I think I’ve passed the folding chair stage of my life. It’s not that I can no longer sit on a lawn chair to enjoy an outdoor concert. It’s just more comfortable not to, and I’m being kinder to myself these days.
My longtime friend Barbara and I talked about this concept as we shared a table at the Pasadena Pops concert at the Los Angeles County Arboretum last weekend.
It was Michael Feinstein’s farewell performance as Principal Pops Conductor after a 12-year run. He has been named Emeritus Pops Conductor and will perform once each season to delight me and thousands of other local fans.
Perhaps Michael is also being kind to himself, conducting one show instead of the entire Pops summer season.
Had I not been able to get table seat tickets, I would have managed the folding chair rather than miss his show.
During his dozen-year run, I confess to developing a secret crush on him. It wasn’t just his overall charm and talent that drew me to him; it was a shared love for George Gershwin songs. Having worked as his assistant for six years, Michael, in his own words, was besotted with the man’s music. When he sang a Gershwin song at the Pops, he introduced it with fascinating stories about how and why it was written.
On the night that he sang “Someone to Watch Over Me,” which was my song with my late husband, I felt he was looking directly at us across the lawn, seated in our folding chairs under an oak tree.
When I unveiled my secret crush on Michael in a column following the concert, my husband, also a George, laughed and asked, “How am I going to compete?” First, it was Elvis Presley, and now Michael Feinstein. To keep himself in the game after 25 years of marriage, he bought me an updated folding chair with a tray table attached. He said I could use it as a desk since I liked to take notes during the concert, so I could write about it later. “So now we are forever bonded, two George’s and a Michael,” I wrote in my first note.
Last week was the first time I attended the Pops without the chair. From the repose of my table seat, I was hoping my George would be happy that both Michael and I are enjoying a little extra comfort as time passes.
Email patriciabunin@sbcglobal.net. Follow her on Patriciabunin.com
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