David Robertson conducted a performance of Chaplin’s City Lights with the San Francisco Symphony last weekend. In attendance, as David’s guest, was Cardinals skipper Tony LaRussa. I know this because yesterday afternoon David’s assistant, Suzanne Leek, appeared in my office, somewhat giddy, and played Tony’s voice-mail message over her cell phone for me. I recognized that voice right away (I’m an old Oakland A’s fan, so me and Tony go way back), and I became pretty giddy too.
The tale goes somewhat like this: David had felt remiss in failing to offer congrats to Tony and the Cards for their (fill in your own superlative here) World Series victory, being that his guest conductor calendar was very full during Red October. However, as anyone who has read Three Nights in August knows, Tony and his family reside in the Bay Area. With David in San Fran, he put in the call to Suzanne to see if she could forward an invite to the LaRussas. As assistant to the music director, Suzanne is in charge of pulling assorted rabbits out of a variety of hats. Somehow, she got to Tony’s voice mail, and Tony got back to her voice mail. He and his wife already had tickets for the ballet on Friday night (one of his daughters is a trained ballerina, and back in the days with the A’s members of the team and Tony performed with the Oakland Ballet – in tights! – to help raise money for the company) but they could go Saturday – and could they bring the daughters? And could he meet David?
It all came together. And I listened to Tony report what a great time he and his family had at City Lights, and – this is a pure LaRussa moment – how happy he was to meet Milo, David’s dachshund. And then Tony put in a word for his Animal Rescue Foundation, www.arf.net.
And being a longtime LaRussa fan, I think I noticed in the manager’s voice something new. You know how Tony always sounds somewhat like the way he manages – always pushing, always a bit on edge. The voice on the cell phone was different. Tony sounded totally relaxed. Maybe it was City Lights, but as we St. Louisans know, winning a World Series works wonders.
