Las Vegas Ball

Here are a pair of images from this year's Symphony Ball. The theme of the ball was Las Vegas (think late 50s early 60s, rat pack....over the top)

The Ball is the social event of the season; everyone who is a someone attends the gala. This year was no exception. 775 of the local social elite came to eat, drink and be merry. Although the Ball is the single largest fundraiser for the Symphony, most of these folks have never attended a concert.

Here Kelly and I pause to chat with a good friend of the symphony and ours. (Yes, I'm the overly tall giant in the picture.)

The evening began with cocktail hour (cosmos all around) and then led to the event of the evening: the presentation of the Symphony Belles and Beaux.

Yes, our symphony has a Belle and Beaux program - translate debutante. It's an event to present these young men and women to the local society. The presentation includes the young folks escorted by their parents, their name is read, and then the bow and curtsy. (and repeat 78 times)

Following the formal presentation we enjoyed a fairly extravagant meal.Crowned by a chocolate mousse served in a chocolate dice, with a chocolate playing card and topped with fresh berries...divine, simply divine.

Enough of the boring stuff...the end of dinner means the real party can begin.

Kelly and I noticed that the flamingos at the entrance of the party looked a little thirsty. We did the honorable thing and offered the dry bird a sip of Kelly's drink.

Eventually, as all good things must, the evening came to an end. There was much dancing, much frolicking, and enjoyment of each others company.

Double entendre

I have the unique skill of incorporating double entendres into my everyday speech unintentionally. For some reason before escaping from my mouth I have only contemplated the naive nature of these combinations of words and phrases. As soon as they escape my lips and travel the short distance to the listener's ear, well, then there is no going back.

Frequently these lapses in speech evaluation evolve into running jokes. The D.E. of the month is no different.

Here goes:

While preparing for an event recently, I discussed with several colleagues the possibility of lowering a portion of the stage to create a dais. The conversation focused on the appropriate height differential between the dais and the main stage. Realizing that the speaker who would need to cross between the dais and the stage was a shorter gentleman I wanted to make sure that the distance was an appropriate one for him. Further, conversation participants tossed around the idea that the speaker (short man) could talk to the person on the stage without taking the step up.

And then I said....

"But we must remember that eight inches is tall on a short man."

And the rest my dear friends, is the stuff that comprise inside jokes.

Confession

Ok, I'll admit it.

I have techie geek moments. Yep, it's true. I'll admit it. Perhaps it's the science trained part of my brain yearning to explore or maybe it's an unfortunate/fortunate side effect of hanging out with two of best college chums who both happened to big tech geeks. (Yes, they still are...)

On to the purpose of this post...

While aimlessly searching today I found a new web service that will convert files for you. Yes, it removes the need for countless programs to make files work in different platforms. Sometimes technology does make life simpler.

Check out Zamzar

How to be a MegaStar 2.0

Occasionally I am called and asked to work as a stagehand for the local performing arts venue. This week I was lucky enough to be called to work as a stagehand for the Blue Man Group. I worked as a gopher for the video roadies. If you have the chance to see MegaStar 2.0, don't miss it! The show is family friendly and 2.5 hours of high-quality, sensory overload entertainment.

The show was amazing, the strike seemed to be neverending (6 semi-truck loads, appx. 4 hours) and all I got was a stinkin' T-shirt.

Oh, and there was a concert too...

Yes, I added another musician to my list of contacts on the right hand side of the page. In all of the hub-ub related to the MD announcement I forgot to mention that we had a regularly scheduled symphony concert last week. So, my normal concert week level of chaos was increased two fold as I prepped for a major pain of a subscription concert and the MD announcement event. Hmm, maybe that's why I'm beat.

It's Kimbo!

The secret is no longer a secret. Kimbo Ishii-Eto is the Symphony's Music Director and Conductor Designate.

We welcomed him to our orchestra and our community in a grand event last night attended by over a 1000 patrons and curious community members. Many exclaimed that this best kept secret in Amarillo was revealed with the best event in Amarillo.

Making the decision (thankfully I didn't have to choose!), keeping the secret and producing the event was an intense process. One that warranted much celebration and that is certainly what we did.

The Music Director Announcement event began by featuring the members of our brass section performing Dukas' Fanfare from La Peri. The brass fanfare segued into a video that gave a brief history of the symphony and retold the story of the 18-month search process. Following the video a brief speech was made and during a magficient theatrical lighting reveal the identity of our new MD was first revealed to the orchestra, then to the members of the audience. Wow. The air was electrified. Kimbo was welcomed to Amarillo with a standing ovation that lasted several minutes. It was clear that the musicians and audience approved of our choice.

Following the applause, the orchestra performed a few selections under the baton (err, he didn't use a baton...only his hands) of Kimbo. More speeches by important people, presentations of gifts (including Kimbo's first real cowboy hat) and more applause. Following the concert event and many photos, the party relocated to the lobby for the members of our audience to meet Kimbo. Not able to stop the party at the GNC, we relocated to Kabuki where we were graciously hosted by the owners.

Now we can all rest for a day or two.

Video editing

Anyone who has been able to contact me the past few days has probably heard me talk about my editing project for our upcoming symphony announcement event. As part of the grand extravanganza our staff decided that we wanted a video that would recap the history of the symphony and the background of the search process that has taken 18 months. (Honestly, no one wanted to stand in front of an audience of 900 and tell this story; besides a video would allow us to include quirky historic photos) This original idea (and budget) included hiring someone to create this video masterpiece that would be projected on a 40x30 foot screen. That was the idea.

Unfortunately, a series of events intervened and resulted in Sue (a very inexperienced video editor) capturing this part of history in the montage. The link below is the result of my exhausting efforts. Not bad for a first go, but there are things I would change if I could do it differently.

Enjoy!

Secret Identity

Perhaps the best kept secret this year has been the identity of the Symphony's Music Director & Conductor Designate. Last week the local press tried to play hardball and crack the identity of our mystery man before our big public event scheduled for Monday night. The secret identity was the source of a column in today's paper.

Scary Mary and the wonders of video editing

I can't take credit for this one, so I am going to direct you to my friend Chiara's blog. I am fairly confident that this is not the interpretation Disney had in mind when the flick was originally released.

Bear Down, Chicago Bears

Go Bears! If you are looking for a little music to entertain the masses at your SuperBowl party you can download an mp3 of the Bears Fight Song on the Chicago Symphony Website by clicking here. The recording was made the last time Bears fever hit the nation.

From the CSO site

"Early in 1986 as the Chicago Bears football team approached an NFL championship, ‘Bears Fever’ delightfully invaded Orchestra Hall. At the end of a Tchaikovsky-Liszt orchestral concert with music director Sir Georg Solti conducting, applause kept the maestro returning to center stage. Suddenly, members of the Chicago Symphony Chorus—wearing Bears sweatshirts—streamed onstage, and Solti led the Orchestra and Chorus in a rousing rendition of the Bears’s fight song, ‘Bear Down, Chicago Bears.’ The audience joined in singing, and in the two repeats of the concert, the same thing happened with even more ‘performers’ onstage. Backstage people, Chicago Symphony Orchestra staff, and others—including Lady Valerie Solti—crowded in to sing along."

Flamingo

He has been chosen. The next music director and conductor of the Symphony has been selected.

But I can't tell you who.

That's because his (and I can say "his/him/he" because all of the finalists were men) identity is a closely guarded secret. There are less than 20 people in the intimate circle that know the identity of Flamingo.

We are preparing for a grand announcement event that will introduce Flamingo to the Amarillo community.

Ok, so you are probably wondering why I am calling him Flamingo. Good valid question. Well, for obvious reasons we can't use his name around the office or in general conversation so we needed a code name. We couldn't pick a code name that tied directly to Flamingo's identity, so we had to have another logical correlation....or illogical as the case may be.

Several of us in the office are big fans of the television series, The West Wing. There is an episode in the series that talks about Secret Service code names. C.J. Craig is given the new name, Flamingo. Well, if it's good enough for Ms. Craig it's good enough for Flamingo.

As to his real identity....my lips are sealed.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.