Mysteries of Santa Barbara
Just got back from a week in Santa Barbara, conducting at the Music Academy of the West.
The folks at the Academy decided to house me at the Andorra Estate, which is up in the hills of the Santa Barbara Riviera. It was a huge house, with fine 70’s decor, kind of a Jackie Treehorn vibe (Big Lebowski fans know what I mean). I spent many an hour that week sitting on the patio admiring the wildlife (deer! bunnies! birds of prey!), and the other mega-mansions surrounding me in the hills.
Sunday morning after the concert, blaring music from the mansion next door woke me up at about 6:45am. Sunday morning, I tell you. Anyway, the music happened to be Madonna from the 80’s. Not a greatest hits collection, but an actual 80’s Madonna album. It was a rude awakening. As I slowly gained consciousness, I asked myself “what is that song?” Gradually it became clear that the song was “Material Girl,” then “Like A Virgin,” then a bunch of songs that never made it onto the radio. Now I’m not a Madonna-hater, but this is not what I want to hear at this hour in my mansion in the hills. The whole thing was so strange that I actually got up and walked outside and looked through the bushes to see what was going on in this mansion. Who were these people? Was this the end of an all-night bender, or the beginning of Sunday Jazzercize? Or some sort of pagan sacrifice?
Alas, the hedge was to thick — couldn’t make out a thing. I felt like a private detective in some sort of music-noir.