The reception was served in a bar with billiards, the best and finest of the city. After the reception, in conversation with a member of the commission, we learned that he was the city champion in billiards.
Villa-Lobos challenged him to a little match. He was accepted, and the said champion started off gaining a certain number of points. When he made an error, Villa- Lobos started, very calmly, playing slowly, always with a cigar in his mouth. He was playing and counting: five points; ten points; twenty points; forty points; eighty points; one hundred points; end of match. Everyone complimented him for having this additional skill. The loser also complimented him, and added the following, “I wish the maestro could only play music!”
Another great story from Fred Sturm’s translation of Antônio Chechim Filho’s memoir of the Excursão Artistica Villa-Lobos.