h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I had the unexpected privilege of going out to dinner with the late guitarist Carlos Montoya and his wife Sally back in the late 1970s.

Carlos was in Juneau, Alaska, to give a concert. I was then president of the Juneau-Douglas Little Theater, the sponsoring group for the event. The board of directors decided it would be nice to take the Montoyas out for dinner.

Over dinner, during which Sally handled most of the conversation for her husband, she confided to me that the maestro actually understood more English than he let on. She said that he preferred not letting people know that fact, to save him from being caught up in frivolous conversations.

Carlos did not read music; everything he played, he played from memory. Sally also said that while he usually played the same song the same way each time he played it, there would be times when she was sitting back stage reading a book when she'd notice a difference in what he was playing. She'd think, Hmmm...he's never played it *that* way before."

This great musician played all over the world, often performing for next to nothing in small African, South American, or Asian villages. His belief was that people who had no money had as much right to hear and see him play as those who could afford tickets.

The most distinct impression I had of him was that he seemed to go through life withg the philosophy of, "Okay, so I'm a great guitarist. I've been all over the world and made a lot of money. So what? That doesn't make me a better person than you or anyone else."