gerisullivan | 90,000 mile tune-up, with opera

I brought my car in for it's 90K service today and am now happily working and surfing from the leather sofas in the waiting room. One other woman is here with her laptop; the other customers waiting are older men who are reading.

In walked an elderly man. He looked the five of us over and proclaimed his pleasure at being in the presence of two lovely, young women. Then he burst into song.

Really. It was a tad startling. It was also lovely. He sang part of "The Anvil Chorus" from Verdi's Il Trovatore. His voice filled the showroom and he clearly enjoyed hamming it up, singing first to the other woman, then to me, back and forth, for what was only a few minutes but of course seemed longer when it was happening.

The man sings with the Assabet Valley Mastersingers in Northborough. He claimed to be the lowest of them, telling me they're all better singers than he is. Then again, he also claimed that he's shy. Right. And he told me the composer was Joe Green, and ever so smoothly named Guiseppe Verdi when he could tell from my face that I wasn't quite keeping up with him. Hey, I knew it was Italian and opera. And familiar.

calimac and

kip_w would have recognized it in an instant, as would several other friends reading this. Me? I enjoyed listening to the beauty of his voice and the sheer unexpected nature of it all.

If Gypsies had stepped from behind the Toyota Highlander in the showroom and joined in, I would have known I was experiencing my first Improv Everywhere gig. This was better. This was a guy who simply enjoyed bursting into song, had the talent to carry it off, and the sense to know when to stop.

Color me charmed.

Vedi! Le fosche notturne spoglie
De' cieli sveste l'immensa volta;
Sembra una vedova che alfin si toglie
I bruni panni ond'era involta.