As we approach the end of another year I must confess to finding myself becoming increasingly cynical in my old age. For all the talk of ‘Happy New Year’ and high hopes for the future, the reality is that January 1st, 2018, will actually be just another day with a different number at the end. Religious Leaders will give messages calling for world peace, but there will be no world peace until we ourselves change. Ordinary people will vow to give up this or that bad habit, and adopt this or that new lifestyle; but the likelihood is that one week from now most of those well-intended resolutions will have gone by the board and life will go on as usual. I have always believed that ‘New Beginnings’ do not have to be date-specific; you can make a new beginning at any moment, and that beginning depends upon a new way of thinking, not the calendar on your wall. But enough of being a miserable old so-and-so, it's New Year’s Eve!
If there is one thing I always look forward to on New Year's Day, it is the concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. My Wife and I have actually attended a concert in the Golden Hall, where the famous New Year’s Day concert is performed; but in spite of entering several draws, there seems to be more chance of world peace than getting tickets to be there on any given January 1st! So I will watch and record this wonderful event, and be uplifted by the music of the ‘Waltz King’ and the stirring finale of the Radetzky March as I venture forth into 2018. And throughout the year there will be times, often alone, when I shall play the recording again; because it's curious how, even if I am feeling lower than a snake’s tummy, music can lift my soul, as can watching ‘Gone With The Wind’ or a film from my treasured Errol Flynn collection!
Earlier this year, I made a dream come true when I took my Wife to see the fabulous André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra at Wembley. It was the greatest show I have ever been to and we cannot wait to see him again. Perhaps the thing I most love about the arts is the way in which they can transcend those manifold things which divide humanity, truly reach the human soul, and somehow bring us together in Love. At the André Rieu concert it was just wonderful to watch people spontaneously get up and dance with each other to the beautiful melody of the ‘Blue Danube’. And tomorrow in Vienna, the people who clap along to the Radetzky March will have left their divisions outside the Wiener Musikverein, and be as one in Joy, Love and Hope for the future. And in a front room in England, I will join them in that Love.
On March 27th, 2018, I will have lived for sixty years; and Karen and I are going to Amsterdam to celebrate this landmark event! I am looking forward very much to visiting such a wonderful city, enjoying her art, culture and being with her people. Above all, I am looking forward to sharing the experience with the woman who has somehow managed to endure travelling with me on this strange journey called ‘Life’. My Friend, My Lover, My Wife; Mother to our three children, and perhaps above all, My Soulmate. She understands me like no other human could, (and still puts up with me!). In her I found the very reason for my life.
In acting, I plan to study something which has interested me ever since I began my dramatic journey: The Method. I have never ceased to be amazed by the intensity and depth of performance by Method Actors, and I have decided it's about time I studied it first hand from a great teacher, and I have someone in mind. I have recently joined a long-established local theatre company, and I also plan to try my hand at writing a film script; (I figure one sure way of getting cast is to produce your own stuff!). Above all, I hope that in the roles I play in 2018 I will in some small way, be able touch people’s hearts and minds. To leave them asking more questions going out, than when they came in. To transcend those tragic human divisions, and leave their souls dancing.
Let me leave you with the fabulous André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra in Maastricht, performing the beautiful ‘Red Rose Café’; and send you my Love, and every Good Wish to You and your Loved Ones for 2018...
Happy New Year!
If there is one thing I always look forward to on New Year's Day, it is the concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. My Wife and I have actually attended a concert in the Golden Hall, where the famous New Year’s Day concert is performed; but in spite of entering several draws, there seems to be more chance of world peace than getting tickets to be there on any given January 1st! So I will watch and record this wonderful event, and be uplifted by the music of the ‘Waltz King’ and the stirring finale of the Radetzky March as I venture forth into 2018. And throughout the year there will be times, often alone, when I shall play the recording again; because it's curious how, even if I am feeling lower than a snake’s tummy, music can lift my soul, as can watching ‘Gone With The Wind’ or a film from my treasured Errol Flynn collection!
Earlier this year, I made a dream come true when I took my Wife to see the fabulous André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra at Wembley. It was the greatest show I have ever been to and we cannot wait to see him again. Perhaps the thing I most love about the arts is the way in which they can transcend those manifold things which divide humanity, truly reach the human soul, and somehow bring us together in Love. At the André Rieu concert it was just wonderful to watch people spontaneously get up and dance with each other to the beautiful melody of the ‘Blue Danube’. And tomorrow in Vienna, the people who clap along to the Radetzky March will have left their divisions outside the Wiener Musikverein, and be as one in Joy, Love and Hope for the future. And in a front room in England, I will join them in that Love.
On March 27th, 2018, I will have lived for sixty years; and Karen and I are going to Amsterdam to celebrate this landmark event! I am looking forward very much to visiting such a wonderful city, enjoying her art, culture and being with her people. Above all, I am looking forward to sharing the experience with the woman who has somehow managed to endure travelling with me on this strange journey called ‘Life’. My Friend, My Lover, My Wife; Mother to our three children, and perhaps above all, My Soulmate. She understands me like no other human could, (and still puts up with me!). In her I found the very reason for my life.
In acting, I plan to study something which has interested me ever since I began my dramatic journey: The Method. I have never ceased to be amazed by the intensity and depth of performance by Method Actors, and I have decided it's about time I studied it first hand from a great teacher, and I have someone in mind. I have recently joined a long-established local theatre company, and I also plan to try my hand at writing a film script; (I figure one sure way of getting cast is to produce your own stuff!). Above all, I hope that in the roles I play in 2018 I will in some small way, be able touch people’s hearts and minds. To leave them asking more questions going out, than when they came in. To transcend those tragic human divisions, and leave their souls dancing.
Let me leave you with the fabulous André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra in Maastricht, performing the beautiful ‘Red Rose Café’; and send you my Love, and every Good Wish to You and your Loved Ones for 2018...
Happy New Year!
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