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July 19, 2004
Layers upon layers upon layers of worlds somehow connected but maybe not even in a way visible or audible, not to me at least, but maybe more clearly to others?

The cab was one of those with no partition. The cabs without partition scare me by now. Could the driver just reach into a pocket, grab a knife and stab me with a kitchen knife while using the other hand to maneuver his yellow vehicle through the canyons of manhattan? A with partition could not do that. A cabby without a partition could. Oh and the partition is also a nice place for stickers and marker tags. Not that I ever stick or tag, but it is nice to discover that there are forms of creative life out there… and daring.
So the cab had the map of Manhattan stuck to the ceiling, or “Himmel” (sky and heaven and ceiling in a car are one and the same word in German… and I wonder why…) What does that mean when the map is attached to the ceiling… how does that work? The intelligence test in this involves too many layers for me.
Oh, and the music was blasting out of the speakers. And the music sounded very suspiciously like The 7th Symphony by Shostakovich… named after another city no longer named after a man who most likely died of syphilis…
On the dashboard of the car was tucked in the picture of another genius who died of unknown causes at the age of 35, … WAM (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart…)
“What is the name of the piece you are playing?” I asked the cabbie to start a conversation about death and music and driving a cab without a partition.
“It is Strauss, and I don’t know the name of this piece. It is something… something about his life!”
The music really did not sound anything like Strauss… and so I tried to ask again. “It sounds a bit dark, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it really depends how Strauss sees his life, I guess?”
And then he began to sing and whistle… and for the first few minutes I assumed that he was whistling in joy and anticipation of the music to come. But not a single one of the melody fragments he uttered had anything to do with the amazing music I was enjoying…
What added to the whole confusion was the cabbies driving style. He changed lanes almost as if we and the other cars were dancing, the avenue our shining, moving ballroom, the metal skins of our cars glittery gowns reflecting the electrified candlelight of the big city…

“So I hear you are from Vienna?” The dental hygienist asked me out of nowhere this morning… “Oh ho, hy heh hroh hohhangh… guh i highegh ih herhaghy hor horghyh heygh.”
“Oh, where in Germany?” she asked.

Layers upon layers upon layers upon layers…

Comments

Perhaps Richard Strauss (Bavaria, 1864-1950) as opposed to Johann Strauss and family (Vienna)?

Posted by: Fausto on July 22, 2004 12:44 AM

I think you might be right. I guess you are right. Yes, you must be right.
It does not explain why the cabbie was driving and whistling to a different soundtrack, but it at least explains that I am not hearing a different soundtrack in my head...
(Though it clearly shows that I know something close to nothing about much of music!)
Thank you so much for the tip.
(I am waving from the iTunes store.)

Posted by: Witold Riedel on July 22, 2004 07:32 AM

Did you know that Nick Drake died from an antidepressive agent? This is sort of really tragic, but somehow completely understandable - and sort of poetic - as are his songs.

Posted by: hmm on July 23, 2004 05:15 PM

This is cool, you have to try it. I guessed 83437, and this game guessed it! See it here - http://www.funbrain.com/guess/

Posted by: Allison Trump on November 14, 2005 09:59 PM
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