The Ecphorizer

Sparks; Respighi, Ottorino

Tod Wicks

Issue 10 (July 2007)

Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer of note who lived in the early part of the 20th century. He traveled to the US quite often and was immensely in love with San Francisco. He spent so much time there that he found himself in a small circle of music-loving San Franciscans, one of whom kept referring to him as Sparks.

Respighi let this go but at one point his curiosity overcame him. He asked his friend why he called him Sparks.

The friend replied that to get to San Francisco he traveled by railroad and the train went through Sparks, Nevada, right?

Respighi answered that indeed it did go through Sparks but what was point?

The friend then said that Sparks was outta Reno, right?

Contributor Profile

Tod Wicks

Long time Ecphorizer and current Editor of all things Ecphorizer, Tod enjoyed a varied career in telecommunications having cut his teeth at Ma Bell, then getting in on the ground floor at Rolm working on digital PBXs, getting a light workout at Raynet while installing fiber optic transmission systems, and finally working at Cisco Systems prior to retiring.