ahoy!

ever since my days as a dj on wobc, i have engaged in a romance with radio. particularly poignant: from the first of this month, return to the scene of the crime, "this american life" (p.r.i.)

i ate lunch with my ever-hilarious chums at l'escale yesterday - a glass of california pinot noir with an app of warm goat cheese and roasted beet salad, followed by a short rib panini (decadent but delicious!). we shared a dessert of fried bananas, caramel sauce, and banana ice cream (yum yum).

i drove into manhattan for a last lesson with tara before i head out of town for the summer. she's taking two sewing machines plus ample fabric from mood to make funky, loud shirts and gowns on the road to spoleto (south carolina). danny's bringing a bunch of coffee makers- i guess we all have our fixes...

i dropped by tj's to buy some sausages and boysenberry fruit leather and then texted google for the address of ltk in greenwich. oh, green curry...

Jenny Holzer: Protect Protect, including “Red Yellow Looming,” above, is at the Whitney Museum of American Art through May 31. 

carnegie hall orphéeic magic

monday evening i snuck some photos of the stage at carnegie hall (3rd row!) - no musicians or stage lights, just the empty stage. the haydn symphony was dazzlingly clean. seeing orpheus makes me wonder why we all can't conceive of orchestral music as glorified chamber music! the musical ideas for each piece are generated by "core" members of he orchestra, and the act of listening is so intense and intimate that it almost feels selfish to spend money on a ticket. it's not so much about owning the music, but rather about respecting eachother's musical space.

the rorem set was wonderful to see if only for the fact that a singer was leading a small orchestra! a personal favorite was the final song, "alleluia" - jauntily and slyly employing mixed meters reminisent of neo-classical stravinsky with the trasparency of early ives. sitting so close to susan graham was a little unnerving: at the start of the set, she seemed stiff, stoic; by the middle, however, she was completely in character, balls to the wall, unbeatable. after intermission, ravel's pavane for a dead princess, led by cal wiersma, was absolutely gorgeous in a hauntingly effusive way.

todd phillips led a romping rendition of stravinsky's danses concertantes, which explicitly reminded me of the octet and symphony in c.

i met up with my luminous pal clio for hot chocolate made with milk (yumm) and a split piece of cheesecake (though we thought it needed something tart and fruity, not caramel sauce, as a finishing glaze).

new york minute

i left my cell phone in a cab today outside the whitney, and by some miracle a very kind guy was able to meet me at a bar on the upper east side to return it.

New York, like Paris, is conceptualized in terms of one's proximity to a subway stop: take the train to 87th, walk over a few blocks, turn south and walk down some more. at some point i stop taking everything in to focus on my destination. street corners blur together, cabs honk and swerve without identity, random strangers meet eachother's glances - smile, scowl.

i realize what i crave about New York is the sense of utter possibility of having an audience, sharing art, n'importe quand, n'importe où. people, faces drift through the city like singularly unique cirrus clouds, somehow crystallized yet mobile. maybe that's why people stare so openly on the train: they are finally able to focus on a single face, to register the harmonious (or un-) features so artfully combined - the way people comport themselves is endlessly fascinating, from incredibly think eyebrows to a proad emasculating squaring of the shoulders.

p.s.

this is my corner of the internet sky, so comment away, mes amants.

listen listen

last weekend (i'm late!) was the look&listen festival...i saw some great art at ok harris and gary snyder/project space, met some stellar personalities - the inimitable mark stewart and fresh face victoria bass of bang on a can all-stars; the charming and musically eloquent jade simmons and svet stoyanov; blogger extra-ordinaires bruce hodges and karissa krenz; so percussion (and their fifth member, luca); fascinating violinist todd reynolds. i wonder, though: does it get lonely, this pursuit?

someday i'll have screenshots, a fleshed-out resume, a bio to speak of. this summer i look forward to some RENCONTRES DE MUSIQUE NOUVELLE avec martin matalon (argentine/IRCAM), denys boulianne, jean lesage, et le NEM (montréal). je suis flûtiste, entendez-moi hurler!

tomorrow i hit carnegie hall for orpheus + susan graham in concert...it pays to be friends on facebook!

maybe karissa is right - that you have to post at least a few times per week for anyone to pay attention. i might be m.i.a. for a spell this summer, but i will do my best (unconscious reference to fox's "dollhouse").

current fixations: herbie hancock's joni letters; issue 07; short films made by people i know; performances involving lamps and interesting distortion effects; simple, clean design; the idea that maybe, someday soon, i will be gainfully employed.

this is the face of dreamy contentment, one reconciled to the fact that it couldn't get much better.

lately

i've been swept up in rehearsals and various things, to the point that i haven't given much thought about the next, oh, 6 months or so. most recently the plan has seemed to be to attend acanthes in austria for two months (music of ivan fedele, bruno mantovani, and hugues dufourt, instructed by the inimitable mario caroli), travel to paris and nice for 2 weeks, hit istanbul for a few days, then back to north america for the domaine forget new music workshop in late august (martin matalon [ircam] will be there). it would be lovely, if i weren't already so broke....

but i digress.

• wednesday april 15, 8 p.m. : jean francaix, sonata for flute and guitar (marc wolf, guitar);
• thursday april 16, 4 p.m. : j.s. bach, triosonata from the musical offering on natalie carducci's senior violin recital (gozde yasar, 'cello and onder cebeçi, harpsichord);
• saturday april 25, 5 p.m.: my final masters recital. repertoire to include telemann sonata in f minor, godard suite, schubert arpeggione sonata, and philippe hurel eolia. my cousin will be there. so should you;
• april 24-26, friday (8 p.m.), saturday (8 p.m.), sunday (3 p.m.): a series of one-acts....puccini, gianni schicci and suor angelica plus the world premiere of raphaël lucas' confessions, a prologue to suor angelica
• Look&Listen Festival, may 1, 2, 3 at OK Harris Works of Art (Fri) and Gary Snyder Project Space (Sat, Sun). tickets are $10. look for me whilst i tear around the galleries.

i have recently discovered the wonders of, in no particular order: savall and the concert des nations triumphant opening to monteverdi's "orfeo" on youtube; the resplendent voice of jessye norman in strauss's last songs; and the aphrodisiac that is sephardic songs.

time

i need a moment. i work hard and sometimes i think, for what? i'm questing for perspective, as vain and simplistic as it is.

i take surreptitious photos with my phone, as if life exists only in fleeting moments, a doorway here, a wild sunset there.

we have a concept. i auditioned for manhattan school's contemporary program last week, and i felt good. nørgård was solid, insistent. i need a moment to take it in, again.

does the numbness fade with sleep? one can only hope.