Momnesia

Where Even More Math in J-School Can't Help Me

AUGUSTA, GA. - So I interviewed this asshole Ukrainian-Israeli-American violinist last night. I dunno; maybe it was the language barrier. Maybe it was how little time I had to prep for the interview, due to increased workload. Maybe it was the fact that I know f-all about Ukrainian-Israeli-American violin playing because one cannot know everything, okay?

But it did not go well. There were periods of silence that were not part of my technique to draw people into a discussion when they have little to say. I also had a lot of old information from his bio, like that he lives in New York, when actually he lives in Chicago. So I came off looking like I know f-all about Ukrainian-Israeli-American violin playing, big surprise.

The asshole needs to update his press info. I'm not freaking psychic.

But the worst is when I was trying to draw out some kind of family or life stories, and I asked him how his music had been influenced by spending long periods in three disparate cultures.
"Well, I don't think it has influenced my music at all," he retorted.
"How interesting," I tried to cover. I mean, how can you not be influenced by the culture in which you live? You're exposed to new ideas and new ways of presenting music and, above all, you're exposed to new music.
"What brought you from the Ukraine to Israel in the first place?"
"Well, I'm Jewish. I would think that's fairly self-explanatory."

And that's all the time we have on I Give Up Will You Just Tell Me SOMETHING I Can Write Down. Tune in next week when I interview an Albanian alligator wrestler who suffers from debilitating herpetophobia. Until then, good night.