Music for all

Things the violas miss about the "Old Nutcracker"

Ok, I know it's true. It's been nearly 2 months since the end of Nutcracker and I know you are thinking it - you miss the Nutcracker! Come on, admit it!
Well, if you were a member of the viola section you would miss the following things about the "Old Nutcracker"
1. The "Party Girls" dance with the dolls. We knw all the moves, and so did the French horns.
2. The painfully slow tempi (at least we could get most of the notes...)
3. The old Nutcracker with the really big white teeth.
4. Ratchets
5. The tricky maze of cords for stand lights that made the pit a fun obstacle course. (Yes, we had battery operated lights for this most recent edition.)
6. The death of the Rat King. We now find him a tad annoying after intermission.
7. The "magically soft overture" Now we have to outplay the booming voice in a battle.
8. The thick "Angel of Death" cloud tha twould spill over into the orchestra pit. You can still smell it, can't you?
9. The violin solo, "Meditation". We heard some absolutely "stunning" performances of this piece.
10. Nit picking. "At the tip!" "Bows Down!" "More crescendo!" "You missed that accent!" "That sounded more like fff instead of ff!" We believe there should be more discipline like that!
11. The Arabian Dance. Oh wait....we still do that one. But we DO miss the guy sticking his flute down his pants.
12. The aromatic stench of sulfur and the defeaning explosions from pyrotechnics. That has been replaced with the exiting "clink" of plastic swords.
And the NUMBER ONE thing the violas miss about the "OLD" Nutcracker -
...The emotioanlly charged conducting that made one pour every ounce of energy into making every note beautiful and meaningful for every performance. The conducting that unashamedly drove each phrase to its glorious climax, not daring to exhale until the music allowed, eyes rolling back, reaching for a cigarette....

Ok, maybe we did leave them in the pit too long...

Updates from Amarillo - even if it's old, it's better than nothing

Yes, as of late I have been a bad blogger. Many apologies to my faithful readers. If you are looking for something fresh to read, check out this blog posting from my friend Chiara. Yes, it's from events that are nearly a month old, but it is fresh reading and faithful readers, that's a lot from me at this point in the month. Enjoy!

27 Dresses

Tonight I went to see 27 Dresses with a friend. I am not going to use this post to comment on the number of times I have also worn a bridesmaid dress.

As a semi-professional bridesmaid I will admit that I chuckled a time or two as a I recognized certain traits and situations from my own numerous wedding adventures.

A note to brides - seriously, if I hear a bride-to-be tell me one more time, "If you shorten the dress it is totally wearable again" I think I might have to have the dress altered for you to wear again.

Truth be told, I am probably one of the few people who has been able to wear any bridesmaid dress again. A benefit of my career? Or the a side-effect of the career as I need to have cost-effective formal dresses on a regular occassion...hmmm

Anyway, my biggest chuckle from the flick came as the bride made her friends (all 27 of them) stand up in her wedding as bridesmaids wearing the dresseses the brides had made her wear in the past. There are times when I have had that very thought...oh the chuckles the vision gives me. Now I know that the idea was not really an original thought, but still one that makes me smile. So, before you choose the gown you want me to wear in your wedding, think about that future probability. (Don't worry - not all of my bridesmaid dresses have been atrocious - only a small handful rise to that level! ;-) )

On hiatus

Yes, it's true - my streak of continuous days in the Globe-News Center has come to an end. Following the concert on Saturday evening, I left the building and began a hiatus from work duties. I am not working on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday of this week. Shocking, eh?

Ok, not so shocking.

A gal named Sue has been busted. She does have to work on Monday. A little bit.

Only a little bit.

There is one meeting at 4 p.m. that she has to attend. But that's it. Honest. Only one.

And give a gal named sue some credit - she didn't work all day Sunday, and that is huge for this workaholic.

In Out In Out In Out

In
Out
In
Out
Stored
Deployed
In-between

In case you heard my tales of woe relating to the mutating stage, the concert took place in standard orchestra position and not one of the many configurations that were experimented with during the week.

Tour de GNC

As of late I have been called to task for blogging too much about my job.

For those of you who voiced this complaint, my sincere apologies.

Truth be told, my world has been filled with work since December 27. Rarely have I had the opportunity for some non-work related fun. Even when I am not working I seem to integrate aspects of my job into my fun.

Case in point, a visit from friends on January 4. (Yes, don't shake your head in disgust - I have been a wee bit busy and this is my first opportunity to blog about a fun evening!)

On January 4 I was lucky enough to have a visit from my friend Chiara and her family. The Yeates family made a stop in Amarillo on their way back from Utah to Houston. Thankfully this stop in Amarillo was not as eventful as their stop in Amarillo in late December. Chiara and I have been friends since high school. Now we live in the same state again, but it is certainly not any easier for us to see each other. (Look at a map, Houston is a long ways away from Amarillo)The Yeates family visits to Utah do mean a stop in Amarillo as it is a good mid-point in their drive.

On this particular visit, I offered to cook the family dinner after their long day on the road. Zuppa Toscana (Ken, I know I need to send you the recipe, I have not forgotten) for the adults and chicken strips with french fries for the wee ones. After dinner it was clear that the boys had been cooped up in the car far too long and my apartment did not have the room that young boys with energy to burn need - so, I offered to give the family a tour of our concert hall - the GNC.

Needless to say, I think they all loved it. The boys ran around in the education room under the light of the ULOs. Kenny and Nathan were great helpers when it came to making sure all of the correct light switches were turned on and off. We explored all of the nooks and crannies of the hall.



Here the family enjoys sitting in some of our prime box seats. (While they are box seats, the sight lines are not that great!)



Kenny even had the chance to make his concert pianist debut as we played the roles of an orchestra on-stage. Not many kids make their solo performance debut at the GNC.


After a thorough tour of the GNC, a tired duo of boys crawled back into the van and were most likely asleep before the van arrived at the hotel.

While our visits are brief, I certainly enjoy spending time with Chiara and her family and only wish it could happen more often.

Praise for Ellis Island

Amarillo Globe-News
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Opinion

Letter: Ellis Island performance was music to the ears

"Ellis Island: The Dream of America," is this year's contribution, from our Amarillo Symphony Orchestra, to the broader education of area fourth- and fifth-graders.
Generously sponsored by the Joseph H. and Arlene Pool Education Series, this uplifting, often touching program featured our ASO as well as five actors from WTAMU who favored the audience with personal stories of immigrants from different countries who passed through Ellis Island.

Also featured was a presentation of scenes from and pictures of people who came to Ellis Island, often with nothing more than the dream of a better life and a willingness to do whatever it might take to make that dream come true.

Whether in person, or by Internet simulcast, many hundreds of the area's fourth and fifth graders were able to view this fabulous production.

One might wonder if the import of such a program would be lost on those so young. It was not lost on at least one young man, whom I overheard comment exuberantly "that was awesome."

If he was moved by the program such that he would comment out loud, even though surrounded by his peers, one might be assured that it reached others as well.

Kudos to the ASO staff and musicians, WTAMU students and the Joseph H. and Arlene Pool Education Series for bringing this program to our area youth and for expanding their education beyond the Three Rs. Well done!

Ken McMillan
Amarillo
------------------------------
Couldn't have said it better myself. Ken, thanks for recognizing the success of this concert experience.

Ellis Island

January's 2nd run of concerts are in full swing and are keeping me a tad busy. Today's issue of the Amarillo Globe-News has a good story about the distance learning component of the performances. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Kelly!

I didn't have time to go to the store to buy you a birthday card, so I developed an alternative plan.

I had 4000 4th and 5th graders sing you Happy Birthday instead.

Can you feel the love? Do you feel special yet?

Now, what to do at the start of Thursday's shows....

Honorary Vegan: A t-shirt explanation

Vegan
def. A resident of Vegas, Texas. A small hamlet in West Texas on Route 66. Host to the CMT reality series Popularity Contest.

Vegan
def. Strict or pure vegetarianism. A philosophy and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. Vegans do not use or consume animal products of any kind.

Vega Texas is in the heart of ranch country. Rest assured that the thought of Veganism in West Texas is unheard of and the last thought that crossed the minds of the residents of Vega when then made shirts for the crew of Popularity Contest naming them Honorary Vegans.

Another member of the blogging family

Apparently my blogging efforts have inspired another friend to join the blogging world. This week, Erin left her mark on the internet with her blog - In the Land of Erin. I look forward to reading her blog in the coming weeks to read of what has transpired in her part of the world.

I do have a few other friends who are bloggers; in honor of Erin's step into cyberspace, I'll add a section in the right hand column of this page that includes links to friends blogs. In that way, if I have been a slacking blogger you can read of my friends adventures instead - this may appeal to the stalkerific side of a few of you. ;-)

Balloon Drop

If you want to ring in the new year with some splash, I highly recommend rigging 4500 balloons in the air to drop at midnight. Although the drop was not precisely at midnight, the effect was spectacular.

Enjoy!



Ingredients:
4500 balloons, 18 volunteers, 5 compressors, 3 spools of pink mason line, many patient fingers ready to hand-tie each of the balloons

Inflate, Rig, fly out, pull cord and watch the spectacle.

Happy New Year!

For the past few weeks I have been diligently working to put together the details for UNCORKED! Uncorked is our signature New Year's Eve concert and gala. This year's concert featured Borger's own John Bayless.

The concert portion of the evening featured a performance in three acts. In Act 1 John was transformed and performed as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The audience was given a look into Amadeus home and experienced a quiet evening alone with Wolfgang performing on cold winter's evening.

In Act 2 John performed opera arias with his friend Valerie Wilson Morris. Act 3 concluded with John's signature set of improvised selections featuring audience favorites.

This was the first show that I ran for a symphony that required the creation of a set. The image to the left shows the results of our set compilation. The effect was fairly impressive. Darryl and Daniel created an amazing light design that significantly enhanced the performance.

This year's New Year's Eve party was in two locations - the GNC Lobby and GNC stage. Moving the party to the stage made a large portion of the evening a production responsibility. One of the focal points for onstage party was a large floral chandelier created by Freeman's Floral. This piece was amazing! Rigging the beast proved to be a little worrisome, but in the end the beast did not fall on anyone's head. The chains on the chandelier are orchid chains and the main trunk of the chandelier was covered with white roses.

The overall effect of the party was grand. To the left is a shot of the party 23 minutes prior to the great balloon drop. Yes, we do have a countdown clock hung in the primary party space. Yes, we do own the beast.

John B. (our guest artist) and I toast in the New Year at Amarillo Symphony's Uncorked! After many days of hard work it was fun to kick back and enjoy the grand party.

Shout Out!

Ask anyone who works with me and you will hear that I am not one to take a curtain call. I work backstage. I work to support the art. I'm not there for the applause.

But I'm human and every once in a while it is nice to get a little love from folks; it is nice for people to know how hard we work to make the impossible possible. This weekend I gave a large portion of my self to making the New Year's Eve a memorable one. Here, Chuck Alexander shows me some love in the form of a shout out. It was unexpected and certainly nice.



Soon I hope to post some other moments from the weekend.

Oh, to be in Iowa again

There are a few times when I wish I was back in Iowa. Today is caucus day, and it is certainly one of those days that I am jealous of the level of political involvement available to Iowans. So, if you are an Iowan don't miss the opportunity. Caucus! Share your political thoughts. Convince your neighbors of your opinion. Be involved in the political process.