music

cyclone's needle

in

a few months ago
i performed a piece by spencer topel called
cyclone's needle
with the famed/illustrious/hilarious/wisconsin-native mike "the truth" truesdell

details on this can be found in
life of a percussionist part one, park two, and part three
discussing finding the instruments,
building them,
etc etc etc...
{here are a few photos from the process taken by the lovely jill steinberg}

{spending hours figuring out ways to suspend rebar... not really what i had in mind when i told my parents i wanted to play percussion in the 4th grade}
instruments included:
rebar
metal mixing bowls
water heater pans
ceramic tiles
metal nails
aluminum sheets

and all sounds were mutated in a computer system/technology thing that is some sort of 20th/21st century phenomenon about which i am not nearly educated enough.
sounded pretty sweet though
and i got to throw stuff at the end

and this bow may or may not have been our rehearsal bow
{for a fake audience teehee}

xoxo


yeh


all photos  ©jill steinberg
taken in the rosemary & meredith willson theater

xenakis, wee ones, second dinners

in , ,
most commonly
when i am home
i am here.

at the counter in the kitchen
{keeping mum company as she bakes, cooks, etc}

i sit on my computer,
i glance up at whichever suburban obsession is on the tele 
{dancing with the stars graced my life today}
and i nibble on whatever of mum's creations are on her 
beloved aqua cake stand
the current tasty is a dark chocolate orange zest cookie bar


today i broke the monotony 
of my butt-glued-to-chair-noshing-aimlessly routine by playing a recital for
{my favorite}
wee ones!
there aren't many things i love more in life than playing for itsy bitsy kids.

they are so curious!
and
they love loud things!
and have you ever seen a kindergartner pronounce "marimba?"

oh tickle me, it's just the cutest thing.

...

i took them on a little time machine trip
starting with bach
and moving up to xenakis....

i really really hope that a five year old goes home and tells his mom he wants a xenakis cd for christmas.
that would be precious and all the way legit.

all of that playing with kids takes a lot out of you.
so i naturally had to ravage some dumplings.
the ones at dragon inn north in glenview, il
continue to be some of my favorite.

 the uuuuber doughy texture
and the mass quantities of ginger
make them xtra special.

whenever i eat them i get nostalgic about my little kid days
when i'd go here and have a whole order of them for dinner,
but only the dough {never the filling}


and of course there's always room for a second dinner

sister stoop came over

and we made
risotto


and it was delicious.

except so much of me wishes right now that the part of new york,
where you walk a bunch after you eat a big meal,
{or where you walk a bunch even when you don't eat a big meal}
was true for the chicago suburbs.

i guess i'll just submit to food coma instead. 


xoxo


yeh

why this week was marvelous.

in
{reasons that don't involve mum and me stuffing our faces}

 it's been in the 80s almost every day,
and magnolias are blooming everywhere!

i purchased the jónsi album. and it's super sweet.

the juilliard jazz orchestra performed tonight.
even though i could only stay for one piece, it was a mighty fine piece.


the spring percussion ensemble concert was monday!


{most of the group}

it went really well.
the energy was fantastic.


i took a fabulous nap today.

the weather gave mum and me a really legitimate reason to get
pedicures!

we also went to the original c.o. bigelow in the west village. 

i saw an abundance of brightly colored doors.
brightly colored doors are definitely in the mid range of my top one hundred favorite things.
and for being a door, that's pretty high.



i didn't give in to the voice in my head that says "just do it" about buying an ipad,
every time i walk by the apple store
{which is an average of two times a day}


i was reintroduced to this video from snl.



happy weekend, everyone!!


xoxo


yeh

life of a percussionist, part three

in
first, i would like to express my gratitude towards 
for designing these pencils to encourage followers of pop kultur to 
do something that i've done out of necessity for a future 
since high school. 

i'm glad jonathan adler is on my side.

...

secondly,
the following is a paid advertisement*

i just got my new joseph pereira by jason ginter percussion timpanist sticks and they are neat-o!
joseph pereira
my teacher/timpanist in the l.a. phil/former esquire model
my surfing teacher/timpanist in the san diego symphony/stick company entrepreneur extraordinaire
just check out how pretty they are!!
and how glamourous the green handles are!!
they sound and feel fab,
they don't come from germantown or japantown {= cost less than germantown and japantown mallets}
and they're green.
and the bamboo is expertly matched by jason ginter.
the weight is good too.
tacos are good too.

*this advertisement was paid for by tacos {in the future}


{seriously, tacos aside, these mallets are really excellent}


...


thirdly,
despite the fact that composer man showed up to the opening night of
beyond the machine
{with instruments at hand}
three minutes before the downbeat
a.k.a. too late to use the original instruments
the piece was a great success.

i shattered a tile on the last note of the piece
and felt pretty glamourous about it.
and the original instruments 
made for great photo shoot props, post performance
{also semi-failed attempt at reenacting american gothic... not smiling is really easier said than done, i'm sorry}


...


lastly,

a 9:30 pm so percussion concert at carnegie/zankel hall
ended my evening.

reasons why a concert would have been at 9:30 pm:

a. so that everyone playing the usual 8 o'clock concert 
could high tail it to zankel in time for the second half's steve mackey premiere
b. because the high decibels would have most definitely disrupted 
the san francisco symphony concert next door
c. because a concert with that programming is too damn hip to be as early as 8
d. because one cannot get nearly inebriated enough by 8

in any case,

i enjoyed it a lot.

and at one point, when the performers were pulling strings off the floor that looked like pieces of pink bubble gum to activate an alien nose, i thought my face was going to explode.

also,
there was a solo wind-up toy part.
bet you violinists don't get to do that fun s***



love drums.

xoxo


yeh