A.L.
Ryan quit Sunday. He said that he just wanted to enjoy his summer and get ready for the 7th grade "where things really start to count." So, if you're as broke as you say you are maybe you'll want his 5-9 shift on SUndays, at least for the summer. I'll need an answer soon one way or the other.
I hope you're doing well on your finals. 10th grade really does count (for college entrance GPA), though as you already know there is no actual proof that Algebra exists in real life.
Ginny and I went to the Mall of Malls yesterday: South Coast Plaza, and to the store preeminent: Rizzoli's. Notice the front inside page and page 1 of their catelog. Fourteen books and four videos on Mozart! Is this a bookstore or what? I was looking through art books when I noticed a dispenser of Rizzoli catelogs. As I opened one I thought, "My God, they've read my mind." I was just about to ask if they had anything on Mozart. And, as chancewould have it, they were sold down to three copies*(* by which I meanthere was a big empty space next to them making it look like they had just sold a dozen copies) of exactly the book I was hoping to find: Alfred Einstein's Mozart, His Character, His Work. If you remember, this was the book we saw in the Daedalus catelog a few months ago, and the one we agreed was probably THE ONE to get next. Well, "we" got it, and just as soon as finals are over you can have it.
But look how many you have already: Mozart's Letters, THe Mozart Compendeum, Mozart The Golden Years, and now Mozart, His Character, His Work. Not such a bad start.
Mozartiana I saw everywhere, even at Crown Books. It;s really just litle tid bits with no context, a cashing-in-on book: Mozart for non-readers. DON GIOVANNI looks like a pass also, not because of the opera, but because it is undoubtedly very psycho-analytical. MOZART TONIGHT looks like it might hold your attention. Mozart's Symphonies looks like it might be TOO wonderful, if that;s possible. I should think that too much information too soon might get in the way of the music, which, after all, is the point of all the interest in Mozart. The Compleat Mozart: the title would seem to promise too much, and the sub-title, A Guide to the Musical Works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, too little. In fairness, however, titles of such books are really the domain of editors and publishers. On the other hand, Norton is a very conservative publisher, and I would have to suspect that the text itself is very accomplished.
The two books worth seriously looking at, I think, are Mozart's Opera's. The first, by Professor Heartz, is undoubted very detailed, very well reasoned, and very music oriented. The second, by Angermuller, published n.b. by Rizzoli, look's like the Mozart Opera Lover's book to kill for. $65.00! Don't expect this one to show up mysteriously at the Canyon Market, even at half price, but maybe one of the libraries has it.
Ginny picked up a book that her friend Paulie had told her to get, pictures of Varushka (sp?) in most cases completely naked,* (*perhaps nude is the right word) but painted to blend into the background.** (**I have to tell you that Ginny was telling everyone about the girl at Laguna Beach last week wearing shorts and a painted on halter top having the greatest time bouncing up and down at the beach.) She is a VERY tall, VERY thin model who was quite the rage ten or fifteen years ago at Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. The pictures have an eerie quality about them -- something living emerging from doors and windows, trees and rocks. You should ask to look at it if the occasion ever presents itself.
And now the lecture. Summer is here and you can spend the days, weeks, months frittering away your time (mooning over Morrissey for example) or you could plan out an hour or two a day to learn something. I know...fritter, fritter, fritter. But consider: you could read a whole stack of books at two hours a day. You could learn tons of Anatomy, German, Geometry, whatever. You could finish ALL your Mozart books. You could even read John Herssey's new book about a fictional violin and the series of composer/performers who owned it. Guess who! I think the title is Antonia or Antoniette.*(*Well I was close. The title is ANTONIETTA, and Hersey is with one S, sonce misspelling Morrissey I give everyone two esses. This is another book from the Bookman, a review copy sold by the reviewer to the bookstore, then to us.) I'll be getting a copy soon, so if you're INTO reading by then I'll share it with you.
But don't just FRITTER!
Your M.A.O.W.F.F. (Middle Aged Over Weight Father Figure),
EJ
6/11/91
P.S. Don't forget Sat. June 15 to look for the crescent moon just at sunset. In one small part of the sky will be Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and the thin crescent Moon!
, but I'm hoping you folks could help me add to it!
