Looking for a Hero

Why is there never a Superhero around when you need one?

I spent Friday in a down-town church providing "something musical" for the annual Gallery Hop. Of course, I left home without my "something musical" repertoire books, so I ended up with a mish-mash of things from the library. I brought the music I'm working on currently, too, but none of it is really performance ready. Honestly, one can only fake it for so many hours on end without respite. A cellist came and helped out for a bit -- we had some fun sightreading (well, I was sightreading, anyway), and she did some unaccompanied Bach. Otherwise, it was just me. For hours. At the end of a long day. At the end of a long week. My personal low came when I was asked to play the Arensky -- my concerto, which is not melodic, not background music, and not ready for prime-time. I distinctly heard poor Mr. Arensky flip-flopping in his grave as I mutilated his work. I had to get the melody in somehow, I left out anything I couldn't play well, and I ended up turning the whole thing into a fairly flashy folk-song. Happily, everyone was thrilled with what I did. Except for me, butI don't count.

No question about it, this was a task for a Superhero. This was a job for The Man From Kalamazoo! Too bad he doesn't have the ability to teleport...