Don't shoot the pianist...
Leadville, Colorado. Have you heard of it?
Leadville. The Two Mile High City! Perched a couple of miles above sea level. Shall we perch there too?
US Highway 70 and... go! Don't miss Exit 195. Right aboard! To Colorado Highway 91.
Road to the sky!
We're approaching. The city's origins are unique. In 1859, a gold rush followed. A decade later, a silver rush followed. By then, the city already had 30-40 thousand residents. Particularly impressive are the representatives of the high arts: gamblers, lawyers, doctors, jockeys, prostitutes, dentists, artists, thugs, thieves, con artists... and other intellectual elites who flocked to this geologically rich region of the country. To labor and to achieve great deeds...
And the miners are underground.
Visitor Center …
We load up there with all sorts of instructions and maps. What, where, where to, when!
The local city council of workers' deputies. Leadville City Hall. From 1905 until 1977, it served as a post office.
Evil tongues claim that the chief postman spied on the privates through the windows in the turrets. Cuckoo!
"… the postmaster used the small attic windows to spy on his employees as they delivered mail around town ..."
"I can see everything from above. Just so you know!"
Main Street. Harrison Avenue. There...
… here …
"The Old Church." Presbyterian Church, 1889.
There are so many churches!
"St. Mary". Catholic Church of the Annunciation, 1880.
And on the left is the Delaware Hotel Block nestled in, 1886
Naturally - Baptists, Adventists, Masons...
I've digressed a bit. Opium for the masses. Let's move on. To paraphrase Alla Borisovna's famous hit, there lived a grocer in Leadville. He had a small house and a wife...
"…Horace Tabor and his wife, Augusta, owned a general mercantile store in Leadville.
Profits from his store allowed Tabor to invest in silver mining operations..."
In September 1879, he bought a mine no one wanted at a sale – The Matchless Mine. Not far from here…
…We'll go now…
Unfortunately, it turns out I have to book a rendezvous over the phone. And screw it, the mine. Time is running out.
So where did I stop?
So he bought this mine, and in the very first year it started bringing him in over 2,000 bucks daily. Those bucks, not today's bucks. Believe it or not, almost 300 kilograms of silver per ton of ore.
The man quickly invested the money in real estate. Tabor Grand Building.
And as the song goes on: "... but he fell in love with actresses..."
…and built the Tabor Opera House,
Moreover, this music lover built another Tabor Grand Opera House in 1881, seating 1,500, in the state capital, Denver. Get to know us!
In general, the countless number of historic opera houses in the mining towns of the Wild West is astounding.
As an unknown chronicler of those times writes: “...In the evening you see firearms on all sides, every third man carries a Sharps, Spencer or Winchester rifle and every man has one or two revolvers in a condition for immediate use...”
Evening gunfire from all sides, every third person a "man with a gun," every first person with two revolvers, and… opera houses. That, excuse me, is a whole other story. We can't handle it. Perhaps Oscar Wilde should finally get the floor. In 1882, while touring the United States, he performed at the Tabor Opera House…
...with a lecture for local miners, gold prospectors, dentists, and... see above, on the topic: "Practical Application of the Aesthetic Theory of Exterior and Interior House Decoration, with Observations on Dress and Personal Ornament." Hmm. So: "Practical Application of the Aesthetic Theory of Exterior and Interior House Decoration, with Observations on Dress and Personal Ornament."
And across the street from the opera building…
…the legendary Silver Dollar Saloon is still there and, as eyewitnesses say,…
…the legendary writer crossed the street and…
"...and had a few drinks..."
"One notable visitor to the Silver Dollar was Oscar Wilde. It is said that the legendary writer, after lecturing
at the Tabor Opera House...crossed the street and put down shots..."
It immediately came to mind: "The lecturer is ready!"
And it was here, in the saloon, that he read the historic words next to the piano:
»Please don't shoot the pianist. He is doing his best. ",
which he later commented on as:"…the only rational method of art criticism I have ever come across."
"...the only rational method of art criticism I have ever encountered."
The story didn't end there. The mayor invited the distinguished guest to visit one of the city's most famous mines at the time—The Matchless Mine.
There in the mine, like in the old song:
"...they welcomed the boy,
They extended a hand of friendship,
They took me with them.
The girls are pretty
They greeted us with a quiet song.
And he went to the mine
A young guy…"
And in those distant times, they sent people to the slaughterhouse in this way. In a bucket.
The specifics of production at that time. "How a London dandy is dressed..." V-z-i-i-k!
Down below, naturally, the banquet continues! "…They greeted the boy…"
Invited to dinner...
As a Denver Tribune correspondent later wrote, all the miners were soon tipsy, but Oscar Wilde was not in one eye, which caused thunderous applause from the workers and the proclamation of him as a "true gentleman."
"...The miners without exception are rather dizzy, but Wilde remains cool, steady, and collected. He is cheered loudly and is voted a perfect gentleman..."
Well, so, "Professor of Aesthetics," as it was printed on his business cards. Aesthetic Professor! No nonsense! One of our kind, in short!
Yes, I periodically insert quotes in foreign languages here, but this is for the sake of authenticity.
Don't pay attention.
After the ceremony: "Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey... all the course was whiskey!" Wilde was handed a silver drill, and he personally opened a new vein of silver, which was named "Oscar." "... Then I had to open a new vein, or lode... and the lode named 'The Oscar'..."
As you can imagine, we couldn't ignore these statements, so we revisited this historic mine. Trust, but verify!
In the meantime, please don't shoot at blogger pianists. We play… we tell stories as best we can.
(quote) "As you understand, we could not ignore these statements, and therefore we once again applied to this historic mine. Trust, but verify!"
Source: travel.ru
