Gianni Truvianni asked:
I of course am aware that many may not know who Charles Coleman is and it is for those that do not that I have chosen to write this article as he was the man, who in part is responsible for my love of opera and classical music that even lead to the creation of my first book “New York’s Opera Society”. Naturally when referring to Charles Coleman, I do so regarding the New York composer who way back in 1985 was a schoolmate of mine at “The Tutoring School Of New York” and not others with the same name; such as the one who was executed in the state of Oklahoma for murder back in 1990 or the noted English painter.
For the Charles Coleman I make reference to is the one who has given us many compositions among which are included “Deep Woods” and “Redemption” along with orchestrations of songs such as Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depressant”, Frank Zappa’s “Uncle Remus”, The Beatles’ “Come Together” and several others. Charles Coleman, apart from displaying talents in both composition and arranging did so as a singer of merit; as he at a very early age sang soprano at the Metropolitan Opera, performing many child roles including the one of “Feodor” in Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov”.
As for the friendship which developed between Charles and myself, this started in the fall of 1985 at the start of the school semester, in what was my senior year and Charles’s junior; given that he was and still is one year younger them myself. Charles and I at first did not really have a lot to say to one another, though we knew of each other given the fact that ours was a very small school with only 80 students and we were in the same European history class. History by the way being one of the few subjects in school I was good at as it had always fascinated me and still does to learn of events from the past with effect the reality of today.
It all started one day, and though I recall it being almost at the start of the school year I do not remember precisely if it was in the month of September or October that our history teacher, was speaking very loudly to us during the class. This not being something he usually did, which even he caught himself doing and explained that the reason he was doing so was because there was a girl in one of his classes who was hard of hearing. I jokingly at the time suggested he should get a bullhorn, like Jimmy “the mouth of the south” Hart from the W.W.F. (World Wrestling Federation), who as a manager in professional wrestling would use one to shout instructions to those under his guidance.
It turned out that Charles Coleman, like myself at the time was a fan of the W.W.F., which at the time was going through perhaps its biggest moment with regards to popularity, it even having a cartoon version which featured many of its stars at the time like “Hulk” Hogan, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Andre “The Giant”, the Junkyard Dog, Big John Stud and many others. Charles and I, after that class got to talking about wrestling. Something which we would often do when ever time allowed, with him being more a fan of the so called “good guy” wrestlers while I preferred the “bay guys”. The likes Piper (real name Roderick George Toombs) who was hailed as being from Glasgow, Scotland and even wore a kilt in to the ring along with playing the bagpipes. All this in spite of his having been really born in Canada.
Many would be our discussions over wrestling, Piper’s Pit, and who was better or what not and I do even recall, Charles being the nice guy he was lending me a video tape of “WrestleMania I”. This being a kind gesture on his part despite the fact that the tape he gave me was in VHS form and the VCR I had at the time was betamax, which meant that I was not able to watch it but it is the thought that counted. Actually such was our fascination with professional wrestling that I started calling Charles “weasel”. This not due to his personality but his resembling the then W.W.F. manager by the name of Bobby Heenan. Heenan also referred to as such in the world of professional wrestling along with his other often cited name; “the brain”.
It was through our conversations that I would find out that Charles apart from being a fan of professional wrestling and yes, we both knew it was fake but this mattered not as we found it entertaining despite its lack of authenticity which we were constantly reminded of by our fellow schoolmates, was a composer of orchestral music. Charles however was a quit person in those days and probably still is, who did not talk very much about his talent. This being the case though I do remember seeing him one day in the garden, which was located in the back of our school, taking notes. When I approached him on that occasion to see what he was writing, I found out about his love for classical music as it was precisely music which he was putting down on paper almost as easily as one writes down words.
By the end of the year 1985, I could say Charles and I were what could be labeled as school friends though little else; given that we did not have any contact with each other outside of “The Tutoring School”. Personality wise I remember Charles as being soft spoken as opposed to many in our school, perhaps myself included who were anything but as he did not talk much specially in the company of many though he always had an opinion over many an issue on the many times we engaged in discussions. Some of them diverting from the subject of professional wrestling to include politics. This being a subject which we almost never saw matters eye to eye on, as my views on many of the topics we talked about were closer to then president Reagan’s while his given his family tended to be more liberal. In all that we discussed however we did respect each other’s point of view even if we more often the not disagreed, as was the case for the right to burn the flag which strangely enough he was against while I in favor of.
With regards to our connection with opera and classical music, this started one day (in January of 1986), on which Charles mentioned and I do not even remember what brought it up during our history class that he had tickets for that very evening to go see Luciano Pavarotti at The Metropolitan Opera. It was two tickets that Charles had to see Pavarotti in the role of Mario Cavaradossi in the opera “Tosca” by Puccini, with no one to use the second ticket. I, at the moment not really being an opera fan asked him if he would care to let me use the second ticket which he agreed to. For my part though I was not the great opera fan that I am now accepted to go given first that I knew who Pavarotti was as his name and Domingo’s were among the most heard in opera. I also went because many years before during what would be my grandmother’s last visit to the states, I had heard her tell me of the wonderful qualities of Pavarotti’s voice which she had even pointed out to me while he was singing on TV. I even mentioned this particular episode of my life in another article of mine entitled “Pavarotti, You Are Gone But Not Forgotten”, which like this one is also available on the net.
Once settled that Charles and I would go to the opera we agreed to meet at my apartment, for the simple reason that it was closer to the Metropolitan Opera then was his parent’s downtown apartment. Charles, arrived on time as I expected he would that evening and slightly more elegantly dressed then he normally did in school while I wore a jacket and tie though not a suit. Charles on that occasion met a cousin of mine who was very young at the time, nine years old to be precise who found him very friendly who even said so as we departed for the opera.
Once Charles and I were outside my building, Charles suggested we take the subway but I said rather then take the subway we should take a cab. A cab which I gladly paid for since Charles was the one who was providing the tickets for this evenings outing which though never told of their price I could imagine was much higher then the cost of taking a taxi from the Eastside of Manhattan to the Westside. It was actually while in the taxi that Charles took the time to explain to me what the opera was about which we were going to see, telling me its synopsis which seemed interesting. Charles, I could tell had seen this opera many times and yet seemed to want to see it again as he held a true love for opera, which I would eventually acquire though for what concerned that night I was just getting to know.
Charles and I enjoyed the opera, though since I was hearing it for the first time, there were moments which my ear found hard to follow. This being the case though several parts stuck out in my mind like the one in the first act in which Pavarotti sings “Recondita Armonia” or the one in the 4th act in which he sings “E Lucavan Le Stelle”. It was these two arias, which really helped me to notice the true power and grace of the tenor, as notes came so much alive in a way, I had never noticed before. All of which letting me see what opera really was. As for the rest of the opera, I found it nice and looking back on it, more then twenty years later I know it inspired me to listen to more opera. Charles and I after that unfortunately did not go to any more operas together and even lost contact with each other; at least for the next three years.
By then the year was 1989 and a friend of mine by the name Rick Page, who even resembled his more famous and older cousin Jimmy Page (from the rock band “Led Zeppelin”) had invited me to his recital at the New York School of Music. Rick being a piano player who I had met while working at a place called “The Town Club Of New York” located on 85th street between 5th avenue and Madison avenue, who happened to be studying composition in the above mentioned school. This also being the school attended by the fictional characters from both my books “New York’s Opera Society” and “What Should Not Matter”.
With my memory serving me well I recall it was sometime in the month of May when I went to see a performance of Rick’s music in the society of a female German friend of mine, who apart from her nationality and gender I remember very little about other then the fact that ours was what could without doubt be referred to as a plutonic friendship. Upon arrival at the hall were the concert would be I was greeted by my friend Rick, whose German was as fluent as my friend’s, who had come with me. This leading to them starting a conversation in German which I understood very little of but it was while Rick and my friend chatted that I heard someone near me say “I can’t believe Charles Coleman’s piano player didn’t come”. I then suddenly in my mind put what could be consider two and two together thinking in the following manner Charles Coleman was a guy I went to school with, he studied classical music, this is a school for such music so maybe the Charles Coleman this person is referring to is the same one I used to know as weasel from “The Tutoring School of New York”. I quickly after all that had gone through my mind turned to the person who had said this and asked “Did you say Charles Coleman?”. This person, a man looked at me with some surprise and said “Yes, I did” to which I asked him if he could point Charles out for me, which he did and it was at that moment that I saw again after a long time “weasel” from high school.
Naturally, I went over to Charles and said hello and talked about old times, and I must admit it was nice to see him, not only because he was somebody from my school but I still held found memories of those days when we talked about wrestling. The concert went well though I did not hear any of Charles’s music but I did get a chance to hear Rick’s music after which Rick and I along with several of his friends went over to a bar. Charles and Rick were friends however on that particular evening Charles opted not to join us for a drink; for a reason which I know not of.
The name of the place we went to I do not remember though to be frank I did not pay it any mind as it was a place I was taken to. Many of Rick’s friends were there however the one who made the biggest impact on me was a Colombian who at the time was studying to be a conductor, and though his name I did not pay attention to I did regarding what he had to say about opera. Him telling me that contrary to what I had thought in the United States cultural events such as opera were not exclusive to the rich as one could get a last minute ticket for more or less the same price of going to the movies and getting a greasy burger afterwards. Actually such was the impression this Colombian gentleman made on me that I based my character Arturo Gomez from my book “New York’s Opera Society” on him. As for the rest of the evening, this went by nicely enough as we listened to my friend Rick get up and sing “Wind Beneath My Wings” along with some of his other friends who also interpreted songs.
As for Charles and I; we would continue are friendship though rarely did we meet given our limited time, me with my studies in French and photography while he with his music. Charles would also be the one I would call every time I had made the purchase of either a classical music CD or opera, to ask what his opinion was on the music. I was always astonished how he always managed to know which performers were on the CDs I bought as he knew them all personally. Well what could be expected from a man whose ear was so refined that he could not only recognize every classical piece he heard but which philharmonic was playing it.
I for my part would go on to attend performances of Charles’s music, the following year in 1990 and in 1993, which I found to be more to my taste then Rick’s music though I can not claim to be a particular fan of either one, even if I do admire both of them for being good at what they do. Charles and I, that evening in 1989 were reunited and though we again have lost contact with each other I will never forget the times Charles and I had. For instance their was the time he came over to my place to bake cookies or the times we spend in “The Tutoring School of New York” or specially the night on which Charles helped introduce me to the world of opera.
The last time I saw or spoke to Charles Coleman by telephone was in 1993 as time and travels have separated us though I hope not for good as I would not mind seeing Charles again however for those who wish to know more about Charles I recommend going to www.charlescoleman.com . It is there where they will be able to read more about this most talented composer, though with no offense intended to him not much of a piano player. I in later years would go on to develop a short friendship with the Polish composer Piotr Rubik. Him being my neighbor and student at my English School, whom I would once invite for Thanksgiving dinner at my house with the lady who at the time was his girlfriend though her name escapes me at present.
