The Joy Pianist & The Charango Gal
A new-found friend of mine created the videos below. Kate Hathaway is a local musician who has mastered the Peruvian charango. Kate and her brother create music under the band name Hathaways. The first video features Kate the musician and the second features Kate the documentarist.
The documentary is about Charles Joseph Smith. I have met and spoken to Charles before about his music, but I did not have the intuition to investigate his life and his thoughts. Kate did. Champaign-Urbana is teeming with unique, interesting, beautiful people and I am happy that she noticed one of them. I think a good writer or filmmaker could make a career out of attempting to understand and describe the people in Champaign-Urbana who live with spark.
Both pieces are thoughtful, intelligent and intimate. Both deserve at least one viewing.
Comment by Segen on 3 July 2009 at 10:05 am:
You may be interested in Derek Paravicini — a musical savant. He is severely learning disabled, blind, and autistic, yet a true musical genius. Derek has the rare gift of “absolute pitch” – an extraordinary ability to recognize all individual notes in music – including full symphonic pieces. Derek is unable to dress himself, unable to count past the number ten, and unable to respond fully with his own thoughts verbally — yet has mastered the piano and remembers every song he has ever heard. His doctors believe the brain cells that would normally be used for daily function and thought have instead been dedicated fully to music.
Please watch this incredible video about Derek:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kwjDLHX92w
Comment by Todd on 16 July 2009 at 8:12 pm:
Whoa, the Smith video was a blast from the past. 8 years ago, I lived a few doors down from him. It always put a smile on my face to see him dancing down the hallway.
Comment by Charles Smith on 24 September 2009 at 9:16 am:
I will definitely see Derek’s video!!!
Comment by Charles Smith on 24 September 2009 at 9:22 am:
I also knew Kate Hathaway before she became the Hathaways. She started out as a student of the UIUC campus hosting open mic nights at the Canopy Club in Urbana, and when I did some performance art dancing at some of the shows, this is where I heard Kate sing some of her originals. For a time, Kate teamed up with her friends Mike Carberry on drums, and Vincent Murphy on bass, for a temporary gig at the White Horse in Champaign, IL that ran about 3-4 months before extenuating circumstances of hers caused the former full band to break up for good. With her brother James at her side who already followed in Kate’s footsteps as a musician, the only way that Kate would survive as a musician was to change the band to a more acoustic band than the amplified indie rock that they were used to. With that Kate found new adventures by going to Peru to learn charango playing. James was her sidekick for the past 4 years musically…and just like that…a new band developed…The Hathaways.
Comment by Charles Smith on 7 December 2009 at 3:48 pm:
I loved Derek’s video so much! It was a joy to see him in his full glamour as a music savant…but I am worried about Derek’s normal life…how can he live normally if music is the only elixir within him and around him….?