A Crumb is a Mustard Seed.

The Autocrat Who Survived the Revolution and Improved It.

He enters sagely through the sliding double doors gracefully, luminous in the Red Tunic of the Cultural Usher. Entering ‘The Kimmel Center of Performing Arts’, home to the ‘Philadelphia Orchestra’, Lloyd Collins ( 74 ) challenges the idée-fixe of the “modern cultural archetype” in a way D’Artagnan from The Three Musketeers would have ‘challenged’ the theologue tyrants of Medieval France : Like a Nobleman belonging to the very last Legion of Honor, conducting himself with an irrevocable and perennial Sense of Duty that Performs in the broad luminosity of the Common Purview. Sire Lloyd Collins More enduring in Principle than even those mavericks of the City of Brotherly Love who dueled with Destiny and the Fate of Nations in bringing about the advent of ‘Something’ downright Cinematic in production by all contemporary Western accounts of Valor in 1776; Lloyd Collins, a Man compelled by robust inner proportions of ‘Transcendental Duty’, whose doting canine beneficiary is called ‘Om Shanti’ ( After the Vedic Invocation ‘Let Peace Permeate’ ) religiously protracts the sum of his day’s labors nocturnally after his ‘Four-Five Hour Stint’ as a Transformational, Sweeping, Cultural Emissary at ‘The Kimmel’ is “over” for the Day by taking ‘Om Shanti’ for a ‘Peace of Mind’ walk. Such is Devotion. Mr. Collins’ ‘Spirit of Peace’ is revolutionary in times of underscored Cultural Lassisitude, Moral Dereliction. Strife, Hype, and Turmoil – and Mercantile Collapse.

He embodies Poise in the Tradition of ‘The City Upon a Hill’, though upon a Quick Survey his odds seem Dystopian against the incessant undercurrents and general “noise” of his times. The Great Steward of Ethics and Service weathers the Storm, brow-lifting, instead of Brow-beating, the adversarial menaces to High Culture in the Heart and Center of Philadelphia City – by All Means and Modes – A Sublime and Classical City with a Destiny ( Still ) . An unnamed ‘Visitor’ on the third floor for example ‘Swoons Over’, almost collapsing ‘Over and Out’ the parapets of the Steep and Spectacular detail of the perpetual Anachronism that Kimmel Center offers to the under-instructed ‘Tourist’ with its mix of European and International Classical Sophistication by the way of Philharmonic feasts and forays, and Airport Terminal like ‘Vault’ and a ‘Hanging Garden of Babylon’ like “box” floating within its etherspace – presiding as a ‘Jurisdiction of Modern Authority’ over that which carries the impartial and self-fulfilled un-commandeerable Cultural Sceptre of the ages.

The Swooning Tourist: Her name could have been Sue, though the author assures that it was not. What the author does confirm, is “Sue’s” diet, which was easy to infer when before the spontaneous witness-ship of the Author and a gaggle of a dozen other bypassers at ‘The Kimmel’ she ‘Gushed’ like a Robin Bird her dietary proclamations. “I had this big Italian meal, with a lot of meat balls you know . . . my digestion never works in the evening! And, Oh! The Music! The Music! ”. Muttering semi-ruefully her isolated, Kafkaesque lines of culinary indictment, she is seen safely held and ‘tucked in’ by the gentle grip and poise of a Pacific Stalwart and Soothe – Lloyd Collins – President of the Union of Workers at ‘The Kimmel’, who with the utmost sophistication of a considerate Soul, invoking the very Cosmic Essence of ‘Om Shanti’ by his calming cadence, refreshing in the visitor the rare and otherwise impossible ‘embrace’ of the exemplified Age Old, Agrarian, Classical American, ‘Autocrat of the Breakfast Table’ tradition and Quintessence, offers in every vignette of ‘Interaction’ the Chronicle of the Timeless Moments.

The entire City represents itself at that very moment in the immemorial, spectacular emissaryship of a Man whose appeal is that of a transposed Spiritual William Penn, whose moral candor and philosophical vehemence downright Jeffersonian. Whose Non-Partisan ‘Free Man of Honor’ and ‘Gentleman of Americas’ Integrity is a Placid and Immovable ‘Whole’ within all the parts and ramparts of spheres of his sage temple ‘The Kimmel’ in which he is almost a Priestly ‘Brahmin’ Presence. Yet ‘Despite’ this seeming loftiness of demeanor, Lloyd Collins is one, whose ‘Rescue Missions’ crenellate and advance every bit, the Ideals of a ‘Few Good Men’, ‘Camelot’, and ‘Stewardship’ as much as it does of ‘Punctuality’, ‘Service’, ‘Tradition’, ‘Legitimate and Affirmed Archetype’, and ‘Essence’ – within the anachronistic cathedrals of the soaring ‘Kimmel Center’, whose unseen Valkyries prowl most likely in dark places, “behind the scenes” and ‘haunt’ the gustatory stoops and visceral maladies of the proverbial passerby. yrhuewf The Hungarian Professor of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania visiting His Holiness Dalai Lama of Tibet in the previous summer gazed with a great and proportioned admiration towards Mr. Collins. It was easy to see ‘Why’, and the ‘How’ followed promptly, uninterrupted by the “Noise” of the throngs. Thanking him with the premium expressions of Gratitude, he ( The Professor) solicited a scribble. “Please – Provide me with an email address – or a contact point. I should like to write a letter to the Performance Center for sponsoring your existence. Such a Civilized presence! What a focused demeanor! I must Thank the Performance Center in correspondence.

Lloyd Collins accepted the accolade gracefully from the aristocratic patron of ‘The Kimmel’ simply nodding his acceptance with a small smile, and offering that he visit the Web Site and approach the appropriate and ‘more informed’ personalities. Art for the Sake of Art. If only James Joyce had visited ‘The Kimmel’. Or rather, Mr. Lloyd Collins of the Fraternal City. The Author too was ostensibly ‘touched’, in the same way thousands are monthly by this ‘Force of Demeanor’, this ‘Marvel of Gentlemanliness’, this ‘Congruent Spectacle’ to all others doled out on a Pay-Per-View basis within the Symphonic Bastions. So he did not hesitate, nor could he permit himself to be bashful to Inquire further ( The Author ).

In a Conversation with the Jeffersonian Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, – decked in his Red Tunic, and his Signature Bow-Tie, Lloyd Collins confided in a rare and intimate moment of Self-Reflection: “ . . . I work here for the People. For the Possibilities. To watch out for the little guy. For the Tradition of it All. Above all, I work here to pay homage to ‘The Music’.” His face: aquiline, indented, ever musing, and perpetual, – gave credence to the existence of an ‘Inner Sun’ lighting up the heavy-lifting of the undertaking of any man. It was for this reason and more – easy indeed to infer the ‘Music’ he was referring to, while very much “the Type” ( of Music ) generated and syndicated by the Good Services of the ‘Center of Performing Arts’, his was a Music in nature a Celestial sort, of a higher, lavender, rarefied pedigree – that could not be bought for any price at all. A Greater and more Silent Proclamation of Freedom had not Culturally graced the concrete pavilions of the Fraternal City in almost a Century – if not ( Certainly ) more. It was the Music of Decencies. Of a Deed Well Done. Of Grace Uplifted. Contemplations of a Better Future. It was Responsibility. My Candor Knew No Bound . . . My candor knew no bound. Impatient as ever, I advanced the Query imperiously, ‘In these times then Sir – How do you Propose to Change the Odds? Surely none express it So Well, none embody the Spirit of the Matter, all seem agog in the muddled powerpoints of Legal this and HR that. How do you perceive yourself Hopeful, what is the Science Sir for a well aged Man of your Purport, and mine, and the Nation’s?”. Lloyd Collins lifted his stare higher, his eyes clearly nostalgic, his mien tinctured with an inner vinegar upon the proverbial ‘Block of Soy’ I offered. His thoughts manicured upon the overgrown shrubs of inner descriptions. At that moment Philadelphia witnessed through my Eyes – that of a Constitutional American – a Rebirth of the Classical Diplomat. Bubbles of ‘Goosebumps’ lined my Olive Skin.

Mr. Collins proposed mysteriously enough the following. “I will put it Simply before this proposal. Young Man the thought has crossed my mind through the Seasons. And I have proposed it this way. A New Position entirely. One of Consideration, Craftsmanship – Yes, all that – but above all, Service. A Commitment to Service. The Highest Art. The Highest Production. The Position I propose is that of a ‘Director of First Impressions’.” ( Lloyd Collins ). Director of First Impressions. How True and Resonant for the Times. For in all the Book of ‘Firsts’, esp. in the Book of First Precedents, with Sustainability taking the Center, ‘The Bar’ being raised, the very Luminosity of the perennial traditions now more needed than evermore, a Director of First Impressions plucked from the talcum Bosom of another Age, whose Spirit is rare, yet much needed. IMG_1523 Whose whiff foregone, with dolorous aftersense lingering in the best of Minds. Whose fortunate flavor permeates yet in the Bastions of a Modern Cultural Cathedral of International Repute. From the core expressions of ‘Moments’ of Mr. Lloyd Collins, American Gentleman, Philadelphian, who retains his correspondence at Berwyn, Main Line, lives simply and with grace, a Man loyal to his Dog, married for thirty years to Dignity herself – Vickie Collins ( who in turn happens to be a Librarian at the Washington D.C. Library Congress ) he remains, at your Service, what more, an Eagle Scout of the ‘Order of the Arrow’, and a trained Fencer, well traveled through the Nations. He is the America that the World must Believe In. For While, paved concrete roads and privatized infrastructure contracts may or may not be the Change We Can Believe In, the Wise and the Visionary, would rather place their Faith in those Changeless and Effervescent Traditions : Those of Ethical Standards and the Decencies of the Ages. As if embroidered with Light As Love, this is the Philadelphia that yet remains, above the plentiful sullies of modern rapprochements. TorchesAndCandles Lloyd Collins is one of the Presidents of the Workers Unions at The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts. He humbly donates his time in the token position of ‘The Usher’. Though in Spirit – and hopefully one day more sensible than the last day or this day, – he shall remain to doting passerbies at ‘The Kimmel’ – without those words, the Implicit ‘Director of First Impressions’, if not also, the ‘Director of Lasting Impressions’.

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ALEXANDER K. RAI – Also Provided the Photography Contained within this Brief. In 2009, he was Nominated as a Marquis ‘Who’s Who in America’ and further Nominated for ‘Who’s Who in America In Business/Finance’. A Resident of the Philadelphia Fraternal City, he travels Widely and is Presently ‘Chronicling’ the Forecasts of a ‘New Europe’. He Reports on an Inter-Disciplinary Purview and ‘Sweep’ of Topics on Behalf of Open SALON Gazette.