Chris Carosa %

Cross Country Training (Notes from Riding Through the Heart of America)

By Chris Carosa on May 17, 2016

Nobody likes to hear the principal call your name through the loudspeaker. This is an eternal fear. It’s like one of those dreams where you wake up realizing you have a test you haven’t studied for (let alone in a course you’ve never attended class for). You never ever want to hear your name blared from some public address system (unless there’s a reward involved).

So, when I’m anonymously sitting in the makeshift shaft they call the Rochester train station (the new one is supposed to be ready this fall), you can understand why I suddenly Continue Reading “Cross Country Training (Notes from Riding Through the Heart of America)”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries

Here’s What Goes Through Your Mind When You’re About to Appear on a Live Network Broadcast

By Chris Carosa on May 10, 2016

The alarm finally buzzed at 4:30am. I had already been up for three minutes. It’s weird. No matter what strange hour I need to get up for something, I’m always wide awake well before I need to be. I’m sure many of you won’t seem surprised by this, but my sleep cycles are not quite, shall we say “eastern time zone.” In general, 4:30 in the morning is a lot closer to when I usually go to bed than it is to when I usually get up. And I do more often than not get the requisite eight hours of sleep.

For some reason, I just wasn’t excited about this television appearance. To make sure we’re on the same page here, I must remind you that I am not famous enough not to get Continue Reading “Here’s What Goes Through Your Mind When You’re About to Appear on a Live Network Broadcast”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries

A Salute to Moms Everywhere

By Chris Carosa on May 3, 2016

If you went to see HFL’s production of Mary Poppins The Broadway Musical you likely left amazed by two things. First, the talent of the actors. Let me say a word about these students. Yes “a” word. A single word. One word that rules them all.

“Wow!”

It was perhaps that very talent that leads to the second notable take away from the event: The primacy of motherhood regarding the character of Winifred Banks. Yes, the original Disney movie touched on this, but during the era of budding feminism, it was downplayed in favor of focusing on the Continue Reading “A Salute to Moms Everywhere”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries

Please Somebody Steal this Idea!

By Chris Carosa on April 23, 2016

The phone rang (again). It was a most inconvenient time (again). I didn’t recognize the number (again).

When I picked it up I heard a nice woman’s voice inform me there’s nothing urgent with my credit card… I hung up. Again.

How many times do you get these obnoxious calls purporting to come from your credit card company? Can’t somebody do something about this?

They can. And here’s how…

But first, a trip in the Wayback Machine…

It was the early 1980s and I was sitting in the office of the firm’s owner. I wasn’t in trouble (this time). Continue Reading “Please Somebody Steal this Idea!”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Caller-ID, cell phone, Manning & Napier, Rochester Telephone

Life In the Pits (Part III)

By Chris Carosa on April 19, 2016

For the previous installment – and to better understand the twist at the end of this article – you should first read “Life in the Pit (Part I).”

Moving is never easy for a youngster. To have a comfortable routine suddenly ripped from you can devastate a psyche that perhaps has not yet fully matured. In my personal case, I can say that my moving from one city to another at the tender age of ten-and-a-half represents an essential element of who I’ve become. It forced me to recognize things much quicker than my peers. I am, and always will be, eternally grateful for the opportunity moving presented.

On the other hand, I will forever complain about it. Too many changes. Too many lost friendships. And, in the end, too much guilt (but that’s another story). This particular story continues what we started several weeks ago and ends with a topic that may be more Continue Reading “Life In the Pits (Part III)”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Florence Brasser, Gates Chili, Herman Dilmore, Miss Avalon, orchestra, The Beatles, violin

The Night the Grand Old Party Died

By Chris Carosa on April 12, 2016

I was sitting in Amtrak’s Metropolitan Lounge at Union Station when it started. By the time I had already boarded the train, it was done.

On the evening of March 11, 2016, thousands of violent agitators marched their way towards downtown Chicago, intent on disrupting a scheduled campaign stop by Donald Trump, the leading candidate of a major American political party. Rumors swirled in advance of this event. It was believed various foreign funded Democrat operatives, along with the same Republican operatives that used this technique successfully in a 2014 Senatorial primary campaign, were working together to stop the Trump campaign appearance.

While it was never confirmed who organized the intimidating show of force, it worked. Large numbers of the Anti-Trump gang had maneuvered themselves into the University of Illinois’s Pavilion. Long before the speech was scheduled to begin, the troublemakers had Continue Reading “The Night the Grand Old Party Died”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Amtrak, Brownshirts, Casablanca, GOP, Hillary Clinton, Humphrey Bogart, Mendon Town Republican Committee, Nazi, New York, Snow storm, Trump

Conquering Kirk’s Rock

By Chris Carosa on April 5, 2016

“I was told there would be Gorns. We are the Gorns? Wait! What’s this? Charcoal. Sulphur. And, are those diamonds? Now, if only I was in the South Pacific and could find a random bamboo shaft…” Life is good when you can turn your dreams into reality. Here’s yet another example of that in this week’s Carosa Commentary “Conquering Kirk’s Rock.”

I used to think the TV contained little people and the scenes they acted in were real. I also used to think the music played by radio stations came from the bands performing live in their studios. For the longest time, I could never figure out how The Beatles traveled so fast from one radio station’s studio location to the next. And when it came to Hey Jude, well, forget it. That song has a never ending chorus that just keeps repeating. Somewhere, The Beatles are still repeating, “Naaaa, naa, naa, na, nan, naa, naaa, hey Jude!” and wondering how will they ever get off of this merry-go-round.

But back to the TV thing. We watch TV and wonder. We wonder how they can make a story come alive the way they do. We wonder how much of the scene is real and how much is a useless façade. And we wonder what those fabulous on location scenes look like in real life. If you’re like me, you Continue Reading “Conquering Kirk’s Rock”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged California, Captain Kirk, Gorn, Hey Jude, Star Trek, The Arena, The Beatles, Thirty Mile Zone, Vasquez Rocks

I Could Never Live on Pacific Time

By Chris Carosa on March 29, 2016

Who knew?

I used to brag about living on Pacific Time. Let me explain.

It’s been said that writer’s tend to do their best work either first thing in the morning or very late in the evening. I fall into the latter category. I don’t know if I consciously chose that category or if the category chose me. As many of you know, I have a fairly successful day job. This precludes the “first thing in the morning” category from my list of options as a Continue Reading “I Could Never Live on Pacific Time”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged California, writing

Sometimes Second Best Turns Out To Be the Very Best

By Chris Carosa on March 22, 2016

This picture was made for my dad, not for the contest.

The vision lay deep within my head for as long as I could remember. I don’t know where it came from. I only know it originated from a distant place – a distant past – and that it had an almost spiritual importance. I couldn’t explain the nature of that importance, but I knew I must follow it where ever it would take me.

So began my thoughts upon entering my first and only art class in sixth grade. This was only my second year at Florence Brasser Elementary School in Chili. By then, I had so divorced myself from caring what my peers thought of me that I had no fear of failing. So, with this picture in my head driving me, I gladly entered the contest, fully expecting to win.

Oh, did I tell you? I’m not the artist in my family. Never was. That would be my brother. Artists create something from nothing and see the wholeness of their creation. My brother was (and remains) very good at that. I, on the other hand, can never separate Continue Reading “Sometimes Second Best Turns Out To Be the Very Best”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Albright-Knox, art contest, Florence Brasser Elementary School, The Picture

Life in the Pit (Part II)

By Chris Carosa on March 15, 2016

This is the second of three installments; click this link to read “Life in the Pit (Part I).”

We interrupt this story for ten lessons learned from my life in the pit of a musical orchestra:Continue Reading “Life in the Pit (Part II)”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Anything Goes, Brigadoon, Cole Porter, Gates-Chili High School, Hello Dolly!, musical, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!, Renee Fleming, violin

Chris Carosa