of all things - an amazing juggling performance by a comedian named Chris Bliss. You might not believe that juggling is the type of activity that can be raised to a high art, but I assure you it can. The grace and ease and musicality of this performance just cut me right open and by the end of it the tears were streaming down my cheeks.
I had a friend years ago in Atlanta, a guy who'd had a really rough time of things - particularly where women were concerned. He was about as guarded as it was possible to get. But he told me once he used to love to watch the pairs figure skating championships on TV because the seemingly effortless symbiosis of the male and female skaters in their routines was the perfect embodiment of this dream he still cherished of the possibility of a graceful, effortless and beautiful pairing between himself and a woman. I think it was the fact that the best skaters made it look so easy that brought him to tears every time he watched.
It makes me think, also, of the time I once had the great pleasure of attending a concert of the New York Philharmonic when the soloist was Alicia de la Rocha. I'll never fully understand what happened there, either, but there was something about her touch on the piano - it wasn't even a question of tone, but more the sound produced by how she touched the keys - that was unbearably beautiful; I started to cry literally after the first three notes...
Bliss truly is pure poetry in motion. What he does seems so impossibly complex, you can't believe it's even possible - and yet he makes it look so completely easy and natural that you're simply disarmed as a viewer. The guards drop and you just let it in. You won't be the same after.
If you'd like to see the performance, just click on the link to the right. If you'd like to comment on what you've seen afterwards, please feel free to come back to this blog and let me know what happened to you as you watched it.
Enjoy.
The second was when my friend Arthur sent me a link to - of all things - an amazing juggling performance by a comedian named Chris Bliss. You might not believe that juggling is the type of activity that can be raised to a high art, but I assure you it can. The grace and ease and musicality of this performance just cut me right open and by the end of it the tears were streaming down my cheeks.
I had a friend years ago in Atlanta, a guy who'd had a really rough time of things - particularly where women were concerned. He was about as guarded as it was possible to get. But he told me once he used to love to watch the pairs figure skating championships on TV because the seemingly effortless symbiosis of the male and female skaters in their routines was the perfect embodiment of this dream he still cherished of the possibility of a graceful, effortless and beautiful pairing between himself and a woman. I think it was the fact that the best skaters made it look so easy that brought him to tears every time he watched.
It makes me think, also, of the time I once had the great pleasure of attending a concert of the New York Philharmonic when the soloist was Alicia de la Rocha. I'll never fully understand what happened there, either, but there was something about her touch on the piano - it wasn't even a question of tone, but more the sound produced by how she touched the keys - that was unbearably beautiful; I started to cry literally after the first three notes...
Bliss truly is pure poetry in motion. What he does seems so impossibly complex, you can't believe it's even possible - and yet he makes it look so completely easy and natural that you're simply disarmed as a viewer. The guards drop and you just let it in. You won't be the same after.
If you'd like to see the performance, just click on the link to the right. If you'd like to comment on what you've seen afterwards, please feel free to come back to this blog and let me know what happened to you as you watched it.
Enjoy.
posted by swoopanddive at 12:58 PM
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