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The gift of music at heart of Cuba trip
By ED QUIOCO, Times Staff Writer It took awhile for the translator to explain to the Escuela Nacional de Arte in Cuba why a lawyer from the United States had unexpectedly stopped by the national art school in Havana. But after a few minutes, the message got across. Robert Eckard, an attorney from Palm Harbor, had heard about gritty conditions at the school. He was in Cuba on a business trip, but he also wanted to donate some musical instruments to the school. "They went wild over the stuff," Eckard said. Eckard, 35, and his longtime friend and client, former NBA center Matt Geiger, 33, have visited Cuba a few times in the past year, they said. But it wasn't until they read a recent St. Petersburg Times article that they realized budding Cuban musicians are limited to as little as two hours of practice a week because there are so few instruments. So before Eckard left for Cuba on Aug. 28, he and Geiger agreed to split the cost of the equipment. "I can't imagine wanting to play basketball and not having a basketball to play with," said Geiger, a 7-footer who played for Countryside High locally and the Philadelphia 76ers as a pro. "That's how I could relate to it. Giving somebody money is one thing, but a tool in which they can express themselves, I'm sure it's a wonderful thing to give somebody." Eckard bought an acoustic guitar, replacement guitar strings, a flute, reeds, drum sticks, a book of Latin sheet music and three books of sheet music from the '50s, '60s and '80s. He declined to say how much he spent on the equipment. Eckard, who practices international, criminal and commercial law, has been to Cuba almost a dozen times on business. He has a Panamanian client who lives in Orlando looking into business ventures in Cuba, he said. Eckard was going to Cuba for a conference of U.S. lawyers interested in promoting social and economic relations between Cuba and the United States. Eckard has taken Geiger to Cuba as his guest on these trips -- something that is allowed under current travel restrictions -- and the two of them have experienced how warm and friendly Cubans can be to visitors. In Eckard's law office, there is a picture of Geiger and Eckard posing with a handful of people at a Havana bar called La Bodeguita Del Medio. "Rob and I have been traveling there for the last three to four years and we have just seen so much need over there," said Geiger, who is building a mansion in East Lake. "They are great people and we enjoy them. Many of them don't live like we do over here." The two plan to continue bringing equipment to the students when they visit. Geiger has already bought two guitars that he plans to donate the next time he goes to Cuba. "We just hope people are cool about us bringing over that stuff," Geiger said. The students aren't complaining. When Eckard left the school, they had one request. "They asked me the next time I came, if I could bring a piano," he said. -- Ed Quioco can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or quioco@sptimes.com.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks Editorial Letters |
