Rising – Gordon, "I First Noticed Robinson" from Anonymous Man
Michael Gordon – "I First Noticed Robinson"
from Anonymous Man
Sunrise, Monday May 11
OK, we had a nice long weekend of feeling sorry for ourselves.
Enough.
Back to the kind of work that gives us meaning.
Today, two differing perspectives: from those with shelter and those without.
The central movement of Michael Gordon’s Anonymous Man recounts a conversation with Robinson, one of two homeless men who live on his street. In Michael's autobiographical work...
He was impossible to ignore.
He stood out because he had a lot of belongings.
He spent the day moving his things within the radius of a few blocks,
with a mysterious urgency.
We have fond memories of putting this one together; at first, we couldn’t quite hit on the right combination of “body percussion” Michael calls for. (Turns out two leg-tappers and Robby’s finger snapping are perfect.)
He spent the day moving his things like Sisyphus pushing a bolder up hill.
Day after day after day after day.
We feel like we know Robinson; the tiny snapshots of conversations Michael relates give us a clear picture. The music captures Fondness.
We love singing it because it’s unusual – a compositional risk that really works. There’s a lot of “space” around the phrases, and between them – little moments of waiting. We glide around the beat in what feels like a mix of speaking and singing; it reminds us how close the two actually are.
And, we love it because it’s a story we recognize. In historic music, we’re always singing music of A Person from Some Previous Century setting a poem of Another Such Person, writing out the stories of Lots More People Who Lived Very Different Lives Than Ours.
With Anonymous Man, the author is in the room, writing about himself...
One day I stopped to say hello and he was reading the complete plays of Aristophanes.
He gave me a quizzical look: “I thought you were a student.”
...and, capturing life in the 21st century...
I ordered the volume from Amazon.
...while reading a play from the Fifth Century B.C.E....
A few days later I read Lysistrata and it all came back to me.
...which, admittedly, doesn’t seem all that long ago.
The women of Greece end the Peloponnesian Wars by withholding sex from their men
To put it more plainly, we love singing Anonymous Man because of its heart.
It's raw.
The words are simple.
They could be ours.
Feels like they are.
The street offers less anonymity.
It’s nice to be back.
To listening.
Even as we redefine what “home” is.
Be well.
- The Whole Team @ The Crossing
Anonymous Man
5. I First Noticed Robinson
music and words by Michael Gordon
recorded live in concert at the world premiere
during The Month of Moderns 2017,
July 1, 2017 at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
audio by Paul Vazquez of Digital Mission Audio Services
Anonymous Man was commissioned with generous support from an anonymous donor
* * *
I first noticed Robinson. He was impossible to ignore. He stood out because he had a lot of belongings. He spent the day moving his things within the radius of a few blocks, with a mysterious urgency. And at the end of each block, when his belongings were gathered, he would stand and read. His reading intrigued me and I started to talk to him.
I first noticed Robinson. He spent the day moving his things like Sisyphus pushing a bolder up hill. Day after day after day after day. He would tell me about the books he was reading, in English and French, history and philosophy. And at the end of each block when his belongings were gathered he would stand and read.
One day I stopped to say hello and he was reading the complete plays of Aristophanes. He gave me a quizzical look: “I thought you were a student.” I ordered the volume from Amazon. A few days later I read Lysistrata and it all came back to me. The women of Greece end the Peloponnesian Wars by withholding sex from their men.
Not long ago I noticed that Robinson was a little uneasy: “The scaffolding’s down and I will be moving.” After years of renovation the building across the street was finished. And with the increase in foot traffic, the doormen and the new residential tenants, the street offers less protection. The street offers less obscurity. The street offers less anonymity.