Another Facebook random act of kindness.
It had been in the mail for a week. I’ve never met the sender from California. But he knew from a previous post of my enormous admiration for Carol Channing. It’s a lifelong thing. In a comment to my post, Ray bragged that he had picked up an autographed CD of the Original Cast Album of ‘Hello Dolly,’ a performance which I am old enough and lucky enough to have seen on stage.
I joked in reply, “How much are you selling it for?” as I am in fact a collector of opera autographs. Within minutes he wrote back and said he would like to offer it to me as a gift. It arrived this morning.
I had just been doing a sound check on the stereo system and our Dynaudio speakers, playing various scenes by Callas (‘Norma,’ ‘La Bohème’…) then the RCA ‘Bohème’ with Moffo, Tucker, Merrill, all spectacular… Then Carol arrived. I put the signed CD into the tray, and in a second it brought a flood of memories. One excerpt, ‘Before The Parade Passes By’ sufficed to bring joyous tears to my eyes.
Thank you, Ray. Thanks again, Carol: I’m just lucky I guess…