Too loud?

A hungover friend called me this morning to complain that his dog was panting too loud and it was hurting his head.

A mental snapshot from the High Holy Days planning sessions:

One meeting wherein the chief Rabbi is so frustrated with how slowly things are going he hollers "Jesus Christ!" at the top of his lungs.

Another month...

Wow. Another month passes like nothing.

Well, not nothing, of course, but sitting here putting together another entry after not doing anything for a month makes it seem like nothing.

Rosh Hashanah starts today, and the choir at temple is pretty well ready. Everyone's nervous, of course, but there have been no breakdowns, no screaming, and no tantrums anywhere that I've seen.

I'm told that's unusual for this temple. May it continue through the rest of the season.

DV blew up again, but I think most of the pieces have been reassembled. We hired a fine person for general manager and today was his first board meeting. What a way to begin, immediately after another firestorm of overwrought e-mail and hurt feelings this last week.

The church is fairly quiet these days. Of course, they're getting ready to host the regional assembly for the denomination and that means lots of work is going on around the place to get ready. They commissioned a new anthem from me for the weekend and if I can say so myself I think it turned out okay.

It's on a text by the pastor (my boss) based loosely on the Beatitudes text from Matthew. It even includes a Spanish language chorus in one section. The Spanish was translated by a friend in Phoenix (another pastor in the region) and I hope I didn't mangle it too badly. It's set for SATB choir, two trumpets, and piano. I think the two trumpets add a nice mariachi flavor to the piece without actually quoting anything real mariachi. We'll see how well it goes over.

After things calm down a bit I need to get to work creating a new edition of the Christmas cantata I wrote for them almost ten years ago now, Brightest and Best. That's going to be the main piece for the season. I'll flesh the rest of Advent out with The Cherry Tree Carol setting I made a couple of years ago and maybe a couple of new settings for this year. We'll have to see how much time I have to work between now and then.

Dog knows I need some sort of triumph right now. I've been so discouraged for the last year and a half that I've barely written anything. Maybe I can turn that around this year. I've already written more in the last two months than I've done since that stupid movie a year ago last April.

Oh, enough, May the blessings of the season be upon you.

It's a dark and stormy night (both inside and outside my head), but I didn't want the entire month of August to pass without a post.

Everything's back to work for the fall. Desert Voices looks good, with over fifty singers on last week's roster. We may have to consider finding a bigger hall for rehearsal. That's a good problem to have.

I met with Namoli Brennett today about the new piece she's writing for DV. She played it for me and it's wonderful. I had a few small suggestions for spacing and page layout, but nothing significant to say about the piece itself. It's a strong piece and choir is going to love it.

Saguaro is also good, with a consistent fifteen or sixteen coming for the Sanctuary choir every week for two Wednesdays now. For Christmas we're redoing the cantata for piano, five winds, and SAB choir I wrote ten years or so ago on shape-note tunes, Brightest and Best. I'm hoping to get the chance to revise and "correct" some of the things I was unsatisfied with in the last performance. Now I just have to find a woodwind quintet before December. I'm thinking I need to dig up a pianist as well and just conduct.

Even Temple Emanu-el is mostly good, with most of the returning people having now returned.

I don't know that I've made mention of the Temple before. I've been playing piano for them for almost exactly a year. I started just before the Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur High Holy Days cycle last year. It was a real initiation by fire. I walked into the first rehearsal and was handed six full binders' worth of material to learn and play in three weeks. Yikes. With the help and support of the cantorial soloist Marjorie and the choir director Victoria, I survived.

Now here I am, a year later, in charge of the choir with Sasha Tentser playing the piano parts. It should be good. The choir is coming along well, learning all their parts, and Sasha is simply a brilliant pianist, accompanist, and musical partner. I'm still scared but managing okay in spite of my fear. The highest and scariest hurdle for me, the sung Hebrew, has turned out to be not that much of a problem. Most of the choir knows what it's doing with the Hebrew, so all I have to do is correct the inconsistencies. Since many of the singers are Hebrew scholars, I have built-in resources whenever I get lost. All my jobs should run so smoothly.

Sasha is one of the finest pianists in the region. He's not just an excellent soloist, but he's also a very fine accompanist. Those two things don't always go well together. He and his wife Anna play regularly with the Chamber Music Society, and as a result he's a very sensitive musical partner. That's very unusual in such a fine pianist.

I sometimes feel like using him as an accompanist is a little like hiring a thoroughbred race horse and then hitching it to a plow, but Sasha is always cheerful and hasn't yet shown any indication of ego or resistance.

It's raining outside again. It's stormy inside my head, too, tonight, but I promised to keep this blog light and happy and even a little tiny bit gay, so I won't go into that here.

I promise, some of the GALA photos are coming. Get your 3d glasses ready!

Let me know you're reading this. Please leave a comment or a rebuttal when you have a chance. While you're at it, check out Jack Dubowsky's blog at dubowsky.blogspot.com.  He's a composer and performer based in the San Francisco area. I met him in Miami and look forward to being able to hire some of his music for my groups here. Check him out.

Have a happy Labor Day!

Journey 3d - Speaking of stereoscopic adventures, I just got back from seeing the new Journey to the Center of the Earth 3d with Brendan Fraser and others. Overall, from a 3d photography point of view it was a really good effort.

I was concerned because the 3d trailer that was shown with Beowulf looked really bad. It was cheesy digital 3d effects with flat (non-stereoscopic) live action composited with it. I was worried that the entire film would be like that and turn even more people off to the 3d process. Well, apparently that trailer was a rough draft, because the final film looks pretty good. It's been filmed in stereo all the way through.

Some of the effects are still a little cheesy, but that's not really the fault of the 3d process, it's just that kind of film. Directors of Photography still have some learning to do to really make use of the process, but this one is a pretty good effort for a first mostly live action dramatic film (not animation or motion capture like Beowulf or concert footage like U2 3d or the Hannah Montana concert film).

In looking at the classic era 3d films (from the early fifties) at the 3d film festival two years ago, I could see the progression of camera work as the cinematographers got better and better at using the stereo cameras. Some of the first films are almost unwatchable (because of parallax and bad window violations), while the later ones really started to take advantage of the special things that 3d can do that don't work in flat photography. Seeing Hondo last spring at the Fox here in Tucson really made me wonder how much better the films could have looked if 3d had remained a viable process. 

Hondo was one of the last completed classic era films and it looked spectacular. The 3d was natural looking and not gimmicky (well, except for the one knife stab at the camera during a fight sequence and a couple of other obligatory poke-you-in-the-eye shots) and really captured the open space of the old west.

Journey 3d isn't quite to Hondo level yet, but it's a long way from Bwana Devil. There were some very bad window violations (mostly early in the film in Mr Fraser's character's apartment) that were distracting, but for the most part the framing was pretty good. There were the obligatory poke-in-the-eye shots, with a yo-yo and dinosaur slobber this time (and at one point Mr Fraser spits on the audience) (yeah, I think he's only getting hotter as he's getting older, but I'm still not into being spat on), but they weren't nearly as cheesy as some similar shots in other films.

The script and story were okay (no major plot holes beyond the basic premise, and that's from Verne) and the acting was decent. Unlike Beowulf, this one might still be enjoyable to see flat. There were some chase sequences that would make fabulous motion simulator rides, but they weren't too annoying to watch in a regular theater. From a film critic POV, there's nothing new or groundbreaking in this one. It's all about the effects and the stereo imaging.

Go see it, but be sure to seek out the 3d presentation. There's no real reason to see it otherwise.

Well, I'm home.

I finally made it home last Friday, arriving on a Continental flight about nine-thirty. Dad hadn't moved much and was in some pain and feeling quite blue. He's now been to the doctor and has a physical therapy regimen in process and so is feeling much better. I am getting my suitcases unpacked and putting everything away to clear room for a very busy fall.

I shipped a box of CDs and DVDs home from Florida (twenty-three pounds worth, packed with a couple of t-shirts and shorts) to save weight in the suitcases. Fifty dollars for a box and packing material and postage (or whatever it's called on UPS) is still cheaper than a hundred dollars for overweight suitcases on the plane. They're due today and I look forward to getting them unpacked and starting to process them, listening and gleaning what I can from them.

I've started processing some of the 3d photos from the trip. Nothing's ready to be posted yet, but you may want to go snag this week's TV Guide. There's a pair of 3d glasses (the red-cyan type) that will compatible with what I will be posting. They were for the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus movie that the Disney channel played last weekend. Therefore, they have her name and picture on them, but they'll work with my photos. I'll let you decide if Ms Montana-Cyrus is a plus or a minus on your anaglyphic 3d wear. Since the movie is over now, you might even be able to find the glasses for free.

Feel free to post comments. I'd like to know if anyone is reading this. I don't mean to bait anyone, but still, I'm curious. I hope to start posting pics from the trip within the week.

Hello, GALAxians!

This is Chris, the tall fellow in the kilt with the funky twin cameras. I'm working on getting the pictures on line, and most of the ones from this week in Miami probably won't get up until I get home in another week or two.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures for your enjoyment (linked to Flickr.com). They're from our chorus retreat last winter and around my house. You can use any regular red-blue (cyan, really) that came with TV 3-d specials or that secret copy of the Sports Illustrated 3-d issues that you have in the bottom of your sock drawer. Wear the glasses with the red lens over the left eye. If you catch me in Miami I have some glasses to give away. Ask me. Enjoy!

Chris' Flickr photostream

Be patient, and I'll put up the GALA pictures as I get a chance.

Happy GALA, everyone.

We’re in Miami!

These little piggies flew and landed in Fort Lauderdale last night. The flight was mostly uneventful. The only excitement was B’s new iPod screen/player didn’t work on batteries and he threw a small fit. (I picked it up from Woot.com and maybe that’s why it was only twenty-nine dollars instead of the original two hundred.)

Other than that, it was the usual commercial airline travel in the early twenty-first century: squeezed in like sardines, trying very hard not to think about the forced biological intimacy with your neighbor. Or is that just me?

Dinner was the airport Fox Sports Bar (licensed from Fox Sports) in Houston, and a late supper was at Mamma Louisa’s pizza and pasta a couple of blocks from the hotel.

We’re at the Hyatt Regency. I was surprised to find that this isn’t the main GALA hotel but rather two People Mover stops away from the main area. That’s okay, most of the hotel is GALA people and the transportation looks good, but still…

This is the hotel where the 2006 Leadership conference was held. Some new high-rises have gone in around the area, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same.

Breakfast was the hotel breakfast bar, good but nothing spectacular. In a few minutes we’re going to go over and register and check out the Expo. Apparently there’s a GLBT commercial Expo going on this weekend in addition to the GALA conference. I’m sure it’s tied in  somehow, but it’s not an official part of the conference.

I’m conflicted by the commercial exploitation of the GLBT community. On the one hand, I’m pleased that the community has enough money and clout that the commercial interests want to exploit us, but on the other I’m not really comfortable with that exploitation. Oh, well. I am large and contain multitudes.

Oh, and a note: I’m probably going to be updating this blog irregularly while I’m in Miami. The hotel charges for wi-fi access and unless I can find a free hotspot I’m only going to pay for a couple of days over the entire week. So, I’ll post when I’m online. Otherwise, I’ll get my e-mail through my phone and only post here a time or two this week. That’s okay, I don’t think anyone’s really reading this thing anyway.

Happy Tuesday, everybody!

I'm still in Tucson. Dad's home and in okay shape. He's sore and feeling like he's been run over by a truck, but he's mostly okay now. Final list of damages: Broken arm (right upper arm, justin the humerus below the shoulder joint), cracked pelvis (I forget the latin name but it's in the back), and various bumps, bruises, and scrapes. They pinned the arm back together surgically and there's not even a cast or any kind of immobilizing agent on it. The pelvis just has to knit on its own. It wasn't bad enough to require surgery, so he's just going to have to wait it out while it heals.

He's sore but not grumpy, thankfully. He's still flying on the pain medication they gave him, so there's no room for grumpy until he runs out of pills. He's already making progress towards healing. It's hard to see, but there are little signs. It's already easier for him to get out of a chair today that it was yesterday.

So, the car trip part of the Miami excursion has been scrapped. Instead Barry and I will be flying out this Friday and then coming back in two weeks. I've arranged for a friend to come and stay with Dad and keep an eye on him. He also has friends that can come and watch him. 

We'll be staying in Florida for almost a week after the conference. I'm planning on renting a car, going and visiting Barry's dad in northern Florida, seeing some of the sights, and in general being bums for a week. Should be fun. Of course, we'll have to see how Dad's doing. If he's not okay then we'll cut things short and come back early.

Things are looking up today.

Interesting times

The best laid plans...

I was thinking I would write a nice entry today about the Fifth of July and how the days after holidays were often more interesting to me than the holidays themselves, but then this day got really interesting. You know, as in the ancient curse, "May you live in interesting times."

I woke this morning to the phone ringing. It was a friend down at Saguaro Christian, the church where I'm music director and my father is lay property manager. Apparently at the volunteer property workday this morning Dad was up on the roof working on prepping things for a fresh coat of sealer when he missed a step and fell off. Fortunately it was one of the lower roofs and he only broke his arm, but it could have been much worse.

He's been in the ER at St Joseph's most of the morning until they transferred him to the ER at University Medical Center. I'm not totally sure why they transferred him. It had something to do with him falling off a roof of more than ten feet, which somehow qualified him for a trauma designation. Since St Joseph's isn't a Trauma Center they couldn't do more than stabilize him, dope him up for the pain, and take some X-rays to see what he had done. If he had fallen from a shorter height they could have treated him there. But, since he was a special trauma patient he had to transfer to the trauma center at UMC.

Anyway, he's fine. He just got out of surgery to pin the arm back together. His blood chemistry and pulse, pressure, and respiration are all excellent, and he should be on the mend quickly.

My birdies went to their summer camp this afternoon. I'm boarding them with a friend while I'm off to Miami for the GALA conference. Sally (my Moluccan cockatoo) was all pensive as I left her with Shar. Joker (a yellow-naped Amazon) is excited to have a fresh audience for his clowning, and Dinero (a Nanday conure) is just squawky.

Of course, I'll be delaying my trip at least until Dad is stable. We should know better by tomorrow afternoon.

Interesting times. Feh.

Why the name F148548? Well, that's a combination of characters that I've used for several years as a unique tag/identity. I have most of the major e-mail addresses (F148548 at hotmail, yahoo, gmail, and so forth) and I even had F148548 dot com (although I've never used it for anything meaningful and it's just parked right now). But where did that string of characters come from?

I've been mysterious about it, but for no good reason. It's my piano, a seven foot Baldwin grand, model F, serial number 148548. I bought the piano about fifteen years ago and worked very hard to pay off the rather large loan that I had to take to be able to afford it. Large concert grade instruments like this can be very expensive (I've never paid that much for a car, for example). I was very proud to have finally finished paying that loan eight years ago.

According to Pierce's Piano Atlas, this piano was made in 1962. It's only a few hundred numbers away from one of my most favorite instruments, the F in the large second floor classroom in Cogswell Hall, my  undergraduate music school in the middle eighties. That piano was in awful shape cosmetically, with most of the veneer cracked and peeling and the case scratched and dented. As nasty as it was outside, though, it was in near-perfect shape inside. The action was solid and very pleasant to play on, and this piano just sang for me.

As ugly as it was nobody else wanted to practice on it. I was able to use it almost any time I wanted when class wasn't in session.

I'm sure that piano is gone now, since the school went all Steinway recently. It was probably taken to the surplus depot and offered at auction. If it got more than a few hundred dollars I would be very surprised.

In 1993 I was working in a piano store in San Antonio, teaching lessons and trying to sell pianos. (I was very good at teaching and very bad at selling, but that's another post.) This store sold mostly Young Chang pianos and their stencil brands (including Wurlitzer, Chickering, and a few others, all made in their Korean factory now) and was across the street from the local Baldwin dealer. 

This piano came in on a trade (Baldwin F, number 148548) and it was like my old friend had fallen through a wormhole in time and was sitting there in almost-new condition. It was easily the best instrument in the store. (Of course, it was an American-made Baldwin from one of the last of the old-world master craftsman/apprentice factories working in the US at the time.) The Young Changs were decent pianos, but they couldn't hold a candle to this Baldwin.  The store manager hated that. She insisted that the piano absolutely had to go by the end of business that day.

So, I got a smoking deal on an incredible piano.

There's another F here in Tucson that's very close to mine on the stage of the Temple of Music and Art. It's been a more heavily used than mine, but it has a very similar tone and response.

I started using F148548 as a handle when I was faced with creating an online identity and every variation of Chris, ChrisBear, TallBear, BearMusic and so forth was already taken. F148548 has been reliably available and cryptic enough to give me a little bit of mystery. Of course, now that I've given away that secret I hope you still think I'm cute.

Well, here we go. Some days I think I'm the last person not blogging. This should take care of that.

Welcome to my blog! I'm starting it mostly as a way to let people keep up with my big summer trip this year (2008), but we'll have to wait and see what happens after that.

I'm a large (six feet, eight inches, although I claim eight feet on cruising profiles), kilt wearing (mostly Utilikilts) musician (conductor, composer, pianist, etc.), working in the Tucson, Arizona area. I'm the artistic director of Tucson's Desert Voices, the local GLBT chorus. I'm also the music director, pianist, and organist for Saguaro Christian Church, the choral director and pianist for Temple Emanu-El, and one of the staff pianists for Ballet Tucson.

So here we are. This isn't going to be some big weighty exploration of issues and things that I wrestle with, it's just going to be a journal of travels, events, and fun people and things I encounter along the way. There are enough other places to get weighty issues explored.

In other words, no politics (which will be difficult in an election year, but I'll try), no religion (even though I'm employed primarily as a church/synagogue musician), and as little sex as I can manage (I can't promise none, but I'll do my best to keep it PG-13 or better).

Feel free to ask questions, and enjoy the blog!

Chris.