My musical and personal life has been so full that I haven’t found the chance to fill you in. I’ll try to catch you up over the next week or so. Thank you for reading and listening.
First my project, “Reluctant Farewell to a Dear Heart”. It’s nearly in for a landing. 3 weeks ago, I flew to Madison Wisconsin to meet with Javier Calderon, guitar professor at the University of Wisconsin. I had known Javier from nearly 20 years ago when he was first beginning at Wisconsin State and had traveled through Delta when he was performing with the Symphony in Grand Junction. Javier is a world class classical guitarist. He began in Bolivia and played with his first Symphony in is mid teens. Segovia met him and gave him a full scholarship in Spain. When he played his solo recital at Carnegie Hall, The New York Times called him, “…a virtuoso with poetic sensibility.” He has traveled and performed for the world and it had to be God’s doing that he is a friend of mine.
I hadn’t spoken with Javier in years and when I contacted him to ask if he would listen to my project and give me his thoughts, it was as if no time has passed at all. He quickly invited me to come and play for him as he read my manuscripts. He was positive and suggested some added fingerings. AND he offered to write my intro to the book, which is such a great honor.
Javier was the same calm and funny fellow that I had remembered. It’s easy to smile when you are around him and so the weekend was relaxed and I smiled a lot. He remembered James’ passion for teaching and the moments that their paths crossed.