Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, November 3, 2018

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Mountain View News Saturday, November 3, 2018 

WALKING SIERRA MADRE.. The Social Side By Deanne Davis

FRIENDS OF THE SIERRA MADRE PUBLIC LIBRARY 
ANNUAL SILENT AUCTION

“The seasons are what a symphony 
ought to be: four perfect movements 
in harmony with each other.” Arthur 
Rubinstein

 “It is the tuning of the universe...as if 
at the beginning of the symphony God 
turns up the volume just a tiny bit.” 
Benjamin Zander 

 “The beginning of Beethoven’s Fifth 
Symphony is known the world over, 
yet the opening motif is only four notes 
long. Music researchers have long 
wondered — is fate really knocking 
on the door at the start of this piece? 
Da-Da-Da-DUM — hardly any 
succession of notes is as famous around 
the world as the one at the beginning 
of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. 
If Beethoven had been alive today, he would have 
become rich through royalties alone: mobile phone 
ringtones, musical arrangements of all styles, prints 
of his music on bags, cups and umbrellas. Not to 
mention the proceeds from the right to perform his 
works.” *

 We all know those four notes that kick off 
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, but how many of us 
have actually been privileged to hear the whole 
symphony, all four movements, played on a 
fabulous Steinway piano, 6’10” in length, designed 
in 1924 as a possible prototype for a concert grand 
line that never materialized. The piano is tinted 
mahogany and was just restored, a year-long 
process, by nationally-known piano craftsman, 
David Anderson, who named her The Purple 
Queen.

 David Wheatley - my co-writer for three really 
splendid musicals: “Hands!” The Musical; Star of 
Wonder – A Christmas Musical; and Gallery, which 
was presented at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 
a couple of years ago - was the artist presenting a 
program of some of his original compositions, 
a piece by Chopin, another by Debussy, and, of 
course, the complete 5th Symphony. The entire 
audience, and I, were literally on the edges of our 
seats as this famous piece, over 35 minutes long, 
flowed flawlessly from David’s fingers. I wish 
you could have been there as it was one of those 
memorable lifetime moments that don’t come by 
nearly often enough.

 David and I have been collaborating on various 
musical works for quite a while and have seen all 
our songs and musicals produced, recorded, and 
enjoyed by so many people. I write the book and 
lyrics, but without David’s talent as a composer, they 
are just words on a page with no life at all. David’s 
other original compositions at this concert: Out of 
the Blue, Piano Soundtrack and Adagio were each 
exceptionally beautiful. 

 Of course, David’s background – The Royal 
Conservatory of Music where he holds the ARCT 
in Piano and Pipe Organ Performance; a Bachelor 
of Music degree in Composition for the University 
of North Texas and a Master’s in Composition from 
USC guarantee exceptional work from him. He has 
recorded many of his works, as well as played on 
soundtracks for film and TV. You’ve heard him on 
Mork and Mindy, LaVerne and Shirley, Happy Days, 
and he was the organist with a 100 piece orchestra 
for the soundtrack of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 
David performed the Bach B Minor Mass with the 
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra at The Kennedy 
Center in Washington DC and recorded the Five 
Pieces for Orchestra by Arnold Schoenberg. 

 David recently had his own successful one-man 
show at the Hollywood Fringe Festival where he 
showed another side of his talent – droll storytelling 
and comedy amidst music ranging from classical to 
jazz, country and R & B. 

 I wanted to share this experience with you, dear 
friends, because you need to be on the lookout 
for David’s next concert experience. This last 
performance was a house concert at the home of 
Gloria Goodale and Dan Wood. Their son, Danny, 
also performed an original piece, Improvisation. 
Currently David is planning a recording at Disney 
Hall!

 When Beethoven was asked about the opening 
motif of the Fifth Symphony, the composer is said 
to have replied: “This is the sound of fate knocking 
at the door.”

 After seeing/hearing this masterful performance 
of the Fifth Symphony, I can only imagine that fate 
will definitely be knocking at David Wheatley’s 
door with more opportunities and successes.

*Original article by Gaby Reucher

 My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

Blog: www.authordeanne.com

 Kindle readers, give yourself the gift of the Emma 
Gainsworth Adventures:

 “Just Dessert: A Fall Fantasy” – “The Intergalactic 
Pumpkin Battle” – “The Lost Amulets”

 They’re on Amazon.com on my book page!

Follow me on Twitter, too! https://twitter.com/@
playwrightdd


Friends of the Sierra Made Public Library Silent 
Auction of Collectible Books will take place from 
November 1 – December 3, 2018 at the Library. 
Featured are many interesting and collectible books, 
including some SIGNED, FIRST, and LIMITED 
EDITIONS, and include titles such as: NINETTE: A 
REDWOODS IDYLL (1894) by John Vance Cheney, 
PERSONAL GLIMPSES OF FAMOUS FOLKS 
(1929) by Lee Shippey, THE PHANTOM OF THE 
OPERA (1925) by Gaston Leroux, and many more. 

 A description of each can be found on the Friends 
website: sierramadrelibraryfriends.org. Seventeen 
selections will be in the Display Case in the main 
room of the Library and will be available for your 
inspection on Saturdays, November 3, 10, 17, and 
December 1 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. and Monday, 
December 3 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Bids may be 
entered in the notebook on the service counter. The 
highest bidders at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, December 
3 will be the winners. 

 Friends of the Sierra Madre Public Library is a 
non-profit organization and all proceeds benefit 
the Sierra Madre Library. For more information 
visit us on Facebook, at our website www.
sierramadrelibraryfriends.org, or call the library at 
626 355-7186.

KATIE Tse..........This and That


THE FILTHY LEADING THE BLIND

 Each week, there are 
numerous ideas readily 
available for me to craft 
into articles. Whether or 
not those ideas should be 
published is where the 
question lies. “Who’s going 
to read this?” I ask myself. 
Even if the people I’m worried about have never read 
my column, there remains the slightest possibility 
they might come across it, Many an amusing topic 
has been trashed for these reasons. Therefore, I can’t 
give you a winner every week. That being said, I 
hope my landlord doesn’t read this, or at least that he 
reads it with a sympathetic grain of salt.

 It’s spring! I’m ecstatic, aren’t you? Winter and 
its dreary, depressing darkness are finally gone and 
we have a few glorious months of sunshine and 
warmth to enjoy! In honor of the season, I decided 
to celebrate with some wholesome spring cleaning! 
This wouldn’t be a big deal, except for the fact that 
real cleaning for me happens triennially at best. 

 I have no valid excuse. I’m very thankful for 
my job and its desirable schedule. There’s nothing 
stopping me from gallantly picking up a bottle of 
magic bubbles and a scrub brush after work. But 
I’m a bit tired after getting up early and putting 
in my eight hours. Similarly, there’s no reason I 
couldn’t clean on the weekends. But I spend those 
two days catching up on all the other vital things 
I’ve neglected during the week. I realize cleanliness 
is next to godliness, but whenever the thought of 
cleaning comes to mind, there always seems to 
be something more important to do. I actually 
think cleaning can be therapeutic, like weeding 
or deadheading roses. But once the pressure of 
expectations and deadlines are added, cleaning 
becomes a chore.

 Any discussion on cleaning needs to delineate 
the differences between it and “dejunking.” Cleaning 
is fairly straight forward in that your only goal is to 
defeat the dirt, dust, and scum. Dejunking is a whole 
other animal. Dejunking involves heavy decisions, 
the first being, “Should I keep this?” Let’s say the 
item in question is a small ceramic butter dish 
purchased on a family vacation during childhood. 
“I haven’t used or seen it in five years, but it’s kind of 
sentimental, and I might find a use for it someday.” 
My butter usually doesn’t see the outside of its 
wrapper except when I make brownies for someone. 
As you can guess, I rarely (never) entertain, so any 
decorative butter dish of mine would probably not 
be used for its intended purpose. “But perhaps I 
could put something else in it…” You can see how 
deliberations like this could go on forever. 

 Let’s say I decide to be heartless and get rid 
of my beloved butter dish. I could drop it off at 
the Women’s Club in town. But if my mom, who 
is a frequent dropper there, sees it, she might be 
hurt. I’ll have to take it to the Goodwill or some 
other charity. But is it worth the drive just for one 
thing? I’ll have to wait until I get at least a bag of 
stuff to warrant the trip. While dejunking is about 
purging your home of unnecessary clutter, there 
are underlying themes of guilt and wastefulness. 
Here’s another example: I have too many pairs of 
running shoes. They’re too old and worn down to 
run in, but they can still cover someone’s feet. So, 
do I throw them away or try to find a homeless 
shelter? Should I just dump old magazines? My 
apartment building doesn’t have a recycling bin. 
If I give them away, I’ll have to rip off all the 
address labels, which could take a while. Yes, 
you can see how most of the work in dejunking 
goes on between your ears. This can leave you 
exhausted after a few hours and you’ll have little 
to show for it.

 So, compared to dejunking, cleaning is a piece 
of cake. (This time I wasn’t dejunking. So now I 
just have clean junk.) While scrubbing away at my 
shower, I thought that there must be a better way. 
The better way, of course, is not allowing it get into 
this state in the first place. In the olden days there 
were more housewives who knew how to clean like 
pros. And they were home all the time so that their 
bathrooms and kitchens never got a chance to get 
creepy. They’d teach their daughters their clever 
cleaning secrets. Thus, the clandestine knowledge 
of keeping house was passed down through the 
generations. But my grandma was the only lady 
on her block who worked, so she never had time to 
impart her cleaning wisdom to my mom. That left 
Mom unequipped to train me in the cleaning arts. 
So you see, it’s not my fault! I was doomed from the 
start!

 As I succumbed to the caustic fumes rising 
from the tub, I thought about all the cleaning 
columns in books and films. In the stories, the 
writer is usually clueless about cleaning and relies 
on alternative sources for their information (e.g., 
“The Help” and “Christmas in Connecticut”). I 
know if I had to give advice about grease stains, it’d 
really be the filthy leading the blind! Gee, if I had 
to do that, who would I ask for good insights? My 
mind wandered into the world of television, and I 
realized the best authority on cleaning up messes 
is probably Dexter, from the show of the same 
name. Hey, that’d be a great idea for an episode! 
Some poor columnist could discover Dexter with 
one of his victims, and then blackmail him by 
making him give weekly tips about the best way 
to remove blood stains from a shag rug! Wow, 
I hope someone on that writing team reads this! 
Maybe they’ll find some use for my cartoon rabbit 
in an episode, too! Yeah, I hope someone reads 
this! As long as it’s not my landlord!

 
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