Paris was two weekends ago, and Prague (with the students and professors) was this past weekend. Here are my favorite things that happened in between, in Vienna:
I met my first celebrity, for one. I imagined I might stumble across someone with a recognizable name while in Europe. Our encounter was brief but genuine, and it inspired me to write to my jazz band teacher in high school (I sang) and my History of Jazz professor in college to thank them both for introducing me to Herbie Hancock so that I could introduce myself to him on Wednesday afternoon.
Herbie Hancock has been well-known in the world of music since the 60s, when he began playing piano for Miles Davis and writing innovative standards such as "Watermelon Man." Remarkably, he has continued to reinvent jazz music ever since--Wikipedia says that he's contributed to the genres of jazz fusion, jazz-funk, modal jazz, hard bop, post-bop, electro, and pop rock. He even a 2007 Grammy for Album of the Year! TIME Magazine had him in their list of 100 Most Influential People of 2008.
My friend Ryan (really Allison and Brad's friend, but when you're in Austria anyone is a friend), a Wake Forest student here this Fall through a different study abroad program, asked me if I wanted to try to get tickets to Herbie Hancock's show in Vienna last Wednesday. Of course I said yes because 1) I love jazz music and 2) Ryan is such a crazy kid that I knew somehow it would be an adventure.
We agreed to meet at 5pm, 2 1/2 hours before the show, to see if we could manage some student rush tickets (Wake gave me an international student ID card, and it's come in handy several times). While I stood outside the KonzertHaus waiting, I saw a few tall men walk in with hanging bags. I wondered if they were in the band, and whether I would know Mr. Hancock if I saw him. Then, I did. I recognized his purple glasses and started smiling like a goon. We had an awkward but very warm encounter: he shook my hand and I told him I'd look forward to seeing his show that evening.
Story's not over, though. You can skip down to pictures if you want, but I've got to tell you about the ridiculousness that followed.
Ryan arrived shortly after Herbie did. We checked into tickets, and learned that the show was sold out but we could check back at 6:30 to see if any tickets had been cancelled. Well, that doesn't stop Ryan Crimmins. First, he suggested walking around to try to get in the auditorium. This was 2.5 hours before the show started, mind you. Somehow, we actually made it past the ushers and ended up sitting in a box right above the stage just as the band members began to walk onstage to rehearse. We discussed our options at this point in whispers (hide in bathrooms until show starts?) and decided to just sit there quietly and see what happened. The men were talking and laughing, and Herbie was just great. They played a few seconds of songs, but mostly checked their sound.
Just as they were getting settled into their places on stage, Ryan decided to do something that was not in the plan.
"Hey, where are y'all headed after Vienna?" The words he yelled down to these men hung in the air, and within about three seconds I did three things:
- kicked him
- closed my eyes
- sunk down in my chair.
One of them nonchalantly answered that they were going to Germany, and the rehearsal resumed. I proceeded to tell Ryan (I whispered because we really were that close to the musicians) that there's a line with these kinds of things and I like to not get near that line. His line of thinking, according to him, was that we could make friends with them and they'd give us tickets. Oh, to be male and 19.Shortly after that, we were kicked out.
Luckily, after a quick dinner--with more discussion about the balance between having adventures and having tact--we somehow navigated the sketchy last-minute ticket system and scored two great seats (albeit just behind the sound board) for the show. What a fantastic concert!! All of the musicians were incredible, and they played a variety of songs together or in smaller groups. Several times throughout the performances, I just kept thinking about how lucky I am to be hearing and seeing original art here in Europe--not just a poster of Monet's water lillies, not just a jazz CD, but the real thing in a genuine context. I don't know. It's just really great.
The video below is from the band's encore performance. Herbie was at the piano for the majority of the concert, and even played a solo piece that bordered on a classical sound (he was trained as a classical pianist when he was young). He busted out a keytar for the encore and walked around to trade eights with most of his band members. So much fun.
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