Where the bones are buried

Son of a sea cook! I have not written today until now in my Web log!

That is my new saying, son of a sea cook. That is what my friend Steve Cichon said his grandmother used to say. Steve Cichon is an announcer on the radio so he knows a thing or two about which words work and which words do not.

I did not write today in my Web log because I had to run in the morning to, ahem, take the stage at Kleinhans Music Hall. Here is a picture I took from the stage. It is fun to see how it looks from there!


And this is the greatest: I got a chance to prowl backstage. Which, I almost never do that. The only other time I can think of that I was backstage at Kleinhans was when the Guarneri Quartet was here, remember? But that was across the lobby at the Mary Seaton Room.

This time around was magical because first thing, I walked back there and this man named Charles was sitting at a desk. He told me his name was Charles. I have seen him on stage! Howard and I always see Charles moving pianos and things on and off the stage and we have often thought that if we could get him talking, what stories he could tell.

I said that to Charles. He did not agree to an interview but he admitted he would make a good one.

"I know where the bones are buried," he said.

Then Charles showed me people's dressing rooms. I got to brush my hair in Michael Ludwig's dressing room. He is the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra's concertmaster!

Next I got to see the guest artist's dressing room. This is the room given over to visiting soloists.

They still have old furniture that was specially made for Kleinhans Music Hall! I did not know that Kleinhans had its own furniture but it does. The furniture and accoutrements were specially designed in 1940 to go with the hall.

What that meant is that Leonard Pennario not only used this room when he was in town playing with the BPO, but he looked at himself in the same mirror I was looking at myself in.

High up above is a picture of me reverently taking a picture of the mirror. Here is a picture that shows the mirror and fixtures better.


Charles said this mirror and the fixtures were original. He said they were bolted to the wall in 1940.

And here is the custom Kleinhans furniture Pennario would have seen and, perhaps, sat on.


Well, the orange couch has been upholstered. My new friend Charles told me that.

But still. History!

I could not stop thinking of that.