How We Define Life

It is better to create than to learn. Creating is the essence of life.

Julius Caesar
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I have a two disk recording of the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by Bach, played by Nathan Milstein. Other great violinists have played and recorded those pieces but Milstein's performances are my favorites simply because they were the first and thus he defined the music for me.

I look back over my career sometimes. The less I do that the better. But I wonder sometimes what to make of it. An actor's life is a very gossamer thing, particularly a stage actor's life. But I comfort myself by realizing that I have probably defined some great roles and helped define some great plays for people. Maybe I have defined the roles of Big Daddy, Sir Toby, Eddie Carbone, Zorba and John Procter to people, even if they see another production.

But beyond my own sphere of interest, impact is being made on the world at all times by the fact that creation is still going on. I know that my life has been affected by music, theatre, literature and works of art.. I think it is impossible to measure the depths to which some creations can affect the life of people. A lot of it is probably unconscious.

But consider this. None of us are disconnected from the world. Every picture you paint, every drawing, every photograph, every thing you make, everything you say and do becomes a permanent part of creation. It is an efficacious part of the world, of life. and by being in the world it has altered and defined life, and not just yours.

Civilization today is the summation of all the people who have lived. And that includes you and me. You may think your contributions are small, well, considering the vast number of people who have lived, all contributions are small, but they are all important. They are the essence of life.

DB - The Vagabond
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Weekend Puzzle

Here are some famous trios. Who are they.

On your mark. Get set. Go!
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

T KTY, T NJQB TQE T ATQM JZ ATDK

NSJJE, UVBTR TQE RBTKU

IKJUNO, URDSSU TQE QTUA

ZTDRA, AJXB TQE IATKDRO

ZTRABK, UJQ TQE AJSO YAJUR

AJX, UMDX TQE HCFX

ACBO, EBVBO TQE SJCDB

SDZB, SDNBKRO TQE RAB XCKUCDR JZ ATXXDQBUU

XBRBK, XTCS TQE FTKO

KBTEDQY, VKDRDQY TQE TKDRAFTRDI

KBE, VADRB TQE NSCB

UQTX, IKTIMSB TQE XJX

RAB RAKBB URJJYBU

RDQMBK RJ BGBKU RJ IATQIB

RJF, EDIM TQE ATKKO
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Good luck.
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Here's a quick one, if you read this far.
Something happened on August 28, 888 that didn't happen again until February 2, 2000. What was it?
2 correct answers so far

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Drawing It Out

What we play is life?

Louis Armstrong
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I have a book on learning how to draw by Robert Beverly Hale, "Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters." In a very active and full career as an artist, writer and lecturer, Hale also was an instructor in drawing at the Art Students League in New York City. I was blessed to be able to take his last 12 classes before he retired back up to New England. He had an infectious joy in art, an amazingly perceptive eye for the best in his students' works and a sense of humor.

Is music notes in a score correctly played? Is poetry a proper string of words depicting an image?. Is painting expertly made brush stokes? Is drawing the human figure accurate lines on a piece of paper? What did the old masters know that we need to know?

One evening at the Cafe Carlyle in New York I saw Mabel Mercer sing "Both Sides Now" and when she sang "I really don't know love at all" my heart burst and tears came. I thought if Mabel Mercer, in her long and magical life, didn't know love than no one did.

Right now I'm listening to Nathan Milstein play the Bach Chaconne for solo violin. It is an amazing 14 minute journey through human experiences and when I hear it I feel privileged to be a part of Bach's and Milstein's life.

If it's great art it's not just tones, words, colors and lines, it's not just melodies, poems and pictures. Look behind those things, look beyond them to what is really there. The dancer is dancing it, the musician is playing it, the author is writing it, the actor is acting it, the painter is painting it.

There comes a point in the study of life drawing when you stop drawing a human figure and start drawing a human being. You start drawing life.

Dana Bate
The Vagabond
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AUTUMN QUESTION

(This is not a contest.)

At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?

2 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
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