Tuesday, March 12, 2019

On Classical Music

My local classical radio station, WRTI 90.1, recently asked listeners what song got them hooked on classical music. Here is my recollection of my gateway drug! 

I was an excruciatingly adorable, inquisitive primary school student, and our school's music teacher, Mrs. Horne, took a liking to me. Because she knew that I especially loved her History of Music class, she invited me on a special field trip with the OTHER fifth-grade music class  – the rival B-House!

Leaving the school when I should be in class? What a special and slightly anarchist gift for a conscientious fifth-grader!

So, on a sunny spring day, while my fellow fifth-grade A-House chumps toiled away in the classroom, I tramped across the lawn of Pennwood Middle School with my new B-House friends to a nearby church. Such an adventure that day! There, sitting in a wooden pew, I first laid ears on classical musical in the form of an organ performance of Bach's Little Fugue in G Minor. Slack jawed and astounded, I was instantly and forever hooked on classical music as the church pew rattled to the thundering chords and rolling melody of the piece.

Since then, classical music has been as welcomed an adventure in my life as it was on that fateful middle-school day. Regularly, the gift of classical music lifts my spirits, taking me on a figurative musical field trip while I toil at the office.

Thank you, Mrs. Horne, for plucking me out of the monotony of fifth-grade A-House and leading me on the path to becoming a classical music obsessee and devoted member of WRTI!

Monday, February 25, 2019

My winning SNL ticket entry essay.

I won tickets to a taping of Saturday Night Live! This is a dream come true! You can read all about my experience with the lottery and the actual show in the posts below.

In this post, I wanted to share my entry that earned me the tickets; I am very proud of it. 


I have been a "Wild and Crazy" fan of Saturday Night Live since that fateful night when my father plucked me from bed and sat me down in front of the TV to show me "something that you’re gonna love, Laura." He was right, and I proceeded to laugh my five-year-old butt off as I watched the Minkman brothers quality-check their squirting gag toilets and demonstrate faulty finger traps. What was this glorious show that aired so late past my bedtime!? Ah, this golden and formative memory has forever linked my life with that of Saturday Night Live’s, cultivated during my youthful "gag humor" years wherein I was never without my plastic sheet of vomit, my hand buzzer, or my Whoopie cushion. (My sense of humor has, of course, matured since then, but let's be honest, not by much.)

My point is, I've been watching SNL since those halcyon mid-80s years and have delighted in following the show as it evolved, serving to mirror and mock modern times as they unfold before us. From Eddie Murphy's “Hot Tub James Brown” to the glorious skewering of today’s Trump administration, my eyes, my ears, and my imagination have been yours.

That is why I think I should earn tickets to this upcoming taping season. Why? I, undoubtedly, will be a life-long SNL fan because I delight in the subversive, champion the creative, and indulge in the humorous. I eternally applaud and cheer on the enthusiastic talent breaking the rules, spreading their wings, and creating a comedic culture all their own within the walls of Studio 8H. I also really love to laugh. I think I've earned these tickets with my lifelong devotion!

I've been entering the SNL ticket lottery ever since I was of age to do so. So please, I beg of you, make this “Bucket List” dream come true for me! Let me join SNL’s legacy and witness the magic "live" for myself. Attending a taping would be like reliving that storied night back in the 80s when I was first transfixed by live comedy springing to life before my eyes.

To sum it up, I’m as loyal a fan as you can get - not a fair-weather fan, but a true, quality, lifelong fan of SNL who WOULD LOVE these tickets! As Herb and Al Minkman might proclaim, she’s no cheap knockoff… “She’s a Minkman!”


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