Wind Music

I believe that music is a force in itself. It is there and it needs an outlet, a medium.

Maynard Keenan
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Make no mistake about it. In spite of what others may claim, New York is the City of Wind. If it weren't people would suffocate. The straight streets and long avenues create wind tunnels that stretch form the Hudson River to the East River.

One year I had a radio station job on 45th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. On my way to work one day I walked down 6th Avenue to 45th Street and the wind was so strong I couldn't turn the corner. I grabbed the side of the building to pull myself around but still couldn't do it. I had to go back up to 46th Street where the wind wasn't so strong and walk around to 45th on 5th Avenue.

I had some friends visiting me from northern New England one winter. I told them to make sure to dress warmly because New York could get very cold because of the wind. They didn't quite believe me until we turned on to 5th Avenue at Central Park East. We had to lean over in order to walk. When we reached our destination one of them said he had never felt wind like that.

There is music everywhere in the universe and most of it can't be heard. Music is a thing in itself and is content to be silent to the human ear. We can hear some of nature's music: the crashing of the waves, the rustling of the leaves, the thunder in the sky and the song of birds. But to bring out the hidden sounds we need to become a channel for them.

Some people like to hang up wind chimes on the porch and listen to the tinkling of the various tones as the breeze flows through them.
Wind chimes can be made of glass, wood or metal, they each have their distinctive sound. If you were to hang such a wind chime almost anywhere in New York City the wind would probably blow it away.

But there was one place in the city where wind chimes actually worked, on a grand scale. Some one had built a collection of large metal tubes joined together into a cluster. The collection was stabilized to the ground The tubes were tuned to various tones and as the strong winds of New York blew through them they made the most wonderful music. Nature's pipe organ.

DB - The Vagabond
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WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?

dbdacoba@aol.com

Only 7 responses so far. Spring is coming.

I await your answer.
DB
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