Words instead of music

So, I'm writing about words, today, instead of music. This is because I haven't been out to hear any music this weekend, but I did hear some words on Thursday night. I was at the U of R for the Salman Rushdie/Umberto Eco reading and book talk. It was quite interesting since I knew nothing about Eco and almost nothing about Rushdie. All I knew about Rushdie was what everyone knows--there was a fatwa issued by Ayatollha Ruholla Khomeini for his death after the Satanic Verses was released. I had no idea that he was a novelist--for some reason, I thought he wrote non-fiction.

Anyway, the reading and talk was part of the Open Letter press (a part of the U of R) and the PEN Voices series. I happen to know the director of the Open Letter press (a publisher of books in translation), Chad Post, who is married to my friend Christy Post of the Arts & Cultural Council. Thus, I had VIP tickets. Very nice.

Anyway, when we got there Thursday night, there were all sorts of men in suits with those things in their ears that attach via a coiled wire to something somewhere else. Secret Service or whatever. Actually, Christy told me Friday, there were men from Homeland Security there. They were protecting Chad. Apparently, it's usually the editor or publisher who is targeted for violence when Rushdie is in town. Chad appeared very calm for someone in that situation when he welcomed and introduced his guests. Joanna Scott was the moderator of the program. Rushdie and Eco read from their works. I am ready to go out and buy Rushdie's latest - The Enchantress of Florence - and Drew wants Foucault's Pendulum by Eco. I really thought Eco was "cute" and brilliant and witty even though I had a hard time understanding him through his heavy Italian accent. At one point, when Rushdie was talking about the ease of editing in this computer age, Rushdie mentioned that he used a Mac; Eco jumped in with "I'm a PC." But then he qualified, "I refuse VISTA!" It was pretty funny.

So, no music for me this weekend, just intellectual stuff. Makes me realize how very much I have to learn in this world.

That's all for now.

yours in music and words,
Tracy