So what if the markets were down about 3 to 4 percent today - look on the bright side: It's not everyday that you can go to sleep thousands of dollars poorer than when you woke up. Just imagine how dull life would be if we just kept getting richer and richer all the time.
(yawn)
I say "easy come, easy go". After all, it's only money. It's only food and shelter. It's only the mortgage payment and the insurance and the electric bill and the water bill and the food on the table and that little something extra you were hoping would see you through your old age. It's only MONEY.
Aaahhh. Well, like they say, the stock market is no place for sissies. If you're gonna jump out a window every time your net worth takes a beating then maybe you should just put your money in a mattress and take up needlepoint or something. Right? If you're gonna be an investor then you (cough) better (sniffle) be (sob) tough.
(Waaahhhhh....what happened to all my money? Waahhhhh....I knew I should have sold everything last week. Waaahhhhh....It isn't fair. Waaahhhh....I want my money back.)
No, no, no. I'm just kidding. My motto is invest for the long haul and always look for new opportunities in the vicissitudes of the market. When life hands him a basketful of lemons, the shrewd investor doesn't complain; he just finds new ways to capitalize on the misery of others. So, Dead Cat, I hear you asking, where should I be investing my money given what has just happened in the market today? Well, I'm glad you asked.
As a matter of fact I discuss that very topic in this month's issue of my "Rich Cat, Poor Dad" newsletter. You'll get investment advice, harebrained analysis, pithy quotes, baffling charts, columns and columns of pointless statistics, and highly suspect first-person testimonials that you just know can't possibly be true - all for the low introductory price of $699 per year. But wait, order your subscription before March 1, 2007 and I'll also include, free of charge, my "Ten Secrets Every Power Investor Should Know". Learn the secrets of the pros - puts, calls, covered calls, naked puts, naked putts, naked golf, naked christmas parties - it's all there. Learn when to split, when to double down, when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, invest like a pro and see your returns double and triple, all within the first week.
That's right. You get my "Rich Cat" newsletter plus the "Ten Secrets Every Power Investor Should Know" all for the low price of just $699 per year. Act now and as your special gift we'll also include our "Rich Cat" datebook and planner with the special "Rich Cat" logo on the cover, because, who doesn't need one of those.
Operators are standing by, and in the meantime just remember - money comes and money goes, but hemorrhoids are forever.
(Yeah, I know. That last joke was pretty stupid. If I wasn't so poor I'd come up with something better)
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
New Moon Rising
I suppose the merger of XM and Sirius would be a good thing, but only if it means that subscribers gain new stations instead of losing old favorites. I can tell you this, though. If these two satellite services merge and Sirius listeners lose Met Opera Radio (Sirius 85), then there will be bloodshed in the streets. I'm not kidding, and I wrote the FCC and told them so too. If Met Opera Radio disappears, there will be such an outcry, such a panic in the streets of America, that it'll make Baghdad look like Mayberry RFD.
In other words, I'm kinda fond of that station, and I'd hate to lose it. I don't know what the listenership is, though I suspect that satellite radio hasn't really made it into the mainstream yet, but I can't imagine life on earth without Sirius 85. I do know that the Met's other big initiative, the live Saturday matinee broadcasts to movie theaters around the world, has been a huge success, and, in fact, the showings have been selling out and special encore performances have been added to accommodate the demand. Which only goes to show that despite the predictions, opera is not going away anytime soon. After 5 centuries, it's still a hit.
In fact, that's what I'm going to talk about tonight. A few weeks ago on one of the Live from the Met broadcasts (on Sirius 85) they had the president of the American Symphony Orchestra League on for an intermission interview. His name is Henry Fogel, and I think the most amazing thing about him is his record and CD collection, which, if I remember correctly, contains over 20,000 CD's (you can search his collection over at Henry's Records). Now I did the math on that and I calculated that if you started from zero and bought 1 CD a week, it would take you around 400 years to amass 20,000 CD's, which means, I suppose, that he must buy his CD's by the truckload. He probably has a special loading dock out back where he offloads them.
Anyways, back to my point, during that interview Fogel alluded to the fact that following years of decling audience numbers which appear to have bottomed out around the year 2000, the Symphony Orchestras in this country have actually seen a gradual but steady increase in their audience over the past few years . Let me repeat that: growing audience numbers for the symphony and sold-out movie theaters for the Met Opera simulcasts. What's going on here?
Add to that some anecdotal evidence like the recent Opera San Jose review that reported increasing numbers of young audience members (it's from the Feb 13 San Jose Mercury News and you'll need to pay money if you want to read it), or this review from the Arizona Republic which talks of "a greater-than-usual number of younger faces" for a recent Baiba Skride concert, and it seems we might have the beginnings of a trend here.
Or is it just a coincidence?
I think it's more than just a coincidence. One of the side benefits of being a Sirius subscriber is that I get to hear all kinds of music, and I think I'm starting to understand the complaints I hear from some of the younger and "hipper" folks about music these days. Asked why record sales continue to go down, many say it isn't because of file sharing, it's because the music sucks. Now I've been listening to popular music my entire life, and I can even remember when New Wave was actually "New" (that was before they started calling it 'Indie'), and I have to agree. A lot of what they call Rock 'n Roll these days does suck, and it seems like most of the new, creative energy is going into hip-hop and rap. That's just my totally unqualified observation, but I think there's some evidence that Rock 'n Roll ain't what it used to be, and even if it is, sometimes people get tired of popular culture and want something more.
If that's the case, then it only seems natural that classical/opera should siphon off some of that audience. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to breathe some new life into the ol' gal. Anyways, that might be one reason for some of the new faces. It's also possible that people like Josh Groban and Andre Rieu are indeed creating new interest in classical music, and that audiences raised on the crossover stuff might gravitate to the real thing.
Maybe...
I kind of doubt it. A more likely cause is the celebrity factor, and all the sexy new stars that the classical labels are pushing out there. I've talked about some of the females in this blog, but there are the male stars as well. Daniel Hope, Renaud Capucon, Nikolaj Znaider, etc..., as if tall, dark and handsome have anything to do with playing the violin. Hmmph!! I personally don't see what all the fuss is about, but I understand from some of the ladies that this Znaider fella (he's the one on the right, Capucon's on the left), in particular, is what they call a "hunk", and who knows, maybe that's enough to get them down to the symphony hall. If so, then bring 'em on. Hell, if it's Gidon Kremer in a speedo that they want, then go ahead and give it to them. Come for the beefcake and stay for the music, it's all the same to me.
Or something like that.
The bottom line, though, is that classical music is not ready for the museum just yet. There still an audience out there, and with a few new ones being added to the mix, we may be in store for a bit of a mini renaissance. That would be great, and in the meantime I've got about 19,900 more CD's to buy if I'm ever going to catch up with this Fogel fella.
In other words, I'm kinda fond of that station, and I'd hate to lose it. I don't know what the listenership is, though I suspect that satellite radio hasn't really made it into the mainstream yet, but I can't imagine life on earth without Sirius 85. I do know that the Met's other big initiative, the live Saturday matinee broadcasts to movie theaters around the world, has been a huge success, and, in fact, the showings have been selling out and special encore performances have been added to accommodate the demand. Which only goes to show that despite the predictions, opera is not going away anytime soon. After 5 centuries, it's still a hit.
In fact, that's what I'm going to talk about tonight. A few weeks ago on one of the Live from the Met broadcasts (on Sirius 85) they had the president of the American Symphony Orchestra League on for an intermission interview. His name is Henry Fogel, and I think the most amazing thing about him is his record and CD collection, which, if I remember correctly, contains over 20,000 CD's (you can search his collection over at Henry's Records). Now I did the math on that and I calculated that if you started from zero and bought 1 CD a week, it would take you around 400 years to amass 20,000 CD's, which means, I suppose, that he must buy his CD's by the truckload. He probably has a special loading dock out back where he offloads them.
Anyways, back to my point, during that interview Fogel alluded to the fact that following years of decling audience numbers which appear to have bottomed out around the year 2000, the Symphony Orchestras in this country have actually seen a gradual but steady increase in their audience over the past few years . Let me repeat that: growing audience numbers for the symphony and sold-out movie theaters for the Met Opera simulcasts. What's going on here?
Add to that some anecdotal evidence like the recent Opera San Jose review that reported increasing numbers of young audience members (it's from the Feb 13 San Jose Mercury News and you'll need to pay money if you want to read it), or this review from the Arizona Republic which talks of "a greater-than-usual number of younger faces" for a recent Baiba Skride concert, and it seems we might have the beginnings of a trend here.
Or is it just a coincidence?
I think it's more than just a coincidence. One of the side benefits of being a Sirius subscriber is that I get to hear all kinds of music, and I think I'm starting to understand the complaints I hear from some of the younger and "hipper" folks about music these days. Asked why record sales continue to go down, many say it isn't because of file sharing, it's because the music sucks. Now I've been listening to popular music my entire life, and I can even remember when New Wave was actually "New" (that was before they started calling it 'Indie'), and I have to agree. A lot of what they call Rock 'n Roll these days does suck, and it seems like most of the new, creative energy is going into hip-hop and rap. That's just my totally unqualified observation, but I think there's some evidence that Rock 'n Roll ain't what it used to be, and even if it is, sometimes people get tired of popular culture and want something more.
If that's the case, then it only seems natural that classical/opera should siphon off some of that audience. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to breathe some new life into the ol' gal. Anyways, that might be one reason for some of the new faces. It's also possible that people like Josh Groban and Andre Rieu are indeed creating new interest in classical music, and that audiences raised on the crossover stuff might gravitate to the real thing.
Maybe...
I kind of doubt it. A more likely cause is the celebrity factor, and all the sexy new stars that the classical labels are pushing out there. I've talked about some of the females in this blog, but there are the male stars as well. Daniel Hope, Renaud Capucon, Nikolaj Znaider, etc..., as if tall, dark and handsome have anything to do with playing the violin. Hmmph!! I personally don't see what all the fuss is about, but I understand from some of the ladies that this Znaider fella (he's the one on the right, Capucon's on the left), in particular, is what they call a "hunk", and who knows, maybe that's enough to get them down to the symphony hall. If so, then bring 'em on. Hell, if it's Gidon Kremer in a speedo that they want, then go ahead and give it to them. Come for the beefcake and stay for the music, it's all the same to me.Or something like that.
The bottom line, though, is that classical music is not ready for the museum just yet. There still an audience out there, and with a few new ones being added to the mix, we may be in store for a bit of a mini renaissance. That would be great, and in the meantime I've got about 19,900 more CD's to buy if I'm ever going to catch up with this Fogel fella.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Well, piano practice has definitely taken a chunk out of my blogging time. What's even worse is that yesterday, for some reason, all my outstanding CD orders decided to arrive on my front porch at the very same time. That means I've got quite a pile to listen to, and that takes away from my blogging time too.
Does anyone care? (I didn't think so)
Anyways, instead of coming up with something clever to write about, I thought I'd just show you what came in the mail yesterday - I know some of you may be following along at home. Maybe I'll even post some reviews someday. If I ever have the time, that is.
Unspoken, The Katia Labeque Band. This one I have listened to and it's fantastic. Labeque isn't just a classical pianist "crossing over" into jazz. She's been playing jazz a long time - at least as far back as the album she did with John McLaughlin '82, and there is just some great, progressive, ambient/mood music here, and Labeque can play jazz. I just wish she'd record more of it.
J.S. Bach Solo & Double Violin Concertos, Andrew Manze and Rachel Podger. Period instruments and all that. I've heard this on the radio and liked it.
Antonio Vivaldi La Stravaganza, Rachel Podger. More Podger - she's great.
Mendelssohn/Glazunov Violin Concertos, Leila Josefowicz. Her Shostakovich CD made a believer out of me. This is from about 6 or 7 years ago.
Bach Goldberg Variations, Angela Hewitt. Someday I'm gonna play the Goldberg Variations like Angela Hewitt. You just watch.
Berlioz Symphony Fantastique/La Mort de Cleopatra, Valery Gergiev. I'm a big Berlioz fan, and a big Gergiev fan, so this seems like a natural.
Bartok/Paganini/Ysaye, Leila Josefowicz. See above. This is one of her very early CD's.
Recital, Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labeque. This one's got Stravinsky, Schubert, Ravel and Clara Schmann, played by two established and renowned musicians.
Shostakovich/Janacek Violin Concertos, Baiba Skride. I told you I was gonna get this one.
Prokofiev/Shostakovich Violin Concertos No. 2, Maxim Vengerov.
Britten/Walton Violin Concertos, Maxim Vengerov.
Debussy, Jancek, Nielsen, Ravel, Schumann, Brahms Violin and Viola Sonatas, Christian Tetzlaff
Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1/Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 5, Viktoria Mullova
Whew, my ears are gonna be sore by the time I get through all of these. That's the problem with backorders and shipping schedules, etc... You never know when they're gonna arrive. I really like the Katia Labeque Band CD. I'm expecting the others to be just as good.
Does anyone care? (I didn't think so)
Anyways, instead of coming up with something clever to write about, I thought I'd just show you what came in the mail yesterday - I know some of you may be following along at home. Maybe I'll even post some reviews someday. If I ever have the time, that is.
Unspoken, The Katia Labeque Band. This one I have listened to and it's fantastic. Labeque isn't just a classical pianist "crossing over" into jazz. She's been playing jazz a long time - at least as far back as the album she did with John McLaughlin '82, and there is just some great, progressive, ambient/mood music here, and Labeque can play jazz. I just wish she'd record more of it.
J.S. Bach Solo & Double Violin Concertos, Andrew Manze and Rachel Podger. Period instruments and all that. I've heard this on the radio and liked it.
Antonio Vivaldi La Stravaganza, Rachel Podger. More Podger - she's great.
Mendelssohn/Glazunov Violin Concertos, Leila Josefowicz. Her Shostakovich CD made a believer out of me. This is from about 6 or 7 years ago.
Bach Goldberg Variations, Angela Hewitt. Someday I'm gonna play the Goldberg Variations like Angela Hewitt. You just watch.
Berlioz Symphony Fantastique/La Mort de Cleopatra, Valery Gergiev. I'm a big Berlioz fan, and a big Gergiev fan, so this seems like a natural.
Bartok/Paganini/Ysaye, Leila Josefowicz. See above. This is one of her very early CD's.
Recital, Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labeque. This one's got Stravinsky, Schubert, Ravel and Clara Schmann, played by two established and renowned musicians.
Shostakovich/Janacek Violin Concertos, Baiba Skride. I told you I was gonna get this one.
Prokofiev/Shostakovich Violin Concertos No. 2, Maxim Vengerov.
Britten/Walton Violin Concertos, Maxim Vengerov.
Debussy, Jancek, Nielsen, Ravel, Schumann, Brahms Violin and Viola Sonatas, Christian Tetzlaff
Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1/Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 5, Viktoria MullovaWhew, my ears are gonna be sore by the time I get through all of these. That's the problem with backorders and shipping schedules, etc... You never know when they're gonna arrive. I really like the Katia Labeque Band CD. I'm expecting the others to be just as good.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Speed Date
"I'd never date a guy who wasn't taller than me."
"Oh really."
"Yeah. It's like something I'd never do, you know?"
"Tall is important."
"It is. I mean, I like tall guys."
"What if he's a serial killer?"
"Tall guys aren't serial killers. Short, ugly guys are serial killers."
"I think Ted Bundy was tall."
"Well, then I guess I wouldn't date him, would I? But then, you know, I'm just this incredibly shallow person so what would I know."
"You're right. I'd never date a girl unless she was a 36EE. I have my mininum requirements."
"What if she was a serial killer?"
"Well then, I guess I'd die with a smile on my face, wouldn't I."
"Guys are worse than girls. All they care about is the T&A."
"No we don't. That's a load of crap. Maybe that's all that tall guys care about."
"That's all any guy cares about."
(silence)
"Nice place, huh? You ever been here before?"
"No... So what do you do, anyways?"
"What do I do? You mean for a living?"
"Yeah, for a living. Do you have a job or something."
"Yeah, I'm a ______."
"What's that?"
"It means I'm a person who organizes other people's messes and passes 'em on down to someone else. A lot of jobs are like that you know."
"You don't sound too thrilled about it."
"It's great. How about you? Don't tell me. You're in marketing, right?"
"Assistant sales manager for ______."
"Assistant sales manager, huh. You know I always say that one thing we can never have enough of is people trying to sell us shit."
"It's not just sales. My clients are doctors who need to keep up with all the latest pharmeceutical products. That's what we make. So it's not just sales, it's also education and problem solving and things like that."
"You're a drug dealer? You mean you push drugs."
"Not like that. You know people would die without the pharmaceutical industry. It's amazing, like people think we're some kind of bad thing, and really what we're doing is saving people's lives."
"Gee, I never thought of it like that. And all this time I thought the drug companies were just greedy, money-grubbing bastards."
"Yeah, well, we're not. Look, maybe this was a bad idea. I think maybe I should go."
"Aren't you expecting a phone call?"
"A phone call?"
"Yeah, you know the 'ol 'get-out-of-a-bad-date' phone call from some friend who has this unexpected emergency you've got to take care of. What time are they supposed to call?"
(silence)
"I told her to call around 8 o'clock."
"Well, that's only a half-hour from now. Why don't you stick around and let me buy you dinner. It's the least I can do after spoiling your evening."
"Oh, you've got this all figured out, don't you?"
"Look, relax. Have something to eat. What have you got to lose."
"What's your problem anyways? Do you always go around with a bug up your ass?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Oh, well that's a winning strategy. You know I used to date this guy and he always has a smile on his face and treated people nice, even when he was feeling like shit. And guess what? It didn't kill him to be nice to people, and he used to have this really nice place and drive like this really nice Porsche and everything. You know you might want to try that sometime. People like it when you're nice to them."
"What are you talking about. I'm always nice to people. It's just that I'm a little more honest than most folks. Besides, I think I'd rather talk about duck turds than some guy and his fancy Porsche."
"Whatever. I think I'll just have a salad. What's this California Salad?"
"I don't know. That probably means it's made out of avocado's and botox or something like that."
"Really? They put botox in salads?"
"I was making a joke. You know, ha-ha-ha. I was trying to be nice."
"Oh. Nice try."
(silence)
"Man, I hate this small talk, don't you. Why don't you tell me about one of your interesting thoughts or unusual experiences or something? You can even pretend I'm somebody tall if that will help."
"Well, here's an interesting thought. You're kind of an asshole, aren't you."
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...."
"You think that's funny?"
"No, but it is the first real thing you've said all night. No offense, but you shouldn't go around trying to impress people all the time. It's kind of phony."
"And you shouldn't go around being such an asshole all the time. It's a little too real."
(silence)
"You're right."
"What?"
"You're right. I don't know what's wrong with me lately. I'm sorry I'm giving you such a rough time. I mean we don't even know each other."
"Look, you're just having a bad night, that's all. I understand. So, did you just break up with someone? I know I get really unsociable when that happens."
"No, not really."
"Not really? You don't know if you broke up with someone or not?"
"Well no...tell me, do you believe in love at first sight. You know, 'Some enchanted evening, you will see a stranger' and all that. Did anything like that ever happen to you?"
"I don't know. I guess so. Anything's possible."
"Well it doesn't happen to me. Not normally anyways."
"Uh-huh. Who was she?"
"What difference does it make. It's like someone dropped a load of bricks on my head, and then she was gone. Poof! Just like that, it was over before it started. Really screwed me up for some reason."
"So?"
"So nothing. Life goes on."
"Well I guess it can happen like that sometimes. Not to me, mind you. The guys I've been with have all been losers, you know. I was glad to see them go. Not that we didn't have fun, but for some reason I just can't ever find anyone normal. I always end up with these liars and control freaks. God, don't get me started."
"You ever been married?"
"No. How about you?"
"No. Seeing anyone?"
"Nothing serious. You?"
"Nah. You might find this hard to believe but a lot of people find me difficult to get along with."
"Sort of an asshole right?"
"Oh, come on. I'm not so..."
"I'm sorry. You're ok, and you're right - I shouldn't try to impress people all the time. I don't know why I do that."
"I don't know. You're kind of impressing me right now."
"I am?"
(silence)
"Hey, let's order up some dinner, ok."
"Sure. I'm starving."
"Hey waiter. I think we're ready."
Waiter: "Ok, what'll it be folks. Today's special is lemon pepper steak."
"What do you want? You still want the salad?"
"Yeah, I think I'll have the California salad. Is there any botox in that?"
Waiter: "Botox?"
"That was a joke. Ha-ha-ha..."
Waiter: "No botox, ma'am, but we can put a little collagen in the dressing if you'd like."
"No, that's ok. She'll have the California salad and I'll have the same. And waiter, how about a nice bottle of wine."
"Wine? (blech....)"
"Ok, skip the wine. How about a (beer?)".
"(ok)"
"Two California salads and a couple of bottles of beer. And leave the bottle caps."
"Oh really."
"Yeah. It's like something I'd never do, you know?"
"Tall is important."
"It is. I mean, I like tall guys."
"What if he's a serial killer?"
"Tall guys aren't serial killers. Short, ugly guys are serial killers."
"I think Ted Bundy was tall."
"Well, then I guess I wouldn't date him, would I? But then, you know, I'm just this incredibly shallow person so what would I know."
"You're right. I'd never date a girl unless she was a 36EE. I have my mininum requirements."
"What if she was a serial killer?"
"Well then, I guess I'd die with a smile on my face, wouldn't I."
"Guys are worse than girls. All they care about is the T&A."
"No we don't. That's a load of crap. Maybe that's all that tall guys care about."
"That's all any guy cares about."
(silence)
"Nice place, huh? You ever been here before?"
"No... So what do you do, anyways?"
"What do I do? You mean for a living?"
"Yeah, for a living. Do you have a job or something."
"Yeah, I'm a ______."
"What's that?"
"It means I'm a person who organizes other people's messes and passes 'em on down to someone else. A lot of jobs are like that you know."
"You don't sound too thrilled about it."
"It's great. How about you? Don't tell me. You're in marketing, right?"
"Assistant sales manager for ______."
"Assistant sales manager, huh. You know I always say that one thing we can never have enough of is people trying to sell us shit."
"It's not just sales. My clients are doctors who need to keep up with all the latest pharmeceutical products. That's what we make. So it's not just sales, it's also education and problem solving and things like that."
"You're a drug dealer? You mean you push drugs."
"Not like that. You know people would die without the pharmaceutical industry. It's amazing, like people think we're some kind of bad thing, and really what we're doing is saving people's lives."
"Gee, I never thought of it like that. And all this time I thought the drug companies were just greedy, money-grubbing bastards."
"Yeah, well, we're not. Look, maybe this was a bad idea. I think maybe I should go."
"Aren't you expecting a phone call?"
"A phone call?"
"Yeah, you know the 'ol 'get-out-of-a-bad-date' phone call from some friend who has this unexpected emergency you've got to take care of. What time are they supposed to call?"
(silence)
"I told her to call around 8 o'clock."
"Well, that's only a half-hour from now. Why don't you stick around and let me buy you dinner. It's the least I can do after spoiling your evening."
"Oh, you've got this all figured out, don't you?"
"Look, relax. Have something to eat. What have you got to lose."
"What's your problem anyways? Do you always go around with a bug up your ass?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Oh, well that's a winning strategy. You know I used to date this guy and he always has a smile on his face and treated people nice, even when he was feeling like shit. And guess what? It didn't kill him to be nice to people, and he used to have this really nice place and drive like this really nice Porsche and everything. You know you might want to try that sometime. People like it when you're nice to them."
"What are you talking about. I'm always nice to people. It's just that I'm a little more honest than most folks. Besides, I think I'd rather talk about duck turds than some guy and his fancy Porsche."
"Whatever. I think I'll just have a salad. What's this California Salad?"
"I don't know. That probably means it's made out of avocado's and botox or something like that."
"Really? They put botox in salads?"
"I was making a joke. You know, ha-ha-ha. I was trying to be nice."
"Oh. Nice try."
(silence)
"Man, I hate this small talk, don't you. Why don't you tell me about one of your interesting thoughts or unusual experiences or something? You can even pretend I'm somebody tall if that will help."
"Well, here's an interesting thought. You're kind of an asshole, aren't you."
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...."
"You think that's funny?"
"No, but it is the first real thing you've said all night. No offense, but you shouldn't go around trying to impress people all the time. It's kind of phony."
"And you shouldn't go around being such an asshole all the time. It's a little too real."
(silence)
"You're right."
"What?"
"You're right. I don't know what's wrong with me lately. I'm sorry I'm giving you such a rough time. I mean we don't even know each other."
"Look, you're just having a bad night, that's all. I understand. So, did you just break up with someone? I know I get really unsociable when that happens."
"No, not really."
"Not really? You don't know if you broke up with someone or not?"
"Well no...tell me, do you believe in love at first sight. You know, 'Some enchanted evening, you will see a stranger' and all that. Did anything like that ever happen to you?"
"I don't know. I guess so. Anything's possible."
"Well it doesn't happen to me. Not normally anyways."
"Uh-huh. Who was she?"
"What difference does it make. It's like someone dropped a load of bricks on my head, and then she was gone. Poof! Just like that, it was over before it started. Really screwed me up for some reason."
"So?"
"So nothing. Life goes on."
"Well I guess it can happen like that sometimes. Not to me, mind you. The guys I've been with have all been losers, you know. I was glad to see them go. Not that we didn't have fun, but for some reason I just can't ever find anyone normal. I always end up with these liars and control freaks. God, don't get me started."
"You ever been married?"
"No. How about you?"
"No. Seeing anyone?"
"Nothing serious. You?"
"Nah. You might find this hard to believe but a lot of people find me difficult to get along with."
"Sort of an asshole right?"
"Oh, come on. I'm not so..."
"I'm sorry. You're ok, and you're right - I shouldn't try to impress people all the time. I don't know why I do that."
"I don't know. You're kind of impressing me right now."
"I am?"
(silence)
"Hey, let's order up some dinner, ok."
"Sure. I'm starving."
"Hey waiter. I think we're ready."
Waiter: "Ok, what'll it be folks. Today's special is lemon pepper steak."
"What do you want? You still want the salad?"
"Yeah, I think I'll have the California salad. Is there any botox in that?"
Waiter: "Botox?"
"That was a joke. Ha-ha-ha..."
Waiter: "No botox, ma'am, but we can put a little collagen in the dressing if you'd like."
"No, that's ok. She'll have the California salad and I'll have the same. And waiter, how about a nice bottle of wine."
"Wine? (blech....)"
"Ok, skip the wine. How about a (beer?)".
"(ok)"
"Two California salads and a couple of bottles of beer. And leave the bottle caps."
Monday, February 19, 2007
Go Johnny Go
Happy President's Day. Picked up an amp for my new guitar today, so I'm all set to start jammin'. Unfortunately, my fingers are too sore to do any typing, so I thought I'd just post this picture of me with my new Epiphone instead. Enjoy.
Rock on, man.
Rock on, man.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
I Got Blisters On My Fingers
When most guys go through their mid-life crisis they go out and buy a new sports car or a boat, or maybe they leave their wife and run off to Mexico with some hot bimbo. I've never really been a "car" guy so the sports car ain't for me, and boats are nice but kind of a hassle to store and maintain, and although I'm not adverse to running off to Mexico with some bimbo, I've never really been promiscuous by nature, so what does a guy like me do when "male menopause" hits?
Maybe I should back up a bit before I answer that.
When I was about 8 or 9 years old my parents bought me a guitar. Actually, they didn't actually buy me the guitar, they bought me guitar lessons and the guitar was mine only as long as I continued with my lessons. It was a Takemine six string, a popular beginner model even to this day, and I'll never forget the night I took my first lesson and brought it home, being much too excited to eat my dinner or even to join my brothers to watch Batman on TV (the TV series with Adam West, not the movie. This was a long time ago folks). Needless to say I continued on with my lessons until the music teacher moved away, and continued on with another teacher for a couple of years before he died of a sudden stroke. After that my learning was pretty much hit-and-miss, picking up what I could where I could, but I never got rid of that guitar, and to this day I still have it and dust it off every now and then to give it a strum or pick out of few notes.
When I was a kid I also had a neighbor who had a piano in his living room. No one in his family played it, and it sounded like it hadn't been tuned since around VJ-Day, but every now and then I'd sit down at the keyboard and plunck a few keys until my friend's big brother, who wasn't a happy brother and never happy to see either me or my friend, would come downstairs and yell that I wasn't supposed to be playing it.
Anyways, that was the sum total of my childhood keyboard experience. I used to ask my parents if we could have a piano, but we weren't rich and it simply wasn't in the budget. Still, I always wanted to learn how to play the piano.
Which brings me to last week.
I got some Best Buy gift cards again for christmas last year, which, by the way, is the best present in the world for someone like me. I'm not a geek, but I certainly do like my electronics. Trouble is I never know what to spend my gift cards on. I figure a gift card is a good chance to buy a "want" instead of a "need", so I always hate to spend them on anything practical. So there I was wandering the aisles of the local Best Buy trying to decide if I really needed another MP3 player (I don't - I've got 4 already), and I turned a corner and there it was. The Yamaha YPT-400 keyboard.
In an instant my childhood yearning came rushing back to me. No muscle car or Harley for me - no, a piano has always been the object of my heart's desire. It's a beginner's model. Just 61 keys and not a lot of the fancy doodads that a pro might use. I don't think this is the sort of keyboard that Rick Wakeman would be interested in (and if you know who Rick Wakeman is then congratulations! You qualify for our special AARP discount). It's plenty good for me, though, considering I don't know how to play, and it has more functions and features than I'll ever be able to figure out.
So I brought it home and set it up on the living room table, and quickly realized that the living room table wasn't going to work. It was too high. What I needed was a keyboard stand, which takes me to the real point of this particular post. I figured that the best place to buy a keyboard stand was at a music store (Duh) so off I went off to the local Guitar Center store. If you've never been to a Guitar Center store before, and I hadn't, then I guess you can think of it as sort of a Rock 'n Roll Fry's. The San Jose store is huge with just about every concievable type of guitar, bass, drum kit, keyboard, amp, etc... for the budding Alvin Lee or Aynsley Dunbar (and if you know who Alvin Lee and Aynsley Dunbar are then congratulations! Qualified seniors get 10% off).
Anyways, I picked up a nice little folding stand for around $40, and on my way out of the store I looked up and there they were - such stuff as dreams are made. You see I was lying before about the piano. Sure, I always wanted a piano, but that wasn't my ultimate dream. You see, the real object of lust in my life has always been the Gibson Les Paul guitar. I had my Takemine acoustic, but you couldn't really jam with a Takemine acoustic. For that you needed a something like a Strat or a Les Paul, and I always liked the warm tones and sexy good looks of the Gibson. Trouble was, I was poor and they were always way out of my price range.
As I was walking out of the store, though, I passed by the guitars and there were all these LP's up there on the wall, and all of a sudden the drool started to run down my chin and on to my shirt and my heart started beating faster and faster, and I could see myself up on that stage with my LP wailing away like some kind of rock 'n roll god, and then I looked at the price tags and reality sent me crashing back to earth. Sorry, but $2,000 is too much to pay, especially for a guy who's picked up a guitar maybe twice in the last 20 years. So I shrugged and started to walk out, but before I could make the door I took a last glance over at the Epiphone Les Paul's they had displayed in the middle of the showroom, and...
Bingo! Sure, the materials aren't as good and they're factory made, but the Epiphones are also $1,500 less than the Gibsons, and they look and play just about the same. And that, my friends, was my male menopause moment. The little kid in me won out over the sober adult, and I bought myself a transparent blue Epiphone Les Paul Standard. If I do say so myself, she's a beauty. Of course I can't remember a single song I used to play anymore, but I do remember a lot of the chords and a few of the licks, so what the heck. The first day I brought it home I played for about 2 hours straight, and was quickly reminded of a time in my life when I used to have callouses on my fingers. When your fingers go raw and start to burn those details come back to you in a hurry, but the callouses will come and, meanwhile, this thing is a gas.
I've still got to get an amp. I didn't buy one at the time because that damn store was so noisy I couldn't hear myself think. I'll just go back sometime when it's a little quieter to try a few out. And I've still got my keyboard too. I'm shopping around for some piano lessons right now, but in the meantime I picked up a piece of software called "Teach Me Piano" which is pretty good at teaching basic fingering and note reading. I'm finishing up lesson 2 right now, and my fingers aching. I can barely type this blog tonight. That keyboard is a lot of fun though.
In fact, with all the musical tools and instruments and websites and software out there right now, what I can't figure out is why in the world are kids going out an buying something like "Gitaroo Man" (or whatever it's called). I was in Fry's the other day and kids were lined to play that thing, and meanwhile about ten rows down they had all these amazing consumer level keyboards, which, in my opinioin, would be a hell of a lot more fun and creatively rewarding than a video game. You know, when we were kids (uh-oh, here it comes), we would have killed to have something like a Yamaha YPT400. I mean, if you wanted to learn the piano, you had to buy a PIANO, you know what I mean. Now, for around $200 you can buy a 61 key full sized keyboard with all kinds of digital effects and accompaniments and whatever else you might need, and all these things do is sit around and gather dust.
Geez, what's wrong with these kids today.
Oh well, like I said, my fingers are killing me so I'm gonna have to stop typing now. The plan is to get some piano lessons, and then maybe a mixer of some kind and some software for the computer and who knows - maybe I'll be uploading something to Garageband or the Podsafe network someday. Unfortunately, I've got a lot of catching up to do between here and there, but they say you're never too old to learn. Right?
Right?
Maybe I should back up a bit before I answer that.
When I was about 8 or 9 years old my parents bought me a guitar. Actually, they didn't actually buy me the guitar, they bought me guitar lessons and the guitar was mine only as long as I continued with my lessons. It was a Takemine six string, a popular beginner model even to this day, and I'll never forget the night I took my first lesson and brought it home, being much too excited to eat my dinner or even to join my brothers to watch Batman on TV (the TV series with Adam West, not the movie. This was a long time ago folks). Needless to say I continued on with my lessons until the music teacher moved away, and continued on with another teacher for a couple of years before he died of a sudden stroke. After that my learning was pretty much hit-and-miss, picking up what I could where I could, but I never got rid of that guitar, and to this day I still have it and dust it off every now and then to give it a strum or pick out of few notes.
When I was a kid I also had a neighbor who had a piano in his living room. No one in his family played it, and it sounded like it hadn't been tuned since around VJ-Day, but every now and then I'd sit down at the keyboard and plunck a few keys until my friend's big brother, who wasn't a happy brother and never happy to see either me or my friend, would come downstairs and yell that I wasn't supposed to be playing it.
Anyways, that was the sum total of my childhood keyboard experience. I used to ask my parents if we could have a piano, but we weren't rich and it simply wasn't in the budget. Still, I always wanted to learn how to play the piano.
Which brings me to last week.
I got some Best Buy gift cards again for christmas last year, which, by the way, is the best present in the world for someone like me. I'm not a geek, but I certainly do like my electronics. Trouble is I never know what to spend my gift cards on. I figure a gift card is a good chance to buy a "want" instead of a "need", so I always hate to spend them on anything practical. So there I was wandering the aisles of the local Best Buy trying to decide if I really needed another MP3 player (I don't - I've got 4 already), and I turned a corner and there it was. The Yamaha YPT-400 keyboard.
In an instant my childhood yearning came rushing back to me. No muscle car or Harley for me - no, a piano has always been the object of my heart's desire. It's a beginner's model. Just 61 keys and not a lot of the fancy doodads that a pro might use. I don't think this is the sort of keyboard that Rick Wakeman would be interested in (and if you know who Rick Wakeman is then congratulations! You qualify for our special AARP discount). It's plenty good for me, though, considering I don't know how to play, and it has more functions and features than I'll ever be able to figure out.So I brought it home and set it up on the living room table, and quickly realized that the living room table wasn't going to work. It was too high. What I needed was a keyboard stand, which takes me to the real point of this particular post. I figured that the best place to buy a keyboard stand was at a music store (Duh) so off I went off to the local Guitar Center store. If you've never been to a Guitar Center store before, and I hadn't, then I guess you can think of it as sort of a Rock 'n Roll Fry's. The San Jose store is huge with just about every concievable type of guitar, bass, drum kit, keyboard, amp, etc... for the budding Alvin Lee or Aynsley Dunbar (and if you know who Alvin Lee and Aynsley Dunbar are then congratulations! Qualified seniors get 10% off).
Anyways, I picked up a nice little folding stand for around $40, and on my way out of the store I looked up and there they were - such stuff as dreams are made. You see I was lying before about the piano. Sure, I always wanted a piano, but that wasn't my ultimate dream. You see, the real object of lust in my life has always been the Gibson Les Paul guitar. I had my Takemine acoustic, but you couldn't really jam with a Takemine acoustic. For that you needed a something like a Strat or a Les Paul, and I always liked the warm tones and sexy good looks of the Gibson. Trouble was, I was poor and they were always way out of my price range.
As I was walking out of the store, though, I passed by the guitars and there were all these LP's up there on the wall, and all of a sudden the drool started to run down my chin and on to my shirt and my heart started beating faster and faster, and I could see myself up on that stage with my LP wailing away like some kind of rock 'n roll god, and then I looked at the price tags and reality sent me crashing back to earth. Sorry, but $2,000 is too much to pay, especially for a guy who's picked up a guitar maybe twice in the last 20 years. So I shrugged and started to walk out, but before I could make the door I took a last glance over at the Epiphone Les Paul's they had displayed in the middle of the showroom, and...
Bingo! Sure, the materials aren't as good and they're factory made, but the Epiphones are also $1,500 less than the Gibsons, and they look and play just about the same. And that, my friends, was my male menopause moment. The little kid in me won out over the sober adult, and I bought myself a transparent blue Epiphone Les Paul Standard. If I do say so myself, she's a beauty. Of course I can't remember a single song I used to play anymore, but I do remember a lot of the chords and a few of the licks, so what the heck. The first day I brought it home I played for about 2 hours straight, and was quickly reminded of a time in my life when I used to have callouses on my fingers. When your fingers go raw and start to burn those details come back to you in a hurry, but the callouses will come and, meanwhile, this thing is a gas.
I've still got to get an amp. I didn't buy one at the time because that damn store was so noisy I couldn't hear myself think. I'll just go back sometime when it's a little quieter to try a few out. And I've still got my keyboard too. I'm shopping around for some piano lessons right now, but in the meantime I picked up a piece of software called "Teach Me Piano" which is pretty good at teaching basic fingering and note reading. I'm finishing up lesson 2 right now, and my fingers aching. I can barely type this blog tonight. That keyboard is a lot of fun though.
In fact, with all the musical tools and instruments and websites and software out there right now, what I can't figure out is why in the world are kids going out an buying something like "Gitaroo Man" (or whatever it's called). I was in Fry's the other day and kids were lined to play that thing, and meanwhile about ten rows down they had all these amazing consumer level keyboards, which, in my opinioin, would be a hell of a lot more fun and creatively rewarding than a video game. You know, when we were kids (uh-oh, here it comes), we would have killed to have something like a Yamaha YPT400. I mean, if you wanted to learn the piano, you had to buy a PIANO, you know what I mean. Now, for around $200 you can buy a 61 key full sized keyboard with all kinds of digital effects and accompaniments and whatever else you might need, and all these things do is sit around and gather dust.
Geez, what's wrong with these kids today.
Oh well, like I said, my fingers are killing me so I'm gonna have to stop typing now. The plan is to get some piano lessons, and then maybe a mixer of some kind and some software for the computer and who knows - maybe I'll be uploading something to Garageband or the Podsafe network someday. Unfortunately, I've got a lot of catching up to do between here and there, but they say you're never too old to learn. Right?
Right?
Monday, February 12, 2007
Sonnet on Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1
xix.
This passacaglia for you, my dear
Wandering and unspoken valentine,
Having brought to me so much comfort here,
And such forgiveness to this heart of mine.
That such sweet pain could come from such a thin
Wood, that four strings and single bow could tell
True - my life played upon a violin,
Dark melancholy and despair - myself,
You see, the real me. I cannot forget
That all is you. No fault of yours, no blame
To you is given. But play these notes, let
That be my rest. There is joy in this pain,
A lonely cadenza has its beauty,
And in sad reflection of you, its duty.
This passacaglia for you, my dear
Wandering and unspoken valentine,
Having brought to me so much comfort here,
And such forgiveness to this heart of mine.
That such sweet pain could come from such a thin
Wood, that four strings and single bow could tell
True - my life played upon a violin,
Dark melancholy and despair - myself,
You see, the real me. I cannot forget
That all is you. No fault of yours, no blame
To you is given. But play these notes, let
That be my rest. There is joy in this pain,
A lonely cadenza has its beauty,
And in sad reflection of you, its duty.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Calendar Notes
The SF Symphony announced their 2007-08 season this week, and it was a little controversial. For the first time(?) the SF Symphony will be giving a free concert in San Jose, which has rankled some of the local California Symphony musicians who worry that such an appearance will syphon off some of their audience. It's all a bunch of bull, of course. The SF Symphony has been making appearances in the South Bay for years, and is considered by most people to be every bit as local as the California Symphony, but a free concert does stir things up a bit.
I don't care about any of that. When the season was announced I, like most people who are interested in such things, immediately searched the list of soloists to see who would be making an appearance this year. In fact, I was most interested in one particular soloist, and lo and behold, there she was.So yes, the good news is that Julia Fischer will be playing Sibelius with Michael Tilson-Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. The bad news is that she will be making that appearance in Europe as part of the Symphony's late summer European tour. No date has been given but odds are I won't be hopping aboard a 747 just to see it. Deborah Voigt and Yefim Bronfman are also appearing with the Symphony on that tour, so it appears she's going to be in good company.
But wait, lucky for us Fischer will also be making a Bay Area appearance in November as part of the Symphony's Great Performer Series. These are a series of performances held throughout the season, each featuring some of the classical music world's, well, "great performers." The 2006-07 season features names such as Garrick Ohlsson, Murray Perahia, Christoph Eschenbach, Susan Graham, etc..., and it looks like they will bringing in more of the top players for 07/08, including the aforementioned Julia Fischer.
Unfortunately, she won't be appearing with MTT for her American performance, but will be playing with Yuri Temirkanov and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic instead. Still sounds good to me, and she'll be playing Beethoven as well, the same piece that was named one of the 10 best performances of 2006 by ionarts. Looking forward to that one.
And one more bit of Julia Fischer news. The lineup for this summer's Aspen Music Festival (registration required) was also announced this week, and it looks like she'll be appearing there too. No suprise since it seems that just about everybody in the music world manages to make it out to the Aspen Festival, and this year that will include jazz and pop artists as well. Fischer will be performing the Violin Concerto by Nicholas Maw, which I'm completely unfamiliar with but understand was written for Joshua Bell. In fact it's available on Rhapsody so maybe I'll give it a listen. Hmmm, is it worth a trip to Colorado? Nah, I'll just wait for November.
Well, that's all I've got tonight. Really I just wanted an excuse to post more pictures. Aren't you glad you stopped by?
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Spill the Wine, Dig That Girl
Well it just goes from bad to worse for poor S.F. Mayor Gavin Newsom. First the revelation about his affair with a co-worker and wife of his former campaign manager, and now new revelations that the Mayor will be entering a rehab program for an alcohol problem. Other than that, I'd say he's had a pretty uneventful February.
Now, of course, everywhere the Mayor goes he is pursued by a posse of reporters and cameramen, and he's the hot gossip all around the Bay Area. Such a mess, and you'd think world peace was hanging in the balance, but is it really? Is this what people are really concerned about, or is this just the sort of sensational news that grabs eyeballs and sells newspapers?
Seems to me, on a day-to-day basis, the important Bay Area news stories are high housing costs, crumbling infrastructure, crime, congestion...that sort of thing. I wonder if the people in the Fillmore or the Tenderloin or Bayview/Hunters Point are feeling safer tonight knowing that the Mayor is going into rehab, or if people living paycheck to paycheck feel a little more secure knowing that the Mayor deeply regrets his personal lapse of judgement. Wasn't it only last month the the Bay Area was going through a whole series of double murders? For some reason I think people care more about that then they do about Mayor Newsom's personal problems. Just look at this news clip (this is a deep link so I hope it works).
Which brings me to my point. Namely, I think it's high time we passed a law in this country making it illegal for elected officials to read newspapers, or listen to news reports, or watch the news on TV, because when they watch the news they seem to get a very distorted view of what's really important to the public they're supposed to serve. I mean if you were to believe what you see on the news then the thing most people care about today would be the country's jealous, out-of-control astronaut crisis.
It also works the other way around too. For example, why are they having this big debate in the Congress now over who supports Bush's war strategy and who doesn't. It's completely meaningless, and I think the public realizes that if the Commander-in-Chief is determined to kill that whale, then there's not much the officers and crew can do about it short of mutiny. Any Resolution that either does or doesn't get passed wouldn't have any teeth anyways, and the whole exercise is really about getting your name in the newspapers and on TV and positioning yourself for the next election. It's not going to end the violence or fix Social Security or cover anyone's medical expenses.
So that's why I think we need a law or something. That way the politicians can stop worrying about their press coverage and start talking more to the people. You know we have this Web 2.0 stuff nowadays, and the communication can flow in both directions. You don't need to get it secondhand from the talking heads. At least think about it, ok, 'cause we've got a lot of work to do.
Now, of course, everywhere the Mayor goes he is pursued by a posse of reporters and cameramen, and he's the hot gossip all around the Bay Area. Such a mess, and you'd think world peace was hanging in the balance, but is it really? Is this what people are really concerned about, or is this just the sort of sensational news that grabs eyeballs and sells newspapers?
Seems to me, on a day-to-day basis, the important Bay Area news stories are high housing costs, crumbling infrastructure, crime, congestion...that sort of thing. I wonder if the people in the Fillmore or the Tenderloin or Bayview/Hunters Point are feeling safer tonight knowing that the Mayor is going into rehab, or if people living paycheck to paycheck feel a little more secure knowing that the Mayor deeply regrets his personal lapse of judgement. Wasn't it only last month the the Bay Area was going through a whole series of double murders? For some reason I think people care more about that then they do about Mayor Newsom's personal problems. Just look at this news clip (this is a deep link so I hope it works).
Which brings me to my point. Namely, I think it's high time we passed a law in this country making it illegal for elected officials to read newspapers, or listen to news reports, or watch the news on TV, because when they watch the news they seem to get a very distorted view of what's really important to the public they're supposed to serve. I mean if you were to believe what you see on the news then the thing most people care about today would be the country's jealous, out-of-control astronaut crisis.
It also works the other way around too. For example, why are they having this big debate in the Congress now over who supports Bush's war strategy and who doesn't. It's completely meaningless, and I think the public realizes that if the Commander-in-Chief is determined to kill that whale, then there's not much the officers and crew can do about it short of mutiny. Any Resolution that either does or doesn't get passed wouldn't have any teeth anyways, and the whole exercise is really about getting your name in the newspapers and on TV and positioning yourself for the next election. It's not going to end the violence or fix Social Security or cover anyone's medical expenses.
So that's why I think we need a law or something. That way the politicians can stop worrying about their press coverage and start talking more to the people. You know we have this Web 2.0 stuff nowadays, and the communication can flow in both directions. You don't need to get it secondhand from the talking heads. At least think about it, ok, 'cause we've got a lot of work to do.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
I Used To Know A Guy Named Billy
"Hey you left the trunk open. Did you just get home?"
"No. There's some Ravioli on the stove if you're hungry."
"Why? Are you going out or something?"
"I just thought you might be hungry, that's all."
"Hey, what's with all the suitcases? Are you going somewhere?"
"What's it look like?"
"What do you mean 'what does it look like?', I asked you a question. What's with all the suitcases? Where the hell are you going?"
"I'm going away for a while. I need some time to...Look, the truth is it's just not working Billy. None of it. I've decided that I can't live like this any more, so... Look, I'm sorry, but please don't try to stop me. It won't do any good."
"You mean you're leaving me? Just like that? 'Oh hello Billy. There's some Ravioli on the stove and, by the way, we're through.' You can't just..."
"Please, don't start in with me. Not now. Anyways, don't tell me you didn't see it coming. You know as well as I do that..."
"Ok, so we've had our problems. We've always worked things out before, haven't we? Everybody has their ups and downs, it's normal. Look, you're upset, that's all. Why don't I make us a nice pot of tea and we can sit down and figure out what's wrong."
"No, you're not listening to me. I said I'm leaving you. A pot of tea? You think this is something you can fix with a pot of tea? What is wrong with you? Did you hear what I said? Don't you get it? It's over, Billy. We're finished."
"Just like that."
"Yeah, just like that. I should have done this years ago instead of waiting around and hoping you'd change, or that somehow you'd finally grow up and make something of yourself instead of us always just scraping by, or that you'd stop coming home drunk every night and expecting me to be there to understand and listen to you blame the world for all your troubles. I got news for you, it ain't the world Billy, it's you, and I'm sick of it. I'm so sick of it I want to just grab you by the throat and strangle you sometimes."
"Oh, so that's it. Look, we've been over this and over this. Sure I like to drink a little every now and then, but if it's bothering you I can stop. It's not a problem. I told you that but you..."
"It's not just the drinking. Not anymore. It's you Billy. When are you gonna stop giving up on yourself? When are you gonna start being a man, instead of just sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. How do you think I feel living with a guy who's feeling miserable all the time? Look at me. I'm still young, I've still got time. I want to live, you know, have some fun, try new things. That's why I have to go. Can't you understand that?"
"But you're all I've got Mel. You can't leave me. I...I'd be lost without you. What...I can change. I mean you're right. You're absolutely right. It's time for me to grow up, that's all. Quit the drinking and maybe go back to school or something. I can change, Mel, honest I can. I know I've let you down but not this time. This time it's finally sunk in and I'm gonna be a new man. Maybe I can get a better job and we can buy us a little place somewhere. You know, like them ones we were looking at last summer. I can do this Mel, what do you say? Let's talk about this. Just give me another chance."
"No, Billy, we're all out of chances. Besides, it's too late for any of that now."
"Too late? Why?"
(there's a knock at the door and Billy looks up)
"Who's that?"
"It's probably my ride."
"You're ride? You're ride where?"
"C'mon in Smiley. The door's open."
"Smiley? What's he doing here?"
(Smiley walks in the door and grins at Billy)
"Hey, Billy, what's going on. Nice to see you conscious for a change. What happened? Was the liquor store closed today? Heh, heh, heh."
(Melanie turns to Smiley)
"I'm almost ready. You can start with those suitcases there."
"Sure thing. Did you give Billy the news?"
"Yeah, he knows."
(Billy looks at Melanie)
"Knows what?"
(Smiley walks up to Billy)
"Oh didn't she tell you. Melanie's gonna be staying over at my place for a while. Isn't that right, baby? Yeah, you see she's been telling me all about you. About how you and her ain't been getting along so good, and, well, you know Melanie and I have been getting along just fine, haven't we? So I figured if she needs a place to stay why doesn't she come over to my place for..."
(Billy grabs Smiley by the shirt but Melanie interrupts)
"Smiley, just grab those suitcases, ok? I'll be out there in a minute. Please, Smiley. Let me handle this."
"Ok, but I'll be out there by the car. If he tries anything you just start screaming."
(Smiley takes the suitcases and leaves)
"So that's how it is, huh? You and Smiley. How long has this been going on?"
"A couple of months, I guess."
"And you're gonna go live with him?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"You've been cheating on me, all this time, behind my back? And with that jackoff Smiley? You whore. You little..."
"Oh yeah? What's wrong with Smiley? He's strong, I like that in a man. You know what you're problem is Billy? You're weak, that's what you're problem is. You're always worrying about things and feeling sorry for people. Smiley's strong 'cause he don't give a shit, and I don't give a shit either. And if he up and leaves me for another woman, I won't give a shit about that either. I'm sick of worrying and feeling sorry for people. Especially you, Billy."
"Fine. You think I give a shit? Well I don't. Go off with Smiley. Be a whore, see if I care. He'll just use you like he uses everybody else. You'll see, and when he does don't come running back to me."
"Yeah right. Goodbye Billy."
"I mean it. Don't come here expecting me to take you back. You understand? I don't want you. I wouldn't have a whore like you."
(Melanie leaves)
"No good whore. Yeah, I'm glad you're gone. I wouldn't want you around anyways, whoring up the place. No good..."
(Billy starts to cry)
"Oh man oh man, I need a drink."
"No. There's some Ravioli on the stove if you're hungry."
"Why? Are you going out or something?"
"I just thought you might be hungry, that's all."
"Hey, what's with all the suitcases? Are you going somewhere?"
"What's it look like?"
"What do you mean 'what does it look like?', I asked you a question. What's with all the suitcases? Where the hell are you going?"
"I'm going away for a while. I need some time to...Look, the truth is it's just not working Billy. None of it. I've decided that I can't live like this any more, so... Look, I'm sorry, but please don't try to stop me. It won't do any good."
"You mean you're leaving me? Just like that? 'Oh hello Billy. There's some Ravioli on the stove and, by the way, we're through.' You can't just..."
"Please, don't start in with me. Not now. Anyways, don't tell me you didn't see it coming. You know as well as I do that..."
"Ok, so we've had our problems. We've always worked things out before, haven't we? Everybody has their ups and downs, it's normal. Look, you're upset, that's all. Why don't I make us a nice pot of tea and we can sit down and figure out what's wrong."
"No, you're not listening to me. I said I'm leaving you. A pot of tea? You think this is something you can fix with a pot of tea? What is wrong with you? Did you hear what I said? Don't you get it? It's over, Billy. We're finished."
"Just like that."
"Yeah, just like that. I should have done this years ago instead of waiting around and hoping you'd change, or that somehow you'd finally grow up and make something of yourself instead of us always just scraping by, or that you'd stop coming home drunk every night and expecting me to be there to understand and listen to you blame the world for all your troubles. I got news for you, it ain't the world Billy, it's you, and I'm sick of it. I'm so sick of it I want to just grab you by the throat and strangle you sometimes."
"Oh, so that's it. Look, we've been over this and over this. Sure I like to drink a little every now and then, but if it's bothering you I can stop. It's not a problem. I told you that but you..."
"It's not just the drinking. Not anymore. It's you Billy. When are you gonna stop giving up on yourself? When are you gonna start being a man, instead of just sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. How do you think I feel living with a guy who's feeling miserable all the time? Look at me. I'm still young, I've still got time. I want to live, you know, have some fun, try new things. That's why I have to go. Can't you understand that?"
"But you're all I've got Mel. You can't leave me. I...I'd be lost without you. What...I can change. I mean you're right. You're absolutely right. It's time for me to grow up, that's all. Quit the drinking and maybe go back to school or something. I can change, Mel, honest I can. I know I've let you down but not this time. This time it's finally sunk in and I'm gonna be a new man. Maybe I can get a better job and we can buy us a little place somewhere. You know, like them ones we were looking at last summer. I can do this Mel, what do you say? Let's talk about this. Just give me another chance."
"No, Billy, we're all out of chances. Besides, it's too late for any of that now."
"Too late? Why?"
(there's a knock at the door and Billy looks up)
"Who's that?"
"It's probably my ride."
"You're ride? You're ride where?"
"C'mon in Smiley. The door's open."
"Smiley? What's he doing here?"
(Smiley walks in the door and grins at Billy)
"Hey, Billy, what's going on. Nice to see you conscious for a change. What happened? Was the liquor store closed today? Heh, heh, heh."
(Melanie turns to Smiley)
"I'm almost ready. You can start with those suitcases there."
"Sure thing. Did you give Billy the news?"
"Yeah, he knows."
(Billy looks at Melanie)
"Knows what?"
(Smiley walks up to Billy)
"Oh didn't she tell you. Melanie's gonna be staying over at my place for a while. Isn't that right, baby? Yeah, you see she's been telling me all about you. About how you and her ain't been getting along so good, and, well, you know Melanie and I have been getting along just fine, haven't we? So I figured if she needs a place to stay why doesn't she come over to my place for..."
(Billy grabs Smiley by the shirt but Melanie interrupts)
"Smiley, just grab those suitcases, ok? I'll be out there in a minute. Please, Smiley. Let me handle this."
"Ok, but I'll be out there by the car. If he tries anything you just start screaming."
(Smiley takes the suitcases and leaves)
"So that's how it is, huh? You and Smiley. How long has this been going on?"
"A couple of months, I guess."
"And you're gonna go live with him?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"You've been cheating on me, all this time, behind my back? And with that jackoff Smiley? You whore. You little..."
"Oh yeah? What's wrong with Smiley? He's strong, I like that in a man. You know what you're problem is Billy? You're weak, that's what you're problem is. You're always worrying about things and feeling sorry for people. Smiley's strong 'cause he don't give a shit, and I don't give a shit either. And if he up and leaves me for another woman, I won't give a shit about that either. I'm sick of worrying and feeling sorry for people. Especially you, Billy."
"Fine. You think I give a shit? Well I don't. Go off with Smiley. Be a whore, see if I care. He'll just use you like he uses everybody else. You'll see, and when he does don't come running back to me."
"Yeah right. Goodbye Billy."
"I mean it. Don't come here expecting me to take you back. You understand? I don't want you. I wouldn't have a whore like you."
(Melanie leaves)
"No good whore. Yeah, I'm glad you're gone. I wouldn't want you around anyways, whoring up the place. No good..."
(Billy starts to cry)
"Oh man oh man, I need a drink."
Monday, February 05, 2007
Sonnet for a Hard Road
xviii.
Driving up here tonight, where from the dark
Shadow of the road the valley lights spread
Beneath our feet, two moonlit shadows marked
Our place, as the world blinked silent and dead.
You came here, not me. I only followed,
And wondered where out there would you now wish
To be, if not with me. That Apollo
You seek, is he there? Is that his ghost which
You see hiding in the strange, twinkled gloom?
Tell me, I'm not afraid. It's your remove
That upsets me. It's your dreams which now loom
So distant, while I stand wordless, unused.
How we stare, in darkness, nothing to speak
And the lights so close, so out of our reach.
Driving up here tonight, where from the dark
Shadow of the road the valley lights spread
Beneath our feet, two moonlit shadows marked
Our place, as the world blinked silent and dead.
You came here, not me. I only followed,
And wondered where out there would you now wish
To be, if not with me. That Apollo
You seek, is he there? Is that his ghost which
You see hiding in the strange, twinkled gloom?
Tell me, I'm not afraid. It's your remove
That upsets me. It's your dreams which now loom
So distant, while I stand wordless, unused.
How we stare, in darkness, nothing to speak
And the lights so close, so out of our reach.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
The Many Faces of Eve
That was the Super Bowl, wasn't it? I just want to be sure because that would mean the Bears were supposed to be a Super Bowl caliber team, wouldn't it? Maybe they should make football more like figure skating and have some kind of compulsory round before they get to the final competition. You know, just to make sure that the teams can perform the basic functions like passing the ball to the right team and, oh, I don't know, maybe handling the snap from center. It might have saved that Grossman guy a lot of embarrassment.
Not that it was his fault. The Colt's offensive line pretty much pushed the Bears defensive line around the entire night. The real suprise was that the score wasn't more one-sided than it was. Either way it didn't make any difference to me. This should have been the Chargers year, and I'm mighty disappointed that they fell out of contention so early in the playoffs. Yeah, I know. Next year, next year...Out with the Colts, and in with the Bolts!
Anyways, that was the news down in Florida. Around here there were a couple of big stories you might not have heard about, the first one being that I've been sick (again) for the past few days. Yes, that's right. This is the third time I've come down with the bug since last summer, and I don't know why that is, but I'm sure it must have something to do with global warming. Whatever the cause, I don't want to be sick no more.
The other big story concerns the Mayor of San Francisco and a certain dalliance with the wife of one of his best friends. Now this isn't a gossip blog and I'm not going to go into the details, but it is interesting to see the reaction it got around town.
One of the local news stations sent a reporter to do some "man-on-the-street" interviews, and you couldn't have found a more clear-cut divide between males and females on the issue. To the men, a guy who sleeps with his best friend's wife is basically a scumbag, or on a scale of high to low would rate somewhere around subterranean. The men all felt the guy had some serious character issues and showed a real lack of ethical or moral substance. In other words, not the kind of guy you'd trust with your sister.
On the other hand, the woman interviewed didn't see the affair as that big a deal. They didn't think it showed any kind of character flaw or moral lapse in the Mayor, and a few even found the whole thing kind of sexy. None felt it changed their opinion of the Mayor one way or the other.
Which raises the question "is moral right and wrong really just a question of whose ox is being gored?" In other words, women might not see anything wrong with a married woman having an affair with a single man, but would they feel the same if the situation were reversed? Would they be so sanguine if this were a case of a married man having an affair with a single woman? Say, a married President having and affair with an unmarried intern?
You know, thinking back on the whole Monicagate thing, it doesn't seem to me that women, in general, were all that upset with the President. I don't remember any protests in the street or anything like that. In fact, I seem to remember just the opposite. I seem to remember certain women's groups actually rallying to the President's defense during his impeachment hearings (I'd fact check that but I don't feel like it right now. I think that's what happened though. Didn't it?)
So what does this mean? Does this mean that fidelity means more to men than it does to women? Do women actually find philandering husbands kind of sexy (as long as he's not "her" philandering husband)? I don't know, but it does bring to mind an old movie I saw once. I'm sorry I can't remember the name or who was in it, but there was this one scene where a young woman is torn between two men and comes to an older woman for advice. She tells the older woman that the one is responsible and steady, but a bit of a bore, while the other is an irresponsible ne'er-do-well, but devishly fun. She can't decide which one she should marry so she asks the older woman what she would do. The older woman replies "It's very simple, my dear. Marry the responsible one, and keep the other for a lover."
So, maybe from the female perspective, a married woman taking the Mayor for a lover was just doing what any woman would do. Geez, that's a depressing thought...
Well, Happy Valentine's Day all you husbands out there.
Not that it was his fault. The Colt's offensive line pretty much pushed the Bears defensive line around the entire night. The real suprise was that the score wasn't more one-sided than it was. Either way it didn't make any difference to me. This should have been the Chargers year, and I'm mighty disappointed that they fell out of contention so early in the playoffs. Yeah, I know. Next year, next year...Out with the Colts, and in with the Bolts!
Anyways, that was the news down in Florida. Around here there were a couple of big stories you might not have heard about, the first one being that I've been sick (again) for the past few days. Yes, that's right. This is the third time I've come down with the bug since last summer, and I don't know why that is, but I'm sure it must have something to do with global warming. Whatever the cause, I don't want to be sick no more.
The other big story concerns the Mayor of San Francisco and a certain dalliance with the wife of one of his best friends. Now this isn't a gossip blog and I'm not going to go into the details, but it is interesting to see the reaction it got around town.
One of the local news stations sent a reporter to do some "man-on-the-street" interviews, and you couldn't have found a more clear-cut divide between males and females on the issue. To the men, a guy who sleeps with his best friend's wife is basically a scumbag, or on a scale of high to low would rate somewhere around subterranean. The men all felt the guy had some serious character issues and showed a real lack of ethical or moral substance. In other words, not the kind of guy you'd trust with your sister.
On the other hand, the woman interviewed didn't see the affair as that big a deal. They didn't think it showed any kind of character flaw or moral lapse in the Mayor, and a few even found the whole thing kind of sexy. None felt it changed their opinion of the Mayor one way or the other.
Which raises the question "is moral right and wrong really just a question of whose ox is being gored?" In other words, women might not see anything wrong with a married woman having an affair with a single man, but would they feel the same if the situation were reversed? Would they be so sanguine if this were a case of a married man having an affair with a single woman? Say, a married President having and affair with an unmarried intern?
You know, thinking back on the whole Monicagate thing, it doesn't seem to me that women, in general, were all that upset with the President. I don't remember any protests in the street or anything like that. In fact, I seem to remember just the opposite. I seem to remember certain women's groups actually rallying to the President's defense during his impeachment hearings (I'd fact check that but I don't feel like it right now. I think that's what happened though. Didn't it?)
So what does this mean? Does this mean that fidelity means more to men than it does to women? Do women actually find philandering husbands kind of sexy (as long as he's not "her" philandering husband)? I don't know, but it does bring to mind an old movie I saw once. I'm sorry I can't remember the name or who was in it, but there was this one scene where a young woman is torn between two men and comes to an older woman for advice. She tells the older woman that the one is responsible and steady, but a bit of a bore, while the other is an irresponsible ne'er-do-well, but devishly fun. She can't decide which one she should marry so she asks the older woman what she would do. The older woman replies "It's very simple, my dear. Marry the responsible one, and keep the other for a lover."
So, maybe from the female perspective, a married woman taking the Mayor for a lover was just doing what any woman would do. Geez, that's a depressing thought...
Well, Happy Valentine's Day all you husbands out there.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Music for the Eyes and Ears
Continuing with my survey of up and coming young violinists, tonight we'll look at Latvian sensation Baiba Skride, and by the way thank goodness for Rhapsody and their increasing selection of new classical titles. It's great to be able to hear all these musicians without having to actually lay down the coin for the CD.
Anyways, 25 year old Baiba Skride is another one of those celebrated European violinists who is just now starting to make a name for herself in America. The problem is that when you look at her picture you can't help but thinking "uh-oh, not another overated, glamour queen violinist. Sheesh..." There's no question that she is quite a beauty, but fortunately she has some talent to go along with her good looks.
Mind you, she is young, and lacks the fit and finish of her more mature counterparts, but from the little I've heard it seems she can play. She has three CD's out for Sony Classical, but the only one available on Rhapsody is her W.A. Mozart & M. Haydn Violinkonzerte. I don't know how much you can tell about a musician from just one CD, but she does a fine job with all the pieces on this CD.
Unfortunately for Skride, after listening to Julia Fischer play Mozart I think it's hard for any violinist not suffer in comparison. Skride plays a very spirited Mozart Violin Concerto No.3, but she just doesn't play with the same joy or the achingly beautiful and delicate lines that Fischer does. Particularly in the adagio you begin to notice that Skride sounds at times a little too deliberate, and at other times a little too precious, though always very expressive and musical. It's tough - I like Skride's playing, but at the same time I can't forget that Fischer plays this better.
Skride's current release is of the Shostakovich and Janacek Violin Sonatas, and there again she is going to have a tough act to follow. If you haven't heard Leila Josefowicz's Shostakovich CD, then go buy it and you'll know what I mean. Maybe I'll do a review of it sometime, but for now let me just say that Skride's gonna have to be awful damn good to make me forget Josefowicz's rendition of the Shostakovich Sonata. Which isn't really fair - she should be judged soley on her performance, but how can you ignore Josefowicz's performance. I don't know. I guess the only thing to do is buy the Skride CD and give it a listen. That's why it's currently at the top of my wish list.
And you know what, with all the talented new players coming along these days, this just may be shaping up as the golden age of the violin. One weekend last month we had no less that four violinists giving concerts and recitals around the Bay Area, and coming up we have Christian Tetzlaff coming to town to play with MTT and the SF Symphony, and, wouldn't you know it, Baiba Skride giving a recital with her sister Lauma at the Palace of the Legion of Honor. After Tetzlaff's really awful performance of the Stravinsky Violin Concerto on the SF Symphony's Opening Night I don't know if I'm really anticipating another appearance by him, but Skride might be worth a trip up to the city (in fairness to Tetzlaff, the Chronicle reported that he had to read the notes off the score as he gave that performance, so apparently he hadn't had time to properly prepare. Still, it was truly awful. I didn't see it, I just heard it on the radio)
So that's Skride in a nutshell. Yeah, another violin babe, but this one's got some chops. And if I go see her, I'll be sure to bring my camera.
Anyways, 25 year old Baiba Skride is another one of those celebrated European violinists who is just now starting to make a name for herself in America. The problem is that when you look at her picture you can't help but thinking "uh-oh, not another overated, glamour queen violinist. Sheesh..." There's no question that she is quite a beauty, but fortunately she has some talent to go along with her good looks.Mind you, she is young, and lacks the fit and finish of her more mature counterparts, but from the little I've heard it seems she can play. She has three CD's out for Sony Classical, but the only one available on Rhapsody is her W.A. Mozart & M. Haydn Violinkonzerte. I don't know how much you can tell about a musician from just one CD, but she does a fine job with all the pieces on this CD.
Unfortunately for Skride, after listening to Julia Fischer play Mozart I think it's hard for any violinist not suffer in comparison. Skride plays a very spirited Mozart Violin Concerto No.3, but she just doesn't play with the same joy or the achingly beautiful and delicate lines that Fischer does. Particularly in the adagio you begin to notice that Skride sounds at times a little too deliberate, and at other times a little too precious, though always very expressive and musical. It's tough - I like Skride's playing, but at the same time I can't forget that Fischer plays this better.Skride's current release is of the Shostakovich and Janacek Violin Sonatas, and there again she is going to have a tough act to follow. If you haven't heard Leila Josefowicz's Shostakovich CD, then go buy it and you'll know what I mean. Maybe I'll do a review of it sometime, but for now let me just say that Skride's gonna have to be awful damn good to make me forget Josefowicz's rendition of the Shostakovich Sonata. Which isn't really fair - she should be judged soley on her performance, but how can you ignore Josefowicz's performance. I don't know. I guess the only thing to do is buy the Skride CD and give it a listen. That's why it's currently at the top of my wish list.
And you know what, with all the talented new players coming along these days, this just may be shaping up as the golden age of the violin. One weekend last month we had no less that four violinists giving concerts and recitals around the Bay Area, and coming up we have Christian Tetzlaff coming to town to play with MTT and the SF Symphony, and, wouldn't you know it, Baiba Skride giving a recital with her sister Lauma at the Palace of the Legion of Honor. After Tetzlaff's really awful performance of the Stravinsky Violin Concerto on the SF Symphony's Opening Night I don't know if I'm really anticipating another appearance by him, but Skride might be worth a trip up to the city (in fairness to Tetzlaff, the Chronicle reported that he had to read the notes off the score as he gave that performance, so apparently he hadn't had time to properly prepare. Still, it was truly awful. I didn't see it, I just heard it on the radio)So that's Skride in a nutshell. Yeah, another violin babe, but this one's got some chops. And if I go see her, I'll be sure to bring my camera.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Aye, It's Another Bonnie Lass
I suppose one of the great plagues of the modern world is that of "declining standards". We see it everywhere - in our politics, in our schools, and even in our media where the network news is starting to look more and more like the Howard Beale Show everyday. So what does any of this have to do with anything?
Not much, really. I just thought I'd mention it before I take a second or two to talk about Nicola Benedetti. You never heard of her? That's because you don't follow classical violinists. She's the sultry, dark-haired, italianesque beauty from Scotland who has been bandied about certain musical circles as the next "big" thing. Go to Amazon.com and you'll find both of her CD releases rated "5 stars", although in reality she's only been reviewed 3 times. I could talk about Amazon ratings, but I'll leave that for another posting (do you think publicists and record company folks have anything to do with those reviews? Some of them read like marketing copy).
Anyways, I think we have Vanessa Mae to blame for all this. Mae proved the point that if photogeneic but marginally talented pop stars could make it big in the pop world, then photogenic but marginally talented classical musicians can also make it big in the classical world. Unfortunately, all Mae has done is open the floodgates and now young, photogenic, (mostly) female musicians are everywhere. Do you think that Janis Joplin, an attractive but not photo-model pretty singer of the sixties, would even be allowed to take the stage the way the music business is run today?
So into all this comes Nicola Benedetti. 5 stars not withstanding, both of her CD's are available for streaming on the Rhapsody music service, so I gave them a listen. My conclusion? Simple. Put this one back in the oven folks 'cause she ain't ready yet. Not that DG isn't eager to shove her out there and capitalize on her while she's still hot, but she's just not in the same league as the top players, and that's just a plain fact.
The piece that first brought her to people's attention is the Szymanowski Violin Concerto No. 1. Go over to Rhapsody and give it a listen and see what you think. I'll tell you what I think. Beneditti reminds me an awful lot of another violinist I don't particularly care for - Rachel Barton Pine. She has that same thing that Pine has, which I guess you'd call a lack of flow (being an older man, I know quite a bit about lack of flow).
Benedetti can be breezing along quite nicely, and then, all of a sudden, she loses her momentum. It's like she says to herself "oh God, let me just get through this boring part so that I can get to the really good part later on", and she just phones it in for a while. Rachel Barton Pine does the same thing, and let me tell ya, it's very ANNOYING. I like the piece to start at the beginning and continue smoothly to the end, not lurch back and forth along the way.
Benedetti shows the same problem in her Mendelssohn -really nice moments interspersed with clumsy wooden ones. You would think someone would take her aside and say "look, maybe you need to work on that part a little more", instead of "Great job, honey, just fantastic. By the way, your hair looks marvelous." Declining standards, I guess.
Well, all I can say is that if you're one of those people who buys CD's so they can drool over the cover shot, then I got another one for you.
Not much, really. I just thought I'd mention it before I take a second or two to talk about Nicola Benedetti. You never heard of her? That's because you don't follow classical violinists. She's the sultry, dark-haired, italianesque beauty from Scotland who has been bandied about certain musical circles as the next "big" thing. Go to Amazon.com and you'll find both of her CD releases rated "5 stars", although in reality she's only been reviewed 3 times. I could talk about Amazon ratings, but I'll leave that for another posting (do you think publicists and record company folks have anything to do with those reviews? Some of them read like marketing copy).Anyways, I think we have Vanessa Mae to blame for all this. Mae proved the point that if photogeneic but marginally talented pop stars could make it big in the pop world, then photogenic but marginally talented classical musicians can also make it big in the classical world. Unfortunately, all Mae has done is open the floodgates and now young, photogenic, (mostly) female musicians are everywhere. Do you think that Janis Joplin, an attractive but not photo-model pretty singer of the sixties, would even be allowed to take the stage the way the music business is run today?
So into all this comes Nicola Benedetti. 5 stars not withstanding, both of her CD's are available for streaming on the Rhapsody music service, so I gave them a listen. My conclusion? Simple. Put this one back in the oven folks 'cause she ain't ready yet. Not that DG isn't eager to shove her out there and capitalize on her while she's still hot, but she's just not in the same league as the top players, and that's just a plain fact.The piece that first brought her to people's attention is the Szymanowski Violin Concerto No. 1. Go over to Rhapsody and give it a listen and see what you think. I'll tell you what I think. Beneditti reminds me an awful lot of another violinist I don't particularly care for - Rachel Barton Pine. She has that same thing that Pine has, which I guess you'd call a lack of flow (being an older man, I know quite a bit about lack of flow).
Benedetti can be breezing along quite nicely, and then, all of a sudden, she loses her momentum. It's like she says to herself "oh God, let me just get through this boring part so that I can get to the really good part later on", and she just phones it in for a while. Rachel Barton Pine does the same thing, and let me tell ya, it's very ANNOYING. I like the piece to start at the beginning and continue smoothly to the end, not lurch back and forth along the way.
Benedetti shows the same problem in her Mendelssohn -really nice moments interspersed with clumsy wooden ones. You would think someone would take her aside and say "look, maybe you need to work on that part a little more", instead of "Great job, honey, just fantastic. By the way, your hair looks marvelous." Declining standards, I guess.
Well, all I can say is that if you're one of those people who buys CD's so they can drool over the cover shot, then I got another one for you.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sonnet for the Inappropriate
xii.
That would be the end of it then. No one
Embraces their misfortune, complacent
In their admission that what's done is done,
And but for the few odds and ends, vacant
And abandoned. Life's a river, and this
Deep, remorseless current asks only of
Us that we ever continue on its
Clumsy course, riding unsteady above
The rocky depths, and cede to it that we
Are absurd, and easily deluded.
I ask too much sometimes, and can now see
How strange to think that also included
You. How do I explain this man I've been,
Or unclose my eyes or undream this dream.
That would be the end of it then. No one
Embraces their misfortune, complacent
In their admission that what's done is done,
And but for the few odds and ends, vacant
And abandoned. Life's a river, and this
Deep, remorseless current asks only of
Us that we ever continue on its
Clumsy course, riding unsteady above
The rocky depths, and cede to it that we
Are absurd, and easily deluded.
I ask too much sometimes, and can now see
How strange to think that also included
You. How do I explain this man I've been,
Or unclose my eyes or undream this dream.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Some of My Best Friends are Modernists
"Hello, I'm Peggy Jones, and this is New Breeze"
(cue the music)
"On today's show we talk with painter Colin Palmer, whose new exhibit at the Harper Museum has created a firestorm of controversy over it's irreverent depictions of historical world figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa. The exhibit ends its run at the Harper next week, and then will be moving on for a 6 week showing at the M.W. Simpson Museum in Chicago. Colin Palmer, welcome to New Breeze."
"Thank you Peggy. It's a pleasure to be here."
"Tell me about the exhibit. Were you suprised by the amount of controversy it's created?"
"Yes I was. As an artist, of course, I always want to try to provoke the audience and really get them to think about my paintings and the issues surrounding them, but, frankly, I've been a little overwhelmed by the amount of criticism and really nasty things that people in the media have been saying about me. I just never expected this kind of hostility."
"Do you mean hostility in any kind of a physical way, or..."
"No, not physical. Just a very outspoken kind of backlash, I guess."
"One of the paintings that has been the subject of a lot of criticism is your 'Lincoln Taking a Leak'. Why did you paint that, and why do you think people are so upset by it?"
"Well, people like Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa have become so iconic..."
"You're referring to 'Mother Teresa Gets Her Colonoscopy', another one of your paintings on exhibit?"
"Yes, that's right. These historical figures have become so iconic that they've become almost meaningless in modern society. As an artist, I wanted to shatter these icons and try to find a new perspective and insight into who these people really were. I didn't want to just be a portraitist, but really change the entire way we think of them."
"So, by painting Abraham Lincoln urinating in the bushes, you think people will, I don't know, re-examine their attitudes and beliefs?"
"Sure. Lincoln wasn't just the man who abolished slavery and preserved the union, but he was also a person; a person who eats and sleeps and has to go to the bathroom. When I concieved this painting I found that idea very deep."
"But tell me, don't you think people know that Lincoln had to go to the bathroom? Are there people who assume that he just held it in?"
"On a certain level, sure, people know that. But what I'm interested in is raising people's consciousness and forcing them to confront subjects that they might otherwise want to avoid."
"The Reverend Johnny Tripgood of the conservative religious organization Citizens for a Decent America has called you're exhibit obscene, and does not think taxpayer dollars should be used to fund exhibits that are patently offensive to decent church-going folk. What do you say to that, and how much influence do you think the taxpayers should have over what and what doesn't recieve funding in the arts?"
"I don't think the taxpayers or anyone else is qualified to say what is and isn't art, or what and what shouldn't recieve funding. It's hard to judge what is good art and what isn't, and I think that's why it's so crucial nowdays for artists like myself and others to be opposed by the religious right. It helps the public sort out the really important art from the mediocre."
"In other words, criticism from the right sort of sets the agenda for what is important art as opposed to what is unimportant?"
"Exactly. If a piece of art is being criticized by Reverend Tripgood, for example, then that attracts the media and let's the public know that 'Hey, this is something I should be paying attention to.' It's very important for an artist to get that kind of reaction from the right in order to legitimize his or her efforts. We consider it a kind of Merit Badge in the arts community."
"I'd like to ask you a personal question now, and if it's too personal then please don't feel like you have to answer it. But, your wife left you soon after you were married. Is that right?"
"Yes, on our wedding night."
"On your wedding night? Did she ever tell you why?"
"No, we were getting ready for bed and she told me she had to go get a pack of cigarettes, and I haven't seen her since. I should have known something was wrong because she didn't smoke."
"You haven't heard from her at all?"
"Not a word."
"What kind of effect did that have on you? It must have affected your art?"
"It taught me never to trust anyone ever again. People are all a bunch of scumbags anyways, Peggy. That's how it seems to me, and that's why I like to demean and degrade people in my paintings. They're all just scumbags. Abraham Lincoln? He was a scumbag. Mother Teresa? She was a scumbag too."
"Well, Colin Palmer, thank you so much for talking with us today."
"Thank you for having me."
"Coming up after the break, we talk with Darlene May, an avowed atheist who has just been ordained by the U.S. Diocese of the Episcopal Church. Does a person have to believe in God in order to be an Episcopal priest? We'll talk with Darlene May, plus, classical music critic Lawrence Cooper reviews the new CD by hot Latvian violinist babe Baiba Skride. That's all coming up on New Breeze."
(cue the music)
-----------------------------------------------
And now this...
If there's one positive thing you can say about the seventies, it's that we knew how to rock and roll back then. If you're old to enough to know what I'm talking about, then you probably remember a time when rock and roll was upbeat and all about having fun.
Anyways, that's what came to my mind when I saw Peter Frampton on the TV the other night. He wasn't singing about guns and violence and sexin' up his bitch. He was just playing his guitar and turning the amp up to eleven and having a good time.
That's the seventies I remember - all that great guitar rock, and it was great seeing Peter Frampton get up there and do some old time, seventies style jamming. So today I just had to get out my old MP3 player and crank up some of those old tunes, and man, they sounded great. True, I'm not fifteen anymore. My tastes have changed and my musical horizons have definitely been expanded, but every now and then it's great to go back and be fifteen again, if only for a little while.
The only reason I'm mentioning this is because I put together a little mix for myself, and I thought maybe some other people might enjoy listening to it too. It's all old seventies guitar rock and it's not something I'm legally supposed to do, but what the heck. If you want to rock like it's 1975, then here's my 70's mix. It's about 35 minutes long and about a 33 meg download. It has Johnny Winter doing "Johnny B. Goode", Robin Trower's "Day of the Eagle", Montrose with "Space Station No. 5", Pat Travers' "Rock 'n Roll Susie", Lou Reed singing "Rock and Roll", Journey saying you can go home again and travelling to "Mystery Mountain", and ends with a nice mellow "Song of the Wind" by Carlos Santana. Enjoy.
(cue the music)
"On today's show we talk with painter Colin Palmer, whose new exhibit at the Harper Museum has created a firestorm of controversy over it's irreverent depictions of historical world figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa. The exhibit ends its run at the Harper next week, and then will be moving on for a 6 week showing at the M.W. Simpson Museum in Chicago. Colin Palmer, welcome to New Breeze."
"Thank you Peggy. It's a pleasure to be here."
"Tell me about the exhibit. Were you suprised by the amount of controversy it's created?"
"Yes I was. As an artist, of course, I always want to try to provoke the audience and really get them to think about my paintings and the issues surrounding them, but, frankly, I've been a little overwhelmed by the amount of criticism and really nasty things that people in the media have been saying about me. I just never expected this kind of hostility."
"Do you mean hostility in any kind of a physical way, or..."
"No, not physical. Just a very outspoken kind of backlash, I guess."
"One of the paintings that has been the subject of a lot of criticism is your 'Lincoln Taking a Leak'. Why did you paint that, and why do you think people are so upset by it?"
"Well, people like Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa have become so iconic..."
"You're referring to 'Mother Teresa Gets Her Colonoscopy', another one of your paintings on exhibit?"
"Yes, that's right. These historical figures have become so iconic that they've become almost meaningless in modern society. As an artist, I wanted to shatter these icons and try to find a new perspective and insight into who these people really were. I didn't want to just be a portraitist, but really change the entire way we think of them."
"So, by painting Abraham Lincoln urinating in the bushes, you think people will, I don't know, re-examine their attitudes and beliefs?"
"Sure. Lincoln wasn't just the man who abolished slavery and preserved the union, but he was also a person; a person who eats and sleeps and has to go to the bathroom. When I concieved this painting I found that idea very deep."
"But tell me, don't you think people know that Lincoln had to go to the bathroom? Are there people who assume that he just held it in?"
"On a certain level, sure, people know that. But what I'm interested in is raising people's consciousness and forcing them to confront subjects that they might otherwise want to avoid."
"The Reverend Johnny Tripgood of the conservative religious organization Citizens for a Decent America has called you're exhibit obscene, and does not think taxpayer dollars should be used to fund exhibits that are patently offensive to decent church-going folk. What do you say to that, and how much influence do you think the taxpayers should have over what and what doesn't recieve funding in the arts?"
"I don't think the taxpayers or anyone else is qualified to say what is and isn't art, or what and what shouldn't recieve funding. It's hard to judge what is good art and what isn't, and I think that's why it's so crucial nowdays for artists like myself and others to be opposed by the religious right. It helps the public sort out the really important art from the mediocre."
"In other words, criticism from the right sort of sets the agenda for what is important art as opposed to what is unimportant?"
"Exactly. If a piece of art is being criticized by Reverend Tripgood, for example, then that attracts the media and let's the public know that 'Hey, this is something I should be paying attention to.' It's very important for an artist to get that kind of reaction from the right in order to legitimize his or her efforts. We consider it a kind of Merit Badge in the arts community."
"I'd like to ask you a personal question now, and if it's too personal then please don't feel like you have to answer it. But, your wife left you soon after you were married. Is that right?"
"Yes, on our wedding night."
"On your wedding night? Did she ever tell you why?"
"No, we were getting ready for bed and she told me she had to go get a pack of cigarettes, and I haven't seen her since. I should have known something was wrong because she didn't smoke."
"You haven't heard from her at all?"
"Not a word."
"What kind of effect did that have on you? It must have affected your art?"
"It taught me never to trust anyone ever again. People are all a bunch of scumbags anyways, Peggy. That's how it seems to me, and that's why I like to demean and degrade people in my paintings. They're all just scumbags. Abraham Lincoln? He was a scumbag. Mother Teresa? She was a scumbag too."
"Well, Colin Palmer, thank you so much for talking with us today."
"Thank you for having me."
"Coming up after the break, we talk with Darlene May, an avowed atheist who has just been ordained by the U.S. Diocese of the Episcopal Church. Does a person have to believe in God in order to be an Episcopal priest? We'll talk with Darlene May, plus, classical music critic Lawrence Cooper reviews the new CD by hot Latvian violinist babe Baiba Skride. That's all coming up on New Breeze."
(cue the music)
-----------------------------------------------
And now this...
If there's one positive thing you can say about the seventies, it's that we knew how to rock and roll back then. If you're old to enough to know what I'm talking about, then you probably remember a time when rock and roll was upbeat and all about having fun.
Anyways, that's what came to my mind when I saw Peter Frampton on the TV the other night. He wasn't singing about guns and violence and sexin' up his bitch. He was just playing his guitar and turning the amp up to eleven and having a good time.
That's the seventies I remember - all that great guitar rock, and it was great seeing Peter Frampton get up there and do some old time, seventies style jamming. So today I just had to get out my old MP3 player and crank up some of those old tunes, and man, they sounded great. True, I'm not fifteen anymore. My tastes have changed and my musical horizons have definitely been expanded, but every now and then it's great to go back and be fifteen again, if only for a little while.
The only reason I'm mentioning this is because I put together a little mix for myself, and I thought maybe some other people might enjoy listening to it too. It's all old seventies guitar rock and it's not something I'm legally supposed to do, but what the heck. If you want to rock like it's 1975, then here's my 70's mix. It's about 35 minutes long and about a 33 meg download. It has Johnny Winter doing "Johnny B. Goode", Robin Trower's "Day of the Eagle", Montrose with "Space Station No. 5", Pat Travers' "Rock 'n Roll Susie", Lou Reed singing "Rock and Roll", Journey saying you can go home again and travelling to "Mystery Mountain", and ends with a nice mellow "Song of the Wind" by Carlos Santana. Enjoy.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Sonnet on a Lyric by Lori McKenna
xvi.
There you stood looking for a smile, but just
What did you expect? Oh, of course, I see.
A reprobate wild with desperate lust,
Or perhaps a tail wagging at your feet.
How I tire of you, long since unamused,
My heart now longs only for her, and you care
Not, I know, as though damaged and abused
I am all the more helpless, unaware.
Please excuse me if by my sour taste
I've reduced your boiling steam of desire.
I have no stake in it. I've laid waste
To the one real love of my heart's true fire.
And you're bored now, some idle pleasures to seek,
And thought you'd come by and just borrow me.
There you stood looking for a smile, but just
What did you expect? Oh, of course, I see.
A reprobate wild with desperate lust,
Or perhaps a tail wagging at your feet.
How I tire of you, long since unamused,
My heart now longs only for her, and you care
Not, I know, as though damaged and abused
I am all the more helpless, unaware.
Please excuse me if by my sour taste
I've reduced your boiling steam of desire.
I have no stake in it. I've laid waste
To the one real love of my heart's true fire.
And you're bored now, some idle pleasures to seek,
And thought you'd come by and just borrow me.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Another Hat in the Ring
There has been much speculation in the press, so I want to take this opportunity right now to announce, right here on the internet, that I have formed an exploratory committee and will indeed be a serious canididate to be your next President of the United States of America. Although many have been urging me to take this step, I want to assure the American public that I do not make this decision lightly, and would not run if I did not feel I could make a difference and bring a new vision to the American people.
In fact, I draw my strength from the American people, and share their values. That's why I'm announcing that if elected, I promise that my administration will deliver to each American, as is their birthright, free vodka and porn. Some might call this policy a brazen attempt to bribe the electorate and buy the vote, but what could be more fundamental to the true American spirit than boozing it up and watching porno movies. I say this is the very fabric that has made America strong, and the reason we continue as the beacon of liberty and justice around the world.
What about America's enemies abroad, I hear you say. Will you keep America safe? Let me make this firm commitment to you, and let there be no doubt, that I will indeed keep America safe - at least I think so. Furthermore, let me say that I believe that we are threatened not only abroad but at home as well. Why just yesterday, my neighbor Madge found a terrorist building a nuclear weapon in her backyard. How do we counter such threats, you ask. Well, let me assure you, that if elected one of my first duties as President will be to sit down with Congress and decide, in a bipartisan fashion, how best to invade China.
After all, who is really the biggest threat to America today. China of course. They're selling us TV's and t-shirts and cellphones, and using those profits to buy our bonds, earning interest that we Americans pay to them to fund their increasingly powerful military machine, as was made alarmingly clear by their recent launch of an anti-satellite missile. They also continue to buy huge quantities of Iranian oil despite strong American objections ("C'mon guys, can't you just go along with us just this once?").
An invasion of China will not only deprive Iran of the cash it needs to fuel its nuclear ambitions, but also allow us to welch on those billions of dollars of American bonds they hold. Not only that, but once China is successfully occupied, then maybe we can finally get some of those cool cellphones they keeping holding back on us. And let me further assure you, that as your President I will make it my personal responsibilty to locate, pursue and capture Chinese actress Gong Li. You have my word on that.
So there you have it. Under my leadership, America will be strong again. Under my leadership, the government will serve the people and not the special interests. Under my leadership, every American will have a seat at the dinner table. Under my leadership, American will find a new direction. Under my leadership, every hardworking American will have his or her chance at the American dream. Under my leadership, every...well, you know the drill.
Meanwhile, the election's only two years away so please send me some money. Please?
While we're on the subject, I was up in Berkeley the other day, and I walked into this little cafe/luncheon place, and saw this lady sitting at one of the tables eating a tofu salad (this is Berkeley, remember). Now, I've got nothing against tofu. In fact, being the proud son of a Japanese mother I can honestly say that I've been eating the stuff all my life. I can even remember when you couldn't even buy tofu at the grocery store, but had to go to the special tofu shop downtown, where they'd cut if fresh from the vat and wrap it up in butcher paper. What I'm trying to say is I know tofu.
So that's why I'm also saying, and please don't take offense, that's why I'm also saying that white people don't know how to eat tofu. Here's the scoop. You can eat tofu plain, always cold, with fish flakes and a little soy sauce on top, or, better yet, in a soup or a sukiyaki or something like that, but you do not, under any circumstance, eat it with lettuce and raw kidney beans and some weird kind of balsamic vinagrette crap on the top. Eeewwww, that's disgusting. What are you people thinking?
And I told her that too. I said "Lady, what are you eating? Geez, that's disgusting. How can you ruin perfectly good tofu by eating it with lettuce and all that other junk on top?", to which she replied "No man has ever talked to me like that before. It makes me hot. Why don't you come back with me to my place. I live right around the corner.", to which I said "But I haven't ordered my food yet".
Yeah, you meet some interesting people in Berkeley.
In fact, I draw my strength from the American people, and share their values. That's why I'm announcing that if elected, I promise that my administration will deliver to each American, as is their birthright, free vodka and porn. Some might call this policy a brazen attempt to bribe the electorate and buy the vote, but what could be more fundamental to the true American spirit than boozing it up and watching porno movies. I say this is the very fabric that has made America strong, and the reason we continue as the beacon of liberty and justice around the world.
What about America's enemies abroad, I hear you say. Will you keep America safe? Let me make this firm commitment to you, and let there be no doubt, that I will indeed keep America safe - at least I think so. Furthermore, let me say that I believe that we are threatened not only abroad but at home as well. Why just yesterday, my neighbor Madge found a terrorist building a nuclear weapon in her backyard. How do we counter such threats, you ask. Well, let me assure you, that if elected one of my first duties as President will be to sit down with Congress and decide, in a bipartisan fashion, how best to invade China.
After all, who is really the biggest threat to America today. China of course. They're selling us TV's and t-shirts and cellphones, and using those profits to buy our bonds, earning interest that we Americans pay to them to fund their increasingly powerful military machine, as was made alarmingly clear by their recent launch of an anti-satellite missile. They also continue to buy huge quantities of Iranian oil despite strong American objections ("C'mon guys, can't you just go along with us just this once?").
An invasion of China will not only deprive Iran of the cash it needs to fuel its nuclear ambitions, but also allow us to welch on those billions of dollars of American bonds they hold. Not only that, but once China is successfully occupied, then maybe we can finally get some of those cool cellphones they keeping holding back on us. And let me further assure you, that as your President I will make it my personal responsibilty to locate, pursue and capture Chinese actress Gong Li. You have my word on that.
So there you have it. Under my leadership, America will be strong again. Under my leadership, the government will serve the people and not the special interests. Under my leadership, every American will have a seat at the dinner table. Under my leadership, American will find a new direction. Under my leadership, every hardworking American will have his or her chance at the American dream. Under my leadership, every...well, you know the drill.
Meanwhile, the election's only two years away so please send me some money. Please?
While we're on the subject, I was up in Berkeley the other day, and I walked into this little cafe/luncheon place, and saw this lady sitting at one of the tables eating a tofu salad (this is Berkeley, remember). Now, I've got nothing against tofu. In fact, being the proud son of a Japanese mother I can honestly say that I've been eating the stuff all my life. I can even remember when you couldn't even buy tofu at the grocery store, but had to go to the special tofu shop downtown, where they'd cut if fresh from the vat and wrap it up in butcher paper. What I'm trying to say is I know tofu.
So that's why I'm also saying, and please don't take offense, that's why I'm also saying that white people don't know how to eat tofu. Here's the scoop. You can eat tofu plain, always cold, with fish flakes and a little soy sauce on top, or, better yet, in a soup or a sukiyaki or something like that, but you do not, under any circumstance, eat it with lettuce and raw kidney beans and some weird kind of balsamic vinagrette crap on the top. Eeewwww, that's disgusting. What are you people thinking?
And I told her that too. I said "Lady, what are you eating? Geez, that's disgusting. How can you ruin perfectly good tofu by eating it with lettuce and all that other junk on top?", to which she replied "No man has ever talked to me like that before. It makes me hot. Why don't you come back with me to my place. I live right around the corner.", to which I said "But I haven't ordered my food yet".
Yeah, you meet some interesting people in Berkeley.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
New Kid In Town
I'm not trying to turn this into the unofficial Julia Fischer website or anything. I know I've been talking about her a lot lately, but I don't want anyone to think I'm obsessed. It's just that it's exciting to discover a new artist and learn about them and listen to all of their recordings. C'mon, don't you remember when you used to do that, back when you were a teenager, before you finally grew up and went on to lead a normal life.Ok, so maybe I missed that last part. Anyways, in case you haven't been keeping up with the latest classical music news, Julia Fischer is the gifted German violinist and music professor who has taken Europe by storm, and steadily made a name for herself in America as well. The Baltimore Sun called her recent 2006 concert "the most sensational BSO debut since Chinese pianist Lang Lang's six years ago." The Boston Globe said of her performance with the Boston Symphony that she "stood out as the major debut artist of the season", and, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after her performance with the Atlanta Symphony "the entire concert hall cheered her for a rare three curtain calls, with the ASO musicians, who joined in the applause." (Geez, I sound like I'm writing ad copy, don't I. Order your tickets by calling...)
Well, you get the idea. Still only 24 years old, she has already been named Best Newcomer by BBC Music Magazine, and listed as one of Tomorrow's Classical Superstars by Gramaphone Magazine, all the while earning rave reviews in Seattle, Aspen, San Francisco, Carnegie Hall, and on and on and on... Needless to say, if you haven't heard of her yet, you probably will in the future. Talent like this gets talked about, both inside and outside the classical music world.
But that's not why I'm writing this post. Instead, I want to mention a little blurb I read in an article posted at classiquenews.com. About halfway through the text it's mentioned, almost in passing, that Fischer "may give some piano concerts as was recently announced" (I'm paraphrasing here). Now I've searched and searched the internet and I can't find any such announcement, but could it be true?
In case you don't know what I'm talking about, maybe I should back up a bit. You see, Julia Fischer is known both as an accomplished violinist and pianist, and it's been thought that if this violin thing didn't work out for her then she could always try her hand as a concert pianist instead. Of course, as far as I know, there's never been any confirmation or hint from her that this was the case. Until this article, that is.
So is it true? Will Julia Fischer become the Deion Sanders of the classical music world? A two instrument musician? I'm sure the musical historians out there would say that this sort of thing is done all the time, that many noted musicians have performed on different instruments. However, outside of Mozart, I can't think of a one. And I don't mean an oboeist who gets up a charity fundraiser and plays a little chopsticks on the piano - I don't think that's what we're talking about here. From the little I know about Julia Fischer I don't think she's the type who would do something like this as a gimmick or publicity stunt. She seems very serious about her music, and I doubt she would give a piano concert unless she felt it would be at a level equal to that of the very best pianists in the world. I could be wrong, but you get a feeling that she would not embarass herself that way.So what do you think? You think it's gonna happen? I have to say, after looking at her concert schedule I don't see how it's possible. She has upcoming concerts in Cincinatti and at the Kennedy Center in Washington and Avery Fischer Hall in New York, and then begins a European concert tour with Loren Maazel and the New York Phil. Perhaps over the spring and summer she could put together a piano program, but with all of her other recording and performing commitments it seems unlikely.
On the other hand, it would be something to see. We've been hearing about her talent at the keyboards so it would be nice to actually hear her play. You know, to see if she's as good as people say she is. Hmmm...just have to wait and see on that. And let's not forget - she still has a lot to achieve as a violinist.
That's your Julia Fischer update for tonight. For schedule and ticket information visit our website or call...
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Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Sonnet for Myself
xv.
So it was often said of me, his mind
Is broken. Look how peculiar he's
Become, as if there were ever a time
Or reference which showed my normalcy,
Setting right this strange recondite repose
In which I so dangerously linger.
To find myself now nakedly exposed
And wasted by this constant malinger
Earns me no credit, being private by
Nature, and not given to judge those who
Have caused no injury, except to break
Spurious hope, or bring disappointment to
An ambition not theirs, but mine to make.
Seek not cause in such senseless emotions,
As wayward as swells of drifting oceans.
So it was often said of me, his mind
Is broken. Look how peculiar he's
Become, as if there were ever a time
Or reference which showed my normalcy,
Setting right this strange recondite repose
In which I so dangerously linger.
To find myself now nakedly exposed
And wasted by this constant malinger
Earns me no credit, being private by
Nature, and not given to judge those who
Have caused no injury, except to break
Spurious hope, or bring disappointment to
An ambition not theirs, but mine to make.
Seek not cause in such senseless emotions,
As wayward as swells of drifting oceans.
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