Needless to say the South Bronx middle school teacher (Morris Evening High) on bringing her CD player to class, in no way could conceive how the Modest Mussorgsky’s “The pictures of exhibition at the Hero Gates of Kiev” could resonate across the St. Petersburg conservatory of Rimsky Korsakov,(a retired Nava Officer “Flight of the Bumble Bee”) and from the Ukraine...Tchaikovsky’s benefactor, Madame von Meck, the two never meeting..
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A student oblivious to the loop playing out, raised his hand. “Is that Mozart?”
“Can he come to class?” asked another admirer, a 13 year oldgirl ,her hair in a nee adolescent pony tail, as though she was in tune, with the melody flowing… the piano to the flute and clarinet.
The proliferation of notes to measures in the key of A minor,was tonic to Igor Stravinsky into his North Wetherly Drive padin Beverly Hills .
The Canoga Park, California pet shop owner, subsequently Bellair resident, whose parents were from the Ukraine, migrating toBoston, Massachusetts, opening a barber shop, their son raised as a toddler ”long life and prosper” Star Trek’s, Leonard SimonNimoy, becoming “Mr. Spock” the alien from outer space, TV’s “Star Trek”.
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Their son in search of his karma, migrated to Hollywood, where in his pedestrian role playing, he found his predestination….Smock role and in his selfless humanity and sense of humor in “Star Trek” and indirectly Modest Mussorgsky’s “The HeroGates of Kiev”.
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But the metamorphosing beyond the Gates, in the flimflam of the “Star Trek” was a cause célèbre to be..
An identity crisis per se.. In order to stay in character, our heromaintained a Monday to Saturday night 12 hours +per diem, ,“Spock” masking his hero’s soul, embracing an enchanting Mr.Spock.
A heavy psychic price to pay as the half man alien from outer space, those Vulcan ears tattooing his mutation… in his permutation…a fantasy beyond the harmonies his “Hero’s Gates of Kiev”, and Canoga Park’s pet shop, had to pay the piper..
Losing himself to find his himself.
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“Heavy heavy duty..” Alcohol consumption during the weeklylong days of shooting,,… 90 or so hours a week. The nicotinesacrifices may have vanished in the lights of “outer space” But the stress brought on our Hero’s identity crisis.
To live long and prosper seems precious, the key words SEEMS requires no ambiguity. Speaking and thinking in the environs,Spock became Nimroy. A heavy price to pay for the son of Ukrainian Max and Dora…their Boston barber shop….
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A heavy price to pay for a semi alien persona, wouldn’t you say.“The man in the Iron Mask” starring Louis Hayward.
Charlie Chaplin’s “Tramp” woos the blind lady, selling posies,wedding Paulette Goddard in “real” time, neighbor.
A heavy price to pay for a persona. “Lights camera action. “I’m ready for my close up, Mr. De Mlle”.
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But tell that to Dimitri Shostakovich, Gustav Mahler (his widow living in North Beverly Hills), Rachmaninoff in Santa Monica Canon, aforementioned Stravinsky on North Wetherrly Drive.
Meanwhile in Boston, the maestro Serge Koussevitzky studiedthe Hero’s score… getting a cut and shave in Max and Dora’s barber shop…..
The arrangement by Maurice Ravel: the harmonies and colors fortissimo.
Little did Tsar Alexander know the ‘Gates of Kiev’, the suite’s construction… ABAB CADA , the coda’s expectationsmusically chronicled by Mussorgsky’s suite, and arranged by Ravel.
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As the measures and phrases went heard… Arturo Toscanini,Stokowski, Leonard Slat kin (Hollywood High,” The Bowl”)Leonard Bernstein, George and Ira Gershwin, Andre Pre v in(MGM)… The Russian religious chants in a broad rondo movement at Mussorgsky’s “Heroes Gate” recurring far and wide in cyber space.
Could *Spoke arriving at the Pearly Gates ”Long life and Prosper” anticipate the resounding melodies of ‘Pictures at theHeroes Gate of Kiev’. A suite in ten movements…..
Max and Dora Nimoy’s Ukrainian origin, Mar Chagall’sBerdychev roots, Grandma and Grandpa’s family of fivedaughters and two sons…(our aunts and uncle)
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*“Life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had but not preserved… except in memory.”
March 1, 2015. The City that never sleeps.
