A evening with Mahler

The fellow above is one Gustav Mahler, born this day 1860 in Kaliste, Germany. I can not say that I know a whole about Mahler, except that he was more famous for being a conductor than for being a composer. I do have have one personal experience with Mahler that puts him on our hero podium for today.

It was several, several years ago, and the latest "girl of my dreams" was a music major. Now it you have seen the new beer commercials featuring Jamie Gold you will know that if your lady loves something, you love something. I did (and still do) have a great appreciation for classical music, and it is not just from this time frame. However, one night she scored us tickets to the symphony of the town we were living in at the time, for "an evening with Mahler." I put on my only suit (at the time), and decided to give it a shot in order to further my evil plans. Evil plans are of course the best kinds of plans to make. I figured what is a couple of hours of music for a chance of "reading the bible" with her. Did I mention she was tall, thin, and gorgeous? What she was doing with me remains a mystery, and I was in no frame of mind to solve that mystery. I was just happy that she was foolish enough to hang out with me.

Much to my surprise, I was totally blown away by the music, and impressed by its pure, raw power. I must confess that I had figured that I would be bored to death, and that it was just something I had to "get through" in order to get what I wanted, you know pleasant conversation, nothing more. I figure if you want you can look up all the interesting facts of Mahler's life, and he did live quite an interesting life. However, for me he will always be the music I remember that got me the chance to make some "beautiful music" of my own. So, for that totally shallow, and awful reason Gustav Mahler (July 7th, 1860-May 18th, 1911, at the age of 50), you are my (317th) hero of the day.