Greg's Arts + Life or Wowie Zowie

Indie Piano Films: Four Minutes

2012-02-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

I'm a fan of dark, indie films about playing the piano. My top pick has recently changed. To qualify: no big-name actors, low budget, no big-name producer. That means The Piano and The Piano Teacher are eliminated right out of the box. Holly Hunter and Isabelle Huppert are way too big! My top ranked indie for some time had been The Beat That My Heart Skipped, directed by Jacques Audiard, in 2005. Romain Duris stars as an aspiring pianist who is slowly tugged into a questionable line of business and the world of his small-time-crook father. It's a tough and dark place that he inhabits. Let's get even darker.... Four Minutes, directed Chris Kraus in 2006, has knocked Heart Skipped out of the top spot! We have a double-helix of trouble here. Monica Bleibtru does a fantastic job playing an elderly piano teacher who works in a prison. She is incredibly strict, passionate about music, and tortured by memories of her youth in Nazi Germany. Her rebellious and violent student is in the slammer for murder and was a child prodigy. She is well played by Hannah Herzsprung. Kraus does a fantastic job with the development of their relationship, and their mutual relationship with music. There is some fun, kick-ass piano playing in the film.

TRIVIA: Yes, Monica is mother of Moritz Bleibtru, a German indie character actor. They both appeared in Tom Tykwer's early hit, Run Lola Run.

New Year's Day Labyrinth

2012-01-01T13:35:00.000-08:00

Every year on New Year's Day, and one week later on my birthday, I walk a labyrinth. I do this for two reasons: to consciously set aside habits and emotions that I'd like to leave behind, and to set intentions for the new year. Today, Debbie & I walked the labyrinth at Milner Plaza next to the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe.

Labyrinths have a long history, going back to ancient Greece and around the world. Formal walking meditation in a labyrinth harks back to medieval Europe. It was used as a symbolic pilgrimage. Today the labyrinth has become a metaphor of personal growth and change. People often use them at inflection points in their lives, to seek guidance and mark change. This is facilitated by the structure of the labyrinth, which is a wonderful symbol for life. First of all, there are no wrong turns. Once you take a step on this path, you will reach the center, if you keep going. However, at times, it seems that you are not making progress... At first you might be moving forward and then you will be going the opposite direction. Next, you will be walking close to the center and then find yourself back at the outer rim. We go forward and backwards, left and right, but no step is wasted, and each step is necessary to reach the goal. How like the path we all have tread in life. You can use the labyrinth to seek guidance, to do a walking meditation or to just enjoy the day.

Claire Huangci Rocks Prok 3

2012-01-01T13:25:00.000-08:00

My favorite work for piano and orchestra is Prokofiev's Concerto #3. Sergei was, of course, a monster pianist, and this piece is lively, clever, fiendishly difficult, and often just plain fun. If you are looking for Russian angst, it is thankfully absent! The Santa Fe Concert Association Orchestra performed this on New Year's Eve and 21 year old pianist Claire Huangci absolutely nailed it. She displayed extraordinary facility & technique, combined with mature artistry. She flew gracefully through lightning fast passages, and powered out in the big ones. She made my fave come alive. Happy New Year, Claire, we will keep an eye and ear out for you!

Bookends now a Triangle

2012-01-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

Reading novels is a passion of mine. I read 43 novels in 2011. Rarely have I encountered a sequence of readings that quite accidentally link neatly together, like has just happened. The bookends I talked about in the previous posting is now a triangle. The bookends were Luminous Airplanes, a coming of age story, and I Married You for Happiness, a reflection on years of marriage. I just finished the Man Booker winner, A Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, which created the triangle. The first half of this book looks back on a young man's years in college & a close circle of friends. In the second half of the book, a diary left in a will triggers an interaction between the protagonist and a college girlfriend, from a vantage point 45 years later. In addition to a very good story, it explores how unreliable memory can be. The book has delightful characters & wonderful writing. In Barnes' novel we have another coming of age story, this time in arrears, and another reflection on a life, this time with an examination of memory in life. The triangle is complete.

Bookend Books

2011-12-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading two books that quite accidentally are perfect bookends for each other. Paul LaFarge's Luminous Airplanes is a wistful coming-of-age story. I usually avoid coming-of-age stories, I find that my own was quite enough, but this one slipped through. A young man goes to his recently deceased grandfather's home to clean it out. He begins a search for his dead father who he never met. He was raised by his mother and aunt, a fun pair of eccentric characters. He encounters a childhood friend, and begins a repeat of his father's failure. He had been a graduate student of history, always a good setup for characters looking back. History, memory, loss and finding you self.

In Lily Tuck's I Married You For Happiness a woman's husband dies unexpectedly after many years of marriage. She takes us through a stream-of-consciousness of memories as she sits through the night. Her husband was a mathematician, but not a recluse: he loved good food & wine, and sailing. There are fun math anecdotes, for example the story of "amiable numbers" and lots of travel references, especially in France. The two books make a good pairing, which I have not encountered in this way before.

Anonymous 4 at St. Francis Cathedral

2011-12-07T14:38:00.000-08:00

Anonymous 4 performed at St. Francis Cathedral Basilica, as part of their 25th anniversary tour. They sang acapella music that spanned 11 centuries, including the 21st: a commission-in-progress by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang of Bang on a Can. This type of singing is not my usual cup of tea, but they were extraordinary. They are described as angelic and it is true: tight harmony, clear tones, perfect pitch, and....hooray...no vibrato! The Basilica was a perfect setting for this ethereal singing. They sang for 1 hour & 15 minutes in this dry climate, kudos to them! Speaking of centuries, the St. Francis parish is in its 401st year, which precedes the landing of the Mayflower! This town is old!

Rebecca Goldstein at Santa Fe Institute

2011-12-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

The novelist/philosopher Rebecca Goldstein spoke at the Santa Fe Institute on "Why Einstein Wrote a (Bad) Love Poem to Spinoza". Her wonderful lecture was mostly about Spinoza, but also about his influence on some heavy weights, such as Einstein and Antonio Damasio. His work paved the way for "The Age of Enlightenment" after his death. As a non-dual meditator, I loved her comments about Spinoza the "great collapser", who sought non-dual unity, quite contrary to his older contemporary Descartes and his famed/dreaded duality. Salon.com's review of her book Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave us Modernity called Spinoza the "atheist Jew who was drunk on God". The definition of God, discussed in the lecture was quite interesting. I originally knew Ms. Goldstein from her novel Properties of Light: a Novel of Love, Betrayal & Quantum Physics, which I recommend. After the lecture, the SFI physicists cleared out quickly, so we got to have a nice chat with her. She was kind enough to listen to my story of how Spinoza influenced my cousin when she discussed him with her father. By the way, Ms. Goldstein is the Miller Scholar at SFI, a chair funded by DRZ's old nemesis, Bill Miller!

Some new elements in painting

2011-11-21T14:20:00.001-08:00

Trying something new with the background. Also, a looser touch with the "falling" accents.

Gerhard Richter Retrospective at Tate Modern

2011-11-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

We had the good fortune to see the Gerhard Richter retrospective at The Tate Modern. It was doubly good since we had seen a show of similar scale at MOMA a few years ago. Richter is certainly the most highly regarded painter living today. His work cuts a broad swath, but I don't view it as ground breaking as were many artists from the early and mid-20th century. He is famed for being one of the first German artists to acknowledge and deal with the elephant in the corner, the collective Nazi history. His painting Uncle Rudi brought this home with a bang in 1965. This piece is typical of the period in which Richter did large realistic black and white paintings based on photographs, in which the edges of forms are smudged. This has a haunting effect. By contrast, he did a large body of abstract conceptual work that dealt with monochromatic color, sorry, of little interest to me. He later did a series of realistic paintings based on German terrorist groups, leaving ambiguous commentary to the viewer. In the realistic department, Richter did several color portraits, usually with the subject's face away from the viewer. The Reader is a great example of these insightful works. He is today most well known for large abstract oil paintings made with squeegees, that are...just plain gorgeous. I have watched a person walk into a gallery room, see one of these works, and drop their jaw. Maybe that was me. The internet is chock full of images from all of his periods of work, so give a look next time you are surfing!

The Have-Nots by Katherina Hacker

2011-11-21T08:18:00.000-08:00

Katherina Hacker's The Have-nots is dense with ideas and sharp insights, about....property reparation in Germany, the FDR and the GDR, loss and memory, the Iraq war, domestic violence, love, and sexuality. Yes, it's not a light read and takes a bit of effort, but is worth it. It is well written and structured, with good character development. The Have-nots won the German Book Award in 2006 for best novel. It is published by Europa Editions, a great press for contemporary European novels.

Danish Director Susanne Bier

2011-11-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

I've been on a Danish film kick for the past year. Recently I did a Susanne Bier mini-fest: In a Better World, 2010; After the Wedding, 2006; and Brothers, 2004, the original of this title, by the way. She's a great director who doesn't flinch. She works with lots of big social and cultural issues without preaching, and usually finds the edge of the envelope. She's able to book great actors: Mads Mikkelson, Ulrich Thomsen and Mikael Persbrandt. Two of the best were young teens in In a Better World, Markus Rygaard & William Johke Nielson, from whom she coaxed great work. These films also have good cinematography, plot, and pacing. They're all intense. Check them out!

Getting my hand back into it

2011-09-29T09:32:00.001-07:00

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

2011-09-20T12:53:00.001-07:00

I waited far too long to read this novel, which is a function of my long to-read list! Junot Diaz's writing is a wild ride. He tells a multi-generational story of a Dominican Republic family living under a fuku, or curse, and they are. If the term "multi-generational" is a turn-off, as it is to me, please take another look at this book. It is set in contemporary Patterson, NJ in an ex-pat DR community, and in the DR over many years. There is a lot of detailed history, both in the story and in in footnotes, of the brutal dictator, Trujillo. All of this is told in a crazy, hip lexicon. Oscar of the title is an over weight nerd finding his way in life and in this crazy family.

Michael Ward-Bergman in Santa Fe

2011-09-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Michael Ward-Bergman did a phenomenal accordian performance at a home in Santa Fe of folk music from around the world. Michael studied piano at the Berklee College of Music, the best jazz school on the planet, and this was evident in his performance. He also used folk percussion instruments, at times with a stereo tape loop that produced extraordinary results! He is in the middle of a 365 day tour, in which he plays a minimum of 35 minutes of music in a concert each day in a wide range of venues, including prisons and hospitals. Part of this journey is to accumulate more folk music of every variety. Michael also plays in concert halls, such as SF Chamber Music Festival's recent performance of Golijov's song cycle Ayre with Dawn Upshaw.

Caroline Goulding Wows Santa Fe, August 2011

2011-09-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Eighteen year old Caroline Goulding gave a passionate performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Santa Fe Concert Association. She displayed extraordinary technique AND great feeling, a rare combination at any age. There was some additional drama in the last movement. She was playing furiously, turned to the concertmaster, and leaned towards him. Hmmm, looks like jazz or rock? Then, they did a split second exchange of violins, and she did not miss a beat. Cool under fire! We learned later that a string had popped off of the bridge of her violin, which no one noticed in her playing. I look forward to great music from her!

A new twist

2011-08-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

Mixed media on panel, 10 X 10 inches

Dawn Upshaw & Golijov's Ayre

2011-08-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

I heard two SFCMF concerts that featured this year's artist in residence, Dawn Upshaw. I have always been a big fan of Upshaw, in part because of her support of new music, like this. The song cycle, Ayer, was written in 2004 by the Argentine composer Osvoldo Golijov. This is a extraordinary collision of Jewish klezmer, Arab, Sardinian, Christian & Sephardic folk music. It is full of verve, drama, complex rhythms, lament and surprises. The soprano vocals are demanding & wide ranging, from soft lyrical singing to bloodcurdling cries. Upshaw did a remarkably dramatic and genuine performance. This was the first time that I have seen tears in the eyes of the musicians at the end of a performance as they joined the enthusiastic audience in applauding Upshaw.

Christopher Rouse: New Music? Not!

2011-08-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

I attended a "New Music" program at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, including this season's headliner commission, Christopher Rouse's String Quartet No. 3. I do not share many people's aversion to new music, in fact, I have commissioned new music. However, Rouse's work was not "new", rather it took us backwards 40 years to the academic compositions of the 1970's that we all had to suffer through. How many different screeching sounds can a violin or cello make? Apparently quite a few, to my horror. In the composer's words: "something akin to a schizophrenic having a grand mal seizure." There was no emotional content or meaning (1970's callling!) One might consider it an intellectual exercise, but there was little intellect involved. Is this 2011 or 1971???

Another

2011-07-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

"The Taste of the Campari", June 2011, Watercolor, acrylic, mixed media on panel 10x10 inches.

Notice the new background which employs automatic writing, similiar to what I used in a number of paintings five years ago.

3 More Mixed Media

2011-06-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

"Tat Tvam Asi" Mixed media, watercolor, acrylic, paper. 10X10 inches, on panel.

"Markets" Mixed media, watercolor, acrylic, paper. 11X14 inches, on panel.

"Intuition" Mixed media, watercolor, acrylic, paper. 8x8 inches on panel.

Mixed Media

2011-06-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

Mixed media, watercolor, acrylic, photography. 8X8 inches on panel.

Two Dark, Thought Provoking Films, and One Light

2011-06-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

Incendies explores the layers of hatred and violence in a fictitious Middle Eastern country over the past 30 years. As the movie opens, two 20-something siblings are hearing their mother's will. They are given two envelopes. One to give to their brother, who they didn't know existed, and the second for their father, who they thought was long dead. From the safety of Canada, they are thrust into the dangerous world of the Mid-East to honor their mother's will and discover a bizarre outcome.

In a Better World is directed by one of my fave Danish film makers, Susanne Bier. The Danish title is, aptly enough, Revenge. Bier examines violence and revenge in two parallel stories: one set in medical camp for refugees in an un-named African country, the second in a Danish grade school. It also casts a sharp eye on families under intense stress. Lots of good acting from Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm and the young Markus Rygaard. Also, check Bier's earlier work After the Wedding, with a great performance by my fave, Mads Mikkelson.

The story for In a Better World was written by Anders Thomas Jensen. For a more lighthearted film, see Flickering Lights, which he directed. Here some bumbling crooks try to escape from the mob, fleeing into the countryside, buying a run down house, and eventually opening a bad restaurant. It has a sweet vibe and a happy ending, whew!

Two Good, One Dud

2011-06-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

I finally read Penelope Lively's Moon Tiger, 25 years later. After a bumpy start I found an insightful examination of History, with a capital H, and history, and of different kinds of families and love. The story is told in the death-bed reflections of an extraordinary woman. Lively was born in Cairo and spent her childhood there. Her chapters placed in the desert battles of WW2 were incredibly evocative. I was not so captivated by her recent Consequences, but, I loved The Photograph from a few years ago, which had a great conceit that was wonderfully developed.

I read another of Eliot Pattison's mysteries set in modern Tibet, Beautiful Ghosts. These books are really about the people, culture & religion of Tibet, and the brutal oppression of all things Tibetan by the Communist Chinese. In this volume, Pattison develops the true story of the 1904 incursion into Tibet by the British Army and the officers who stayed behind to become lama artists. If you care about Tibet, Pattison's books are a must read.

Charlie Smith's Three Delays got rave reviews last year for its "hallucenigenic prose". What I found was druggie ramblings of disfunctional characters who repeatedly washed down 'ludes and meth with gulps of rum. Oi vey, you can skip this one.

Back to Collage

2011-04-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

I'm getting back to collage after a respite of a few years. My previous collages had evolved from a series of paintings that evoked calligraphy. That served as the background for the collages. They used watercolor over images from my life: worksheets from portfolio management, Sanskrit texts, & musical scores.

"Intersection" Mixed media, watercolor, acrylic, paper, on canvas. 16x20"

My first venture this year is completely different. The origin was a gift for my brother in thanks for his work on our mother's estate. So, it is a bit scrapbookish, using photos & memorabilia, but similar compositional elements.

My latest piece uses materials from both of these previous approaches. The background is watercolored worksheets, Sanskrit & music. I composed a design of travel related images on top of that. I like carefully composed collages that allow your eyeballs to rest peacefully on them.

"Reading Line" Mixed media, watercolor, acrylic, photography, on panel. 12 x 9".

Racism & Immigration in Two Good Novels

2011-04-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

I randomly read two completely different novels which both dealt with racism & immigration. They are set in.... Arizona? Nope, in France and Italy. France? Isn't that where black jazz musicians used to flock? Yup, and it is, also, where 140 cities were in flames during coordinated demonstrations a few summer ago to protest the lack of economic opportunity for Arabs & other minorities. Unfortunately, it's everywhere. Jean-Claude Izzo's Total Chaos puts the socio/political microscope on racism in France towards Arabs and Nabs, Neapolitan Italians. It's wrapped around a tight mystery story & extraordinary descriptions of Marseilles. Worth a read.

Amara Lakhous' Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio takes a comedic bent to look at prejudice against immigrants in Italy, especially in the North. Cited are problems of people from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, AND from Southern Italy. It's a well written comic novel about a serious subject.

These selections were not totally random. Both are from Europa Editions, a great press for contemporary European writers.

Keith Miller Master Class

2011-03-31T17:50:00.001-07:00

Keith did a Master Class with four lucky UCF voice students. First, the student sang and then Keith made incredibly insightful suggestions and comments, all tailor-made for the singer. He asked the student to sing part of the aria using his advice. The impact on their singing was immediate and noticeable. Then, he would take his observation to another level, the student would sing, and another level, and sing. His work with each of the four was completely different and individualized. He also spoke about the business of singing. To paraphrase: If you want to make your living singing, i.e. to be paid money to sing, then you have to do a great job. If you don't, then you'll be fired and you won't be making money singing. So, you must WORK, WORK, WORK. This Master Class was as remarkable as his recital.

Keith Miller and Debbie Ayers Recital

2011-03-31T17:31:00.000-07:00

Debbie did a recital with Met Opera bass-baritone Keith Miller, as a fundraiser for the UCF Opera Dept. Keith has an extraordinary voice, huge and warm, which filled the auditorium. The program was varied and Keith captured the audience. The dialogue between Debbie and Keith was palpable, and everyone commented about it after the concert. He spoke at length with dozens of students in the lobby. Keith has had quite a journey: he was a pro-football player who fell in love with singing after taking a date to a Broadway musical and then taught himself how to sing & read music. This led to a scholarship to the Academy of Vocal Arts, the Mt. Olympus of vocal schools, and his turning down a great contract with a football team. He was tapped by the Met, skipped the apprentice program, and has now sung in 200 opera performances. Keith has developed a fitness program for singers, which is used at the Met and is being rolled out this spring at Santa Fe Opera. Yes, his biceps are like tree trunks, and he is a friendly and modest man.

Running Away: Maybe. Buddha's Orphans: Don't Bother

2011-03-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

Running Away by Jean-Phillipe Toussaint has some extraordinary descriptive writing set in contemporary China and a big contrast in Elba. Some might say it is over-written. This is wrapped around a bare bones story and a slight plot. A young man delivers an envelope of cash to a mysterious Chinese man for his girlfriend. He travels to Beijing with a young woman he meets, & the silent Chinese man tags along, all chock full of vivid descriptions of the city. He goes to Elba for the funeral of his girlfriend's father, more vivid descriptions. They go swimming in the sea. The end. I can't give a hearty recommendation, but there is some tour de force writing. You can knock it off on a long airplane ride.

Buddha's Orphans by Samrat Upadhyay: I was hooked by a review's mention of the book's description of the political turmoil in Nepal over the past two decades. Many of my Tibetan friends have made their way to the U.S. via Nepal, so I was very interested in this book. Unfortunately, that's all the political situation gets in the book: a mention. Most of the other 420 pages are devoted to a sophomoric story of a lifelong romance between two young people from broken families. There is some treatment of the grueling poverty in the country & the social system that keeps people trapped in it, but only cursory mention of the political turmoil that rocked the country. The book is mostly "shy glances" and "aching hearts". Oi vey. Avoid this book unless you need a big dose of melodrama.

Losar Tashi Delek

2011-03-11T15:25:00.001-08:00

We had the privilege of celebrating the Tibetan New Year at the Tibet Association house in Santa Fe. It was a wonderful afternoon of prayer, great food, singing and friendship.

Tibet Uprising Day

2011-03-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

March 10th is the 52nd anniversary of Tibet Uprising Day. This is marked by demonstrations around the world to remind us of the torture, genocide and the literally demolished culture of Tibet at the hands of the Communist Chinese. Since the State Department won't do anything about it, how about you? Boycott China.

John Rangel and the Tribute Trio play Bill Evans

2011-02-22T09:09:00.000-08:00

Pianist John Rangel and the Tribute Trio played a program of Bill Evans' compositions. John totally owned this music: he gracefully flew through complex structures, deftly improvising around them and back. Evans engaged the bass & drums in his music in a groundbreaking way. Michael Glynn and Cal Haines were there in force, skillfully interacting with the piano. The audience was completely energized by the performance. Rangel had both classical and jazz training, and this was evident in how he handled this music. From the opening piece, "Displacement", he effortlessly blended multiple key modulations, meter changes, and syncopation. Of course, it isn't effortless, it is very hard work. This brings to mind the word used in Italian art history, sprezzatura: doing something technically very difficult with ease and grace, so that it seems effortless. Thanks, John!

Check him out at http://www.johnrangel.com/

Honor Crimes & My Sisters Made of Light

2011-02-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

Jackie St. Joan did a reading at Garcia Street Books from her novel My Sisters Made of Light. Jackie is an attorney who focuses on domestic violence issues. Her novel is based on women victims of "honor crimes" in Pakistan. She spoke about the complex cultural issues involved. Thousands of women & girls are killed or abused each year by family members who believe their behaviour has brought dishonor to the family or community. Honor crimes are illegal in Pakistan, yet they continue to be common. They are often approved beforehand by local citizens and are thus very difficult to prosecute. She is donating half of her proceeds from the novel to the construction of a safe house in Pakistan for abused women and girls. Her website is: http://www.mysistersmadeoflight.com/. You can contact her there to made donations for the safe house.

Serenata with Krista River

2011-02-15T08:35:00.000-08:00

Debbie performed with Serenata on February 6th in a chamber music program that featured mezzo-soprano Krista River. Krista's lyric mezzo was lovely in songs from Beethoven's Four Ariettas and Brahms' Zwei Gesange. The program had an unusual offering of oboe and voice, from Ralph Vaughn Williams' Ten Blake Songs. It was a wonderful pairing, with Pamela Epple playing oboe. River's rendering of Noel Coward's If Love Were All and A Bar on the Piccola Marina was a real crowd pleaser! Debbie and Krista's photo appeared the following day in the local paper....at a restaurant cheering on the Green Bay Packers in the Superbowl!

If you love movies, please read this book!

2011-02-06T18:35:00.000-08:00

Steve Erikson's Zeroville is an homage to Film, with a capital F. Here is an extraordinary exploration of film-making and film-makers, through the eyes of a young man obsessed with Film. Yes, he has Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, from A Place in the Sun, tatooed on his shaved head. Zeroville has a clever structure and plot. It is also filled with fascinating characters and wonderful insights into great movie making. The title is from Godard's ground breaking film, Alphaville. Erikson's writing is edgy, without going over the edge, a big plus among young writers today.

The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of his Friend Marilyn Monroe

2011-02-05T09:27:00.000-08:00

A long title for a fun, clever, short book, by Andrew O'Hagan. Maf is an erudite, opinionated dog who weighs in on the Arts and Politics, with capital letters, during the early '60's in the US. There are some great cameos by Lee Strasberg, Leo Castelli, Frank Sinatra, John Kennedy, Carson McCullers, Lillian Hellman, a host of critics & scholars. Once past the first 20 pages of set-up, Maf finds his stride and it's a romp!

End of a Dry Spell

2011-01-28T15:14:00.000-08:00

Jane Gardam is new to me, and I'll be reading more. She has written 16 novels and is a two time winner of the Whitbread Award, so where have I been? I just finished Old Filth, written in 2004. It is delightful reading: wonderful characters, great writing, and beautifully structured & paced. It is the story of a "Raj orphan", abandoned by his father, raised by Malay natives & then an abusive foster home in Wales. He is tossed by life for years, gets through Cambridge, & becomes a successful lawyer & judge in Hong Kong. Filth is his acronym for Failed in London Try Hong Kong. There are some great early developments that are saved for the very end the book. The soft cover was published by Europa Editions, always dependable for a good read!

One out of Three

2011-01-28T14:53:00.000-08:00

I read three highly praised recent novels by young authors. Two of them were completely lost on me. Poorly plotted stories of misfit main characters and their even more dysfunctional, horrid families: what's the point? Perhaps it is a new genre, misfit ennui? You Were Wrong topped it off with edgy, often annoying, writing. Erased was filled with absurd characters that toppled into goofiness. The Hidden by Tobias Hill was a welcome relief, good writing, well drawn characters. It reminded me of Don Delillo's The Names in many respects, which is a compliment. A recently divorced anthropologist washes up at an archeology dig in Greece. He tries hard to be accepted into the secretive inner circle here.This conceit did wear thin, but the accelerating pace of the ending freshened it up. Be careful what you wish for.

The Novel Bookstore & 100 Foot Journey

2010-11-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

Here's one for lovers of "good novels". Two avid readers open a bookstore in Paris which only sells "good novels". Their inventory is selected by a secret committee of authors who never meet. There is an outcry against this undemocratic idea, which culminates in threats & violence against the committee. A bit of mystery & love story, and many, many recommendations of good novels. Structure could be tighter and needs editing in the second half of the book, but if you love reading novels, this will be fun! It has a bit of the flavor of Elegance of the Hedgehog, & both were translated by Alison Anderson.

The Hundred Foot Journey: Indian ex-pats' restaurant and their son's journey to three Michelin stars. Not the best writing, but if you are a "foodie", this is it!

Bobby McDuffie - The Seasons Project

2010-10-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

Bobby McDuffy & The Venice Baroque Orchestra performed The Seasons Project at the Lensic. Of course, the place holder was Vivaldi's Four Seasons. This was the most dynamic performance of VFS that I have ever heard. The musicianship was incredible, energetic & pushing the envelope, especially McDuffy. His rapore with the orchestra was palpable & often playful. Several years ago McDuffy approached Phillip Glass about writing a companion piece to VFS. Glass composed his Violin Concerto #2 - The American Four Seasons for McDuffy in 2009. The piece is vintage Glass and the third & fourth movements were powerful. McDuffy was soloing for nearly the entire piece & played with passion. They are doing a 28 city tour of this program, which is hard to imagine given how demanding it is on him! Debbie knew him at the Aspen Music Festival, so big hugs ensued after the performance.

Songs of the Earth

2010-10-30T08:34:00.001-07:00

Susan Graham, mezzo soprano, & Paul Groves, tenor, sang Mahler's Songs of the Earth at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Mahler titled this 65 minute piece as "Symphony for Tenor & Alto Voice and Orchestra", and this is a great description. The voices & orchestra are perfectly melded . Both voices in this performance were well suited for this wonderful music. I generally prefer sopranos to mezzo's, but Graham's gorgeous voice is my favorite mezzo. Her singing tonight was sonic ambrosia. Grove's clear tenor was exactly what this music called for, he deserves a wider audience.

Starry Night Project

2010-09-05T13:41:00.001-07:00

Debbie and Montage Music Society performed The Starry Night Project at the Corcoran Gallery of Art's hall in Washington, DC. Jeopary question: What is the oldest museum in the United States? SNP is music based on visual art by living composers, a thought provoking concept. The images of the art were projected above the musicians during the concert. The highlight of the performance was Andrew List's Noa Noa, commissioned for the MMS, and based on the Gaugain painting at Boston's MFA. Montage followed this with a performance at the Chautauqua Institute in NY. Both events were beautifully played and well received. You can hear this program on their CD, The Starry Night Project.

Silver Seduction

2010-07-04T07:35:00.001-07:00

A friend recommended that we see a show of Mexican silver at the International Folk Art Museum. I was prepared to yawn, & wow, was I wrong. Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda is an extraordinary show of 200 pieces of jewelry. His work is elegant, graceful, original & modern, even from our perch in the 21st century. Pineda was a leader of the Taxco School of Mexico & internationally renowned . I found a few examples on the Internet, but they hardly do the show justice. His work is delicious.

Lewis Spratlan Recent Compositions

2010-06-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

Santa Fe New Music presented a program of chamber music by Lewis Spratlan. This was the 8th annual Living Composer Portrait, in conjunction with the Santa Fe Opera. Mr. Spratlan's opera "Life is But a Dream" won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2000 & will be premiered by the SFO in July. It was written in 1978, & Spratlan has championed it for over 30 years: a long road. This program included a piano quartet, solo piano, & music for soprano & sextet. Spratlan's music achieves a balance between the abstract & the emotive, lightened by occasional humor. Each piece had complex harmonics, devilish syncopation & lightning fast passages. There were frequent Ivesian collisions of styles that delighted everyone. Hats off to Judith Gordon who played the gnarly piano solo "Wonderer" (2005) with power & grace. Clear-voiced soprano Kiera Duffy's treatment of the song cycle "Of Time & Seasons" (2001) rang true & was perfect for the music & lyrics. Spratlan introduced the program with energy & enthusiasm. He was clearly delighted that this music was being performed and heard. He happened to sit right in front of me & danced in his seat, especially during "Wonderer". I chatted with him after the program, & he modestly accepted my compliments and gave raves to Gordon for her performance. My friend Bebe thanked him for the humor in his music, & he replied, "Humor, I fight for that!" Mr. Spratlan is indeed a fighter for new music & we are the beneficiaries.

The Band's Visit

2010-04-11T06:35:00.000-07:00

Eran Kolirin's The Band's Visit is a beautifully filmed movie with extraordinary acting. It is a slow, simple story: The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Band is lost in Isreal on a goodwill tour. They are taken in by cafe owner Ronit Elkabetz. She and the conductor, Sasson Gobai, circle each other in a sexually charged waltz. Elkabetz is incredible: sultry, confident, yet understated. She makes a powerful impact with the slightest facial gestures. She's a great actor who deserves a bigger footprint. In fact, she has moved from Isreal to Paris to try to find a larger stage for her career. I hope she does!

Smart & Fun

2010-04-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

Two new fun books from smart authors. Our friend Connie May Fowler's new novel just came out! How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly is filled with fun characters in a double helix story. The real double helix is how all the fun is wrapped around some big issues. In John Banville's The Infinities, the Greek Gods are alive & well, and interfering in the lives of the family of a famed physicist who lies in a coma commenting on the craziness. It's a delight.

Winter Park Library Photo Show

2010-02-02T13:44:00.000-08:00

I have a show of my color photographs at the Community Room of the Winter Park Library for the month of February. My work explores the relationship between composition and color. I begin by composing the image through the lens, and then digitally manipulate colors, contrast, saturation, & crop for the final image. The result: fifteen 17 X 22 inch colorful images, your eyes will have fun!!

The Arts

2010-02-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

Friends L & M recommended The Elegance of the Hedgehog to me, and a big thank you to them. This book contains the most extraordinary writing about the arts and the way the arts enrich our lives that I have ever read. I've read a lot of art history, criticism, essays, and this is The Best. A joy to read. The scoop: a lonely concierge in an up-scale Parisian condo has a secret life of arts appreciation, which is her lifeblood. Her observations on art, music, literature and film are fantastic. Lots of colorful characters, but the juice is her thoughts about the arts.

Lucky

2010-02-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

Once again, appreciating how lucky I am to have been born in the USA. I read Shahriar Mandanipur's Censoring An Iranian Love Story. The initial conceit of an author writing a love story & dealing with the Islamic censors is catchy, but the book zeros in on a lot more. Mandanipur gives graphic examples of life under the Islamic Cultural Police, & the consequences of crossing them. It's horrific. The pernicious spying by neighbors & family reminded me of stories of life under the Stasi, and with similiar results: prison, torture, public hangings. Also, routinely used for political ends. He keeps coming back to the underlying love story, so it does have some hope.

I quite randomly followed this with Water Touching Stone, the second in a series by Eliot Pattison set in and near Tibet. These are mystery stories but are famous for telling the story of the on-going genocide of the Tibetans at the hands of the Chinese. This one expands to the plight of the nomadic Uighurs & Kazachs, with the same mistreatment: forced relocation, the nationalization of property, resources, factories (handed over to ex-Chinese military, now "entrepeneurs"), brutal oppression: torture, slave labor prisons, the forbidding of teaching or conducting business in indiginous languages. It seems endless, as does our country's tacit endorsement of these policies. How's your microwave? Inspector Shan, a Chinese escapee from a slave labor camp, is an endearing character, especially his relationship with some elderly Tibetan monks.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Uncle Gabe & Aunt Rose Marie. Debbie prepared a delicious feast & we had fun doing some oral history. We asked Uncle & Aunt about their courtship, engagement, Gabe's travels in the army, and wedding. We got some great vignettes about Grandmom and Grandpop: Grandpop carried his big wooden toolbox on his shoulder & walked 3 miles to & from the shipyard to work everyday for many years --- how's that for commuting? It was touching to hear about their lives together. They are wonderfully sweet people & a joy to be with.

Painting

2009-12-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

This weekend I'll be working on my third piece in a series of painting/collages. They are evolving pretty well. I'm looking forward to being able to spend more time on this before too long!

Lighten Up

2009-11-14T13:51:00.000-08:00

I've read a lot of very dark novels this year. So it was refreshing to encounter two in a row that are light and airy. Nicholson Baker's The Anthologist is about poetry, meter, rhyme, reading poetry, writing poetry & life. This short book is a running monologue of a middle aged, unemployed poet. He makes observations about poetry &, since it's Baker, random things around him & thoughts about life. It's fun, even if you know nothing about poetry, like me. The NYT called Sylvia Brownrigg's Morality Tale "divinely deadpan" & for once a jacket blurb is right on. A troubled woman marries & discovers life is not as expected with two step children & a husband who spirals down into divorce wars & money problems. She works in a stationery store & sort of falls in love with a kind, jolly, Zen-ish envelope salesman. They have lunches, get found out, trouble ensues, she sort of stops loving the man, & demands changes in her marriage. You'll smile.

October 12th

2009-10-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

Mom left us on October 12th after a brief illness and a powerful fight. I was able to spend 5 days in the hospital with her along with two of my brothers. Hopefully we were able to comfort her with our presence. The viewing, Mass & funeral were in NJ, with her sisters, brother & extended family in attendence. Randy's eulogy & the priest's sermon captured her life: scholarship to college, science, theater, business owner, mother, compassionate & gracious friend. I thanked her then and always for my interest in music, art, literature, business and her support for my spiritual path and meditation. Be in Peace, Mom.

Mom Likes Me Best.

2009-10-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

Brothers, sister, spouses, children gathered to celebrate Mom's 92nd birthday. Unfortunately, Mom was sick so she missed our lunch. We gave Randy a set of Japanese chisels in thanks for all of the time and energy he has spent caring for Mom over the past three years. At the end of his thank you remarks, he told us the real reason he has spent this time with Mom, by revealing the t-shirt that I gave him for Christmas....

92!

2009-10-31T08:07:00.000-07:00

Debbie & soprano Judeth Shey Burns performed a recital for my Mom at the Woodlands for her 92nd birthday. It was a wide ranging program & they both sounded great! Mom was quite ill but enjoyed the music and the gathering of children & grandchildren to celebrate with her.

2009-09-19T11:31:00.001-07:00

I'm not a mystery reader, but the setting for Skull Mantra, by Eiliot Pattison, hooked me: the mountains of Tibet. This book gives a brutally honest portrait of the life of Tibetans, after 50 years of Chinese genocide. If you are interested in the horrific plight of Tibetans in their own country, then give this a read. The tip of the iceberg: 1.3 million executed; 6,000 schools, libraries & monastaries destoyed; labor camps; forced relocation; "disapearances", brutal suppression of Tibetan religious practices & language. From Pattison's website: "I write about Tibet to give those who do not have the opportunity to travel there to understand what it feels like to witness an armed policeman assault a praying monk. ...the cause of Tibet does not mean a conversion to Buddhism, it means a conversion to compassion, self-awareness, human rights and political equality." It's a pretty good mystery novel, too. How's your Made-in-China microwave doing today?

Sam Adams' Photography

2009-08-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

Our friend Sam Adams had a retrospective of his black & white photography at El Museo Cultural. Sam photographs street scenes & street theater, and has a wonderful knack for capturing the spirit of the place and the moment. He often focuses on older people and teens, a rich subject matter in his hands. He also shot some special situations such as the separation of Siamese twins in Viet Nam. Sam's photos are well composed & gorgeously printed the old fashioned way. The result is perfect contrast and saturation, with great compositions. This is so refreshing in our age of point-and-shoot slice of life photos with no attempt at composition or eye for color & contrast, found on every gallery's wall and winning prizes left and right, gimme a break! Thanks for your great work, Sam!

Patricia Racette sings cabaret

2009-08-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

Opera soprano Patricia Racette sang a program of cabaret songs at the Lensic Theater. She was fantastic. I am very wary of opera singers doing jazz or cabaret programs because they usually sound like opera singers trying to sing jazz...negative outcome! Ms. Racette, however, grew up on this music & she nailed it. Her singing was as smoky as 20 year old Scotch. She sang "chest voice" for the entire evening. In fact, she warned the audience, "If you came for the high notes, you're not going to hear them tonight!" Craig Terry was her wonderful collaborative artist on piano. His day job is the Assistant Director of the Chicago Lyric Opera. But, he, too, began his career playing jazz and this was well evident. He played the hell out of the songs! A delightful evening!

First WOW

2009-07-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Finally, my first WOW book of the year: Susan Choi's A Person of Interest. This book is dense with insights, ideas & observations about marriage, friendship, betrayal, loneliness. At the end it morphs into Fugitive-esque suspense, without losing its literary stride. I worry that this will prevent the literati from giving the book its due, which is substantial.

2009-07-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

The Book of Unholy Mischief, what a delicious stew. A chef in the Doge’s palace, dodging the Inquisition & a member of secret society protecting Knowledge, takes an orphan under his wing in the kitchen. Surprising mentions of The Present Moment sprinkled throughout. Oh, and lots of writing about food, wonderful food. The Buddha of Suburbia is the best Indian ex-pat in Britain novel that I’ve read. There’s certainly be a lot of them lately. I got to this one late, written in 1990. Fun portrait of actors & artists in the days of class warfare in Britain of the 60s & 70s. Some tough observations about families, love, self-discovery & the high costs of all three. Shift gears: Maynard & Jennica a quirky portrait of quirky NYers in present day, including using the word “like” frequently in speech by a few of the characters (oi vey). The structure of the book is a bit overbearing: one & two page monologues by all the characters are used to advance the story. A fun conceit, but for the entire 300 pages of the novel? OK, I’m being to hard on it, It’s funny at times & touching.

4th of July

2009-07-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July, I'm glad I'm here in the USA! OMG, ain't that controversial?! Today I'm celebrating some of the best things about our country: art, literature & music!!! First, I finished a painting that I've been working on for a couple of weeks. It's quite different from recent works, related to chakras. Then I finished reading Sarah Dunn's secrets to happiness, which was a lot of fun. Think Saul Bellow collides with Sex in the City! When the protagonist see's The Cloud of Unknowing on her boyfriend's nightstand & he quotes Pema Chodren, I just about jumped! I am listening to a CD by Gil Shaham & Andre Previn of violin & piano sonate by Gershwin, Copland & Previn. Beautiful, tonal 20th Century music, gorgeously played.

So, red states & blue states you can kiss my keister......
My country is purple!

Mom's New Home

2009-06-14T06:54:00.000-07:00

Debbie & I visited Mom at her new ALF this weekend. It is brand new & delightful. Her room is sunny & seems just the right size & arrangement for her mobility.The staff is wonderfully attentive & present everywhere. We ate several meals in the dining room with Mom, and they were quite good, & offered choices each time. We took her for a little outing on Furman's beautiful campus that is right next door & sat by a pond. Thanks again to Randy for arranging this and for everything he does for Mom each day!

Larissa Carlson Workshops

2009-06-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

I did two workshops with Larissa Carlson at Full Circle Yoga, a great studio in Winter Park. Larissa has heavyweight credentials from Kripalu & she really delivered. A two day workshop on Pranayama, yogic breathing, was informative & a great experience. She presented 5 different techniques & connected them with asanas & meditation. Day three Larissa did a chakra yoga workshop, in which she included a series of seated & standing postures for the 7 major chakras, meditation, & the basics of the science of the chakras. The chakras are a big part of my personal practice, so I was glad to attend. I told Larissa how important her work is & encouraged her to continue. The world is crawling with celebrity yoga teachers who roll into conferences like rock stars & mainly teach yogaerobics, with no treatment of the other 7 "Limbs" of yoga. Larissa started the first class with an in-depth discussion of the 8 Limbs of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, a very unusual move. By the way, Patanjali told us that the purpose of yoga is to prepare the body & mind for seated meditation, something that is totally lost in the world of make-it-burn-yoga that substitutes sweat for insight. The 8 Limbs are a recipe for holistic, healthy living & personal growth. Oh, yes, we did sweat in Larissa's workshops, but the empasis was on insight & growth. Hooray, Larissa! A big thank you to Lewis & Susan for hosting her!

See: http://www.larissacarlson.com/ & http://www.fullcircleyoga.com/

Fun Recital

2009-06-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

My oft' postponed recital finally happened & it was a fun night! I performed 12 original compositions on piano & electronic keyboard, most of them on the keyboard. Some utilized the remarkable electronic sound bank to cool effect! They ranged from a simple blues-jazz piano piece, "Film Noir", to rockin' guitar, "6 String", & some unusual techno in between. It was fun to share this music that's be percolating for the past 2 years with my closest friends. Lots of vino and conversation followed!

Joe Dispenza

2009-05-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

We had the great opportunity to do a workshop with Joe Dispenza at The Crossings. Joe gained fame for his role in the movie "What The Bleep Do We Know?" Joe dealt with the bio-chemistry of the mind & body, & how it creates memories, habits, attitudes, & behaviours. He then worked with practical applications to change them. He is a fantastic speaker: energetic, articulate, generous. He traveled 200 days last year, to help people, his real mission. I had read his book & so looked forward to meeting him. He exceeded all my expectations. Thanks, Joe.

The Crossings

2009-05-19T18:15:00.001-07:00

We went to The Crossings for a workshop & found a wonderful eco-conscious learning center, with great food, a beautiful spa & grounds. The Crossing's 200 acres & hiking trails rest in the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, which the founders, Ken & Joyce Beck, helped to create. The Becks have built a super-green enterprise, including a cutting edge water reclamation system. While, yes, there is a beautiful spa, the Becks' vision is for a learning center, & they have a roster of great workshops. The buildings are built with Texas limestone & have a theme that echos New England & the Romanesque! The Sidalgo Sanctuary is a beautiful & very special building, that reflects the approach of the Crossings & is unique among its competitors, even the more expensive ones! We will go back.

Il Divo

2009-04-07T12:19:00.000-07:00

Il Divo was the standout film among the five we saw at the FFF. Superbly directed by Paolo Sorrentino, it had great acting, pacing and cinematography. It is the story of the often reviled Italian politican Gulio Andreotti. Sounds boring, but the way the material was handled was captivating. Somehow they presented this great villain with a compassionate hand, while accusing him of murders, manipulation, fraud. The actors who played Andreotti, Toni Servillo, and his faction were each perfect for their very different parts. It reminded me of The Lives of Others, but with gorgeous Italian cinematography!

Jon Voight at Florida Film Festival

2009-04-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

We watched Midnight Cowboy at the FFF and heard Jon Voight interviewed for over an hour. He made very insightful and intelligent observations about the art of film making, and told lots of great stories, often with wonderful humor. Afterwards, he talked individually with people & of course signed autographs. He seemed to be a very thoughtful person, in every sense of the word.

PInk Lemonade Stand

2009-03-21T10:01:00.001-07:00

Victoria Petrucelly's Pink Lemonade Stand is a big success! This morning there were lots of people & TV coverage! All proceeds are being donated to the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Victoria & her friend Jesse had long planned a lemonade stand. When her mother, Angela, was diagnosed with breast cancer, they decided to make it a PINK lemonade stand. Angela left us on Valentine's Day, and her memory is alive and well! Way to go, Victoria!

Wake

2009-02-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

Angela's wake was a wonderful celebration of this extraordinary woman. Reid prepared three fantastic bulletin board sized photo collages of Angela's life. We all stood looking at them in amazement, laughing & crying. Angela is very photogenic & the photos captured her energy. For two hours, her friends and family poured out their hearts with wonderful stories & tributes. A big highlight was her three grade school friends and fellow cheerleaders from Long Island, christened "the Divas" by Victor. Angela's high school cheer leader jacket hung on the wall. Father John, the penultimate Irish priest who got to know Angela during her illness, summed it all up, "She deserved heaven more than earth."

Angela

2009-02-15T07:42:00.000-08:00

Our dear friend Angela left us on February 14 after a brutal struggle with cancer and infections that wracked her body. She hopefully is in Light and Peace now. Angela was my truest, dearest friend. She was the Rock of Gibralter as COO/CFO of DRZ, and chief counselor to 30 people there who loved her and relied on her. She was the true Super Mom, somehow making costumes and baking theme cakes on top of her demanding job. She was a bright light who touched everyone around her. My wishes for healing and peace to her husband Reid, her young children Victoria and Vincent and her mother, father and family.

2009-02-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

We celebrated our friend Bebe's birthday with her at dinner & joined some of her friends at a dinner party the next evening. Bebe appeared in her trademark black leather pants & black turtle neck. Her regime of swimming, Pilate's & hiking keeps her in incredible shape. She is busy in the studio. She is continuing the astronomy theme of last year's successful show of collages, in a larger mixed media format of painting & collage. The first two look fantastic! Another show is scheduled for March. Go Bebe!!

TASF

2009-02-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

We recently visited the little house which was purchased by the Tibetan Assn. of Santa Fe, one of the Tibetan organizations which we support. We met Rigzin, who gave us a tour: two classrooms, a kitchen and a small hall. The classrooms are mainly used to teach children the Tibetan language, a practice that is illegal in their native country. In the hall, three gentlemen were wrapping and organizing a great many sutras. They are going to be placed in slots in two big shelves built by Tashi, who we also met. Rigzin offered us tea and asked us to sit down. We spoke at length with about the preservation of the Tibetan culture and the genocide occurring at the hands of the Chinese in Tibet (please see my Nov. 08 posting). He asked for advice on fund raising and grant writing to support the classes. We hope to be able to help.

2009-01-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

Monica Yunus performed a lieder recital at Rollins, sponsored by the Marilyn Horne Foundation. The collaborative artist was Gerald Steichen on piano. The MHF supports the "art song" tradition by teaching and promoting young singers. I happen to be a lieder nut, I have dozens of lieder CD's and am glad for the MHF's efforts. Yunus mapped a great program including an anthology of Italian song, some Debussy favorites of mine, and some Rachmoninoff that I had never heard. She was born in Bangldesh to a Russian mother and loves to sing in Russian! Oh, she grew up in New Jersey, where many great people hail from! Yunus is a member of the Met Opera company.

2009-01-23T07:58:00.001-08:00

I just finished reading Joe Dispenza's Evolve Your Brain. He is the "create your day" speaker in "What the Bleep Do We Know". He gives mountains of information about the chemistry of the brain & the mind-body complex. He explores how habits and reactions get "hard-wired", what the yogis call samskara. My interest is in how to change them, neuro-plasticity, and he provides a template for this. Some interesting cross-cultural intersections with the visualization techniques in Tibetan Buddhist meditation practices.

Ayers Family Christmas

2009-01-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

Debbie, Jessica & I traveled to Lodi, WI for the Ayers' Family Christmas. Some 30 gathered for a great party organized by D's brother Greg & his wife Angie. We then had a lot of fun at Darlene & Tim's home with lots of nieces & nephews & presents. J spent an evening at a pizza party with all the cousins and had a nice time. Lodi had a heat wave, up from -15 degrees the prior week to the high twenties, hooray!

2009-01-12T09:55:00.000-08:00

Jessica & I visited Grandmom on the way home from college. Grandmom was thrilled to see Jessica & we all had a great time. We spent some time at Oakleaf & had some meals there. We also had a nice dinner with Randy & Amy in Greenville.

Tibetans' Struggle (how's your microwave?)

2008-11-10T10:39:00.000-08:00

Tibetan monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastary-IN-EXILE performed at Rollins. The performance ended with a monk's emotional statement about the purpose of the tour: 1) to raise money to support the monks in EXILE, 2) to raise awareness of the Tibetan struggle for human rights, autonomy, and, dare we hope, freedom. He reminded us that since the Chinese Communist invasion & occupation: 6,500 monastaries, libraries & schools were destroyed, 1.2 million Tibetans have been murdered or tortured to death, the Tibetan language is forbidden in schools, the Chinese language is the only legal language of commerce, & in the cities Tibetans are being relocated to ghettos as ancient neighborhoods are demolished to build high rises to house Chinese immigrants. This is GENOCIDE, and it is being perpetrated by our largest trading partner (how many things do you own that say "Made in China"??). There is only one way to escape from Tibet into exile: walk out over the mountains, risking frost-bite, starvation or execution. Last year Tibetan nuns were gunned down in a pass in front of German mountain climbers who filmed it. Why would the Chinese be so flagrant? Because they can, with no consequence, because we need their toasters. How can you help? I focus on two organizations: The Tibet Fund, which provides food, shelter, medical & education care for exiles, and Int'l Campaign for Tibet, which works hard to free thousands of political prisoners & to lobby for basic human rights in Tibet. I know, I know, there are plenty of horrors around the world. But, here's an ancient, peaceful, spiritual land that is being systematically obliterated by the people who make the appliances and clothes in your home. It's worth your attention.

Food for the Brain/Heart/Soul

2008-10-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

Watching lots of movies on the small screen these days. The Lives of Others blew me away, about a Stasi agent & the artists he eavesdrops on. "That's the best acting I have ever seen", I said out loud when the credits rolled. Tell No One was cool: a French "Fugitive" with some extra plot layers. Angel-A was quirky & fun: a leggy angel, in high heels and mini-skirt, dogs a lost soul, well played by Jamel Debbouze, to teach him to open his heart to life. Directed by Luc Besson who did the original La Femme Nikita. The Love Letter, oops, a book not a movie ("When I was your age television was called books!" -- name that movie...) Wonderful drawing of the character of a middle aged control-freak flirt who owns a books store and receives a love letter that might not have been intended for her. Written by Cathleen Schine, whose Rameau's Niece I enjoyed years ago. Finishing up The Other Side of You, Salley Vickers, a psychiatrist learns about being true to self & life from a suicide patient. Interesting references to Caravaggio. I much prefer Vickers' Instances of the Number Three, which is on my top ten: well written, surprising plot, great characters.

Mom's Birthday

2008-10-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

The sibs and Mom gathered to celebrate her 91st birthday at Snowbird Lodge in the Smokey Mountains of NC. Mom is doing great and bearing the burdens of aging with wonderful grace. The sibs had fun playing blackjack on the porch, counting on our fingers. Randy got her a digital frame which we loaded with lots of pix of grand children & great grand children. Randy has been doing a great job of keeping the wheels on the cart with Mom in SC. Snowbird has great food, by the way.

Steinway Re-born

2008-08-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

My mother's old Steinway, 1898, was recently rebuilt by a great piano technician Debbie new in Aspen, Kevin Stock. It was the full Monty: new sound board, strings, a new Renner action. He also replaced the legs and the music stand with the style that was originally on the piano a hundred years ago! Most importantly, it sounds fantastic and the action is a dream. Debbie is breaking it in, practicing for three up-coming gigs!

Doc

2008-08-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

We've had a couple of nice visits with our Santa Fe friends Doc & Lydia. Doc, a long time resident of Santa Fe, is a true raconteur, with great stories of the city and its colorful residents! He is also a wonderful artist, creating icon-like works of wood and hammered tin with enameled paintings. Lydia had an extraordinary career in show business in Russia and is a delight. They are true gems.

Graduation!

2008-08-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hooray, Jessica graduated on August 16. Congratulations to Jessica for completing a long hard journey over the past two years.Two 40 day trips to Sagewalk Wilderness Camp, Oregon. 52 miles of hikes each time with backpack and sleeping in tents, the first trip in sub-freezing weather of January. Junior & senior year at Monarch: no proms, but farm crew, kitchen crew, & maintenance crew. We spent three days at graduation, lots of hugging, "sharing" and getting to know some of the other parents for the first time. It was a small group. Only five graduated from the original peer group of 14. Way to go Jessica! Each student made a presentation and Jessica sang an acapella duet, awesome. She sang a second duet with the same student. We are so proud of her hard work and all her accomplishments!

Santuario de Chimayo

2008-08-03T12:54:00.001-07:00

We also visited Santuario de Chimayo, the "Lourdes of North America". Debbie quickly became best friends with the priest who rescued this old church. In a tiny chapel next to the altar there is a hole in the floor. People come from all over the world to scoop out the "miraculous healing dirt". So, I scooped and brought some home for my dear friend Angela, who is in the early stages of her journey of healing.

Santa Fe!

2008-08-03T12:41:00.001-07:00

Another wonderful visit to Santa Fe. Heard 2 operas (I only slept through one of them!). It was fun to see cellist Lynn Harrell give Debbie a big hug after a SFe Chamber Music Festival concert. I went to a labyrinth walk at St. Francis Cathedral, and and got my picture in the paper. If you look really really close, you can tell it's me! Here's a first: I helped make a sand mandala with a Tibetan Lama at the Stupa outside of town. I am enjoying getting to know Dorjee, a wonderful Tibetan who has a shop next door and at the Tesuque Flea Market. Another reminder of: "when you think you are having a bad day, it's really not so bad." Brother Al & Anne came to town for the opera & stayed with us for a couple of days, and we had a nice time together. On the next to last day we had a big event. I had my mother's old Steinway rebuilt by a great technician that Debbie knows, and he delivered it on my last day there! Wow, it looks great, plays beautifully and sounds wonderful!!

Finally Quest Pix

2008-07-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

We also finally got some photos from Jessica's winter Quest trip in the Canadian mountains, 11 days of backpacking on skis and living in the snow.

Jessica's Birthday

2008-07-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a great visit with Jessica, her second time home in 18 frakkin' months! She looked great, very healthy, and very mature. We had a nice gathering for her 18th birthday. She's completed her high school academics but returned to school to finish "the program". This week she does the five day Pinnacle, which is an intensive group with lots of emotional work and little sleep. Then, she is off for the Gift Trip, which is two weeks of community service at a facility for adults with mental handicaps. In mid-August we gather in the little town-next-to-the-middle-of-nowhere for her graduation, hooray! We are all glad this journey is coming to an end, and proud of Jessica for all her hard work. The adjustments to college life should be a snap, and in fact day-to-day life a lot easire: no kitchen crew, no farm crew, no barn crew!

Luna di Miele

2008-05-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

D & I took our belated honeymoon to Italia and had a great trip. Picture perfect weather for all day walking tours of Firenze & Perugia. D's favorite was San Marco's frescoes by Fra Angelico, gems of the early Renaissance. In Perugia she encouraged me to explore the school I attended in 1973, L'Universita per Stranieri, and we found my classrooms, wow, memory lane!! We both loved the magical narrow streets & steps of medieval Perugia. Trip highlights: the Uffizi, Brunelleschi's S. Spirito, Perugia's Arco Etrusco (oldest known arch in Europe), S.S. Apostoli (a tiny OLD church in Firenze), S. Trinita's Ghirlandaio, S. Lorenzo's Michelangelo sculptures, S. Michele Arcangelo (an ancient church in Perugia, converted from a Roman temple, which I have dreamt about for 35 years!), Brunelleshci's Pazzi Chapel, S. Maria Novella's wild Fillipino Lippo frescoes, Brancaci chapel's Massacio & wandering up down the steep stairs of Perugia's narrow streets.

Bebe's Opening

2008-04-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

We went to Santa Fe in April for Bebe Krimmer's opening at Chiaroscuro Gallery. Bebe is a great collagist and wonderful friend who we treasure. These pieces are based on images from astronomy and are a fabulous development for her work. The opening was a big success for Bebe, hooray! We had a lot of fun at dinner at Bebe's home afterwards with lots of her friends. And we added to our Bebe collection, buying a wonderful piece called Velocity of Rotation.

Commission

2008-02-16T08:07:00.000-08:00

I have commissioned my first piece of music! It is a trio by Andrew List, a Boston composer who teaches at the Berklee College of Music, and it is for the Montage Music Society (www.montagemusicsociety.org). You might know their pianist, Debra Ayers. The piece is based on a Gaugain painting at the Boston MFA and will become part of Montage's repetoire related to the visual arts. Montage is working is on recording these pieces, hopefully this year, and support of this project is most welcome! I heard Montage play a preview of the piece in Boston and it is wonderful. The official premiere will be at the St. Botolph arts club in March (an organization with quite a history and membership).

Hooray! -- Updated

2008-02-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

Jessica made it safe and sound from The Quest! I talked with her briefly and she said, "I never thought I'd be glad to be back at this school, but I am! This was the hardest thing I've ever done, even harder than wilderness." That's saying something, since she spent 40 days camping & backpacking in Oregon last winter in sub-freezing temperatures. Hopefully a stronger, more self-aware and self-confident young woman came down from the mountain! The details: backpacked 30 miles up the mountains on telemark skis, climbing 12,000 feet. It snowed everyday, including 30 inches during the 3 day solo.They carried all their gear, cooked all their meals in the snow, & slept in tents and hand-made shelters. We can guess on the hygiene!!

Architectural coincidence

2008-02-13T14:35:00.000-08:00

Just finished reading Female Ruins by Geoff Nicholson, the story of the daughter of the deceased "most famous British architect never to have built a building". She ends up on a quest to see the one building he actually did build, which is unknown to scholars. Many years ago dad abandoned his family and stayed in contact with them, ....a la Louis Kahn, the American architect featured in the film My Architect (see below). Strange to stumble on both accidentally. If you like architecture, you might enjoy this quirky book, a fast read.

Quest

2008-02-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Jessica is in the middle of her eleven day Quest trip into the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia. The photo is from the area they will be in, taken by the guy who is leading them. She and nine other students are backpacking on telemark skis and eating & sleeping in tents. They get one night in a yurt in the middle of the trip! She is doing a three day solo, which would give anyone plenty to time to reflect on life and on staying warm! Today's high there is five degrees! We understand that the scenery is spectacular, and the only way to see it is to ski in. We hope she is having fun in addition to building self-awarness and a large amount of self-confidence.

Christmas With Bebe

2008-01-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

Jessica has been away, so I was going to cancel Christmas. Debbie vetoed that idea, which was good, since no Christmas was even more depressing. So I put up most of my decorations, but not the big tree. Even that was depressing so, I bought a tiny pre-lit artificial tree, and decorated that. Much better. But, for the first time ever I did not want to be at home. So, our friend Bebe invited us to stay with her, and there wasn't anywhere else I'd rather have been for Christmas. She is a true joy, and we had a ball. She just got a new gallery, a really good one, and a show in April. So, for the first time, she let me help her in her studio, WOW! It was great! Bebe is amazing. So much energy, passion, fun, and a huge heart. Thanks for a great Christmas!

Another cool indie

2008-01-12T15:18:00.000-08:00

We recently watched two cool indie films. Guaranteed Enlightenment is a quirky, hand-held video, natural light film. Two very different brothers head off from Germany to a Zen monastary in Tokyo. The first half of the movie explored how annoying & self absorbed they both were, although in completely different ways. It was so effective that Debbie walked out of the "theater"! The second half was filmed in the monastary. I was going to say "staged", but it wasn't staged at all. We see how the brothers slowly collide with the disciplines of this world, adapt to it, and learn a lot about themselves. The film gives a very real picture of a novice's experience in the monastary, as opposed to the glossy portrayals one might see in prettier films or coffee table books. Watching the sweating, overweight Gustav polish the hallways on his hands and knees really honed in on a big part of the monastary's message. Test your quirkiness and give it a look!

Delightful Movies

2008-01-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

My Architect is a documentary by the "illegitimate" son of the renowned architect Louis Kahn. You could not have written a stranger and more touching tale, in the truth is stranger than fiction category. Kahn was 5'6" tall, had an odd voice, and his face was covered with scars from a childhood burn. He was a terrible businessman, had few clients, and few buildings despite enormous talent and vision. Knowing all of this, it seems unlikely that in addition to his marriage with one child, he also had two other families, with women who worked with him. Despite the odd, and seemingly heartless, treatment by Kahn, the women were still totally in love with him thirty years after his death. The film is his son's attempt to discover his father, his art, and his life. For architecture buff's there are some fabulous interviews with biggie 20th century architects and clients. The film is touching, beautifully photographed, and very much worth seeing.

Jessica!!

2008-01-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

We visited Jessica last weekend, it was great to see her after four months!! These trips are emotionally exhausting, even when they go well, as this one did. We got to spend some time chillaxing like in the good old days, which was really nice. And, it was chilly, so my new winter coat came in handy. She gets up at 530 am and has morning chores on "farm crew" outside most days of the week, so the Florida girl is getting her second dose of real winter! We have all been working hard on her college application, and she is excited about it. If all goes well we will have two B.F.A.'s in our household in 4 years, and I believe my father would get quite a chuckle out of that!! She has been training for the school's annual Quest trip. This will be 11 days and nights of skiiing, backpacking and camping in the Canadian mountains. Oh, yes, it will be in February! We are very proud and excited about how hard she is working and impressed with the strong emotional footings she is learning at the school.

Great Yoga Teacher

2007-12-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

After a long period of business hassles and wedding planning I am finally getting back to yoga class. I continued my home practice, but as we all know, it's not quite the same. Today D and I went to Marilyn's Sunday Hatha class, and as usual it was great. She has the best designed sequences that I have ever encountered, and that includes workshops I've attended with some yoga rock stars. Each class has a different thoughtful sequence, which means she is doing a lot of preparation. Most importantly, she is a deeply spiritual and caring person which pervades her classes -- quite a bit different from the yoga as boot-camp that is popular today. She's a great resource for Central Florida, so check her out at Full Circle Yoga, http://fullcircleyoga.com/, where she teaches several classes each week.

OMNES MUNDUM FACIMUS

2007-11-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

I needed a break from moving, well written, literary novels, so I picked up Bad Monkeys. A near-future mystery probably geared towards college kids. Fun, for the most part. A fast read. The Organization eliminates evil Bad Monkeys from the world before they can hurt more people. Double agents, double crossings, who is in the ant farm? OMNES MUNDUM FACIMUS, the Organization's motto: We all make the world.

Quote for Wednesday

2007-11-28T17:57:00.000-08:00

"For her part, Chaps was too well read to be considered entirely proper. Books had made her unreasonably independent." Sheridan Hay, The Secret of Lost Things

Fun Color Photographs!

2007-11-25T18:12:00.000-08:00

I have been creating some fun color photographs. The images deal with the relationship between color & composition, and I manipulate the colors. D has encouraged me to get serious with it, so I have been making 17 X 22 prints, and framed 16 of them. I have a show in my office board room. Come by and take a look, most people have a reaction, often involving a smile.