Mary missed our morning meeting today, so a few quick notes in her stead:
We spent most of the time gabbing about crying elephants, talking snakes, curious fruit flies, and self-actualized sea gulls in anticipation of next week’s anthropomorphism show. One new development: Robin’s pre-interviews have been interesting — and varied — enough that she now plans on splitting the show into two parts. The first will still be about anthropomorphism. The second will focus on new research in animal personality (hence the talk of curious fruit flies and crying elephants), behavior, morality, etc. More on that soon.
Last night’s show was interesting because it seemed to follow Rollins’s solo pattern: a sort of slow burn that takes a while to really combust. To my ears the show simmered until it came fully alive at 40 minutes past. If we’d had another hour, we could have set the studio on fire…
After the show, Rollins was gracious enough to sign a stack of CDs and books that a number of folks had brought in. The topper: WGBH engineer (and saxophonist) Alan Mattes’s tenor horn. Rollins took a sharpie to its burnished bell and applied his practiced signature, full of whimsy and flourish. Alan, who is probably in his late 40s, took the saxophone back in his hands as if it were a holy object. He was beaming and bouncing up and down. It was a beautiful sight.
