To my Family, Friends and Colleagues,
My very small but sincere tribute to President Carter is weeks late, but as everyone living in SoCal and many throughout our country know – unless they live under a rock – the fires here have been nothing short of devastating. Most of my family was relatively lucky this time. We just can’t do enough for those who suffered losses and for our fire fighters. I am in awe of the courage and heroism I have seen.
The first time I performed at the White House was for President Carter, his wife, Rosalynn, and members of Congress. President Carter was hosting a party as a “Thank-You” for all who worked with him during his presidency. I remember Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, Speaker of the House was there. It took place in 1980, right at the end of Carter’s term as President.
Our group of musicians came from the Marlboro Music Festival and we performed the Mozart Piano and Winds Quintet. After our performance both President Carter and his wife Rosalynn looked right in my eyes when I met each of them and they thanked me for the performance. I was struck by their sincerity. When we shook hands, I also remember being amazed at how soft the First Lady’s hands were. She certainly did not wash many dishes in the White House.
As for President Carter, in my opinion, he was a good president and a great man; perhaps even more successful as a humanitarian, a champion of human rights and a philanthropist in the years after he was president.
After the performance I had to exit in a bit of a hurry to speed back to New York and cover my shift as a cab driver that evening. I could not resist telling the first few passengers who got into my cab about my amazing day performing for President Carter in the White House just a few hours before. The people I was driving around reacted in different ways. Mostly they just rolled their eyes, nodded, looked at their watches, became fidgety and could hardly wait to get out of my cab.
This presidential performance was a memory I will always cherish, but at the time it did not remove me from the everyday needs of my life – putting food on the table and paying the rent.
David Singer, Grammy Award-Winning Professional Musician for 55 years
Author of “From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall“
www.singerclarinet.com
Blog updated frequently
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Lovely anecdote that illustrates how you, like so many musicians over history, rotate from anonymity to the focus of attention and then back to anonymity again.
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