caracolina

Some time ago we bought a bunch of tickets for events at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. Tonight was the first event, a performance by pianist Gabriella Moreno from Venezuela. During the first half she played a number of pieces by Chopin, after the intermission she did some improvisations based on themes suggested by the audience. All in all, a very nice performance, except…

Some people around us though were just awful. First, the guy sitting next to John. He complained several times to his wife about the location of their seats (“all I can see is the back of her head”) and then made rustling noises with his program during the beginning of the performance. They left during intermission, what a relief. Later we heard a loud clicking sound and wondered who dropped something. After the next click we realized there was an old man sitting across the aisle from us who was clipping his finger nails! And, to top it off, a couple behind us was muttering loudly during the improvisations. They apparently didn’t like Ms. Moreno’s style. The woman was chewing her gum so loudly (these are people in their 50s or 60s!) that John finally lost it and complained about it to her. She said “Mind your own business!” and we just got up and left. Good timing, actually, because that allowed us to get a late dinner at Banderas on Scottsdale Road.