agavenectar

I loved doing this.

2009-03-10T23:16:00.000-07:00

gonna see loadbang.

3 nice songs

2009-02-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

Cherubic Fire

2009-01-29T12:18:00.000-08:00

Saw Orfeo@ the MET

2009-01-28T23:43:00.000-08:00

A few things about that:

Stephanie Blythe makes the part sound easy.
I have not yet read the liner notes, now I have; What was the significance of the historical characters? Onlookers in a timeless tale?

Felt to have caught some of what Said wrote about about Met Opera not having "a" defined operatic style. Wagner sounds Werdi; Gluck sounds like Mozart and Offenbach. But it was put on well. Blythe sings! Morris adds color in fashion.

Felt a disconnect between the Met Orchestra and engaged music making.'twasn't...I don't know, grooving, "no tenia swing" as Sinuhé would say.
Sounded great warming up, tho.

Oye, pero que cosa!

2009-01-27T14:23:00.001-08:00

Wow...Weird!!!

2009-01-27T12:18:00.000-08:00

q Cancio

2009-01-27T11:50:00.000-08:00

Interesting Advertisements!

2009-01-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

Across classes, cultures and their claves...

Smooth?

Who is this guy!?!

Isn't life wonderful? Tan joven, y ya si se appasiona...;)

¡My goodness..

2009-01-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

via MSM

Let's get to work...

2009-01-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

LiveBlogging the inaugaration

2009-01-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

Emotion
A wise friend told me yesterday (I'm watching on FOX News, btw): "Fame is different than success. Fame involves working out an image. I don't want fame" This is the same person who said "para mandar se necessita saber obedecer"

Now on MSNBC. (we have Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman securing the fate of their network).

11:34
People are booing for Bush...no, change that, they're chanting "OBAMA",...and "NO MORE BUSH"-People, you should be respectful REGARDLESS.

(MSNBC, the new FOX NEWS)

11:36
More booing as the outgoing cabinet steps out. Soft clapping as well. The Marine band plays.

11:53

Wonkette's funnier

But then again, there's Aretha. What a beautiful hat.

12:07
We are now one step closer to having a society of equals. He's a bit nervous.

12:56
I want a Michelle too.

deep

2009-01-07T15:17:00.001-08:00

on art

2009-01-07T08:49:00.000-08:00

Narratives change. (as I listen to Ramble On, Led Zeppelin) Mine has. Cynicism is still around and effective...

...but I can't do that.

Watching Obama on the news conference this morn, realized that I revered him as a role model. I generally take joy in embracing the ideas of others, yes, sometimes questioning my autonomy in the process, but the gains, oh, the gains.

Some points:

a) not everyone is able to not be bitter. Starving artists suffer. Aged politicians suffer. Loving parents suffer.
b) honest love, the kind that gives itself freely without fear of unrequitement is the best drug the blogger's ever tried.
c) emotion manifests in the hips
d) social norms are just that. Nothing else.

Books: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Blind Willow Sleeping Woman,
Music: Tell me.
Movies: The Band's Visit, Slumdog Millionaire, Milk
Food: Les Sans Culottes, Esperanto

Oh, why not.

2008-12-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

via therestisnoise

Love

2008-11-23T07:23:00.000-08:00

Here we are again. Some points to note:

1) La Banda "El Recodo": Banda music has a particular distinction of appropriating musical elements of colonialism and channeling a national, local, plebeian, indigenous expression, messaging a connection VERY SUCCSSFULLY.

2) Spiritism in Music: Perhaps using this word non-traditionally, I, on a recent trip abroad, encountered that many very capable musicians have a very determined, yet organically created love for themselves, others and G*d.

this

this

this

this

this

remind me of that.

Music is bad for me

2008-11-07T01:23:00.000-08:00

Murakami writes in "What I talk about When I talk about Running" about how he needs to run. A novelist holds a dangerous profession (read the book). Unhealthy. Compromising.

Music has hurt* me at times.

again,

*Original word was "fucked", not hurt.

my new hang

2008-10-22T07:06:00.001-07:00

Calpulli

2008-09-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

I've been blessed to have been in great company for the past few weeks. I have also entered into community with some world class folks.

A unifying element I see in all: A passion for knowledge. Language, craft, work, family.

Also from a recent show:

Now's the time (to lose credibility?)

2008-09-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

Here's some Feist:

Here's some Kanye:

I've been told to write a poem. I've been asked to get "my shit" "together". I've been nurtured. I've been blessed.

I've seen greatness. I've lived. I've cried with remorse. I've been ashamed.

Why all this now?

I set white flowers, burned incense, and played loud loud music. I've fallen in love with a song. I've been forgotten and replaced. I long for.

(Bitterly, goddammit) Here's some Facundo:

I heard a rumor in El Paso Texas, of all places, today that Barack Has Cancer?!?!

2008-09-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=26675624844&ref=nf

My half brother voted for W twice.

poem #1

2008-09-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

good breeze,
fell short.

H* S*.

2008-09-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

french

2008-08-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

Again, to die for an idea. At the end, two lovers kiss as they are set in concrete.

I would need an embrace that I could feel in my entire body, but then again as a great friend once said: "if you are stuck in one room for eternity, it doesn't matter if you have with you one book or a million"

I NEED to read strunk and white.

post-Marlboro thought?

2008-08-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

"There is a connection, hard to explain logically but easy to feel, between achievement in public life and progress in the arts. The age of Pericles was also the age of Phidias. The age of Lorenzo de Medici was also the age of "Leonardo da Vinci. The age of Elizabeth also the age of Shakespeare. And the New Frontier for which I campaign in public life, can also be a New Frontier for American art. For what I decry is a lift for our country: a surge of economic growth; a burst of activity in rebuilding and cleansing our cities; a breakthrough of the barriers of racial and religious discrimination; an Age of Discovery in science and space; and an openness toward what is new that will banish the suspicion and misgiving that have tarnished our prestige abroad. I foresee, in short, an American that is moving once again. And in harmony with that creative burst, there is bound to come the New Frontier in the Arts. For we stand, I believe, on the verge of a period of sustained cultural brilliance."

— John F. Kennedy, Sept. 13, 1960

There's Scarlatti, Haydn, Strauss and Fito

2008-08-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

(Get it?)

And dig the tiny chord substitutions...

what a lady.

la da da

2008-08-01T00:39:00.000-07:00

I think that altering your sleep cycle changes the way one thinks about things. I've recently been a bit more melancholy, and emotional, perhaps emotive.

I've recently had some life experiences that will affect what and how I do some things for some time. I've been listening to songs that are close to objects and people and events involved; I seem to enjoy the places that the music, the memories, the impressions take me, whether it be sad, of longing, whatever.

It's all fuel isn't it?

How do you play beautiful music?

again and again

2008-07-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

Do we sin by not following his advice? When walls fall, do we really learn about how to rebuild them, or how to paint better?

mmmh..."they do get weary" eh?

I too am grateful...

they were once there too...

2008-07-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

and

How at the age of ten I discovred the bass voice

2008-07-16T21:12:00.001-07:00

post-spoleto ideas

2008-06-14T08:17:00.001-07:00

Bjork rocks.

Font is important.

Futures cannot be predicted.
Futures can be predicted.

NO idea is a bad idea.

Make the bad good.

Feel.

Enjoy.

Appreciate.

Consume economically and intelligently.

Center.

Tell.

Maintain a fluid, appropriate degree of humility and pride.

Honor, respect, frequently contact family.

Listen.

Praise.

Distinguish.

...twas

2008-05-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

Dualities.

2008-05-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

Why continue to explore?!!! (Is my life's work is what's holding me behind, making me unhappy?)
When writing ala Hawkshaw how do you fill in the blanks from point a to point b? Is that the only way they justify being an academic? That is, being able to do that?

Why I be hatin?

I love all.

This will probably be edited tomorrow morning.

Charleston, SC

2008-05-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

A vibrant city.

There's something about a music festival. Three and a half weeks deserves pacing. And consumption. But not foreign matters (at least not for me, right now). Organic things.

Amazing people participating. I hope I get to know many of them.

UPDATE: It's begun!

-very personal post-

2008-05-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

I played my Carnegie and Merkin debut this wekend!

What an instrument Stern is! The sounds are very much assisted by the walls.

Kudos to Dave Broome for a great show!

Heading out to play Monkey on wed.

How about this Myanmar BS?

What else, what else???

Original Idea (...or at least i didn't knowingly steal it)

2008-05-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

Counterpoint is alive and well- except that the parameters are different. Just as metaphor exists, aural counterpoint must...at least until we stop using hearing, our ears, sound altogether. Where does irony fit in? Harold Bloom seems to have something to say on the matter.

'ts been a while

2008-05-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

I've been blessed to have been working. Max Seigel's
a good musician; check him out. so is Charlie Porter.
And these guys, the Villa-Loboses.

Am trippin; Used to blog alot while temping, have been finding other outlets for the creativity of late. Huck Finn's not done, neither is Said/Barenboim, The Chess Book, or Bloom's.

What's new out there? What have I been missing?

boom

2008-04-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Oh, Snap

2008-04-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Via Die Freud

Am really happy:

2008-04-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

Studied & semi-applied Quicken this morning, Had a good Villa Lobos moment @ rehearsal, took a friend to a passionate Bikram, found out a friend's pregnant, am making salmon croquettes while listening to Sufjan.

That's how you do it.

2008-04-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

Conductor does double duty as tenor loses voice

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

By Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

one of, if not the most trancendingly beautiful performances I've yet seen

2008-04-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

What I would give to be in this guy's band.

Ultimately,” she said, the goal is “to not have to check a box.

2008-03-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race- NYT

Although I come from two Mexican born parents, being raised in the United States of America I absolutely feel Multiracial.

hipness is what it was

2008-03-26T08:33:00.001-07:00

http://www.therestisnoise.com/2008/03/1969.html

(aaahh)

2008-03-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

Am listening to an article about Rwanda, eating ice-cream birthday cake (provided by a kind attorney) after having been moved to tears this morning in the shower from thinking about a scene from "It's a Wonderful Life", which I watched last night for the very first time.

I've been looking for this for a while...

2008-03-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

At the risk of being momentarily precocious

2008-03-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

I will say that every great music lesson I ever had began from my father.

an executive decision

2008-03-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

There are two great candidates on the democratic ticket.

right now

2008-03-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

Am reading this, but have interrupted it to finish reading this. I needed a firsthand account.

You know, when I was younger, an older cousin told me about how he likes to listen to a song not too many times in order to not get tired of it. As Bloom stresses to read and reread an possibly even rereread, I imagine that if with each new listening we want more, find more
in the word or song, it stays vital.

pedagogy

2008-03-11T07:26:00.001-07:00

The Ronettes, "Be My Baby"

2008-03-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

How does music move us? Does it idealize? Perhaps it reminds us and frames in a different way. Perhaps counterpoint metaphors relationships. Harmony feelings and emotion. Melody and tessitura time, and rhythm life...er...human existence maybe? Mortality...vigor...life...

mere wankings?

2008-03-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

You know, sometimes you're just looking for some motherfucking emotional release.
This guy doesn't suck. In many, many ways this guy doesn't either.

note:

1) Creative release could be emotional release.
2)The word "Motherfucker" is contemporary literary vernacular.

...well, It's based on his ability to draw you in.

2008-03-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

Alex Ross on Alfred Brendel's last NY Concert ever

on a cold, cold bitch

2008-02-25T06:44:00.000-08:00

“The North Korean regime is still the North Korean regime,” said Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, in a briefing in Washington last week. “And so I don’t think we should get carried away with what listening to Dvorak is going to do in North Korea.” -Condolezza Rice

more learning

2008-02-22T12:19:00.001-08:00

Unable to link directly, I will nevertheless advovate: all nearing entry into an academic setting should listen to Ann Velenchik, How to complete your degree in one semester (not), Wellesley College First Year Orientation, on itunesu.

http://www.amigosdeobama.com

2008-02-21T04:50:00.000-08:00

I really, really, really want to believe in Barack Obama.

the quest for knowledge

2008-02-20T07:46:00.000-08:00

ItunesU is where it's @. It's free. There's even less stopping us now... on that, much respect to the Stanford Humanities department.

My favorite part of any great course or class I've ever taken is the applause for the proffesor at the end. I am beginning to wonder how this compares to my feelings towards the "mandatory" applause at the end of every (regardless of whether it's good or bad) concert.

What again, is a meritocracy really?

on Pärt's "Cantus in memorian Benjamin Britten"

2008-02-17T10:34:00.000-08:00

How much effort is needed to enable a performance? How much petroleum? How many hands need to be cut off for diamonds? How many diabetics put on vascularly damaging drugs?

Yet, how beautiful is Brahms?

Am still reading Karamazov, looking for redemption.

Pundito

2008-02-12T21:34:00.001-08:00

Yo, who are ya'll voting for? I like Obama then McCain. That being said, for obvious reasons, I really believed in Bill Richardson (still do), and hope he's involved in the mix once it's all the guns stop blazing...

What about ya'll?

btw-email me if you're wondering why I prefer a republican over the potentially first woman president (I would very much like a female president, but alas, perhaps not her...)

Know Demetry Martin? Check him out.

out

2008-02-07T21:15:00.000-08:00

What's new, what's new...well, I'm reading an interesting book on music by Edward Said. I've been thinking much about cultural imperialism lately. My girlfriend had read Said and ran into the book at B&N. I guess she felt I might find interest in his writing.

Brothers Karamazov is another little gem i'm into lately. I'm thinking of reading it and Also sprach Zarathustra every year, just to see what happens!

ah, placidities!

I am afraid of this blog becoming impersonal and inaccessible. Please let me know your thoughts.

Auditioning

2008-02-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

What is it about an exhilarating performance? What is it that makes you want to be that person? You have to understand that there is no one but you at that performance, thatt moment. The interpretation is for you by you. Enjoy it. They will too.

I think Idina Menzel in Wicked. Or Buddy Rich.
Or Judy Dench.

suggestions

2008-01-31T13:52:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!
Read this: The Rest is Noise
Watch this: Libertango
Know this guy: Bill Richardson
Opine.

time

2008-01-31T11:43:00.000-08:00

you know, It's never really too late. it might really feel like it sometime, but it's not necessarily.

The last 15 or so minutes before class might be the appropriate time to do homework. The last 3 or so years of a person's fourth decade of life might be the appropriate time for he or she to decide to pursue a new avenue of vocation. Etcetera.

I realized that music actually starts before it begins. Particularly when one is performing it. The grandiosity and presence felt in a monumental work or performance is in a large way established through the performer's mindset of absolute seriousness in his or her art. As death. Seriously.

Anyone out there like Tony Robbins?