I have gotten to know a lot of you over the years via email and I have even had the good fortune to meet some of you in person. To give you a little more insight into who I am (there is more than the classical guitar) here are seven things you didn’t know about me.
#1 I’m in a band and I play Mandolin, harmonica and steel string guitar.
I love the classical guitar, but I would say I love music in general. When I listen for pleasure the music is all over the map. A few years ago I was performing in a Festival in Australia where I saw the Punch Brothers perform. This is an amazing group that has bluegrass roots and at the helm is a bonafide genius by the name of Chris Thile. He is a mandolin player that inspired me to take up the instrument and pretty soon after I recruited some friends in New York to form a band.
I usually write the music and Caroline (the singer) writes the lyrics. Here is a sample
The band is called “Cathedral Parkway” (the street where I used to live) and the album on iTunes is “Howl at the Moon“
#2 I am a professional photographer
One time, several years back, I performed in Oslo at a human rights conference. I didn’t know anyone so I ended hanging out with the photographers. I was quickly bitten by the photography bug and began teaching myself by learning online (which incidentally is how I became aware of the effectiveness of online teaching). I have shot at New York Fashion Week, been published in books, Weddings, festivals and had many portrait sessions including the Juilliard String Quartet. I think my favorite moment for photography was walking down Broadway in New York and seeing one of my photos used at Lincoln Center.
#3 My first instrument was brass
My first instrument was the cornet, and I was cute as a button when I played it. I have no idea if I was actually playing the right notes back then. By the way, that grumpy guy on the right is my brother. He ended up being a musician too…
#4 I Danced in the olympics
I will spare you the lead up to this one, but when I was a high school student in Australia I was part of a group selected to dance in the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Sydney. I am pretty sure it will be the biggest audience I will ever perform for and the only audience I will ever dance for :)
I do have a photo of this, but for the life of me I can’t find it! I guess you will just have to trust me.
#5 Hablo Español
When I was at Yale I had a bad habit of taking on too many classes. One of these was Spanish and every morning at 8am I would spend two hours learning Spanish with a group of undergrads who where ten years younger than me and ten times as smart!
The Spanish language is a beautiful one with great poetry, films and music. It also helped me greatly when I traveled to South America to teach and perform.
Here is an interview on Buenos Aires radio.
#6 I love soccer
What is a good sport that won’t break your nails?
Soccer!
I played all throughout university and now I am passionately involved with a Premier League Fantasy team…
and Evita is beating me with a team choses solely on hairstyles.
#7 I am marrying for money
Just kidding, I am marrying a dancer.
I am engaged to the best Lindy Hop dancer in the world. Many of you have heard her on the podcast.
Here is Evita (Eva Maria)
Hi Simon. Thanks for sharing the 7 things we didnt know about Simon. Interesting and entertaining. I saw Chris Thile play in Adelaide as well and to put it bluntly I was blown away but his mandolin playing and he had a lot of charisma. My mandolin is still gathering dust but I will dust it off in the future. Great to see the video of Evita. I don’t really know what Lindy hop is but it was great dancing regardless of what style it was in. Thanks again for sharing this you are making a habit of coming up with new and interesting things. I look forward to when your email arrives in my inbox!
Gracias por todo. Feliz dia de accion de gracias.
Jorge
Simon, Great to get to know you a little better, and wow, you are Renaissance Man! I have been struggling to learn French all my life (one of the things you do as an anglophone Canadian). Although I can read fairly well and carry on a bit of small talk, there is absolutely no way I could be interviewed in French on any topic whatsoever. And that’s after living three years in France. And you got to this level of proficiency in Spanish with a couple of hours a day?! Really impressive.
I only made as far as your wonderful performance of the Scarlatti piece. I could catch it was Scarlatti, but not the exact title of the work. If you could let me know, I’d appreciate it.
And I am delighted to see Evita perform after getting to know and like her through the podcasts. At the risk of exhausting my allotment of wows, WOW!!! Just a spellbinding performance. Please pass on my congrats and appreciation.
Simon thanks for a glimpse into your background, both past, present and future. You are a true Renaissance man :)
Your Spanish is impressive! I was born in Puerto Rico. I can always appreciate this :)
Hey! I used to take that 2-hour 8 am Spanish class at Yale (years before you would have been there). I also learned guitar while I was in college from a guitar student at YSM. Sadly, I never either very well, so I am back here, many years later trying to give guitar another go. Your lessons are fantastic.