Howard Trolls the Miami Dolphins

Yesterday when we were at the Hyatt and Howard was playing Happy Hour, the Miami Dolphins arrived. The are playing the Bills today.

We both got excited when we learned the Dolphins were staying at the Hyatt because they are the Bills' arch-rivals. It is like the Capulets and the Montagues. It goes back countless years.

When the Dolphins arrived Howard serenaded them from the piano.

"Welcome to Buffalo," he sang. "🎵Welcome to Buffalo

Just in time, its gonna snow, 

You're gonna be stuck here for weeks in the snow

and we love it🎵"

Those musical notes came from the Twitter post by @Oreo Speedwagon who edited and posted a video shot by our friend Ryan. It was Oreo who really got the ball rolling on this.

Last night at the Hyatt I tried taking a video however for whatever reason it did not come out. I think it was because I was too busy laughing! Just the sight of the Dolphins coming in, riding up the escalator, and being serenaded like this, it was just too much.

Howard has gone viral. Something like 30,000 people have watched this video on Twitter. Many more have seen it on Facebook. A group called Niagara Action was the first to put it on Facebook, I do believe.

The Buffalo News did a story.

This story appeared on a variety of sports sites. I love the headline: "Piano Player Trolls Dolphins in Hotel in Buffalo, N.Y."

I love, love this little video. It is not just Howard and his song. It is how beautiful the hotel looks. The lights! The escalators! It is like something out of a Christmas movie. The Hyatt is a beautiful place. And yesterday before Howard's happy hour began, all afternoon the hotel was playing Christmas music from the 1940s through the 1960s. Love to the Hyatt! That was wonderful.

Here is something else that I adore. In all the coverage, it is baked into the cake that hotels have pianists. When was the last time you heard the phrase "hotel piano player"? And yet here one is, in Buffalo.

Yes, in Buffalo we have hotel pianists. 

The rest of the world should, too!

The Appassionata and me

A little while ago, just because I had dinner ready and Howard was not home yet, I sat down at the old Steinway and played Beethoven's "Appassionata."

Just because I could!

Well, I did not know it would go as well as it did. Aside from running through the first movement yesterday, I had not played it in yikes, 15 years. But it came back pretty easily, I have to say that.

Something is almost funny in a way. I think I play better than I used to. Which does not make sense considering I have played hardly at all in 10 years or whatever. When I went to California to see Leonard Pennario I stopped playing. I do not know what it was. I think it was that I loved Pennario and when he died I just did not want to play, because what was I next to him? Maybe it was something like that, who knows.

Who cares, at this point. The long and short of it is, I have been going back to it a little bit here and there, and oddly enough, I am a lot better. Every time I leave the piano for a few years and go back to it I am way better than I was. Another thing, it might be now that I have become a better listener. Part of that comes from listening to Leonard while I have been working on his biography. Part of it comes from working so long as The Buffalo News' classical music critic. I had to listen to a lot and listen carefully and with an open mind.

Not to brag, but when it comes to music, I amaze myself with my capacity to listen. I got better at it over the years. I can sit through entire long, long concerts and never cough or move or fall asleep. I sit there motionless but wide awake, listening, listening, listening.

So maybe that has made me a better pianist when I was not looking. Another thing, my teacher, Stephen Manes, he was great with me. Now and then through my life I have met people who, their teacher told them over and over how great they were, and they have these big egos as a result and it stunts them. Stephen never told me I was great. Heck, he never told me I was good.

Instead he worked me hard. As I was reading through the Appassionata just now, there were signs of a struggle. Faint signs, in pencil, but eloquent all the same. Stephen always wrote freely in my scores, but his writing was always very faint and in pencil and I was finding it hard to read. It was a victory when, at one point, I made out "Rich tone."

My writing was no picnic either. Mostly what I wrote was notes. The notes in the Appassionata get really high, way above the treble staff, and really low, below the bass staff. Now, as opposed to then, it occurs to me that Beethoven was pushing the envelope of what was the normal voicing of the piano. He had the hands very far apart, or else very close together high up or low down. Anyway, I would count up the lines and the spaces, and pencil in "E flat," or "C," or whatever. I seem to remember Stephen was kind of disgusted by that.

And now I can kind of see why. Often these notes are part of arpeggios or something, and you can figure out what the notes are without counting up the lines of the staff or having to write them. Well, having said that, I have to say that my old notes did come in kind of handy.

Anyway, the Appassionata. Because I can!!

I am going to get it back under my fingers and never let it go. I decided that. A half hour every couple of days to run through it, how much is that? After all...

Play the piano daily and stay sane!

The triumph of the nerd

Today was the nerdiest day. Here is why.

After Zumba class I approached the teacher. And I told her I loved her class but asked if she could turn the music down!

"Can you turn the music down?" That is the nerdiest thing I ever said.

On the other hand, let me think for a moment. There is one other thing that comes close. Well, there are probably a lot of things that come close, most of them Leonard Pennario-related. But the one that comes to mind is once my friend Michelle was picking me up for a road trip. There is blond Michelle and brunette Michelle and both of them are beautiful. This is blond Michelle.

Blond Michelle picked me up and here is what I said.

"Oh, I am looking forward to this long drive. Look what I've got. I've got the new Andras Schiff CD."

I am afraid that tops the Zumba story now that I think about it. You should have seen Michelle's face. She wordlessly turned up the Amy Winehouse. Amy Winehouse was new then. This was before she died. She was singing, "They wanted me to go to rehab and I said no, no, no!"

Hahahahahaa!

I am the one who should go to rehab!! So they can turn me into a normal human being.

I was honestly excited about the new Andras Schiff ...



 ... CD! That was before I met Leonard Pennario. Pennario would have laughed me off the block about that one. We had a running joke about Andras Schiff because Schiff was so nerdy.

But to get back to my story, mission accomplished. The Zumba teacher could not have been nicer and she said she would turn down the music! Which, I have to say, I am used to loud music and I usually wear some kind of earplugs. But this was just too loud.

I am so glad she was so nice. Not only that but she caught up with me later in the locker room and we had a conversation. Not about Andras Schiff but about genteel things all the same.

Zumba teachers rock.

They are the greatest!

The pianist's cookbook

Yesterday at Price Rite, remember the cod I bought? Tonight I made this Eating Well cod recipe.

I ate well!

Not least because everything went into the oven at the same time. After I finish my book on Leonard Pennario I am going to write a book called, ahem, The Pianist's Cookbook. This recipe would be included. That is because everything goes into the oven and then you walk away.

The cod gets covered in tomato sauce and white beans and goes in the oven. Then I did roasted potatoes. You cut up potatoes into big chunks and toss them in olive oil and thyme and then they go into the oven.

Lastly there is asparagus. You toss a bunch of asparagus in olive oil and kosher salt and then that goes into the oven.

Then the cook goes off to the piano and plays Liszt.

When your husband comes home ...

... you say, "Oh yes, honey, dinner is ready."

And you eat!

My great work in progress, "The Pianist's Cookbook," will be full of recipes that you can just stick into the oven or on the stovetop, as the case may be, and just go off and forget about it. A lot of Crock Pot recipes will fall into this category. But not all! There are some that are labor intensive. Fie on them.

It will be fun researching my cookbook.

And I will get a lot of practicing done!

Guy's got rhythm

That picture is of the great Guy Boleri playing at my friend Gary's house the other night. It was not even a party! Four of us were just sitting around.

Next to guy you can see Gary's second piano which is a beautifully carved Kurtzmann. Those handsome gents on the record jacket cover are the Russian pianist Vladimir Sofronitsky and, on the right, Alexander Scriabin. And to the left of that album is Jimi Hendrix.

Gary is a vinyl fan as am I! And so is Guy. Guy has told me that Leonard's performance of Gershwin's Concerto in F changed his life.

Here is Howard singing with Guy.

Going to Gary's, even for half an hour, is like a mini-vacation. Look at the piano and you will see why.

Being buried in work it is relaxing and de-stressing just to look back on that evening. When your job or whatever gets to be too much, take this advice:

Buy a piano.

Buy some bottles of wine.

Put them on the piano.

Call your friends!

Ring in the new

 

Buffalo's classical station, WNED-FM, celebrated New Year's Day by playing Leonard Pennario. The recording they chose was Louis Moreau Gottschalk's "Grand Scherzo."

Don't believe me? You can view the playlist here.

So there.

Surely this will be a good year!

I always love when something Leonard Pennario happens and I had nothing to do with it. The best was when he got the brick in the Buffalo Cultural Walk of Fame and there was this big ceremony and I missed it because nobody told me. Pennario would have gotten a kick out of that.

He also would have loved that he got in along with Rick James!

I could not find a YouTube video of Pennario playing the "Grand Scherzo" but "The Union" up above is not bad music with which to begin your New Year.

It will be a good one!

Utter clutter

There is nothing like spending half the afternoon -- heck, three quarters of the afternoon -- cleaning your house, and then wondering if the progress you made is visible to the naked eye.

That happened to me yesterday!

I am having the family Thanksgiving so I must needs clean and child-proof the house. And there is just so much to do.

The problem is not dirt. The problem is clutter. I got that picture up above on the Internet but it is pretty close to the truth. All it needs is some Leonard Pennario albums and file cards to make the picture complete.

Then as I clean up I keep finding things I want to listen to and look at. Well, I am good at fighting that.

I found part of a Choceur chocolate bar from Albrecht Discount and ate it.

I found a Beethoven sonata book and so I stopped and played the piano for a little while.

Two steps forward, one step back! That is how the house is cleaned. At least I think it is cleaned. Well, I think I have started at least anyway.

Can anybody tell?

Sit facing the keyboard

The other day I decided I had to start playing the piano again. For a couple of months I had not so much as put my hands on the keyboard.

It felt terrible not to be playing because for so long I had worked pretty hard on the piano, you know? And I hate to let it all go.

Anyway, on Sunday night I think it was, I walked past the old Steinway in the living room and it was just sitting there forlornly all quiet with nobody playing it. Howard does a lot of his playing at Big Blue. It felt like forever since anyone had played this piano. And I remembered when my world revolved around it.

So I felt for the piano, sitting there like this big silent animal. And I sat down.

The first thing I did was play this Schubert Impromptu that I could play in my sleep pretty much. I thought I could start with that. Here is Al Brendel playing that piece.



I always have to say "Al Brendel" because that is how Earl Wild wrote it in his book.

Howard came in while I was playing the Schubert and he stood there and listened and told me it sounded great! Not only that but he took that picture of me up above, playing the piano. I am going to keep it to commemorate the occasion.

After the Schubert I got brave and decided to play a little part of Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata. I love the slow movement ...



... how Beethoven gives you this melody and then he doubles up the notes, then he takes it in threes, and then in fours. The part where he goes into fours is my favorite part. And, more importantly than what I felt about it, the music was sitting right there.

I started playing the Beethoven and then something funny happened.

I wound up playing the whole sonata!

I could not believe it!

It is not as if it was the greatest but it was way better than I had thought it would be. And this one part that used to give me problems mysteriously no longer gave me problems. I could not believe that. I stopped and checked myself to make sure I was nailing all the notes. Yep, I was.

Thank you God! Thank you Beethoven!

Today I felt different because I had played Beethoven's "Appassionata" the night before. I mean, already I am different because I am the authorized biographer of Leonard Pennario. But having played the "Appassionata" the night before added that other dimension.

I am one lucky gal!

Stand facing the Web log

Yikes, I have been away from my post for a week! I do not know what happened. Well, yes I do. Tons of stuff, is what happened in addition to as usual working away at the Pennario project. This week was busy mostly on account of my job.

Tonight we were at the Philharmonic for "Carmina Burana."

That is us up above! Howard took that picture. I love the look on his face compared with the look on mine. The reason I am laughing is, I did not know he was taking a picture of me. I thought the camera was facing the other way and he was taking a picture of these people a couple of rows down. Ha, ha! I guess the joke was on me!

Before that I went to Oktoberfest at the Central Terminal. What else do you do before you go hear "Carmina Burana"? Surely Carl Orff, who wrote it, was smiling down.

After "Carmina Burana" Howard and I played the piano for each other. Howard was playing jazz numbers and kept working in the riff from "O Fortuna" which, admit it, is kind of catchy. Last week I wrote a story on Carl Orff and it was fun exploring how Orff would use rhythm. He could take just a few notes and do ingenious things with them.



Later I sat down and started playing Brahms and Schubert.

What would I do without Howard's Facebook pages? That is where I am getting all these pictures.

Anyway we have had a long week of music ... mostly music but a few other things thrown in. But still. It was no excuse to not weigh in on the Web log, that is for sure. That will not happen again!

As a matter of fact it will not happen now either. I am going to go and fill in all the days I missed. I just wrote Thursday's. I am going to go and write the rest.

Better late than never!

Brick by brick

Yesterday Howard played a gig at the Statler. It was the first payoff he got from his successful efforts to find the old hotel a buyer. He got to play a cocktail party for Business First.

That was Howard's hope when he saved the Statler, that he would be able to play there!

Business First is a business newspaper and they were giving out the Brick By Brick Awards. People were walking out carrying bricks.

That is Howard up above playing his gig. He is the Leonard Pennario of the Statler! What I like about the picture is how it makes him look like a cardboard cutout. As if he is just faking playing the Statler. But he was not. He was there! But I was not. I was at Parings Wine Bar with my mom. The picture was taken by his friend Zbigniew Bielinski.

The good side of that is, I get to mention someone named Zbigniew on my Web log. That makes me feel cool.

Play it again, Howard!

Friends in high places

My Facebook friend Ivan Ilic turned up in the New York Times! He is quoted in a story on the evils of piano competitions.

"The system is broken," the story quotes my friend Ivan as saying.

Tell 'em, Mr. Ilic!

Once I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in a story about the, ahem, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs. I had a good time at that competition and I believe the fun I was having showed in the quotes I gave the journalist writing the story.

By which I mean, I do not remember one thing I said!

I do have the story around somewhere. One day I will read it and find out what I said.

What if I said, "The system is broken"?

I do not think I said that. But you can never be sure.

So today I bask in Ivan Ilic's reflected glory. Not only that, but last week Ivan Ilic sent me chocolate. That is because I kvetched on one of my Web logs that he had sent chocolates to some British music critic, I forget which one, all I remember is the critic was a woman and she was British.

The kvetcher shall inherit the earth. That is the truth! Because after I kvetched Ivan Ilic sent me chocolates! He sent me Lindt A La Pointe de Fleur de Sel. It was dark chocolate with pieces of salt. Howard ate most of it because of my braces but in spite of my tooth situation I managed to get through a couple of squares.

Now I am trying to figure out what Buffalo chocolate to send Ivan Ilic in return. He lives in Bordeaux. Maybe I will go with our town's signature orange chocolate from Niagara Chocolate. If any Buffalonians have any other suggestions I would love to hear them.

That is Ivan Ilic pictured up above. I first encountered him because one Saturday he had been reading my Web log and he called to talk about Godowsky. That was the greatest. Sitting around in my pajamas talking with Godowsky with a concert pianist in Bordeaux whom I did not even know. Aside from my time with Leonard Pennario I do not think I ever felt cooler in my life. I like myself when I am talking with a concert pianist about Godowsky. I like myself more in that situation than when I am at the Broadway Market trying to get the butcher to notice me. Or when I am being reprimanded at the library.

Here is a piece by Leopold Godowsky I love. It is an arrangement of Saint-Saens' "The Swan," which, everyone will probably recognize this melody. Godowsky adds all these other notes so it sounds like wind chimes. That is what I hear anyway.

Where am I going with this? Monday mornings, this always happens to me. I ramble on and on and then I start listening to something. And all of a sudden the day is shot.

Oh, right! I was talking about friends of mine who are in the media. Ivan Ilic is not the only one!

Our padre over at St. Anthony of Padua, Father Secondo Casarotto, he made it onto a high-profile international Catholic Web log and he caused a big argument and everyone is buzzing about that! Here is a picture of Padre Secondo.


This Web log Father Secondo made it onto is run by a priest named Father Z. The Z is for Zuhlsdorf. Father Z used to be a Lutheran. There is a whole post about Father Secondo and that is because of incendiary comments he made in our bulletin about giving blessings in the Communion line. Wow, look at those dozens of comments! Father Secondo is from Milan and he likes a good fight.

Here is a picture I took of Father Secondo in Niagara Square, giving our government officials a piece of his mind.


"A blessing at Communion time creates confusion and is a countersign about the purpose of the Communion procession." That is one of Father Secondo's arguments as quoted on Father Z's Web log.

Tell 'em, Padre!

Ivan Ilic and Padre Secondo, they are quite an inspiration this morning.

They make me want to go forth and tell 'em!

Piano blues

BuffaloBloviator Publishing newsroom. Click for full resolution.
The author's desk at left; the publisher's desk is at right.
A clammy day! Cold rain, plus I have an old house and can't close this one window in my upstairs "office." (I put the word in quotes because the room is such a mess.) On top of all that, when I brought in the paper at 5:45 a.m., Bishop Kmiec's picture was on the front page. It is bad luck to see a picture of our bishop, especially when you haven't had your first cup of coffee.

There is one solution to this morning chill and that is to start playing the piano again. This will be the week I pick it back up.

Our German piano tuner Mr. Hatzenbuehler tuning the Welte Mignon at Big Blue.

I am actually a very good pianist when I work at it. I gave a recital a few years ago and played Beethoven's Op. 109 and the Alban Berg Sonata. But I fell off the piano wagon last fall. Number one, I met Leonard Pennario and decided to do the book, so I ran away to California for a few months, and I didn't have a piano there. (I did have a hot tub. You can't have everything.) And number two, my longtime piano teacher, Stephen Manes, left town. His wife died a couple of years ago, and he got back in touch with his high-school sweetheart, and they got married. We were all surprised and delighted for him. The whole affair was written up in Oprah magazine. I believe it was the December issue.

The only trouble was that Stephen's new wife, Marta, lives in Los Angeles, so now Stephen lives there too. So I have no teacher. I am a runaway train. I am a ship without a rudder. I am an overused metaphor. The worst thing is, I don't want another teacher. Stephen was my professor back when I was a student at UB. He began teaching me again nine years ago, when I entered the first Van Cliburn Amateur Competition as a way to get away from a bad boyfriend. It wasn't easy to call Stephen after all that time and ask him to teach me again. I was afraid he would remember what a loser student I had been at UB, cutting classes and not practicing. Finally I had to tell myself, "Mary, you have to call him. It's not as if he's going to call you."

Well, he was nice and took me back. And I got very good, thanks to him. Taking piano lessons as a grown-up is the best. It is so much more fun than studying when you're a kid. Once during one of our big Buffalo snowstorms I even violated the driving ban so I could get to my lesson. Because I had been snowed in all by myself for a week, I was very good that day. Stephen said, "What a difference a snowstorm makes."

How am I supposed to switch to anyone else?

Maybe I can get Leonard to coach me. That has crossed my mind. But I don't know how I would ever ask him and besides, he lives in California too. It is so ironic. I have so many great pianists in my life I am tripping over them. But I have no one to teach me.

Well, as "The Joy of Cooking" says, "Stand facing the stove."

Today's resolution is, "Sit facing the piano."