The Wall Street Journal publishes a Journal Report on retirement issues called NEXT: Planning & Living the New Retirement. The latest issue had a front page account of the Martins, a couple who “walked away from all they owned” to travel and live around the world.
The Martins have lived in London, Paris, Florence, and Buenos Aires among other places. They travel on the cheap and live in fully furnished rented apartments for a month or two or three, and then move on to the next place. I won’t rehash their story, “The Let’s-Sell- Our-House-And-See-the-World Retirement”, which you can find at WSJ, because I was with a couple this week whose retirement plan was “Let’s trade our house for a boat and travel around the U.S.”
I have known Ed and Benia (Ben-ya; her dad was expecting a boy) since college days. In 2005 they sold their house in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, gave control of their assets to a financial planner, and bought the Sea Angel, an ocean-going sail boat. Ed and Benia are both experienced sailors and Ed has his captain’s license.
The plan was simple: live on the boat and travel the intracoastal waterway on the East Coast. Most December’s and January’s the Sea Angel was anchored in Key West.
They have adventured throughout the Caribbean visiting most of the islands in the West Indies, Mexico and Central America. Over the last two years they have been on the great adventure up the Hudson, the Erie Canal, the Great Lakes, Detroit River, Tennessee River and others south to Alabama where they entered the Gulf of Mexico and headed for Marathon, Florida to complete a 5000 mile sojourn.
I met them at the Charleston Maritime Center last week to get a glimpse of their new boat, Genteel, on their way south. After seven years of tugging on ropes, hauling the keel and flipping the jib, they have traded the Sea Angel for a power boat of the ocean-going class: 48 feet stem to stern, 16 feet in the beam and twin diesel engines that produce a hull speed of 14 knots. (I don’t know what all that means but it is a beautiful boat that goes faster than the average bear.)
Their cruising retirement has had its share of adventures: rough seas, waiting weeks for repair parts in Guatemala, and challenging sandbars. There has been more upside than downside with people they have met, places visited and bucket list accomplishments.
Retirement: different strokes for different folks.
Pluto is Missing
Last night I heard the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO), www.charlestonsymphony.org, in rehearsal for this weekend’s concert. The CSO program caught my eye when I read that Gustav Holst’s The Planets was the featured work. It is one of my favorite pieces of modern classical music along with Bolero, Pictures at an Exhibition, and Rhapsody in Blue.
According to the program notes, Holst started his “series of mood pictures” about the planets in 1914 and completed it in 1918. World War I kept it from being premiered until 1923. There are seven movements in this work that runs fifty-one minutes:
Did you notice that there are two planets missing? No reason not to miss Earth. Pluto was recently demoted so maybe Holst knew something astronomers didn’t before it was discovered in 1930.
The CSO plays at Sottile Theater in downtown Charleston. Rehearsal tickets were price fixed at $25 for any seat in the house. The turnout was small with everyone seated in the center section of the orchestra. Rehearsal is quite the contrast to performance night.
The players were in casual dress: everything from jeans and running shoes to sweatshirts and baseball caps. Their outfits did not affect their playing. When Maestro Michael Rossi, in shirt sleeves and slacks, tapped the podium with his baton, the orchestra sat straight and assumed positions ready to play with all eyes on him.
After the applause for a Verdi overture, the first piece on the program, Rossi turned back to the orchestra to point out some parts that needed improvement. They rehearsed sections of the score several times until the maestro was satisfied. Rehearsal “fun” was in full swing when the Chorus started a Brahms’ song for the second piece.
The Maestro stopped the Chorus about three minutes into the song asking the chorus to slow down the tempo. He stopped the second attempt with a “that is not Brahms’ tempo”! On the third try, he frustratingly exclaimed, “Whatever tempo I give you, you sing the same thing, too fast. Let’s try again.”
It turns out that Rossi was substituting for David Amado who was scheduled to conduct. I guess one man’s Brahms is not another’s. Fourth time was the charm. Brahms’ Song of Destiny was lovely even though I didn’t understand a word of German.
Before Maestro Rossi started The Planets, he explained how the work ends with the Neptune movement having a woman’s chorus offstage repeating their soliloquy in lower volumes until they fade away and the work ends. They rehearsed this first. With each subsequent practice, Rossi kept moving the chorus further and further back into the wings until they achieved the sound he was looking for. It was almost comical.
When The Planets opened with Mars, the Bringer of War, it was like being at a Star Wars movie. I think Holst is where John Williams got his ideas for his movie music. The CSO played through the whole score without any interruptions. The chorus faded away beautifully at the end and the show was over.
After the applause the Maestro invited the audience to stay for additional rehearsal. I had my interplanetary experience and headed for the parking lot.
You can hear it all here: The Planets.