Great Moments

Thought For The Day

Jim and Carole Carroll

Some of the greatest moments in life are impromptu events, kisses from the universe, life putting you in the spotlight without warning. One such event occurred one weekday evening in the mid nineteen seventies. It began with a phone call from my friend,  Jim Carroll. He had been given tickets to go to a concert in Detroit. Would we be interested in going with he and his wife Carole?

We had two lovely children and no family close by to cover such quick invitations but we checked with our best sitters and found the kids favorite would be available if we were not going to be too late.  The scurrying began. I left the office early and went home to help get things ready. Jim and Carole lived in Saginaw, we were in Flint and the Concert was in Detroit about seventy miles away. At the time that was a lot farther away than it seems now.

We got things ready for the sitter, fed the kids, got dressed for the concert, the Carroll's picked us up and away we went.

It might be helpful to know that I am a very big fan of the piano. And this concert was being performed by none other than Van Cliburn, youngest and only American winner at the time of the Russian International Tchaikovsky Competition at the age of twenty three at the height of the Cold War. I was over the top with anticipation.

We had front row seats. Seeing someone perform who is the best at what they do is an indescribable experience. He played Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 by Sergei Rachmaninoff .  That was the same piece he had played to win in Moscow.  I have been to a reasonable number of concerts both popular and classical music and seen some remarkable performances but there is nothing that has ever approached the experience I had that particular night. I haven't even told you about the most interesting part of this event.

After the concert was over, Jim went over to thank Dr Freiling (that's a guess at the name.), his friend who had provided the tickets. When he came back he seemed rather animated and asked if we could go over to their house for a drink. We conferred for a bit, found a phone and checked with the sitter and agreed to go.

Their home was amazing. It was in Royal Oak, an area of Detroit that had many classical homes and estates and was five stories. Each story had musical instruments showcased. The first floor had clavichord, harpsichord and grand piano along with lutes and lyres. It turned out that, and I may have this turned around, that Mrs. Freiling was the president of the Founders Society and that was how the tickets had become available.

We moved from the tour to a lovely garden like room with a full bar and hors d'oeuvres. There were but a handful of people in this gigantic house and I knew a few of them from work. While it was lovely to see the house and museum like display of musical instruments I was beginning to feel uneasy about the time and the sitter and getting home. I leaned over to Jim and said that we should probably be considering taking our leave. It was then that he told me there was to be a complete sit down dinner. I was flabbergasted and about to make my excuses for leaving when I noticed a flurry of activity moving toward the room. I looked more closely and to my amazement the entourage was made up by John Cavelli, conductor of the Flint Symphony and his wife, a gaggle of roadies and none other than Van Cliburn and his mother.

When we were seated Van Cliburn was on my right and his mother on my left. I felt like royalty, What great fun. Thanks Jim and Carole

Herb Ratliff, May 1, 2012, All Rights Reserved