Members of The Tribe

Originally appeared on AOL Tuesday, October 14, 1997

Edited Thursday, February 3, 2000

I wonder, do people ever try to determine anything much about a person whose posts they may read on a message board or who may have authored something on a webpage? When we are favorably impressed by the intelligence, insightfulness or depth of someone's comments, we would like to think they might be real "quality" people. Could their affinity for classical music, etc. have anything to do with it?

Meanwhile the madding crowd chases after things, gets involved with pointless competitions, especially the personal kind, and are jealous of what they cannot comprehend. As to those who have dedicated themselves to classical music, there is often among the common folk almost a hostility as if they recognize something that might be "superior" to their tastes or understanding and don't want to accept that this may be so or that anyone else's tastes or pursuits may exceed their own.

In many posts, over the last few years, I have been attempting to make personal contact with members of a group loosely comprised of people who are passionate about classical music in particular, the fine arts in general. I have decided to call this group "the Tribe" based on the comments of someone I met years ago who suggested that the followers of this or that musical form constituted a tribe.

Other characteristics? Members of this tribe exhibit a certain "class" approach to life. They may not have a lot of money. There are plenty of rich people who are just riff raff with money. They might even be the more dangerous for having all that extra financial clout. People of this tribe resonate to higher frequencies and subtler vibrations. Perhaps they have even given some thought to the meaning of life and tried to express themselves more "richly" in their lives. They seek the real movements of emotions, fine art that is above average, the restrained gestures of friendship and love, etc.

I'd ask someone if they know Brahms' second piano concerto. That's my piece. It describes me better than perhaps any composition yet written. Oh, I do like Gershwin's Concerto in F too, the "New York" concerto. I also like that great city down there, 150 miles down river from my present location, that salamander at the mouth of the mighty Hudson, one of the worlds best locations for a great city. There are many things I love a great deal, like a fine red wine, especially a Burgundy or a good California varietal, a great museum full of extraordinary paintings that were all done before photography made the effort to draw well seem too hard. Ever wonder how Rembrandt could paint those eyes that seem to follow you across a room? Gee, it was only a little paint! How about those Dutch landscapes that have you fooled into thinking you're looking at something in three dimensions when there are only two? Ever experienced a real plate of Wiener-schnitzl or some real Cassolet? How about some of those better than 400 varieties of frommages français? Do you like a big fresh green salad with fresh baked bread and fresh sweet butter? How about hearing a Mozart or Haydn string quartet in the background as you eat? Do you know how to correctly pronounce certain foreign words, like Mozart, correctly without feeling any shame? Do members of this tribe go for pleasure like the best seats on trains? Do they know a great opera singer when they hear one? Do they marvel at the skill and precision of a great ballet? Sure, and a lot more.

There may come a time when real class, which has been maligned for so long that few even want to be classy anymore, may become a thing of the past. With all our technological progress, we may be entering a cultural dark ages in which the finest cultural legacies which only a very few ever really understood anyway, may become even more rare. The people who know about them may become like the monks in the last dark ages, they may just have to preserve them the best they can until another Renaissance awakens consciousness.

Some have suggested that the founding of a new city might be an answer. This it seems to me would be a backwards motion. The fact remains that within the great cities of the world there already exists a cadre, a network of those who manage as best they can to keep real human greatness alive. It has been and is my intention to connect with these people however difficult. It is my strongest feeling that we should get together, recognize one another and not be satisfied with mediocrity, ever. However fleeting, life is surely worth living at this level, at least for members of "the Tribe".

The Polar Bear