Another Proust Questionnaire

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

Miami Beach

What is the best gift you've received?

The Georg Solti recording of Gotterdammerung when I was 13 years old.

What are your guilty pleasures?

Strauss and Schumann

Which hobby would you pursue if you had more time?

I would like to play the piano, which I haven't done in 30 years.  But then, I would need not only time but a piano.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

A photographic memory.

What is the most spontaneous thing you've ever done?

I've probably never done a spontaneous thing in my entire life.  An immense amount of planning goes into everything I do.

Growing up, who did you most admire?

Benjamin Franklin


What was your most epic road trip?

I've never taken a road trip


What food brings back childhood memories?

Gefilte fish


Which book could you read over and over?

I don't reread books.


What is the most valuable piece of advice you ever received?

There's always someone smarter than you. --Kenneth R. Glick, Esq.


What is your idea of a perfect date?

I don't date.


Describe the most beautiful place you have ever seen.

Rome


If you could go back and relive one day of your life, which one would it be and why?

When I was fourteen years old, in late March 1968, we performed excerpts from Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier in my high school orchestra.  I would love to do that again.  Strauss?  How can you ask "why?"

Es sind die mehreren Dinge auf der Welt
so, daß sie eins nicht glauben tät,
wenn man sie möcht erzählen hören.
Alleinig wers erlebt, der glaubt daran und weiß nicht wie . . .

There are many things in this world
that you don't believe when you hear about them --
but if you lived them you believe, and don't know why.
--Strauss, Act III, Der Rosenkavalier

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Move to Miami Beach

What advice would you now give to your 10-year-old self?

Don't listen to other people

What do you love most about your home?

It's seeming seclusion


What's your favorite family tradition?

I barely have a family, let alone a family tradition.

What do you most dislike?

Being told what to do, what to feel, what to think.