MOTD

Now that you understand that music is what makes me tick, I'll reveal another characteristic:

My Music Of The Day on Fridays at work is a different genre than other days. Fridays call for lighter music. Channel 71 (Watercolors - jazz) or 73 (High Standards - jazz) streamed on XMRadio or the jazz playlist on my iPod. This morning I picked up my old SanDisk sansa mp3 player that I used before I invested in my iPod. There are two great CDs stored on this. One is Alison Krauss's "Now That I've Found You" and the other is Regina Carter's "Paganini: After A Dream", on which she plays the Paganini violin, "a once-in-a lifetime encounter between a jazz musician from Detroit and the most famous violin in classical music, Paganini's Guarneri."

Here's the story of Carter's relationship with this violin:
Perhaps the most legendary classical violinist in history, Nicolò Paganini, born in Genoa, Italy in 1782, had a technique so dazzling he was rumored to have sold his soul to the devil. When he died in 1840 he left his famous Guarneri violin, called "Il Cannone" or "The Cannon," to his beloved City of Genoa. Now it is kept in impeccable condition by the City of Genoa, and great violinists from around the globe make the pilgrimage there to play and record on it, but only under the watchful eyes of the conservators and two armed guards.

In December 2001, Carter, who had trained as a classical violinist but switched to jazz late in her high-school years, received an extraordinary invitation from the City of Genoa to perform on Paganini's violin. No jazz musician had ever laid hand on the violin, nor had any African-American. The idea of jazz being played on the precious instrument unleashed heated controversy in Genoa - until Carter held a press conference and charmed the Italian press by her gracious appreciation for the honor of playing the violin - and by speaking Italian! The press rallied around her, the concert sold out, and Carter received a standing ovation and became a heroine in Genoa.

Fridays, whether started with a tall skinny mocha (News flash: Starbucks has switched from whole to 2% milk. Now maybe I don't have to make it skinny.) or headphones and great tunes, are about smiling. And this music makes me smile.