Hello to all of you, my name is Paul. It seems that much has been said of me andI, for one would like for you to know the true story, as I see it.There is nothing more beautiful than music, that is a fact that has helped methroughout all of my life. “The first sigh of the instruments” can feel to me like athousand wonderful days all wrapped into that one moment. There are not manywho understand the pull of the stage and of the arts to a person like me, not myteachers, and certainly not my father. There was a man, though, who seemed tounderstand my plight. His name is Charley Edwards, an actor at Carnagie Hall,whom I have seen perform many times, and who I consider to be a close, personalfriend. But even he could not grasp the luck of life which he had.In order for you to understand a little more about the truths of the arts, let metell you what makes me love them so. Growing up among the “ugliness andcommonness” of Cordelia Street was very difficult for me, not only because of myfather and the loathing I had for him, but because of the “flavorless, colorless massof everday living” there. I never belonged there. I dreamed of the day when I couldsit for hours upon hours and just listen to the orchestras, wearing purple andlooking at flowers. You see these beautiful things that belonged in my life weretotally absent as long as I was anywhere near Cordelia Street in Pittsburgh.Have I told you yet about the beauty of red carnations? No, I guess I haven’t. Iwore one the day I had to try to get back into school. The day my teachersattempted to determine what was the matter with me, and why I was defiant intheir eyes. I still to this day believe that it wasn’t so much that I did not likeschool, because the importance of schooling has always been quite obvious. I do,on the other hand, believe that in their attempts to control my thoughts and makeme conform, they lost my respect. L...
