With all the tributes to George Carlin pouring in, I can only add that I am so glad that I had the opportunity to see him perform live, a breathtaking event, unforgettable also because next to me was a mother with her son, who wanted tickets to see George for his 13th birthday!….
Now I had a Barmitzvah shortly before turning 13, symbolically becoming a man. Well lets just say after approximately 30 seconds and way more than just the Seven words you can’t say on television into the show, this boy no longer needed a Barmitzvah, but his mom sure needed a bourbon!
I wanted to highlight two quotes and a short passage from his book When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops all classic Carlin, who could in short phrases and in single lines, be insightfully but absurdly sincere, hilarious and thought provoking, and even relevant to the music world:
If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted?
From the book (p 254 of the hardback edition), a passage I will give to my next Audience Connections class to read:
A Toast To The Classics
When I see a symphony orchestra, a hundred or so people playing some incredibly difficult piece of music in complete and perfect unison as if they were a single organism, I remind myself that each one of them started the day in a different kitchen. A hundred different musicians in a hundred different kitchens, scattered across the city. And sometimes I find myself wondering how many of them had eggs that morning and how many chose cereal. I try to guess whether the percentage of muffin eaters is greater among strings or the brass section. I ponder whether or not the percussionists drink a lot of coffee, whereas, perhaps, the piccolo players lean more towards flavored teas. I don’t know why these thoughts come to me. But they sure fill the time between scherzos.
Finally, a thought by him that truly inspires me:
Life is not measured by the amount of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away
Thanks for taking so many of my breaths away, and for putting so much color into our grey areas!