Gomorrah

Last night's memorial concert for Erich Kunzel (you can read my review here) was an uplifting experience.  There were a couple of teary moments, but it was primarily a celebration of Erich's life.

One wonderful story stands out, told to the chorus prior to going onstage.

Erich ad libbed all of his remarks to the audience in his concerts, and as someone said, "you held your breath, because you never knew what was going to come out of his mouth."

His Christmas concerts were inclusive, giving a mention to just about every possible holiday that might occur at that time of year.  At one of these, perhaps 25 or 30 years ago, he talked to the audience about the Jewish Chanukah tradition of "lighting the gomorrah."

Kindly, one of the musicians, who was Jewish, sent him a note after the concert, and mentioned in the note that the correct word was "menorah."  Erich corrected the comment for the next performance.

This past August, a week or so before he died, that same musician sent Erich a note thanking him for all the years that they had made music together.  Erich responded, "and thank you for saving my ass on that gomorrah thing."