This happened perhaps twenty years ago. At the time I was playing first horn with the Spartanburg, SC Symphony, and Hanson's Second Symphony, the "Romantic," was on the program, along with an overture and a piano concerto.
I had sent my tux the to cleaners, picked it up, and was getting dressed at 7 pm, only to find that the cleaners had forgotten to return my bow tie. I frantically drove all over town, and finally persuaded one store,just closed, to open again and sell me a tie. I arrived at the hall with five minutes to spare, and parked in the first spot I saw. I ran in, sat in my chair, no warm up, and played the best I have ever played in my life. In fact the whole orchestra seems to have been turned on that night, and musically it was a first class experience. What a horn section! After the concert, I found that my car had been towed for improper parking, along with about twenty other player's cars. It seems that many of us were running late that night, and the adrenain really must have been pumping due to the time factor. We each had to pay $125 to get our cars returned. I got back home, only to find that my bow tie had been in my coat pocket all the time. The cleaners had forgotten to tell me where it was. I've always wondered if the performance would have gone as well as it did if it had been a "normal" evening. Wilbert in SC _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
