A Story That Could Be True

        “Old Doc Jones was a fine old man, fine old man, fine old man.

        Old Doc Jones was a fine old man. He told ten thousand lies.”

 

On my first night in Brazil almost three weeks ago, I went out to see a Samba Rehearsal. Jumped right in with both feet into the waters of this vibrant culture. Yet I confess that since then, except for some lovely dinners out with folks, nights have mostly been back in the hotel preparing for the next day’s class or gathering notes for the classes that just happened or driving to the airport. 

 

So when my good friend Pati here in Rio suggested I go out with her Dad to hear some live music in a restaurant, I was ready. Up we drove into the hills of the Santa Teresa neighborhood, bumping our way on windy cobblestone streets with glimpses of remarkable views and colorfully painted houses. We arrived at the restaurant with outdoor seating and folks gathered in the streets listening to the bass/ mandolin/ guitar/ keyboard band play some lovely choro music. We could stand outside and listen for free or go in and sit at a table for a small cover charge. On a whim, we decided we might as well go in and sat at a table in the corner. 

We ordered a beer and settled ourselves down, ready to be swept up by the virtuosic and lilting blend of choro, jazz and other styles. And we were. When the band took a break, a man five feet away at a table next to us turned to me and asked, “Are you Doug Goodkin from The San Francisco School?” And thought, “Bingo! Here’s the moment I’ve been waiting for. The first movie star recognition from someone who saw The Secret Song film!”

 

But instead he said, “I went there. And so did my sister Mary” nodding to the woman sitting by his side. He was well over six feet tall and would have been much shorter when he left school in 8^th grade, but I immediately recognized her. What were the chances that two of my former students would choose to go to the same restaurant on the same night at the next table over thousands of miles from San Francisco and some 16 years after I last saw them!!!!

 

It got stranger. Andrew (the man) said he thought I was on the same flight as him from Atlanta to Sao Paulo but decided he must have been mistaken and never talked to me then. Take a moment to calculate the odds of that! But when he saw me come into the restaurant, he knew that twice seen meant I was the real deal. 

 

I talked with them during the whole break and it was clear that they were as lovely as adults as they were as students. Then it got a bit weirder as I asked Mary who had been in her graduating class and the first person she mention was Lydia Moog, who had just taken my Orff workshop in Sao Paulo! I said, “Lydia’s here!” Told her about the workshop and showed her a photo. 

 

And speaking of Lydia, I knew her mother as German, but it came up in conversation that her Mom actually went to the British School in Rio as a child! The very same school where I gave a workshop today. Andrew and Mary’s mother is Brazilian and grew up in Rio and now I’m thinking that we should see whether she and Lydia’s mother ever met each other! Who knows?

 

One of the games I played a lot with the kids at the school was called Old Doc Jones. You told an improbable story right on the edge of believability and then sang the Old Doc Jones song. The listeners had to put their thumb up if they thought it was true, down if false. If ONE thing in the story wasn’t true, then it would be false. Then the storyteller had to fess up to the real deal.

 

So what do you think? Did all of the above happen? Every bit? (Except for Andrew/ Mary’s mother and Lydia’s mother meeting—that’s just conjecture for now). Thumbs up or down? 

 

I’ll tell you tomorrow.