On the bathroom floor with a wombat is no way to go through life, Yo-Yo Ma!
December 31, 2011 10:27 AM Subscribe
Yo-Yo Ma on the floor of a bathroom with Brookfield Zoo’s Wilbur the Wombat. Photo by Peter Sagal
host of Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me! (gratuitous bean-plating XKCD.) On YouTube: Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Sagal & a wombat (HD) Sun Times story: Yo-Yo Ma and a wombat meet on a bathroom floor. Seriously Previously
Yo-Yo Ma is near (if not at the top) of my list of entertainers that I respect and admire. You've got to love this guy.
posted by tomswift at 10:34 AM on December 31, 2011
posted by tomswift at 10:34 AM on December 31, 2011
Great. The PR machine for The Hangover Part III is already up and running.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 10:38 AM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 10:38 AM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]
Oh. *Not* wrassling.
posted by toodleydoodley at 11:13 AM on December 31, 2011
posted by toodleydoodley at 11:13 AM on December 31, 2011
The YouTube interview is simply wonderful. Anything Yo-Yo Ma is wonderful.
posted by Anitanola at 11:20 AM on December 31, 2011
posted by Anitanola at 11:20 AM on December 31, 2011
Wombat!
posted by book 'em dano at 11:27 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by book 'em dano at 11:27 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
That's a fabulous -interview - from the silly to the sublime and back.
I was lucky enough to watch Yo-Yo Ma do a master class a few years ago. He worked with a mix of grad students and high school students. A high school trio were doing a ferociously difficult piece and they were playing it technically well but with no emotion - obviously and not unreasonably full of fear at playing for such a great musician. It's a piece that starts with some very emphatic chords and they were just not hitting the emotion at all. Yo-Yo got up and said to them that they needed to just "barf it out" - mimicking hurling noises in the correct rhythm. After everyone stopped cracking up the kids played it again - and nailed it. He's a great teacher.
posted by leslies at 11:30 AM on December 31, 2011 [5 favorites]
I was lucky enough to watch Yo-Yo Ma do a master class a few years ago. He worked with a mix of grad students and high school students. A high school trio were doing a ferociously difficult piece and they were playing it technically well but with no emotion - obviously and not unreasonably full of fear at playing for such a great musician. It's a piece that starts with some very emphatic chords and they were just not hitting the emotion at all. Yo-Yo got up and said to them that they needed to just "barf it out" - mimicking hurling noises in the correct rhythm. After everyone stopped cracking up the kids played it again - and nailed it. He's a great teacher.
posted by leslies at 11:30 AM on December 31, 2011 [5 favorites]
I worked at an arts promotion company. Yo-Yo Ma gave me a hug after Alan Dershowitz cursed me out in front of a large group of people. True story. (Yo-Yo Ma is a good hugger.)
posted by pxe2000 at 11:58 AM on December 31, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by pxe2000 at 11:58 AM on December 31, 2011 [5 favorites]
I want a poster of that photo. It's surreal and delightful. I read the other links (didn't have time to watch the interview right now) but I love the image in a context-free way. I don't care why or how it happened. I just love that it did.
posted by darksong at 1:14 PM on December 31, 2011
posted by darksong at 1:14 PM on December 31, 2011
Originally I was going to post just the picture as my entry into the best post of 2011 in the single link category.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:57 PM on December 31, 2011
posted by cjorgensen at 2:57 PM on December 31, 2011
I didn't think I could love Yo-Yo Ma any more than I began to after seeing his Mr. Rogers appearance. Huh. Turns out I was wrong. (Runs back to look at picture again. And again. And again.)
posted by theplotchickens at 5:20 PM on December 31, 2011
posted by theplotchickens at 5:20 PM on December 31, 2011
Yo-Yo Ma gave me a hug after Alan Dershowitz cursed me out in front of a large group of people.
This totally confirms the personalities I would have guessed for both of them.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:17 PM on December 31, 2011
This totally confirms the personalities I would have guessed for both of them.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:17 PM on December 31, 2011
when i saw the 'previously' link on the front page i figured it was linking to the last time yo yo ma posed on the floor of a bathroom with a wombat.
posted by lester at 7:01 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by lester at 7:01 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
Ooo, thank you for the link! I saw the picture a few weeks ago and was somehow utterly unable to find any context for it. That's awesome!
posted by MadGastronomer at 1:27 AM on January 1, 2012
posted by MadGastronomer at 1:27 AM on January 1, 2012
In other news: Rare white wombat nursed back to health in Australia
posted by homunculus at 2:07 AM on January 1, 2012
posted by homunculus at 2:07 AM on January 1, 2012
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posted by infini at 10:31 AM on December 31, 2011