I occasionally send fan mail to various artists, writers, actors, musicians, and the like whose work I particularly enjoy. The fun thing about this is, I usually do get a reply -- there have been relatively few exceptions to that rule, mostly people who are exceptionally famous and/or busy. Lesser known folks, however, seem to appreciate the courtesy. There's one particularly beautiful piece of music that I really enjoy, a piano solo called "Rain" by Suzanne Ciani. It's so moving, it sometimes brings me to tears (there's also another version of "Rain", done with a number of instruments, that's nowhere near as good as the solo piano version). I played this piece last New Year's Eve for Denise as we were having our quiet evening together, and she was very touched by it, so I recently sent Ciani an email telling her about the night that Denise and I had listened to "Rain" together. Much to my delight, Ciani wrote back.
Dear Parrish,
What a beautiful letter...you make ME cry, too! Who ever can explain the chemistry of our emotions and how we access them, but oh yes how good it feels to find them---like the smell of autumn on a summer's day.
Thank-you for sharing this with me.
Best wishes to you and Denise,
Suzanne Ciani
I really enjoy letting performing artists know how much they've done for me... and I enjoy it even more when they write back and say "thank you". *smile*
Posted by Zathras at September 24, 2003 03:12 PMI like her, but there is nowhere I can hear her music lately - a decade or so ago there was a 'new age' program on VH1 called 'New Visions' that played new age videos, and enjoyed 'The Velocity of Love' and 'The Eigth Wave', but there are only internet radio stations that play new age anymore (at least where I am).
We seem to have the similar tastes in music - the trance/rave/industrial music on your ftp site I enjoyed greatly also.
One of my favorite internet radio stations is at www.di.fm. Do you enjoy Manheim Steamroller?
Posted by: Matt at September 24, 2003 03:58 PMYes, we do seem to have similar musical tastes. *chuckle* I love dance velocity techno... the "Mortal Kombat" soundtrack is a great one. :^)
I remember "New Visions" on VH-1 from all those years ago -- Suzanne Ciani was a guest host on that show once, and I don't even remember for sure, but that's probably where I first encountered her music.
I do indeed enjoy Mannheim Steamroller quite a bit -- I saw them in concert last Summer at Wolf Trap here in the DC area at the same concert hall where Denise and I saw "Riverdance" a few months ago.
Posted by: Zathras at September 24, 2003 04:03 PM