It takes a rare combination of pluck, inspiration, and borderline insanity to write music for the circus. Pluck, because compensation from show owners is often slow and hesitant. Inspiration, because show tunes cannot be done by chromatic rote. And borderline insanity because only a madman would attempt to give musical wings to an aerialist or torture the trombones for a clownish melody. Such a one is my old friend, Matt Margucci.
Matt and I worked together on the Culpepper and Merriweather Circus back in 2008 and 2009. I began the 2008 season as one of the clowns, but the owner, Trey Key, soon decided that I had more promise working directly with the show sponsors -- so he made me the Publicity Director. That was a step up for me -- the money was better, and I got to work directly with Matt on promoting his original musical compositions.
Capturing the spirit of each individual act was a challenge that Matt relished. He created elegant waltzes for the Spanish Web girls. Rollicking scherzos for the clowns. And bombastic marches for the elephants and big cats. All without falling into cliched muzak. When I asked him how he did it, he just shrugged his shoulders and said: "I don't write the tunes, they write me. I get most of them in the back of my head while practicing my trumpet."
Although an accomplished pianist, Matt's first love is his Getzen trumpet. With Culpepper and Merriweather Matt often spent the early morning, after the tent was up, sitting on the bleachers and practicing on his horn, hour after hour. As melodies and musical bridges came to him, he would try them out on his trumpet. When his embouchure was just about ready to collapse he'd quit and come find me so we could go get some breakfast.
Matt and I share a belief that the only decent breakfasts left in America are made in hole in the wall cafes in small town America. That's where the hash browns are hashiest and the scrambled eggs are scrambliest. No yogurt-infused granola or fancy-schmancy acai berry compote on matzoh for us! We sought out the biggest, baddest waffles in the county and the thickest, meatiest sausage gravy over biscuits available -- and not the IHOP franchise pablum, either. We went straight to those weary old fry cooks whose feet hurt and whose aprons are not spotless, the ones that operate a storefront greasy spoon on a potholed main road in a dilapidated town in the Rust Belt or the Deep South. They knew how to serve up a breakfast that not only stuck to your ribs but invited the in-laws to come stay a while as well. Matt was an inveterate drinker of black coffee, while I couldn't get enough chocolate milk -- as long as it was ice cold. There is nothing that spoils my morning reverie quicker than mildly chilled chocolate milk. If it doesn't have penguins swimming in it, I don't want it.
The culmination of Matt's musical contributions to the circus came in 2009, when he released his one and only CD -- Big Top Afternoon. He was hoping it would be a bestseller, but it didn't quite live up to Matt's admittedly extravagant expectations. This really disappointed Matt, along with the fact that several shows had basically stiffed him in the matter of payment for his original circus compositions. So Matt retired from composing circus music to concentrate on his career as a therapeutic pianist in nursing homes in California. He also worked as an accomplished sideman with live bands at Native American casinos across the Southwest. And I left the country to go teach English in Thailand. We've exchanged a few letters and phone calls since then, but since Matt doesn't do social media I can't really say I've kept in touch with him.
So I guess this is my way of saying "Hi ya, Matt. How are things in Burbank?"
No comments:
Post a Comment