I recently learned my sister had an obsession about the Australian pianist David Helfgott and the film "Shine" and she agreed to my suggestion she should submit a few lines about him to me and here they are in her own winsome welcome words:
A few years ago my husband Nat and I visited the local cinema to see "Shine"..For anybody who may have missed it, this was an outstanding true story about David Hefgot, the son of a central European Jewish immigration family.As a small child he had already displayed signs of becoming a great pianist which he did in time - unfortunately his father was always forever criticising him to practise - pushing him into every possible available eisteddford, musical concert etc. until the boy cracked under the severe strain and by the time he became a young adult, he`d become quite eccentric. It was a beautiful true story & eventually saw it three times...
Geoffrey Rush played David as an adult - this performance winning an Oscar .Having seen David interviewed on local TV I could not get over the likeness of the two and how incredibly Rush showed his mannerisms. We tried to get tickets for his his Concert Hall performances in Melbourne but sadly missed out and I was extremely disappointed as I`d become obsessed with his life story.
Sometime later we visited Coffs Harbour and were interested to learn that the next weekend was featuring the Bellingen Jazz Festival and decided to go as we both loved jazz and the town was but a 40 minute drive away. We then learned that David Helfgot had lived there for many years, and was going to perform with the Raaf Big Band at this festival for which we were to buy tickets two rows from the front! David played Gershwin`s "Rhapsody in Blue" and I was totally spellbound - and felt everyone there was similarly affected when, after a brief pause of silence after his last note the whole audience stood - as one, and clapped, clapped, clapped shouting"bravo", "bravo", "more", "more" etc. but there was on encore.....
He has become very frail in his later years and was led off-stage by the conductor, muttering to himself, but stopping to hug, kiss, or shake hands with everyone in the two front rows shaking hands with Nat after hugging me........
When the conductor returned he said David had insisted on visiting the hall`s kitchen where he apparently helped himself to a handful of teabags - obviously some sort of fetish. This event was a highlight of our Coffs Harbour holiday.
When I asked my sister "Would you watch him onscreen or TV again if the opportunity arose?" "Definitely, absolutely" I agree with her it was and still is an obsession......
Talking of music, Louis Armstrong (1900-1971), when asked about what he felt about people who copied his style said "A lotta cats copy, but people still line up to see the original"......
When I was visiting Paris a couple of years ago and in a long queue to see the Mona Lisa being pushed by my grandson Simon in a wheelchair we were taken out of the queue by an attendant and guided to the front about 1 metre from the sculpture so we could take a great photo.........
`till next time -in about a week - 10 days
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