On The Crush List because…
It’s the perfect showcase for life well-played.
Do you ever spend your morning trying to decipher the exact lyrics to the songs that the neighborhood birds are belting out? I do, and I don’t find it easy at all. Sometimes I get to the point of actual pains in my skull. The good news is that I am making progress. Here’s what I’ve figured out so far:
“Your ladyship, ladyship. Your ladyship, ladyship.” “SEEECRET secret secret SEEECRET secret secret.” “Your panties, your panties show. Your panties, your panties show.” “She thinks she thinks she’s coooool.” “Tony Duquette, Tony Duquette.”
Speaking of Tony Duquette, it was such a treat to be invited in for a private tour of the elaborate, fantastical, richly worked in/lived in/played in Clayton House at Festivall Hill. You remember Festivall Hill, home to the Festival Institute and where all of Round Top spends its summers listening to exquisite classical concerts.
Duquette called his interiors “celebrational environments” and man-o-man that is exactly what these rooms are, each completely overflowing with joy and creativity and culture and travel and craftsmanship and curation and playfulness and history and love of a good story or song.
And in that rich tradition of Schroeder at the piano, the house is chock full of busts, including, even, one or two of Festival Hill’s founder and Clayton House resident James Dick himself.
The home was moved from nearby La Grange and is everyone’s dream of a quaint old Victorian in the country. In the early years, before the immense concert hall was built, performances were held here. Today it’s a private space, used as a residence and for lessons. So how do you get to the William Clayton House? Practice!
