Beff's semester finishes today, and she is due home after dark tonight. Tomorrow night we take Big Mike out for Chinese buffet
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| OCTOBER 20 Breakfast was a whole wheat mini-bagel, orange juice and coffee. Dinner was microwave ravioli. Lunch was a sub from the sub shop down the hill. TEMPERATURE EXTREMES SINCE LAST UPDATE 29.3 and 67.2. MUSIC GOING THROUGH MY HEAD AS I TYPE THIS Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love" LARGE EXPENSES SINCE LAST UPDATE two Ionic air cleaners, $296 including tax and Staples rewards discounts; topsoil $6; lunch at Betty's Wok and Noodles, $60. COMPANIES THAT HAVE NOT COVERED THEMSELVES IN GLORY Sound Electra -- so far -- for not yet sending bass melodica ordered and paid for a month ago; and the Blue Coyote restaurant for overcooking the ribs I had there. COMPANIES THAT HAVE COVERED THEMSELVES IN GLORY Bridge Records, for the record speed with which they send things I order, and even before receiving payment. PET PEEVE drivers that tailgate early in the morning. POINTLESS NOSTALGIC REMINISCENCE: We had a back yard bordered by the raspberry and blueberry patches (apparently Dad transferred them from a nearby field at some point, and transferred means stole) and yet another yard in back of the berry patches. Which, when I was growing up, we frequently used for little wiffle ball, baseball, or football games. The yard was somewhat narrow, so you had to hit it straight or maneuver through thickets or poison ivy to retrieve it. And hitting it past the apple and pear trees was a home run. I remember playing football, Dick McKeown taking a pass, and the aggressive tackle I made to bring him down from behind. And, finally -- at my 10th birthday party, we played pickle in that yard. I forget the rules for that, but apparently it had two bases and you were supposed to run from one to the other without getting tagged. Fascinating. NUMBER OF HAIRCUTS I GOT LAST WEEK: 0. CUTE CAT THINGS TO REPORT: Cammy loves the box that contained the fire logs, and we can't burn it because of that. UPDATED ON THIS SITE THIS WEEK: This page, Reviews 5 added, Performances, Home. THIS WEEK'S MADE-UP WORD: triskadiddle, a thirteen-stroke rudiment for snare drum. RECOMMENDATION AND PROFESSIONAL LETTERS WRITTEN THIS LAST TWO WEEKS: 6. FUN DAVY FACT YOU WON'T READ ANYWHERE ELSE Since the gout, I crack my right big toe a lot. WHAT THE NEXT BIG TREND WOULD BE IF I WERE IN CHARGE: A whole year's worth of Nobel Prizes that don't make you go WTF. PHOTOS IN MY IPHOTO LIBRARY: 14, 043. WHAT I PAID FOR GASOLINE RECENTLY $2.47 in Maynard. THINGS TO THINK ABOUT my head, ladybugs, a tree trunk, manhole covers, 'Round Midnight.
So much has happened this last two weeks on a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. Lawn mowing season came to a crashing end, and the 09-10 snow innocence phenomenon has also come to a crashing halt. Indeed, one loves to talk about what weird weather swings have happened recently (an NECN Them What Make guy commented "I'm sure this isn't the first time it's happened, but we're still checking the record books"). Today should be mild and sunny, but twice it has snowed, and that's unusual for so early in the season. The teaching phenomenon continues on apace (what does "on apace" mean, anyway? Am I "on apace" to break a record?). A weird Schubert Moment Musical got its airing out in theory, and we listened to and compared both Schumann's and Brahms's setting of Mondnacht, ending in a vote for which is better. In this year's version of that, the reasoning was pretty heated -- it wasn't enough to prefer one over the other. Some students felt the need to pulverize the arguments made for the other side. And it was pretty cool. Cool enough for some students to ask for similar exercises in class for the future. We will, Oscar, we will. Yesterday was chromatic chord kitchen sink day -- dominant thirteenth, common tone diminished sevenths, etc. -- and I got to use the SNL Lawrence Welk parody as well as the video of Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love" because of its fast-and-looseness with augmented triads. Hey, the YooToobs is pretty useful for stuff like that. Typically, as is always the case except the one time it wasn't, Beff had Columbus Day off and the equivalent of a five-day weekend (Friday to Tuesday), which meant she was around a lot, and we got to do married couple stuff together. We may have even held hands at one point, dunno. Of course, Brandeis doesn't take Columbus Day off, partly because of all the Jewish holidays they take off and partly because it's a convenient day to hold an Open House for prospective students, all of whom have Columbus Day off and who are thus available. I played a major part in said Open House, as the guy, with Bob Nieske, representing music at the Big Table in the Gosman Gym. Which meant I answered lots of the same questions we get every year (#1 and with a bullet: "what if I don't want to MAJOR in music"? #2 and sinking fast: "my son/daughter is SO TALENTED") Though this year there were more onlookers who expressed a desire to do composition (which Marty Boykan had remarked was always the case in a down economy). So since Beff was around for such a long time, we sampled the local restaurants, we did. Yes, we really did. And the River Rock Grill, which opened in the place of the old Sit-N-Bull (which, apparently, found out much too late what the consequences were for not paying bills), was on our list. On that Tuesday the 6th, I tried it out for lunch and had a steak and eggy sandwich thing with a Uruguayan pedigree (or so claimed the menu). It was okay. And on that Saturday, we up and went out to it, had wine with dinner, and had -- very underwhelming fare. So it's off our list, and the Cast Iron Kitchen retained its #1 with a bullet spot. And we did go there for our traditional Friday lunch. But not last week, for reasons that may or may not be clear eventually. MWA ha ha. As for other dinners -- I made salmon, which always seems to fall apart on our grill, but which tasted as yummified as ever. And there were chicken sandwiches. And, and, and ... Meanwhile, Gusty Thomas was in town for her BSO premiere and she had agreed to come to Brandeis to give a talk gratis. She also got some great comps for us for the blue-haired Friday afternoon performance -- which explains why no Cast Iron Kitchen. So the talk was spandiferous, as usual, with some nice back and forth. Eric Chasalow had gone to a dress rehearsal, so he could comment on her piece -- Helios Choros II, the middle part of a large 40-minute piece (I and III are the other parts, duh). And there was pretty spectacular attendance (Menachem Zur talked the previous week, and it was good, but less filled to capacity). So then for the Friday of the comp tickets show, Beff first had to go to an appointment with her mouth and gums fixer upper guy, and she got back in plenty of time for us to drive to West Concord to take a commuter rail. Last time I took the 11:07 from West Concord was for a BMOP rehearsal, and it was filled to capacity for a World Series game -- figure out what year that was -- and it was free. This time, though, there was "ample parking day and night" (though it now costs $4 instead of $2 -- thank you, banks that cause the global meltdown), and the trip was easy. We got to Symphony in plenty of time for lunch at Betty's Wok and Noodle (formerly Ann's Restaurant, where in 1978 the #1 special for 99 cents was a cheeseburger and fries). [name drop alert] As we were finishing up, Mikey Gandolfi and John Harbison came into the restaurant, we waved, and went to the show. The hall was two-thirds full, and the conductor was spectacularly underwhelming for Martinu and Stravinsky. Gusty's piece opened the second half, and it could have used more rehearsal, but it was sparkly and colorful, and in-the-middle music -- which is what it is. I particularly liked the farty low brass stuff, but that's just me. Tchaikovsky finished the program, during which Beff and I chatted with Gusty in the hall, and then it was time to come back. For you see, it was Clarinet Day weekend. On Saturday of Clarinet day weekend, we did our academic stuff, which for me included reading 17 papers on Dichterliebe (this year's crop was, on average, better than last year's), as well as the yearly hosta mow -- our front sidewalk scrawny flower big plant plants, and we dug two of them out and discarded them -- requiring a wheelbarrow (beside the white chickens), a shovel, and topsoil to fill the holes left behing. Late afternoon famously featured Beff picking up two of her students who had taken a bus from Bangor to Boston and were staying with us that night. For you see, CLARINET DAY, arranged by Michael Norsworthy, was happening at BoCo. We took the students out to the Blue Coyote, who gave me overcooked (burned!) ribs, but at least the portions were gigantic. And on Sunday, the appointed day, there was a Northeaster forecasted to soak us with plenty of rain, which it did. At first. Beff and students left the house at 7:15 am (breakfast started at 6:15, which on a Sunday is just...wrong) and I had time a) to finish reading the Dichterliebe papers and b) finish the 4-cello movement and thus c) start entering the piece into the computer. The pouring rain happened at the appointed time, and -- completely to the surprise of Them What Make -- snow started mixing in, and even accumulating a little bit. Which, of course, made Beff's drive back to Maine after Clarinet Day a rather long one (she says she got something like a blister on one of her hands from gripping the steering wheel). Meanwhile, I had a dinner with Gusty at the monmentally delicious Chang Sho Restaurant in Cambridge. Well, the FOOD there is delicious. I haven't tasted the restaurant itself. Anyone who has, call me, and I'll update this space. So of course it was looking sloppy out there, and the Them What Make webpages were still saying Lots of Rain, Mwa Ha Ha, and similar things -- then suddenly the Special Weather Statement. "Uh, up we screwed. There's like, some snow out there, who knew? The roads could be slippery, maybe, 'cause, like you know, it's frozen, you know?" So I briefly considered doing a commuter rail, but then did some sideways thinking (I don't know what that is either). I drove in to Alewife anyway, and other than the splishy-splashies, the roads were not bad. I tooled around Hahvahd Square a few minutes, got a yodeling pickle for Mark Kagan, and the dinner, including two Pinot Grigii each, happened as scheduled. It was tasty, Gusty got the steamed tofu, and it was an intense conversation. Did I mention the Pinot Grigii? By the time we finished, snow was accumulating on the sidewalks in Cambridge (che stupido). Nonetheless -- the drive back to Maynard was uneventful save for the splishy-splashies, and the car thermometer said it was 2 degrees warmer in Maynard than in Cambridge. Don't all be beaten by that. And meanwhile, Hannah at BMOP/sound forwarded a Gramophone review of the Winged Contraption CD, which had a lovely pull quote for Marilyn's webpage, and which, ironically, put me into the classification of Composers What Have Arrived (classifications have atrocious grammar nowadays). Since every significant composer I know has, at some point, gotten the "I loved everything about this album except the music" review, and this review is such a review, that puts me into the ... into the ... um, thesaurus? Pantheon? Box? Reviews 4 on this page up was filled, so Reviews 5 now exists, currently holding only said Pantheon review. Now even though it's been unusually cold for this time of year -- did I mention SNOW? -- we set a local pointless record. October 13 was the day we first turned on the heat. Which is the latest in the season since we've lived in this house. As to the 4-cello movement. It was clear while I was writing it that it wasn't a free-standing piece -- crap, meaning it needs two other movements of similar dimension -- and that is was a finale and not an opening movement. In the process of entering it into the computer I also started getting the sense that maybe it was closer to sucking than to not sucking. (is "to not sucking" a split infinitive, or something parallel to it?) It's between five and six minutes of frightfully hard fast stuff, but I won't really know until it's all entered whether it's okay as is or whether the rocks it sucks, if it indeed sucks them, are large. Still, though, I'm using the working title of Cello Shots, and see the Cello Shots 3 link up there for how it currently stands. And what it is, too. And also see the "Concord to Lincoln" link for a fascinating, fascinating movie made with my iPod nano of the view out the commuter rail window as the train moves from (you guessed it) Concord to Lincoln. And last beezy work. I had to write program notes for Mikronomicon. So I did. Trip to California coming up. Contract for residency in Utah coming soon. And I have to write a speech. Beff gets back Thursday night and has a proper dentist appointment Friday morning, after which she may get Whole Foods stuff for our weekend, since it is close to the dentist. And of course our Friday lunch at the Cast Iron Kitchen is back on. Today's pictures begin, as they often do, with kitty kuteness -- said firelog box and how the cats have been using it. Then Sunny sees a bird, extreme closeup of blossoms on the catnip plants, various fall-type shots, the 4-cello piece on the piano with a pretty awful transfer to a smaller size, and Gusty along with the Brandeis composition students. Bye. OCTOBER 31 Breakfast was a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, orange juice, and coffee. Dinner was grilled chicken with mushrooms and steamed asparagus. Lunch was, at the Cast Iron Kitchen, fried artichokes, arugula salad, and fettuccini Alfredo. TEMPERATURE EXTREMES SINCE LAST UPDATE 33.1 and 70.9. MUSIC GOING THROUGH MY HEAD AS I TYPE THIS Chicago's "Harry Truman". LARGE EXPENSES SINCE LAST UPDATE portable Garmin GPS $159, part II of Bangor roof repair, $3800 oil change at Jeefy Loob $33, Beff's new clarinet bell $300. COMPANIES THAT HAVE NOT COVERED THEMSELVES IN GLORY well, maybe Jeefy Loob -- since the oil change Tuesday, when I start the car the "MAINT REQD" light blinks exactly eight times when I start the car up. And K-Mart, for selling me a rake whose two parts had not been joined. COMPANIES THAT HAVE COVERED THEMSELVES IN GLORY the gas station near K-Mart -- who sells firewood bundles for two thirds the price anywhere else. PET PEEVE leaves and pine needles that fall onto areas already raked. POINTLESS NOSTALGIC REMINISCENCE: I was in two acts for Spring Frolics my junior year of high school. I reported here once that we put together a band to perform Chicago's "Harry Truman" while it was still on the charts -- I played trombone, took the tune off the radio, and did the arrangement, all the while wincing every time Bobby Chevalier, the pianist, played the wrong chord. I also played blues piano (in C, of course) blindfolded, with Bob Choiniere, who also played blues in C, blindfolded. On the program, it was only me listed as the pianist, so it must have been a surprise after the introduction to see two of us. We made it through just fine. NUMBER OF HAIRCUTS I GOT LAST WEEK: 0. CUTE CAT THINGS TO REPORT: Now the cats love to look out the open window by the pump organ. And yesterday Sunny bounded and leaped all around the back yard, including running up and down trees, as Beff and I raked. UPDATED ON THIS SITE THIS WEEK: This page, Performances. THIS WEEK'S MADE-UP WORD: tilaginous, describing a jelly-like food shaped like a fish but which tastes like tofu. RECOMMENDATION AND PROFESSIONAL LETTERS WRITTEN THIS LAST TWO WEEKS: 4. FUN DAVY FACT YOU WON'T READ ANYWHERE ELSE my longest burp was 1974, while drinking Fresca, timed at 19 seconds. WHAT THE NEXT BIG TREND WOULD BE IF I WERE IN CHARGE: Northeastern winters that return to the late 80s and early 90s. PHOTOS IN MY IPHOTO LIBRARY: 14, 103. WHAT I PAID FOR GASOLINE RECENTLY $2.57 in Maynard. THE LIST I MADE BUT FORGOT WHY my head, ladybugs, a tree trunk, manhole covers, 'Round Midnight. Trains were in the back of the tub when we had to put the elastic bands back on and watch them fly north. It wasn't that our wagons had lost any of their wheels, and neither did we think we had to put goo into the granite headstones that had been interrupted by magic -- but it did make us lose a little bit of time, and the feathers were telling us to get lost. Over in Cheepsterville, everybody was waking the dogs up and taking silly putty to them. But that eventually faded into the internet. I type this to you, dear reader, on Halloween while Weather Bug on this computer chirps a High Wind Warning at me. Them what make are right this time, as all those nicely raked, bare areas are slowly getting recovered with the just-fallen leaves -- I've been finding out that it is very hard to rake leaves that are still affixed to trees. Nonetheless, we have tons of leaves around us, there are always lots to get rid of, and we have to start earlier than usual this year because we'll lose about 10 raking days to nobody being here. More on that later. First I'm sure you'll want to read all of the tedious prose, soon to follow, about the start of leaf-raking season. And other things. Last weekend and this one, Beff's time in Maynard has been cut short by various things back in Maine to which she is obligated to show up. In fact, as I type this, three days early, and on a Saturday morning, Beff is already on her way back to Maine, with the cats. Today's obligation: view the pep band (or whatever they call it) at a U Maine football game. Lordy. Meanwhile, this fine windy Halloween day brings me into Brandeis for the first composers concert of the year. I had heard some of the rehearsals while I was in this week, and all sounds good. So exactly three weeks ago I took out a rake for the first time and raked up some pine needles near our new yard area. I took out a barrel to bring them to our discard area, and that was a half-barrel's worth. Two weeks later minus one, Beff and I started the raking season officially. Luckily for us, the three big maples that line the driveway and the two in the front yard go bare before almost all the other trees around here, so we can start in on those areas and be reasonably finished before moving onto the other many-yarded area. So with several days of raking in tandem, and with me doing some on the non-Brandeis days, we have just about finished the front yard and the side of the driveway, and we have done first passes in the area around the garage. Total so far: 56 barrels. Total raked last year: 116 barrels. Next raking day: November 13. Yow. And by the way -- my back kind of hurts. Meanwhile, I think I may have reported here that I finished entering a movement of a four-cello piece, and that it may suck, or not. Still no definitive answer on that one, but tuned you should stay. There has not been any new creative attemptingness (see raking, previous paragraph), and I have had to start work on a speech. For you see, on Tuesday I up and drive to the airport in the dark, board a plane in the dark, deboard a plane in the light, board a plane in the light and deboard a plane in the light. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And the last time I deboard I will be in or near Sacramento and looking for the Avis car rental counter. Then on Wednesday I do a colloquium of sorts at UC Berkeley, and on Thursday I give said keynote speech for the Festival of New American Music at Sacramento State, hang out for the gala concert that night, and hang out for Marilyn Nonken's concert the following Monday. Then the next day I board a plane in the dark, etc. The Sacramento trip explains some of why I have purchased a pocket Garmin GPS -- I want to be talked to as I try to find Sam and Laurie's place in Woodland, and CNMAT in Berkeley, and Sacramento State. My cell phone also has GPS, but I've noticed that when the program is running it tends to go brain dead for a minute or two at a time at awkward times. So ... As to teaching, et al, all is well. In fact, this week verged on the first week that all eight private composition meetings happened, but it was not to be -- the last one simply didn't happen, owing to a sleeping through the alarm thing. And I had a meeting of the Experiential Learning committee to go to (I'm on the Experiential Learning Committee). And we finally dispensed with the stoopid Aldwell-Schachter textbook in Theory 2 and are moving on. We talked about humor, bisociation, humor in music, and specifically Mozart's Musical Joke. Shortly a unit on chorale writing is to happen, and two of those classes will be taught by my colleague Eric Chafe. I like when I can find good peoples to fill in for me. And when I get back from California, not only will I have to continue the teaching of chorale writing -- I'll also be thrust back into raking, and hopefully with all the raw material off the trees and onto the ground. One tough thing about this year's raking, by the way, is the yard behind the garage. The neighbor's oak tree has been very acorn-fecund this year, and they have to be gathered by hand. They also make the barrel very, very heavy. So there. And signs of the winter abound here as -- we brought the bikes into the basement, the Adirondack chairs into the shed, the picnic table into the basement, and the chaise lounges from the gazebo into the side porch. My target date for restoring them to the outdoors is March 15, approximately. The hammock is still set up because of today's predicted warm temperatures, but will be basemented tomorrow. Soon you die. The only other time-consuming thing recently concerns my upcoming sabbatical. One has to plan far ahead for residencies, etc., and I did the application for one which was done mostly online, and involved me soliciting some recommendation letters. But the file size limit for uploads is 7 megs, which means I had to send the musical examples via escargot mail. And I started checking the application deadlines for the usual colony suspects, and that means around January 1 for some of them. Lawdy. See, now that's all, and kind of a dull update to boot. Hopefully it can be rescued by some nice pictures. Coming up is, of course, California and back. Musica Viva on the 20th. Going to Albany for Thanksgiving. And, of course, raking. Today's pictures include the big trees in our backyard a week and a half ago, and yesterday. Next, morning and evening shots of Summer Hill (which we see out our front door). Next, Great Road, looking west, in the morning. Next, Cammy trying to keep me from doing my grading. Then, both cats looking out their new favorite window, and Cammy looking from the side porch. Bye. NOVEMBER 14 Breakfast was bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches, potato pancakes, orange juice, and coffee -- and with Geoffy! Dinner last night was salmon aioli, asparagus, salad, and red wine. Lunch was Shepherd's Pie and fried artichokes at the Cast Iron Kitchen. TEMPERATURE EXTREMES SINCE LAST UPDATE 26.2 and 73.4. MUSIC GOING THROUGH MY HEAD AS I TYPE THIS The MIDI of the beginning of the last movement of Mikronomicon. LARGE EXPENSES SINCE LAST UPDATE Car rental in California, $397. Parking at Logan Airport, $192. House gift for SamNLaurie $undisclosed. COMPANIES THAT HAVE NOT COVERED THEMSELVES IN GLORY Toyota, for making the "MAINT REQD" light come on every 5,000 miles, as has just happened on my Corolla. Dudes -- distinguish between necessary and recommended maintenance, I mean, duh. COMPANIES THAT HAVE COVERED THEMSELVES IN GLORY Garmin, I guess, which for $159 got me to everywhere I needed to get when in California -- 'ceptin' it didn't have Arch Street in Berkeley in its database. And Pyramid Brewery in Berkeleyness, for the lovely wings. PET PEEVE SUVs that park in spots marked "COMPACT" POINTLESS NOSTALGIC REMINISCENCE: I lived in the NEC dormitory my freshman year of college, and it was a strange place. People rehearsing stuff in their rooms, violists getting high and walking around with frozen shit-eating grins, people practicing in the hallways, etc. My "fanfare for Christmas" for brass septet which I'd done in high school but was never performed, got an airing in the cafeteria (Deck the Halls in parallel major triads is, in retrospect, not as funny as it was then). And now the story can be told (statute of limitations). On a very cold, icy day, a small window in the bathroom was iced and it would not close. I kicked it trying to close it, and it shattered. Whistling did I, and left. Later, someone who saw it said it was obvious by the debris patterns that someone threw something at it from outside. Whistling did I. NUMBER OF HAIRCUTS I GOT LAST WEEK: 0. CUTE CAT THINGS TO REPORT: They're back from Maine, and occasionally strangely vocal. Still sleeping at the foot of the bed. UPDATED ON THIS SITE THIS WEEK: This page. THIS WEEK'S MADE-UP WORD: schifaginox, a gelatinous compound used to slow down the speed of electrical impulses. RECOMMENDATION AND PROFESSIONAL LETTERS WRITTEN THIS LAST TWO WEEKS: 6. FUN DAVY FACT YOU WON'T READ ANYWHERE ELSE I no longer own any striped socks. WHAT THE NEXT BIG TREND WOULD BE IF I WERE IN CHARGE: Funk is a five-letter word. PHOTOS IN MY IPHOTO LIBRARY: 14, 148. WHAT I PAID FOR GASOLINE RECENTLY $2.97 in California, $2.94 in California, $2.53 in Maynard. THERE'S NO GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS my head, ladybugs, a tree trunk, manhole covers, 'Round Midnight. 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