California living

Hmm, there are a number of things I feel I should have blogged about but didn't, so I'll try to make up for it a little right now. Let's see, last weekend I saw Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious for the first time in many years, and it was even better than I remembered it. It was also AWESOME to see it in a theater, not only for the film but to experience it with other people. Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains (for some reason, I just love his name) were all great. CG & IB just played off each other so well. Anyway, it was great, and if you've never seen it, I recommend.

I also went to the San Francisco Symphony Symphony on Tuesday evening, and that was really fun. They sounded really good. I liked the Berg piece they played quite a bit. The oboes sounded good (although I could have used a little more, actually!) and it was fun to hear a new orchestra for me! It was also kind of a weird experience because people insisted on clapping violently between all movements of every piece on the program. This was annoying during the Berg, but whatever, I subscribe to the belief that if people like a piece they should be able to clap if they feel like it and not be made to feel like ill-informed morons. Anticipating this issue, MTT made a very polite announcement before the start of the Brahms, asking people to please refrain from clapping until the very end so we could better enjoy the piece as a whole. I thought his message was very polite and very clear and not at all condescending. And yet a small number of people INSISTED on clapping LOUDLY between each movement of the Brahms, and of course by now it was accompanied by angry (and equally annoying) SSSSSSSSHHHHHH!!!s. I thought maybe that it was kids who were clapping, and that since this is LA, their parents didn't bother to reprimand or explain to them why not to clap. But I don't know, it was very strange and pretty annoying.

Anyway, I enjoyed the concert very much, and I ALSO enjoyed meeting up with an old NU friend, then going out with a bunch of trombone players after the concert and watching them drink LARGE quantities of beer (in liter mugs, no less). I myself partook a bit, but I am a complete novice in comparison (well, to be fair, also quite a bit smaller).

Finally, I was rear-ended on Friday. It was a rare rainy day in LA, and it was under an overpass, where the rain made things slick but it never washed the oil and grit away since it was covered. It was a minor accident, no one was hurt, it wasn't my fault so the minor (I hope--it's driveable, anyway) damage to my car should be taken care of soon. Although the girl who hit me's car didn't look so hot. Anyway, it was still kind of scary. I've actually never EVER been in a car accident before at all, not sure how I managed to make it this far, but I am grateful that after 2.5 years of frequent freeway driving in LA, this is all that's gone wrong so far. (knock on wood). It kind of freaked me out that there was a fatal, head-on collision on the 10 soon after (how that happened I don't know, seems kind of hard to go the wrong way, but . . . ) which closed down the freeway for hours and cause a traffic nightmare on the entire West Side. Not to mention that there have been several small earthquakes here in the past few weeks and I have felt them all. Guess I am just living the ultimate California life.

Oh, and tonight I played an AYS concert, just one piece, Barber's Knoxville Summer of 1915, which is beautiful, but nerve-wracking to play. There is only one woodwind a part, and our principal was generous enough to give it to me since it doubles on English horn. So everything is exposed, needs to be in tune, and there is doubling. Very stressful. But it went well, and I enjoyed playing it. Diana Newman sounded great, again. Her voice kind of reminds me of Heidi Grant Murphy, very pure and light. Maybe that's because I've also heard HGM sing both Mahler 4 and KS1915, which are the two pieces I've heard Diana sing. I wish I could have heard the rest of the concert, but I had to go and practice/reed for some upcoming auditions and performances. I hope everyone played well and had fun!

Star Trek feminist rant

So lately I have become addicted to Star Trek. I have a sort of love-hate relationship with it. I find Captain Kirk SO IRRITATING, Mr. Alpha Male. The story lines are sometimes so ridiculously cheesy, and the special effects, well, mostly paper mache and chicken-wire! My biggest problem, however, is that it's outrageously sexist. I know it is merely reflective of the 60s, but it makes me SO GLAD that I did not grow up then, and that there were women who fought the good fight so I don't have to wander around a starship in a miniskirt, serving the men. They have their token woman officer (Uhura, who is a pretty decent female character, but the ONLY one), and the rest of the women portrayed are wimpy and get overly emotional so easily and they ALL manage to fall for Kirk! And they MUST have a different super-hot girl each episode. Fine. But if you are going to have a super-hot girl, you also have to have a different super-hot guy in every episode (NOT Kirk), to balance it out.

In one episode, an attractive young woman comes by with something for Kirk to sign (as one does every episode . . . because attractive women are only capable of secretarial work . . . grrr), and just after she leaves, Kirk discusses her with whoever else is on the bridge at the moment, basically saying, "Wow, she's attractive. Well, I'm sure she'll meet a nice man sometime soon and drop out of the fleet. They all do." !!!!! It pissed me off so much!!

Oh, and then there was the (really bad) episode where they find the ancient spirit of Jack the Ripper and all such killers, who feeds off fear. This ancient spirit attacks women because they get scared more easily, giving off more fear!!!! OK, I will readily admit, women are often more cautious than men, and probably I am more likely to scream in fright (or otherwise express emotion) than the average guy. But that does not mean I actually FEEL MORE FEAR than a man. I think, actually, that women are just as brave, and sometimes braver, than men, thank you very much.

Oh, and it was on that same episode where they all go to this "pleasure planet" and take Scotty to a strip joint, essentially, so help him relax after some incident on the ship. I guess it used to be pretty common for businessmen to go to strip joints, until women started joining the workforce in larger numbers and made this awkward. So I guess it's just another sign of the times. But I thought it was pretty ridiculous that Kirk kept telling McCoy about this one place where the women are just so . . . *wink* Not to mention that nearly every episode includes a shot of Kirk leering at some poor girl. In those horrible uniforms. So obviously dreamed up by geeky boys. The last episode I watched also made a little too frequent mention of getting the necessary thrust to penetrate the sensitive part of a giant space amoeba. Now maybe that double entendre was not intentional, but it kept coming up and made me giggle.

Alright, feminist rant over and out. I am glad that it is not 1968 anymore, and I will continue to enjoy Star Trek while at the same time ridiculing their outrageously dated outlook on the future.

President Obama

Today, I got up at 6:45 am to leave by 7:15 to get to my friend Jenny's place in downtown LA by 8 am to watch the inauguration. This is a big deal for me because I am NOT a morning person. Living on the West Coast is great when it comes to seeing election results at a decent hour, or not having to stay up til 1 am to see the end of the Oscars, but for morning events on the East Coast, well, not so great. But I got there, and enjoyed oatmeal and coffee in front of the TV (thanks Jenny!) and watched this historical moment, and it was worth it. I loved hearing John William's new piece, which was very pretty and appropriate for the event. They sure got wonderful musicians to play, too. I was just very glad that they included classical music. Obama's speech was excellent, as usual. It was interesting to me that it could be both very somber and very uplifting at the same time. I am so happy that we have such a capable mind in the Presidency, and such a beautiful first family in the White House. President Obama (doesn't that sound great??) is right, we have a lot to do, but hopefully with some hard work we can turn things around!

run, forrest, run!

I just got home from AYS's Gala Concert, honoring Alan Silvestri this year. We played music from Back to the Future, What Lies Beneath, Beowulf, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Mouse Hunt, Cast Away, The Polar Express, and Forrest Gump. Since it was a fundraiser, we all played for free, and there was a dinner afterwards (so I guess not totally free--we did get a good meal out of it!) with an auction for donated items, including wine from the Silvestri Vineyard. It was great fun. I know sometimes musicians complain about doing movie music, but I enjoy it, and I feel like it's a great way to introduce people to classical music. Maybe some musicians dislike it because it's often the same movie music done over and over again (John Williams, Lord of the Rings--both of which, in my young and unjaded state, I still LOVE to play!). I think there's loads of good movie music out there, and if arranged well (I believe ours was put together with the help of David Newman, AYS alumnus, parent, and composer himself), it can make for a really good concert. Free wine afterwards doesn't hurt, either :)

welcome 2009

Happy New Year!

buon natale

Merry Christmas!

requiescat in pace

To Ross, who was always a kind soul, may you find peace now. My heart goes out to your family, who has already lost so much.