The Travels of Alyson & Eric

ch, ch, ch, changes...

2006-09-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

i [eric] decided to set up shop on a new blog. i signed up for a webhosting service [something i hope to take more advantage of in the coming months]. i posted once or twice over the summer, but not really regularly. fall has started, gigs are coming in, new adventures await, i figured now was as good a time to start as any. first post is just a gig list for the fall. as you'll see there's some hecka cool stuff coming up.

here's the new location
http://erawk.wickedzoot.com/

PME J&P 06: Crowdin'

2006-06-05T00:08:00.000-07:00

Last night The Pacific Mozart Ensemble (PME) began it's last season of the year. And what a year it's been. First we went to NY to sing with Meredith Monk. Upon returning we find out The Bernstein Mass was nominated for a Grammy (is was an honor to be nominated). We had an amazing Fund Raiser that showcased a host of new talent. Then we had a 25th Anniversary concert featuring new works from David Lang, Dave Brubeck and a 'reinterpretation' of an old Monk chestnut. This all left us in a bit of a daze heading into our traditional year end show, the A Cappella Jazz & Pops.

The show is a departure from our usual format. As with most choruses, the material is chosen by the Artistic and Music Directors, Dick Grant and Lynne Morrow. The J&P show is something else entirely. Folks in the chorus find or write out their own arrangements, put together groups on their own time, and then audition for a committee. The show isn't, therefore, programmed in the traditional sense. The committee puts together a show from the material provided. As a result the show is never the same twice. Different folks will emerge and fade as stars of the show. Different styles pop in and out as the mood strikes the chorus. It really is a neat phenomena. It's typically our most popular show. We usually sell out 3 shows (as opposed to struggling to fill halls for 2 in other seasons).

My major dog in the hunt this year is an arrangement of Sufjan Stevens' 'Come On! Feel the Illinoise!' from the recent album of the same name. I've been on a bit of a Brian Wilson kick over the last few years. When I heard Stevens' latest I immediately thought of PME taking it on. It's been tough for us to get the hang of it. It starts in an compound meter (1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2 1-2) and then shifts to 2 in the middle. For the non-music geeks in the audience, that's code for hard. Plus, in the spirit of the great Maestro Wilson, there are a million little bips and boops and 'pet sounds,' if you will, all over the place. The stereo affect of all those little parts happening in different spots is pretty cool. Of course, that stuff is way easier to make happen in the studio. Pulling it together live is a totally different animal. I think last night it totally came together. I walked out during sound check and really heard it happening. At one point I lost my concentration cause it was sounding so coooool.

Ok, enough about that. You really want the pics, right? Well here they are. I tried to get every group to showcase the variety of different sounds we produce in the concert. I couldn't get everyone, mostly 'cause it was so damn hot in there that I had to take some breaks!

Enjoy,
-E

Gloomy Sunday

2006-05-28T04:58:00.000-07:00

Gloomy Sunday indeed. When I woke up it was threatening rain. Around here that threat practically a grantee. By the time I got myself going it was pouring pretty hard. I took the time to catch up on some email and practice for the coming PME concert. After a while the rain cleared up so I took a little walk around the city. I managed to get a few nice shots of some of the more interesting buildings in the area. Singapore is interesting that way. There is no central design philosophy of the city. All of the buildings are pretty unique. On the whole it makes for a bit of a mish-mash, but individually it lets designers try out interesting shapes and styles. I didn’t really get around as much as I hoped so I just have a smattering to share with you.

Tomorrow it’s back to work and thank god for that. When we left off on Friday things were just getting cooking and I’m anxious to see how the experiments turned out. For now, here’s all the pics from today.

-E

Singapore Saturday - Sungei Buloh

2006-05-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

So as I mentioned in my last entry, I have Saturday off so what to do? I've been concentrating on work since I got here and didn't really plan for this eventuality. CH tried to get me to book a room on BinTan island earlier in the week but I never got around to it. By the time I tried on Friday everything was booked. I never really take advantage of being here. It always seems that I am wedged inbetween dates and have to get back by a certain time. The very first time I believe the date in question was Thanksgiving. That was touch and go. In the end I flew into the US on TG day and drove the 6hrs to Alisal to have dinner with the family. Whew!

But I digress. What to do with a day off in Singapore? Well, to give you an idea of what it's like here, the biggest event happening right now is the Big Singapore Sale. It is freakin everywhere. Every store has a sign up. The DJs talk about it on the radio stations. It's on every promotional piece I've seen. This is all about shopping. That's one of the things that define Singapore, the stores that for the most part sell western clothes and electronics. I managed to get myself as far away from that as possible. On Friday a friend mentioned Sungei Buloh, and the concierge at the hotel thought it would be a good choice for me. A nice walk in nature, check out some exotic animals, get outside for a while. For the most part it totally lived up to the promise. It was so nice to do something other than sit on my butt in front of my computer or in meetings.

Getting to the park was interesting. It's easy to get anywhere from the hotel 'cause there is a taxi stop outside that's almost always got a taxi waiting. The concierge told me it was dead easy to get out to this place. Taxi out, taxi back. No problem! Well, the first taxi didn't have any idea what I was talking about. The second nodded and said he would take me, then got on the phone to his friend 'cause he didn't actually know where it was! Alright it was pretty tame for an "adventure" but I was amused. When I got to the park I thanked him, but he thanked me right back for helping him learn where this place was. He also said there would be no hope of a taxi back. Hmmm.

On to the park. Frankly it starts off a little disappointing. It's mostly mud flats and trees. It really takes a while before you get into the interesting stuff. One fun thing, though was that the wildlife that is there is not fenced off in any way. About 10min into my walk I almost stepped on a 6" lizard. After that I kept a more watchful eye and was rewarded with a Malayan Water Monitor (Varanus Salvator). As you get deeper and deeper into the park the animals get more and more interesting, and the people get scarce. The park is about 2mi deep. I would say after about 1mi I stopped seeing anyone. I went about 30-45min without seeing a soul. It was nice to feel I was in the middle of knowhere. However, there were one or two times when I got startled by something and wondered if it was so great to be so far out on my own. I'm sure everything was harmless, but sometimes you can't help your mind running off on you.

In the end I walked around for 2-3 hrs. I lost track. By the time I was done I was drenched with sweat. It is indeed quite hot and humid here. I think most of the locals get scarce around 2pm, disappearing into the confines of their air-conditioned flats or congregating in the air-con shopping malls that prevail in the city. As for getting home, remember the thing about the taxi? Well it turns out there's a bus stop about 20min from the park that takes you to the train (MRT). That was pretty fun, actually. I was worried about an incoming storm, but it was kinda cool to ride the bus and train back. For the majority of the drive I was the only Ang-Mo (red-hair) in site. I got some funny looks, but I don't know if it was my skin color or the clear sweat demarcation on my shirt. It turns out I rode the MRT right by work. That was kinda cool. I was basically riding through the neighborhoods of the folks I work with. It's a totally different kind of living compared to what I'm used to. Folks live in flats in big highrise complexes. As you right the MRT they go by one after the other. The only breaks are the occasional industrial parks like the one Seagate inhabits. The population density is staggering!

Ok, that's enough for now. Here are the pics. There's a couple more food pics at the end, just for measure. They are actually from Friday and should belong to the previous post but I forgot em.

-E

Working in Singapore

2006-05-26T04:21:00.000-07:00

Wow it's hard to believe it's been a week already. Time really flies by when you're working. And working on both US and Singapore time. 9am mtg in US? That's a midnight meeting out here. 2pm US, 5am here. You get the picture. Speaking of pictures, I mentioned the food so here's a little food log of some of the vast variety of food available. I have to start off with the fish-head curry. I think the first time we went here (last visit) it was a dare. It's a tad off-putting when you first see the head emerge from the bowl, but it's so tasty I forget. I can't take the eyes, though. When I was here last time one of my colleagues snapped them up. This time we let them be.

That night I had one of my favorite Singapo-la dinners: Laksa. So bad for you. Spicy noodles, some fish and lots of coconut milk. Add some Tiga Beea and it a it's the perfect meal... until the heartburn hits. I love the spicy food, but it doesn't always love me back. In the morning it's always nice to counteract it with some nice dragon fruit. I never see this in the states. It's totally yummy. Watery like watermelon or kiwi, but kinda tart. Delish!

Last night we had a fun dinner with the gang at a Thai restaurant around the corner. Tom Yom Gun soup. So good. Again, so spicy! Of course, since this is all the production engineers, they had to take a time out around 10 for a call. Twice daily. 10am, and 10pm. 3 of them were on the call, but everyone at the table was on the hook if something was going wrong at the factory. It's amazing how hard everyone here is working. As I understand it this is one of the first weekends in a long time where they're not all working both days. That leaves me to find an adventure for tomorrow and Sunday. For now the only adventure I'm interested in is sleeping past 6am. Then we'll see.

For now here's the pics
-E

Singapore Day 1

2006-05-23T00:55:00.000-07:00

Well I am here to work, so this is going to be brief. I have some pics to share. First, one last bit on the journey to the Airport. I can't believe I forgot this the first time. The iPod vending machine. Of course you've probably heard of this. Pretty funny, but what struck me (and others) was the audiobooks for sale. Hardwired flash with just one book on it. Nifty idea, I didn't see whether the battery could be replaced. I'd image there's only a certain number of uses per unit. Disposable audio book. Genius, and expensive.

Anyway, on to Singapore.

Here's a few pics from today. One of the coolest things in Singapore is all the different kinds of food. It's always interesting and usually very good! There are so many different cultures here in such great numbers that they support a large number of highly specific tastes. I remember when Neal was living her he mentioned that hardly anyone eats at home. You can get a very good cheap meal easily at all hours of the night. My 1st forays are pretty tame. It takes a lot of will power to not go crazy at the hotel buffet in the morning. I have to remind myself I'm not on vacation. 10 days of heavy breakfasts add up. Plus if I gorge myself in the morning then I don't get to enjoy the really fun lunch meal. Keep it light. So tough!

Anyway, here's a few pics for today.
-E

Off to Singapore, but first . . . BART!

2006-05-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Oh BART, I want to love you. I really do. But you make it so hard. When I was growing up in the ‘80s you held so much promise. As a kid my grandmother would take me for a day on the BART. We took all 3 lines too every single station. When I think about it now, what a cheep date I was. On and off at the same stop? Couldn’t have been more than $1.50. I loved it! 3 lines. Hmmm. I guess that was the problem. Those 3 lines remained stagnant for years. Then suddenly there was an explosion new stations, Concord extended out to Pittsburgh, a whole new line was put in to get folks out to Dublin. At that point I was working in Fremont. I would watch the BART map blossom with new color. The color I was most interested in, however, was gray. Dotted gray to be exact. You see the Fremont line stops 10miles short of my work. For years now there has been a gray dotted line indicating an extension to Warm Springs. In 2000 (2002?) there was a ballot initiative to provide money to complete the extension. I voted. It passed. The money was spent upgrading existing lines. Sure I can ride my bike. Sometimes I do (although very infrequently). The 10mi takes about 30min by bike (there is a bus, but it too takes 30min and comes so sporadically that timing it can be stressful). If I time it just right I can make it from door to door in about 1.5hrs. Compare that to my normal commute of ~45min to 1hr. And then there’s the cost. Something like $6.50 round trip each time. It’s actually cheaper and way faster to drive. Still I do it when I can. Better to be reading and riding than driving, cursing at traffic and polluting. Maybe one day that extension will come. I’m not holding my breath.

So today I am off to Singapore. Usually I hire a car to get me to SFO, but I thought I’d try public transport this time. I remember in Chicago and London that taking the train to the airport was hell of easy. But then those are cities that value public transportation. As cosmo as we in the Bay Area think we are, we are still very much rooted in the car culture we so quickly identify with the dreaded LA. Maybe we hate LA so much because it is a little too close to us for comfort.

But I digress. My journey starts at 9:15 when I call a cab. I’m up in the Oakland Hills and way way to far to walk to BART with all my stuff. There are busses and to be honest I didn’t even concider that. The cab comes at 9:20 so lets call that my start time. Cab to BART: $12.50 + tip = $15. Holy crap! I didn’t clock it but I think the whole journey is only about 3-4 miles. I timed the train pretty well, it comes at 9:30 and I have a nice long wait to transfer at Balboa. Balboa, let’s just stop here for a second. This is the transfer for the train to Milbrea. As I wait 10min for the train I notice the pigeon spikes everywhere, along with, you guessed it, pigeons. This one made a nest in the spikes. Very effective. But wait! There’s more! Every few minutes these tiny little speakers go off with a terrible shrieking that is supposed to sound like a bird of prey. It is literally painful to listen to, if you’re human! Of course the pigeons are completely un-phased. This picture is taken about halfway through one of these episodes. This was possibly the most annoying transfer ever. Well done BART!

So I got there just fine, at 11am. Total journey: ~1.5hrs, $21. If I hired a cab it would have been more for sure, maybe double, but it would only have taken about 40min tops. Hmmm.., tough call.

BART you’re breaking my heart. Will you ever be truly effective? There are so many cases where you’re more of a hassle than driving. Rarely are you cheaper. If wasn’t traveling alone you most certainly would not be. The BART ticket was $5.60. If I’m a family of four that’s $22.40. The whole problem, of course, is not the system ,it’s getting to the system. If BART was walk-able it would be a no-brainer. But there are so few lines and so few stops that it’s rarely the case.

Well that’s my disappointing story about our meager Bay Area Rapid [sic] Transit. Next post from Singapore should be more exciting.

-E

Clockwork at the National Harmony Sweepstakes

2006-05-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

So last Saturday was the big night. National Harmony Sweepstakes. This is (gulp!) my 4th time performing in the National Finals with 3 different groups. It’s really hard to believe I’ve been doing this for 13 years! I guess this means it's time to get in the way-back machine...

1993: Quintessence. (2nd place in the Finals): John Bennett, Eric Freeman, Neal Cruz, Tony Hale, Tako Oda. We had no idea what we were getting into. The audience response blew us away. The Finals was my first time singing for such a huge audience (~2k!). When they announced us the place went crazy. Talk about your Rock n Roll Fantasy! In the end we lost out the amazingly talented 17th Ave All-stars. When we walked off stage we thought we had it. They went next and showed us how it’s done. People still recognize me from that group. Years later I got to sing with our Bass, Neal, in the Pacific Mozart Ensemble. The reunion was cut short in ’04 when he died in a hang-gliding accident. Neal is still much missed.

1996: The New Originals. (Made it to the Finals, but didn’t place): John Bennett, Eric Freeman, Dan Testa, Calvin, Curt - replaced by Lamont (I think). John (from Le Q) and I tried to get something going after the demise of Le Q. It was short lived. (So short I’m having a hard time remembering the names). We didn’t even make it to next year to host the regionals. Our road to the Finals is a little part of Harmony Sweepstakes lore. This was the year SoVoSo went about 3min over time. They were so clearly the favorite, but the rules stated they could not win. All I remember was a lot of shouting and craziness. It wasn’t until later that I found out what happened. I started working at Seagate and pretty much disappeared from the scene. Dan recently resurfaced at the Denver HS singing with Ignition. Too bad they didn’t win. It would have been fun to share the stage again.

2002: Clockwork v1 (Didn’t place in the SF Regionals): Angie Doctor, Eric Freeman, Jim Hale, Sara Nebeling, John Paddock, Stephen Saxon. In ’98 I started singing with the Pacific Mozart Ensemble. After a few years of all work and no play I need to start again. Little did I know I’d found the perfect home in PME. We do an annual a cappella show and within a year I was cranking out 8-10 arrangements (more than ever before!). At the end of our ’01 show Stephen and Angie put together this group and by the end of the summer we had a few tunes under our belt. We were mostly doing PM Singer type stuff. Angie, John, Sarah and Stephen all have Phil Matson history. We did the sweeps on a bit of whim. Honestly we had no gigs to speak of. We were a little out of our element. Didn’t even place. I think it was a bit of an ego blow for all of us. Later that year the group fell apart for various reasons.

2004: Clockwork (2nd Place in the Finals): Angie Doctor, Eric Freeman, Jim Hale, John Paddock, Stephen Saxon. The hiatus lasted all of about a year. Sara was out of the picture, raising 3 toddlers in Half Moon Bay made rehearsing (not to mention gigging) tough. Stephen was under water job wise and couldn’t commit much time. But the original group showed so much promise that it was hard to let it go. The 4 of us actually started working on some tunes sans bass. I had this arrangement of Inna Godda da Vidda that I thought about trying with a combo. We made a few attempts but nothing really clicked. Then in Jan of ‘03 Stephen re-emerged ready to rock. He started crankin out charts like crazy and we got to work on the ‘Clockwork Sound.’ We did the Sweeps again 1 year later. At the time we weren’t sure if it was the right thing for us. We really didn’t feel like we fit in that scene in ’02. However, it really is the only place in the bay area to reach a decent audience for this kind of stuff. We honestly had no expectations, but ended up winning! Our experience in the Finals was almost an exact repeat of my ’93 Quintessence appearance. We felt like we took it, then watched as Chapter Six kicked our ass. In the end it was a great experience that really kick-started us. We used our prize from the regionals to make our first EP and used the momentum from the Finals to propel us through the production of Tesseract.

2006: Clockwork (3rd Place in the Finals): Angie Doctor, Eric Freeman, Jim Hale, John Paddock, Stephen Saxon. That’s right. We didn’t win. Oh well. It’s funny, I try so hard not to let the competition get into my head, but I can’t help but feel a little let down. We are so much better than we were in 2004. The group feels it, and we get that feedback from everyone we talk to. So it felt strange getting knocked down a peg. I’ll admit I expected to win. It’s a little unsavory this feeling that comes from competing. So that’s enough of that. Let’s talk about what a great show it was. ‘cause it was!

This was one of the best HS Finals I’ve ever seen. I think there are 4 groups that could easily have topped the list (and would certainly in other, leaner years). What that meant was a consistently entertaining and varying night. There were 2 great BBS groups. ‘Great’ because both of them went beyond the medium of BBS. I really enjoyed ‘Round Midnight’s adventurousness in material. There were times I forgot they were BBS (until they hit the tag, of course!). I really regret I missed High Fidelity’s Blackbird. From what heard it was a tour d’ force. Traces closed the show with some great Take-Six-esque material. Those ladies can sing! We had some doo-wop (Regency), classic rock (ElmoThumb and Curious Gage) and Tongue-Tied provided the only collegiate boy-band flavor. I missed their set, but could hear the audience roaring. I think they really benefited from being the only ones. That kind of stuff used to be my bread and butter (LeQ and TNO) but a little goes a long way. There have been years where every single group was like that. I think the audience appreciates a little variety.

One of the nicest things about the night was seeing so many friends show up. I was hanging out in front of the building before the show and seemed to run into a meeelion old friends and family here for the show. I even ran into Jared from my old College group Artists in Resonance and Tony from the aforementioned Quintessence. Clockwork gets so much support from our community that it’s a little humbling. It makes me want to be even better so we can justify the outpouring.

So that’s the report. Turned out to be more of a history lesson. Oh well. In the end it was a just a great concert and we are all grateful to have been a part of it. Here’s a series of pics from the show. (Mostly before sound-check, etc). Enjoy.

-E

06 Harmony Sweeps Photo Album

Trees and Flowers

2006-04-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Alyson and I went down into the yard to check out the tree carnage. For those who are interested there it is in all it’s gory. I have to point out one astounding thing. We were so lucky the tree fell across the back yard. It missed any structure and only caused damage to one or two other trees. If it had fallen backwards it would surely have gone into the neighbor’s yard and possibly their house. Now the Pine tree is huge. I haven’t measured it, but it must be a good 3ft in diameter at the base. Right next to it is an Oak tree that is maybe 6” in diameter. If you look carefully at the picture you’ll see that the Pine actually started to fall one direction, but was then re-directed by the oak. That tiny little oak trunk was strong enough to redirect the tree ~30°, which was just enough so that it missed everything. If not for that tiny little oak…. Perish the thought.

Now I know this might seem hard to believe after that, but there are a lot of upsides to the extended rainy season this year. Not the least of which is a veritable bumper crop of flowers springing up everywhere. Alyson and I took a walk on Sunday and I brought my camera to catch some of the wonderful flowers blooming all over. It turned into a leisiurly stroll, however, because I had to stop every 2 minutes to take a picture of yet another crazy flower or blooming tree or wild blossoms, etc. I only regret we didn’t come across one of those insane poppy patches that have bee cropping up. Mostly I’ve noticed them in traffic dividers, a little traffic island transformed into a bright orange triangle. When I get a good pic I’ll post it. For now I have a library of 84 (gulp) pictures. I understand if that’s too many for a quick look on the internet, but there they are anyway.

Are there really more flowers this Spring? Is it just sensory deprivation? I don’t care if the change was in the foliage or in me, walking amongst it has been awesome.

-E

Tree Pics
Flower Pics

How Much is it Raining?

2006-04-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

So I come home and notice that the house seems a bit brighter. As I approach the big window I realize that something is missing from the skyline. I thought a branch fell off one of the pines out back, but I couldn't find the spot it fell from. Then I realized, the entire tree fell! According to a neighbor it happened about 8pm on Friday. The tree is huge! It fell across mine and my neighbor's house. Luck lucky lucky. If it fell straight back it would definitely have landed on a house. By falling sideways it avoided any structures altogether. It did, however take a few trees with it. I took some pics, but it's so muddy down there I couldn't get a good shot.

Take a look at the stump. It looks like the tree just got so heavy and wet that the base folded over. It makes me a bit nervous about it's sister. There's another tree just like it right next to where it used to be. With the 1st tree gone, it's easier to see just how precarious the 2nd is.

Needless to say, I'll be very happy when the rains stop. Check out this scary graphic from the Friday Chron. I guess is was inevitable that one of the trees would wave the little white flag and give up. Again, thank goodness nothing really bad happened!

-E

Australia Continued ... Too Many Stories to Tell!

2006-04-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

Wow we’ve been back for over a week now and I still have so many pics to show you. I think I started getting some carpel tunnel on my snapping finger (sorry to be such a winjer). I noticed I have less and less pics as the trip wore on. Rest assured, however, that Alyson is sitting on a motherload of something like 1000 pictures. I’m sure they’re all coarkers.

For now, we have some lovely pics of our visit to Phillip Island with A’s aunt Honor and Harold. We rented a car for the drive which gave me a chance to reacquaint myself with the left side of the road. Only got honked at once, I’m proud to say. Honor and Harold introduced us to their friend Patricia who’s been living on the island for ~50years! She ended up giving us a nice tour of the place. There was a bit of excitement in the Koala park. Two of the Koala’s got in a scrap while we were there. It was a bit freaky as they kept swiping at each other without falling off. Much to the horror of the other patrons, good ol’ Patricia walked right up to the base of the tree and started whacking it with a stick to make them stop. When the other folks started admonishing her, she basically told ‘em off. She’s been on the island so long it almost feels like it’s her island. She can remember doing that when the Koalas would go at it in her own back yard!

There’s too many stories to tell about our trip to Australia. Maybe Alyson can talk about the Penguins and our fun trip to see the home of CJ Dennis up near Toolangi. Of course there was more visiting friends and family. Walking around Melbourne was a trip due to the Commonwealth Games. They had a very cool installation of floating fish on the Yarra. We managed at one point to get up to a nature reserve up north to see all the freaky native animals. For now here’s the rest of my pics. When A finishes her thesis we can go through hers to post here as well. Thanks to all of the clan for a fun 2 weeks (even if it was a bit Melbourne centric ;->).

Day 6 Pics (Wandering around Melbourne, Hanging with Emma and Jol)
Day 7 Pics (Visiting Phillip Island with Honor, Harold and of course Patricia!)
Day 8 Pics (Singing Gardens, Rainforest Walk)
Day 9-10 Pics (Last days, Healesville Sanctuary)

That'll be all for a while, but there will be more I'm sure. If you want to see the earlier pics, scrole down to the earlier posts.

-E

Chevy Provides a Nice Digression

2006-03-30T22:55:00.000-08:00

So Chevy thought it would be cool to host an on-line contest where participants make commercials for their car. Evidently they haven't started screening the entries yet. You might want to check this out before they start deleting them.

Commercial #1
Commercial #2
Commercial #3

(all shamelessly pulled from Democratic Underground)

When you're done with that, try this:
http://www.filmstripinternational.com/

-E

Australia Continued ... The Wedding

2006-03-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

So it’s raining outside. Welcome back to the States, huh? Oh well, it just gives me an excuse to post pictures of sunny sunny Melbourne. If you read the last post and got all confused, allow me to explain. Although the timing is uncanny, Alyson and I did not go down under for the Commonwealth Games. Those of you in the US might wonder what they even are. It’s basically summer-type Olympics for members of the Commonwealth. It used to be called he Empire games because the members of the CW are former members of the British Empire. I know I know so are we. I guess the Empire games started well after we revolted. There is, of course, no media coverage in the US. In fact, we had no idea they were in Melbourne until we arrived. But I digress. Today’s pics are from our time in Queenscliff. I’ll come back to the games later.

The main reason for the trip was the wedding of Alyson’s cousin Emma. The event brought all of her extended family (on her dad’s side) to the sleepy seaside town of Queenscliff. All of her dad’s brothers and sisters brought their families from the far reaches of the continent; Melbourne, Perth and Newcastle. It’s a big country so it’s rare to see all of those people in the same place at the same time. We had a great time catching up with everyone over the course of 3 days. Much beer and wine was consumed. Stories both tall and short were told. The wedding itself was beautiful. Emma and Jol were the picture of the loving couple. They also put on a hell of a party.

There were so many great moments, but I just have to recount one. The wedding took place in a farm about 10mi outside Queenscliff. Those of us staying in own took a specially chartered train to and from the ceremony (very freakin’ cool!). When the train left at midnight we were all still in a bit of a partying mood. The clan all piled into one car, along with one poor solitary couple. I never found out who they were, but I’ll bet they regretted their decision all the way home. They remind me a lot of my own extended family. We tend to take over a room. In this case it was a train car. We were already pretty loud when Yvonne decided it was too hot for pantyhose. Then the train stopped (musta hit a wallaby or something). Somehow they ended up on Don’s head. When we finally made it to our destination our poor couple in the back couldn’t get off the train fast enough!

Ok, enough for now. Here are the pics from Queenscliff
Day 3 Pics (The Wedding!)
Day 4&5 Pics (Drive along the coast followed by dinner back in Melbourne)

Next post: Melbourne, Phillip Island and Beyond!

And We're Back!

2006-03-26T14:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the vacation was a little light on the blogs. Web access was harder to come by than I expected, and really we didn't have much time for it anyway. We flew in this morning so this is just a quick note to let anyone out there know we are home safe and sound. I have a Meeelion pics so for now you can check out day 1 & 2 here:

Day 1 Pics (We arrive and have dinner with Aunt June and some of her fun friends)
Day 2 Pics (Lovely drive down to Queenscliff to meet up with Alyson's family)
-E

We Made It!

2006-03-20T13:14:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say we made it to Melbourne. I know it’s about a week late, but we haven’t had any internet connection since we got here. Even this post is on dial-up so alas no pics yet. Maybe later we’ll find a café to do it proper. I thought it was awful nice of the city to throw us such great party on our arrival. The whole city was a buzz!

The last few days have been spent in beautiful Queenscliff, attending a wedding and hanging out with A’s extended fam. There’s been a touch of eating a drinking. Now we’re back in the city and the families are starting to head their separate ways.

Expect pics and stories and what-not later. For now I’m just touching base to let anyone know we’re here and having a great time. Hope all is well back home.

-E

PME Sings for Brubeck

2006-03-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

This year is the 25th Anniversary of The Pacific Mozart Ensemble. Our director put together an amazing program for the 25th Gala. We're going to sing Mozart's unfinished Mass in C Minor. Dick managed to get 3 composers that PME has worked with to contribute the missing movements! Cool, huh? Now look at the list of composers: Meredith Monk, David Lang and Dave Brubeck! Oh-yeah! The Lang and Brubeck are new works that PME will be premiering! Can it get more exciting? Well, what if Dave Brubeck stopped by rehearsal to see how his piece was going? Yike! Maybe a little too exciting!

So last night Dave dropped by with his wife and producer to see how we're doing. To set the scene I have to mention that the piece is freakin' hard. It's got some really unforgiving passages that test the stamina of the group, some poly-tonal stuff that challenges our ear and goes really really high. The poor Sopranos are way in the top of their range for most of the piece. That said, there are some very cool moments and we worked really hard to get them right. Over the last week there have been 3 extra note rehearsals, a lot of woodshedding and a bit of handwringing.

The result? See for yourself! Dave was very happy. There were some awesome moments when we'd hit a section and he'd throw back his head letting out a little whoop! Boy was that rewarding. Even the normally gruff Russell was appreciative. I believe he actually gave some praise to the Altos. Lynne was working her ass off but I think Dick was in heaven. It's one thing to meet a musical hero. It's another thing to actually work with said hero on their music. All in all it was a successful night (topped off with a little B-day cake for yours truly)

Next stop Australia! Alyson and I are heading down under tonight. We'll continue to blog when we can (I hope everyday, but you never know).

For now here are the pics from last night

See you on the other side of the world,
-Eric

Columbia Jazz Festival

2006-03-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Clockwork got to participate in the wonderful Columbia Jazz Festival. We spent the days listening to Vocal Jazz groups from Jr Highs, High Schools & JCs. Some of the groups were downright amazing. Rod Harris puts on a great weekend for all the groups attending. At the end of each day there is a big concert with all the participants and Rod's big bad band.

One of the real pleasures of the weekend is getting to work with the Masters that Rod assembles; Don Shelton, Barbara Morrison & Phil Mattson. They played together a few times and it was simply magic!

The big drama on the 1st day was the weather. It snowed on Friday morning so there was a beautiful layer of snow on everything. I thought it was wonderful until I saw some of the folks from San Bernadino walking around in their fancy dress. Later Rod mentioned that the campus was totally closed due to liability concerns. He managed to convince the PTB to let us stay, but then the power went out. We were forced to continue in the Library sans sound system. We were OK doing a 1hr clinic off mic. It gave us a chance to talk about the differences. But then when it was time for the groups to resume we were in a bit of a bind. Almost all of them work with a rhythm section, which is something most libraries lack. Funny that. Eventually 2 of the groups agreed to take one for the team and perform acoustically in the tight rehearsal spaces. It ended up being fun, with the singers right on top of the audience. Both groups did a great job!

Clinics are kind of a new thing for me. Last year was my first time and I haven't done it since. After each group finishes their set one of us takes 'em to a room to work for a while. I'm not ashamed to mention here how nervous I am about that. It's a little scary to be in a room with all those talented kids expecting you to tell them something useful, especially when I can't play piano or actually direct. There were actually a few times when I threw my hands up and told my fellow Clockworkers "I have nothing to tell this people." Fortunately there are 5 of us, so there was always one who could work with the group in question (even if it was just to tell them "you rule, this is an awesome time for you, enjoy it!"). But back to the clinics. A couple of things happened. 1st, I found I did have something to contribute after all. Once I got past my jitters and started to talk to the kids it would just come flowing out. The most rewarding thing was watching a section of music improve as we worked it. I think there are some techniques I've come to take for granted because we use them all the time. Of course, when the big concert came we had to remember to do all those things. In that sense we actually spent some time this weekend working on ourselves as well. Win win!

I took a lot of pictures. I was trying to get at least one shot of each group, but I regret I didn't get everyone (particularly when I was working on another group!). There are so many pics this time I decided to split it up:
Day 1 Pics
Day 2 Pics
The color depth is reduced to save space. If you want full figured versions then leave me a comment below and I'll email them to you. They're ~3-5Mb a piece.

OK that's enough for now. I'm excited because we got invited back next time. This is quickly turning into one of the highlights of every year for me.

-Eric

Clockwork on KPIX

2006-03-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

Wow we are hot on KPIX right now. You might remember a few weeks ago KPIX did an awesome piece about PME and the Bernstein Mass Grammy Nod. Well after Clockwork won the BA Harmony Sweeps this weekend, we scored an interview with Bill Schechner of the Weekend Morning News. Cool cool cool! We met at Crowden School in Berkeley (peemer rehearsal space), sang a few tunes and talked for about a 1/2 hour. I have to say the interview was quite enjoyable. Bill knows a lot about music, especially the 60s jazz and old Broadway songwiters that provide the bulk of our material. He brought up a connection between Hoagy Carmichael and Back Home Indiana that frankly stumped us. Hoagy didn't write the song, but there's a strong Indiana connection so good guess. I found a nice (long) article about it at our old friends WNYC. (I'll be honest I haven't read it yet). We in turn had a fun time talking about singing and discussing the things we love about the A Cappella Jazz medium. Jacquie was there so I enlisted her in taking a few photos. Thanks Jacquie!

Bill told us it's unlikely the piece will air this Sat due to Oscar coverage. Maybe next weekend. I'll be sure to keep y'all posted.

Next stop, the Columbia Jazz Festival.
-E

Yay Clockwork!

2006-02-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

What a night! Clockwork sang at the Bay Area Harmony Sweepstakes last night and won the whole freakin' thing! Audience Favorite and First Place. Amazing. It was such a great show this year. The strongest I've seen in a while. Every group had something very cool to offer. The big story this year was of course The Blanks. One of the guys in the group plays Ted on Scrubs and the group's had the chance to sing on the show. (TV aside - Scrubs rocks. It's one of a short list of shows that I'll actually make time for. Scrubs, Arrested Development, Larry David, The Office. That's about it for me these days. No laugh track. Sharp dialogue. Respecting the intelligence of the viewer etc etc...)

But I digress. The Blanks were Hilarious! They did a dead clever bit where the fifth singer was a toy soldier doll timed to fit their tune perfectly. And they finished with an awesome rendition of the Theme from Superman. I talked to the guys after the show and they told me not to expect a recording any time soon. Evidently the Superman peeps won't clear the lyrics. This sucks ass 'cause I'd really like to play it for some folks.

Did I mention the host group Moodswing. We didn't get to hear them much 'cause we were running around, but I did managed to catch them singing "Calling You." This totally haunting tune by Jevetta Steele comes from the 1988 movie Bagdad Cafe. I've always loved this song. I actually remember having a conversation with some folks from the Nylons way in the way back about working up this song. Yay for Moodswing. They knocked it out.

Anyhoo, everyone's really excited today. The big prize, of course, is that we get to sing in the Finals in San Rafael. (May 6, mark your calendars!). For now here's some pics from last night.

Thanks to everyone that came out. Especially thanks to Jacquie and Penny who came and handled the merch table. Also to the lovely and talented Trish Tillman worked with us on our presentation? Yes, that same Trish that was invaluable at the PME Fund Raiser. She worked her magic on us over two rehearsals. I think it pushed us over the top. Thanks Trish! Also, those 2 rehearsals were at space provided by your fellow Peemer Bryan Matheson. We are very lucky to have such good friends.

-E

Upcoming Gigs

2006-02-23T23:55:00.000-08:00

This is an incredible month or so of gigs for me. Just thought I'd get it all in one place:

Feb 23: Mirabai Ensemble Radio Broadcast at 11pm on KPFA 94.1FM. I just joined these guys and this radio broadcast will be my maiden voyage. Not nervous. much. ok. maybe a little.

Feb 25: Clockwork in the Bay Area Harmony Sweepstakes. This will be our 3rd time around! Yikes I guess we've been around for a while, then! Last time ('04) we won and went to the finals. Wish us luck.

March 3 & 4: Clockwork at the Columbia Jazz Festival. This is a super fun weekend where we get to work with high school groups and perform with a huge allstar band that includes Phil Mattson and Don Shelton.

March 5: Mirabai Ensemble at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society in Half Moon Bay. The big gig with the Mirabai. 7 singers, 8 players, big music!

March 31: Clockwork at the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival. Never done this one before. If it's anything like Columbia I can't wait!

April 1 & 2: Pacific Mozart Ensemble 25 Anniversary Concert. Big big big. Mozart C Minor Mass with Dave Brubeck, Meredith Monk and David Lang providing the missing pieces. Cool cool cool.

April 8 or 9: The Virgin Killers (Scorpions Tribute Band) somewhere. For a quick tutorial on Tribute Bands check out "The Reason" (You'll need the latest Flash). Sadly the VKs are not featured, but 3 of my band mates are featured as part of the Rocket Queens.

June 3, 9 & 10: Pacific Mozart Ensemble Spring Jazz and Pops Concert
Always a good time.

2008: Vienna perhaps?

-E

Yet Another Magic Weekend

2006-02-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

Seems like every time Alyson and I go to Tahoe it's about 10° outside. Makes for some pretty landscapes and some new landspeed records getting from the car to the house! Ok, so it wasn't 10° the whole time, but it never cracked freezing. And it snowed every day. So freaking cool. We spent the weekend at Sorensen's playing in the snow. Man that place rocks. It's on Hwy 88 so there's way less people than in Tahoe proper, but it's close enough that we could get into South Tahoe when we needed to. (fyi Starbuck wi-fi is a wiffing rip-off!)

We went Snowshoeing and Alyson liked it! This is an excellent development. Look forward to many snow-shoe reports in the future! We were pretty much the only poeple out there. Every track that we could see in the snow was our own. Achingly beautiful landscapes all covered in snow. What could be better?

For now you can enjoys some pics from the weekend. Here's my favorite
-E

Final Grammy Wrap-up

2006-02-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

You may recall me announcing about 400 times that the Bernstein Mass got nominated for a grammy. Ok, so we didn't win. Whatever. The group was so jazzed about the whole thing. We sent a huge entourage down to the ceremonies. Lynne and Dick returned to regale us with stories of the evening. Gene put together a slide show of the evening. All good fun!

Gene was our man on the scene, using his camera phone to take some pics that he then im'd to me on my phone so I could then email them to the group. It was all good fun:
"doot doot doot ... doot doot doot...
Dateline Burbank. Our intrepid reporter Dr Gene is on the scene for the 2006 Grammys Award Show! No cameras allowed inside but that doesn't stop this resourceful fellow! In an early morning communique we see a bleary-eyed Hern tanking up for a hard day's work of partying and basking. How will we get those images without a camera? Why he's got one of those new-fangled contraptions on his phone! Welcome to the aughts dear reader. As the info and images pour in we'll keep this conduit open for all the latest breaking news! Good morning and Good Luck!"

Ok, so I got a little dorky on the day, but dude it's the Grammys! I remember once when I was at Cal (you know, back in the dusty old 80s). The Cal Chamber Chorus was nominated for a grammy. I don't remember if they won but boy was I jealous! I was singing in the totally fun, but pretty fringe Perfect Fifth. I say fringe 'cause it was not an official Music Dept group, just a bunch of people who liked singing. Our director Tony Pasqua is one of the most influential people in my musical life. He probably doesn't even remember me, but I learned a ton singing for him in that group. He didn't know it at the time, but he was basically teaching me how to run a rehearsal. I took that training and put it to use in a ton of a cappella groups over the years. I heard recently that Tony's still banging around the bay area directing choirs. I hope we cross paths again.

Wow what a digression! Did I mention I met Gene at a P5 Audition? That's a great story for another time. Back to the freaking Grammys! There's more good stuff! For example, here's one of Gene's dipatches. Don't they look pretty? Ok that's a totally rhetorical question. Yes. Yes they do look pretty. Hell if I saw them coming down the street I'd invent some kind of award just so's I could give it to them!

A big bonus was some free publicity on local TV. The week before the show. KPIX filmed a rehearsal and followed a few Peemers around for a new piece. The piece aired the night of the grammys and is hopefully still on-line here. You have to wait about 5min but then there we are in all our glory. Super cool. You even get a brief shot of yours truly singing in our fabled pre-Berlin concert. (If I've related this story to you, you'll know that concert was full of false hubris that was summarily dispatched upon arrival in the German capitol.)

Ok I think that's it for this round of PME glorification. I hope there is round after round after round! Here's the rest of the pics. (be aware, there's none too many and they're mostly camera pics)

-E

Some cool photos

2006-02-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

PME Fundraiser.

Mom's show at Photo Central.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Reading

2006-02-08T00:09:00.000-08:00

Tonight my hands won’t stop moving. I feel like I am still running around. Tonight I read at Mills in front of a lot of people. I read as part of a series of readings I run every few weeks or so for my TAship, where graduate students read their work. This time, I read mine. It was very cool because I got to read with two of my good friends and my advisor. So many people came to hear me read, I was overwhelmed. I was very nervous to invite anyone and then I was so glad that they came.

I have mostly been writing creative non-fiction lately about teaching. But my old love is poetry. That is what I went to school for and write the most so that is what I read. My poetry is basically just talking about my life and experiences, the hard things and the things that makes me really happy. It’s basically like getting up in front of a lot of people and talking about the really intense times in my life, and those are people I know. AND those people are people I really respect. Yeah, you get the picture. I read a poem that is very important to me about my dad and I also read a poem about Eric, who was there. Two very intense pieces for me.

Going back to graduate school has been a big adventure for me. Taking time off teaching, moving to New York to start an MFA, moving back and going to Mills, trying different kinds of writing, doing something that I love just to have the experience, meeting so many new people, telling my own story in my own way- tonight in some ways felt like an accumulation of all that. Some times were very fun, some were very hard. It was so wonderful to have my friends and family there. It was great to look out and see people that I love and also so many great people in my program who have been so encouraging and welcoming to me when I transferred to Mills midyear as a new student. It was also wonderful to go to dinner with Eric and Mom and James and Daniela afterwards. I guess that’s what family is- the people who come to hear you read, wait while everyone congratulations you, and then take you to dinner afterwards when the crowd is gone and your hands are shaking. The five of us in the car together joking around after the reading was one of the highlights of my day.

I really appreciate everyones love and support,
Alyson

Works in Progress

2006-02-07T23:25:00.000-08:00

So tonight was the big night! Alyson read a bunch of poems at the Mills College 'Works in Progress' event. It was so much fun to go and watch her do her thing. I've heard some of her work in private. They are deeply personal and revealing. I understand it took some major cajones to read them in public.

(So sorry for the poor picture quality, all I had was the phone to take pics with. My other camera is on special assignment in LA. More on that in my next post!)

Alyson of course brought the house down. You could hear a pin drop while she was reading. She had the place totally in her grasp, then when she finished it erupted with applause. So cool!

Alyson's friends Erin and Loet were there reading poetry too. I actually thought I would enjoy the prose more. I do likes me a good story. But the triumvirate of poetesses changed me around. I ended up liking them the best!

Some of our Peemer friends came too. Here's Kate talking to A's Mom. She came with Eli and we also saw Gretchen Nicholson and Alexis too. Yay to the Peems for the support. Alyson really appreciated it.

Ah, but gentle reader, did you think I would leave you out of the fun? I managed to secure an exclusive for this here website. I happen to know the Poet intimately and convinced her to let me share one of her works with you. So here for your reading enjoyment is her Poem "My Girl." -E

My Girl

Will know the structure of a woman
How to hold a butter knife
The curve of tongue
How to change a tire.

I will teach her the quality of light at gloaming
The shape of longing
The way a voice curls around sorrow.

Entering into this world divided
She will learn to decode the printed page
Hold a man stiff against her
Feel the ground beneath her feet
The spring of a basketball
Her palms wrapped around kneading bread.

She will learn fighting and swimming and sex,
How to hold a hammer, a child's hand, a gavel,
The shape of a woman's body, the way a man breathes in sleep.

She will fight strong and fair, velvet fisted, flinty eyed, feet planted,
Dive into the belly of the beast and crawl her own way out.

-Alyson, 2006

Tilden Park

2006-02-05T22:34:00.000-08:00

Today Eric and I went hiking in Tilden Park. It was beautiful. The sun was shining and we hiked so high we could see the Sierras, Hunter's Point, Mount Diablo, and the San Pablo dam, which I had never seen before. There the moss on the trees that was intricate and textured, a million different shades of greens and grays. We hiked until sunset, silvering crimson over the Bay.

We also went over to Gene and Kim's house to watch the very very end of the Superbowl. We used tivo to watch the cool commercials. My favorite parts of the superbowl: the winning coach cried and hugged his girls and his wife, the Dove commercial about girl’s self esteem. Slow changes that give me hope.

I am really looking forward to going to Australia in March with Mom, James, Eric, and Daniela. The smell of the eucalyptus tress at Mills are reminding me of the hugs and jokes of my family and every time I hear someone telling me "no worries" it makes me smile.

Sunset, silvering crimson
your rough fingers against mine
breathing mossy green trees, misting amber twilight

- Alyson

Next week: The Amazing Adventures of Grass-Pod and iGal

Part 1: iGal Gets a New Hat (and Grass-Pod thinks it's dashing):

Alyson's Sense of Humor

2006-02-01T23:13:00.000-08:00

"That's a great picture sweetheart. You should definitely blog it." - Alyson

I'm not sure if she's being totally straight with me. You be the judge:

Actually we were at Anna's Jazz Island in Berkeley. Might be a nice place for Clockwork to sing. However, judging by the number of patrons (14) for this awesome guitarist (Calvin Keys) it doesn't look good. I wonder how long they can stay in business.

-E

Pacific Mozart Ensemble Sins and Virtues

2006-01-31T23:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend PME is having our annual fund raiser concert. Tonight I got to see most of the show and it’s pretty awesome. We have some powerful singers in our midst. Here’s a few pics. I took so many of the singers, but actually this one is my favorite!

Oh God here I go again. I’m not gonna have too many friends left if I keep this up…

Going into hiding now, -E

All the pictures: 06 Fundraiser Rehearsal

The Mass that Keeps on a-Massing

2006-01-30T22:50:00.000-08:00

You know what's cool about grammy nods? More press! First there was this great article on CNN: "A 'Mass' 35 Years Long"

Then KPIX decided to do a story on us for their Grammy night coverage. Tonight they came to film one o four rehearsals. Then they're gonna follow a couple of peemers around their dayjobs. Needless to say PME came out in droves tonight. I couldn't resist a chance to get a pic of the group in full force. That's 53 singers plus Dick and Kymry.

Of course, now that we're all famous-like, we gotta be careful. You never know what the paparazzi will catch you doing . . .

Oh Doug I'm sorry I couldn't help it. If I fix your computer will you forgive me?
-E

Friends in Fun Places

2006-01-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

I've known Michael Papenburg for quite some time now. I've seen him in a buncha different bands. I even got to play with him once (STERNUM!!!). He and his wife Tina are 2 people that I feel lucky to have had in my life over the years. Sometimes it's hard to find the time to hang out, but I try to get to his shows when I can. Last year they started a movie club. It's a great excuse to hand out with them and some new friends like Jeff Hansen (see below).

Last Tuesday A and I went to go see Michael and Jeff play at the Hotel Utah. 3 bands on the bill and Jeff was in two of them! He started off with his own band Here at Home. Nice songs. The keyboard player looked like he was still learning them! Sounded great though. Testament to good players.

As if that wasn't enough, he then ripped through a set with another band (the name of which escapes me, sorry Jeff). I guess they asked him to join after he booked this gig with his other band. They had a fun sort of Social Distortion ibe. Here's a pic of him shredding:

Finally Michael got up with his new band Sebastian. Pretty pretty pretty. I guess that's always been my experience with Michael's bands. I missed the early "hair days" and the Cocteau Twins effects. By the time I met Michael he was playing with Penelope Houston (which rocked my world). Over the years I've seen him apply his style to a couple of different projects. He's very good at creating cool sounds that add too, but don't interfear with the overall song. This was no exception. The lead singer was kinda soft spoken so there's not a lot of room for Michael to fit under. But still he got to use some of his favourite effects (fade in chords anyone?).

Thanks to Jeff and Michael for a fun evening. 3 bands and we knew someone in every one. We're sooo cool!

Tahoe

2006-01-27T01:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, it is true that I don't post quite as much as Eric, but I am in graduate school. I am very busy procrastinating. I am reading some of my work on February 7th at Mills with two of the best writers I know, Laura Wasserman and Erin Addiego. I run graduate student readings as part of my TAship, so if you come you can watch me trying to get a whole bunch of adults to quiet down for the reading. Believe me, it's much easier when you're the teacher. Anyway, we are reading at 5:30 and we would love it if you could come.

The last trip E and I took was to Tahoe. We had a little trouble getting there because of a storm and because some people like to assert their independence by not using chains and driving really fast.

It was a little stressful but you can see from the victory gas station shot that we made it.

The next day, it was beautiful. Everything was covered in a blanket of snow and was very peaceful. The sunshine was brilliant. We walked on the beach, ankle deep in snow. At night it got down to 11 degrees, but we had a fireplace and smores so we made it through! -Alyson

Our Friends are ADORABLE!

2006-01-09T22:46:00.000-08:00

A and I haven't posted in forever, so here's a few pics of our cool-ass friends being adorable.

Lynne celebrating the Grammy nod with yummy cake:

Becca "celebrating" a particularely fun rehearsal:

Gene ... just celebrating!

And where's Alyson?

There she is!

More actual posting to come from both A and E. We promise!
-E

3 Days in Heaven

2005-12-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

After crazy weeks of performances, finals, work and whatnot, A and I finally got away for 3 glorious days. I have a new camera so of course I had to take about 300 pictures. Not kidding. Something like 300. I've boiled it down to 49 here. It "snained" most of the time, but who cares, away from cell phones and email we just hung out and talked about stuff meaningless and otherwise.

The only drama came on day 2 when we drove into the valley. It rained the whole way in and was pretty overcast, but still the valley looked beautiful. By the time we headed out it was dark again. I kinda forgot to check the gas. I thought we'd have enough to get down to the south entrance, pass Fish Camp and head into Oakhurst to fill up. Boy was I wrong. About 1/2 way (we'd find out later) to Wawona the gas gage dipped below empty. That's right, we were running on fumes in Yosemite about 30miles from AAA with no cell coverage for sure. I guess if we had run out I would have waved down a stranger, but I didn't relish the option. My biggest fear was that if we did make it into Wawona there might not be gas. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we hit the valley floor and found a 24hr gas station. Therein much ribbing ensued. Much deserved ribbing and thank goodness it was only that.

So if that's the highest drama of a 3 day weekend I consider us lucky. We spent much of the time devising Christmas lists. I had no idea how far behind I was. Fortunately I've caught up a little since then. A got to do some writing. If you're very good you might even get to see some of it on this here blog. Wuh-hoo!

Well, until the next then, Happy Christmas and as usual, don't forget the pictures

-Eric

PME Extended Family

2005-12-14T23:27:00.000-08:00

After a tough couple of weeks of hard shows and empty houses it's been nice to hang with the Peemer extended fam. From Oliver's Birthday to Katy's gig to watching my buddy Doug's girl Tina RockaRockaRocka Microphone! Too tired to write. The pictures don't really say it all, but they'll have to do. -E

Yet Another Reason to go to Peet's

2005-12-12T15:52:00.000-08:00

OK. So I'm minding my own business driving to work and merging onto 580 from 13. When I get in the fast lane I come up behind this guy who appears to have forgotten his coffee on the roof of his car. I am much displeased because I know any second that cup of double-half-cap-frapa-whotsit is gonna come flying into my windshield and spread a layer of brown goop over the glass that my wipers will merely swirl around until I am forced to pull over with my head hanging out the driver's side window like some goofy car dog.

Only that doesn't happen. We drive for ~30min down 580, over the pass to the intersection with 680 where we go our separate ways. The cup never came off. When we got up to 85mph on the pass it shook some, but never once did it look like it was gonna fly. I was somewhat perplexed. Could some joke-ster have glued a coffee cup to his otherwise mild-mannered looking car? Is there some strange physics phenomena that sucks a hot coffee cup down on a cold car roof.

No, of course! After inquiring more a friend let me in on the joke. It's some stupid marketing campaign by the evil green giant.

So to sum up: I am a chump, And Starbucks can kiss my ass. My brain feels better, but my pride is a little bruised at being suckered by such a lame gimmick. Yet another reason to go to Peet's ...
-E
PS: Hey, at least my new camera phone rocks!

Clockwork at the Cayuga Vault

2005-12-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

Last night Clockwork played at the Cayuga Vault in Santa Cruz. Not the hugest of crowds, but we had a fun time. One thing I can say is the sound was excellent. It's always fun to sing on a system that is set up so well. This may sound redundant to y'all, but trust me, it is rare and appreciated!

Here's the pictures: Clockwork at the Cayuga Vault

-Eric

Radio Broadcast and a Grammy Nod!

2005-12-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

Honestly. This has been a banner week for the Pacific Mozart Ensemble. I don't know what to talk about first.

Grammy Nod: 2 years ago PME went to Berlin to sing the Bernstein Mass for Kent Nagano with the DSO in the Berlin Philharmonie. It was an unbelievable experience, one that had profound affects on my singing and my general attitudes about performing. It's a long story, but that's what Blogs are for, right? Well, maybe some other time I'll go off about it. Anyway! The performance was recorded and released on Harmonia Mundi. We had joked about Grammy possibilities at the time, but frankly I just forgot about it. Today I get this in my email from our director, Lynne Morrow:
http://www.grammy.com/awards/grammy/48Awards.aspx
Follow the link and scroll waaay down to Category 99 and there we are! I can't believe I get to say this but here goes . . . It's really an honor just to be nominated. Wow that felt gooooooooooood!

Radio Broadcast: As if that wasn't enough, on Wednesday PME was part of a radio broadcast on WNYC in New York. John Scheafer recorded our Wintergarden concert and played it on his December 7 broadcast of the program "New Sounds." The audio from the broadcast is available at the WNYC site. It's worth a listen for the amazing piece "Facing North" that Meredith performed with Theo Bleckmann. I was totally blown away.
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/episodes/12072005

On the the next thing: Last gig of the year is tomorrow night with Clockwork at the Cayuga Vault in Santa Cruz. We had a great show there last Spring (with the Idea of North). This time we're appearing with Ute Bonn. I'm really looking forward to heading back there. We even have a handful of new tunes!

Whew that's a lotta links! Gotta go.
-E

Body as Text

2005-12-05T00:43:00.000-08:00

Alyson performed at the Mills College "Body as Text" event tonight. She was awsome of course. She and her friends Loet and Erin were the hit of the night. This here's just a place holder in case she decides to write about it [please do A -E]. For now here are the pictures

Beautiful Night

2005-12-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the sky out the back door is just beee-oo-tiful:

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Bitter Harvest

2005-12-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

Well we made it! After much hand ringing and hours of practice the piece went off rather well. As Katy so aptly put it "I would like to point out that dozens of hours of rehearsal can be wiped away with one cryptic swipe of a conductor's hand." I think I promised not to post her picture. I can never be sure :->

In any case, a significant portion of the audience really liked it. The piece has really been a labor of love for many of the principles. John Duykers mentioned that the inception was 6 years ago! I for one am happy it went well but am ready to move on. I've been neglecting my regular gigs (Clockwork and PME) a bit. It will be nice to get back to work. I have so many ideas for J&P now. And Clockwork has a whole gaggle of new tunes to roll out. Speaking of which, we will be at the Cayuga Vault in Santa Cruz this Sat. I think that's gonna be my last gig for the year. Time to relax and have some fun!

For now I leave you will some of the choice pics from the Thursday dress, Friday Performance and the afterglow -> ESBH Final Pictures

-E

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Last Days and The Journey Home

2005-12-01T22:32:00.000-08:00

Finally I have my 'puter back and can write to my hearts content. Now if we can only get A's fixed we'll be blogging fiends, fiends I say. It's only fitting then that half the week's gone before I get to tell the saga of our return home.

We had such a great time at Scott and Cath's over TG weekend. The hostesses with the mostesses etc etc. On Sunday we purposefully booked a late flight so we could relax getting home. This gave us the chance to have breakfast with C&S in town (with little c in tow, of course). One last hurrah. I of course had to get the moral equivalent of huevos rancheros (a long standing tradition from our many TG trips to Alisal). But I digress.

The trip home. Wow. As we turned in on Sat night, I thought of my Mom and Sister, waking at the crack of dawn to be on the road for their 12hr drive back to SF. I did not envy them. I felt quite smug in fact. The journey from Oakland to Flagstaff was 7hrs door to door and not unpleasant. Now I tend to be on the early side, indeed preternaturally punctal to a fault. So although its only 145 miles to Phoenix I left 5, count 'em, 5 hours to make our flight. We left ~1-ish for a 5:30 flight. [A tells me that "anyone that knows me would know that I think it is insane to leave that early for a flight."] It all started well and the drive was bee-utiful. We tried to take pics but they don't really do it justice. At some point on the drive we saw a sign that said accident 65mi ahead, use alternate route. What I thought was that they were diverting traffic on an alternate route. What they meant was your on your own, figure something out. Turns out hwy 17 was completely stopped. By 5pm is was clear we would miss our flight. That's right, I left waaaay too much time and we still missed it!

After we realized we were gonna miss the flight it was time to figure out what to do. We were in New River, 33mi from Phoenix. Hwy 17 was basically stopped (again the picture doesn't do it justice). There was an alt route that would eventually (we finally found out) get us into Phoenix ~ 6. Since this is an Expedia ticket, we would need to check in by 7:30 in order to be eligible for stand-by. That was an option. However, all flights from Phoenix to all Bay Area airports (including Sacto) were booked through the end of the next day. That means we could end up rolling over our standby through to Tuesday! We decided to drive. Took 10W -> 5N (passing very close to downtown LA). Rolled into Oakland at 5am pst. Phoenix - Oakland was ~12hrs. Total door to door: 17hrs. Mom and Nicole were the smart ones!

Well I hope the next story is a happier one. For now I leave you with the moral of the story:

(for an explanation you'll have to ask A)

-E
Here's more pictures: Pictures

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Thanksgiving

2005-11-26T15:18:00.000-08:00

Just because I'm spayed out on the couch with the dogs by my side and a drink in my hand doesn't mean I'm not working. -A

Here are some pics from our time in Flagstaff. We've had a wonderful time visiting with my sister with her husband and their new son Kal-El. Day 1 was Thanksgiving so we were treated to Nicole's awesome brine turkey. The best turkey yet! Day 2 was spent hiking in Buffalo park. We couldn't take enough pictures. We practically walked out of the park backwards taking *one last pic* of the red cliffs. To be honest though, I think most of the weekend has been spent lounging. Long overdue lounging if you ask me.

-E

Here are the pics:
Day 1
Day 2

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How Can I Keep from Blogging!

2005-11-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

Well, Alyson and I had so much fun blogging on our NYC trip that we decided to keep it (as best we can). To that end the blog continues!

First up: a scary scary rehearsal for my next gig, singing with the Berkeley Symphony on Dec 2. The piece is called Bitter Harvest (known affectionetly as ESBH) and it's all about genetically engineered crops. The subject is cool and singing with the BS is cool but it's freaking hard! I only have a handful of pics to share this time arround. They come from a Nov 19 rehearsal. We basically watched the orch sight read for 3hrs then sang for 2. We're all a bit freaked out right now. I'm hoping it all comes together after Thankgiving (I know what I'll be doing over the next 4 days).

Anyway, that's all for now. Next stop Flagstaff to visit the newest member of the family!
-Eric

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A few more pics ...

2005-11-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

Gene sent me these pics last Tues but I just found them now.

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Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jig

2005-11-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

Here we are safe and sound back in my little apartment on Kingston. Except now I remember that it's actually huge. On the plane ride home I received an exclusive tutorial on 80's music videos, thank god we flew Jet Blue or I would never have seen all of David Byrne's suits. I will admit that getting up at 4 was a little tough, but we had a very exciting ride back to the airport. We were not exactly sure if the driver was a real cabbie or not. Eric was too distracted with visions of doom to take a picture for the blog, but next time he'll do better. I have already shed at least three layers and can see lots of green outside my window. I believe that we will once again be bemoaning the fact that everything shuts down at 9:30 here. Where are the action shots of subway rats? Where is the art around every corner? The constant stream of interesting people and faces? How will we cook our own food again? We had a completely amazing time watching Eric make his debut at Carnegie Hall and getting to see so many old friends. The best part is, I like Eric even more now, and he still (I think) wants to see me even though I think he understands where all the lost jokes come from now [Puh-lease -e]. So, gentle readers, we are signing off for now. But fear not: if you invite us to stay with you, we will turn your town, too, into an Internet extravaganza of song and laughter (Eric's the song, I'm the laughter). We are looking forward to a long sleep and welcoming Ophelia back home and reading your comments.

Love, Alyson [and Eric]

Exciting pics of flying on a plane: Home Again Home Again

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Pilgrimage

2005-11-12T22:25:00.000-08:00

Well, I am a little bit sad tonight because tomorrow we go home. It has been one of my favorite trips ever. Between the PMErs and our family and friends, we got to spend a lot of time with very fun people whom we love. Also, it's really fun to be a tourist. I will once again try to remember all the great things about seeing things through the eyes of a visitor when I am at home.

We moved into a new pad in Lower East Side. It's a studio and near lots of bars and restaurants and music venues. We went to Art Brut just around the corner. There is a lot going on in this neighborhood, which used to be filled with tenements but is now starting to be filled with bars and restaurants and music venues. Eric says is reminds him of the Mission.

Yesterday we visited Brooklyn Heights (where I lived last year). I still love the old building I used to live in, with gargoyles right near the Promenade. I took Eric to see the NYC skyline and to the ice cream store under the bridge. Sure, it was like 45 degrees outside, but that's no reason not to get an ice cream. It was good to go back and see my old neighborhood and remember how beautiful it is. We also went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, which has been renovated. At one point, we got a tiny bit lost on the Brooklyn train and rode through the neighborhoods, it always reminds me a lot of Oakland.

Eric and I took the bus out to Ho- Ho-Kus and visited with the McGurns and the Cleavelands and Mom, who came out for the reunion. Ho-Ho-Kus, for those of you that don’t know, is a town of 5,000 in Northern New Jersey where I grew up until I was 10. All the leaves in Ho-Ho-Kus were in full bloom and we ate about 30 homemade pancakes and laughed for hours with old friends. We walked to the elementary school I used to go to and it's pretty different from where I teach. At dinner Rachel, Pete, Eric, and I were talking about schools and I realized that I don't really know what happens in overcrowded schools in nonwarm places. Where do the kids go?

Lauren drove down from Boston to visit us. She drove us back into NYC over the George Washington, which is one mammoth bridge. We wondered around looking for a particular bag I wanted in the tourist section and at one point we were invited into a small room in the back of a store with a disguised door and video cameras and lots and lots of Prada bags. This was Eric’s fault because he held up a gold lamee handbag and said, “This is perfect!” I don’t think the storeowner with the secret Prada stash realized he was not quite serious. I actually managed to find the store I was looking for with no name or directions. I just knew exactly what I wanted. This was not the first time that happened this week. I have learned that if you talk to enough people and make enough wrong turns, eventually you find what you are looking for.

-A

(PS: Today's link contains tons of pics from the last 3 days off both our cameras - E)
Last NYC Days

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Alyson's Day

2005-11-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

This is gonna be short 'cause the day is still happening. Yes, gentle readers, I am indeed not typing this at 2am. Today is the day we go to Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ to have dinner with A's Mom and some old friends from her home town. A's in the shower right now and I'm sneaking this in before we make the mad dash to the tube so we can make our bus.

Today we spent our time wondering around Alyson's old haunts in Brooklyn. As some of you know, she spent about 6mo living in Brooklyn Heights last year while attending the New School. We visited one of her fave eats, Tom's Restaurant, for some (ahem) healthy breakfast fare. My fave was the cinnamon butter. Any excuse to use more butter is ok by me!

Then it was off to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. This was a refuge for her when she would get fed up with city life (as I understand it is for many). Even though the leaves are pretty much done changing, there were still some ops for some nice leaf shots. All in all it was beautiful, but cold! I finally am wearing my heavy jacket. Thank goodness.

Oops I hear the shower just stopped so I gotta go. We also went to A's old neighborhood and the Brooklyn bridge. And we tried to find the naked statue that my Great Aunt Catherine may or may not have been a model for (outside the Brooklyn Library). Cool! Here's all the pics:Alyson's Day

-E

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The Daily Show, Art Brut & Cousins

2005-11-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

Well it's time for phase 2 of our trip. All of our concerts are over. Folks from PME are starting to peel off and head west. We finally had to check out of our wonderful apt in the West Village. We were sad to leave. It was quite nice and we certainly enjoyed walking around the neighborhood. But leaving gives us a chance to explore a slightly different area. We're in the Lower East Side which is actually not far from where we were. However, things are a bit different. Actually, I think I'm a little more at home here. Our West 11th apt was a bit like a fairy tale. Now were renting someone's apt and it feels a bit more low key.

We met up for what will be the last time in NY with some PMErs this afternoon. First Clockwork (minus Stephen) tried to find the famous storefront that graces the cover of our Tessaract CD. Fat chance. Jim, Jacquie, John and Angie did some early reconnaissance to no avail. By the time Alyson and I showed up they had been looking for a couple of hours. We never did find it. In the end we settled on a store front that had the same sort of look (although nothing like the color) for some half hearted shots. The nice thing about it, though, was having lunch with the crew before A&J took off. After that J,J,A&I took off to check out the Daily Show. On the way we stumbled across this hallway at the 49th st exit of the F line (Rockefeller Center). The hallway was filled with the same windows that make the Tessaract Cover so cool. We couldn't resist an impromptu photo shoot. If only Penny could have been there to help with our composition. Maybe when Clockwork is on it's world domination tour we can stop by and do it for real.

After that it was on to the Daily Show. This was something I originally thought so out of the questions that I didn't even try to get tickets. Turns out if you email them between 8 and 8:30am the Friday before the show you can get cancellation tickets. We got there a tad early, but were thankful because we got in! After watching that show for so many years (starting in 1996) it was fun to get to see it live. I've never really been interested in seeing a live taping of any show, but this was worth it. They even rolled out the God Machine for one of my favorite bits of recent years. In the end everyone had a great time and we said our last goodbyes to the PMErs.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, we then headed off to meet my cousins Claire and Cat. Claire was kind enough to come to the Wintergarden show last night, but we didn't really get a chance to catch up. Her website ohmyrockness is going gangbusters and she mentioned the possibility it might come to SF (wuh-hoo!). We got to meet her fiance (Patrick, in case you're wondering). I got to talk a bit to Claire about what we saw the night before. Meredith perfomed a duo at Wintergarden that was just magic. More on that later.

After dinner we all went to see Art Brut at the Mercury Lounge which, it happens, is 2 blocks from our current apt. Talk about luck. It was a good thing, 'cause the wind picked up something fierce and the last thing A or I wanted to do was walk around for a long time. We went a nice bar, got some good eats and saw a good show all within about 4 blocks of our apt. Wuh-hoo.

But back to the Monk. I've ben realizing something this week. As we watched Monk on Sunday and again on Wednesday I'm starting to realize how much more impressed I am these days by craft. It came up in the MoMA too. We spent some time looking at some art that was more than conceptual. The really great stuff required painstaking attention to detail. Even the seemingly random Pollack's have a very careful craft that makes them work. The same goes for Meredith. She and one of her singers did a duet that was hard to describe. The sounds they made could easily have been the sounds a child might make when exploring the boundaries of their voice. Any smart-ass college student could probably string a few of them together into something interesting. But the attention to detail and intense vocal control these two displayed was beyond words. It made the difference between a bunch of weird sounds and music.

Contrast that with Art Brut. They fall into a category of artists that really used to get me going. High energy. Loud guitars. Bouncing around on stage posing and sneering at the audience. A certain sloppiness that adds some character to the performance. When I really think about it, the 'rock-n-roll' aspect of the show was the least interesting. The lead singer really makes the band by putting together some really nice turns of phrase and one or two complete songs with a bit more depth than average. If he can stay on his game they might just make it. They certainly won't distinguish themselves from anyone else musically any time soon. I think in the end I realized I'm just not impressed by energy any more. It's so easy to go fast, or shout, or turn up to eleven. I find myself gravitating to the Sufjan Stevens and Devendra Banharts of the world. Folks that are making and effort to makes something truly beautiful and unique through incredibly detailed work.

Alyson says it means I'm getting older. I guess she's right (she usually is). Normally I think that would make me sad, but I think I finally see it as maturing. For example, I'm getting more excited about what I might be able to contribute to PME outside the Jazz and Pop show. I don't know what that might be, but it will be fun to find out.

Anyway, if you've stuck with me long enough to get to this point, then thanks. I obviously had a lot on my mind today. Things appear to be coming together and it helps to write it down to get things straight.

Good night,
-E

As usual all the pics are posted: TDS to Ar...

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Wintergarden Concert

2005-11-09T22:54:00.001-08:00

Today was the final concert with Meredith Monk. We went to the MoMA and I saw my cousin Claire (albeit briefly). Alyson's working on a post right now so I don't want to give anything away. I just wanted to post a couple of pics here: MOMA to W... Ok, I also wanted to show off my picture with Jim and the woman of the hour.

And Oh yeah, the concert will be broadcast on WNYC's Newsounds show on Dec 7th.

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Lightning, Art, and Song

2005-11-09T22:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday: Avenue Q was completely hilarious, I would definitely recommend it. Also, although Lennon's Imagine plaque was not quite what I expected it to be, I was happy to finally see it. I also remembered the Dakota was right next door, which was very cool to show off.

Subways: I still find the subways amazing, fascinating, and sort of repulsive. Katie and Seth and Eric were trying to take action pictures of rats last night. I love how fast it goes, and how it's the great equalizer (unless you are rich enough to never take it and I've heard there are people who are). People walk through and try to sell things, listen to music, read, ignore each other, flirt, sleep, eat, miss their stops, go to work, get home late…Everyday there are people sleeping outside our entrance to the subway, most of them don't have shoes on their feet. Some days, the subway seems to be a reflection of our country.

Today was a wonderful day of art, music, and old friends. We started the day out at the new MOMA. John told us all about the architecture and I got a little nervous standing on stairs that he pointed out were held up only by posts on one side. The highlights for me were the bed of needles that look like grass and the Tallis Room where we listened to a Spem in Alium. (That’s a really beautiful song, I think it was in Latin.) There were 40 speakers set up in a circle (one for each voice) and when we walked around the room the sound changed as if we were standing in front of each singer.

I went to meet Mom and Carolyn at the Wintergarden before the concert and it was really hard to find them. The new maps of the area around the World Trade Center were wrong, things there were half under construction and half very prestigiously new. It made me sad. It was very moving to hear PME and Monk in the Wintergarden with all the new changes around them. PME began behind the audience, which took the audiences’ breath away. They lined the stairs behind the audience and it seems like there were twice as many people singing as there had been before, in both sound and number. Panda Chant particularly blew me away tonight, it was very moving and powerful, fitting for a place that is in transition back to a center of the community. I am so proud of PME and honored that I got to spend so much time with them on this trip. It's a huge (and extremely talented) family and I feel really lucky to be a part of it.

Afterwards, a bunch of old friends, many of them from Oberlin, ended up bar hopping. I never knew The Who could be sung quite that loudly with Monk before. On the way home Eric and I had our first brilliant thunder and lightening storm. We got drenched. It was awesome!

-Alyson

PS
Here's some more photographs: More of A...

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Slow-ish Day in NYC

2005-11-08T22:38:00.000-08:00

Well it was bound to happen sometime, but we had a pretty low key day today. After a number of early calls (ok, 10:45am is only early when you're on vacation, I know) we got to sleep in. And sleep in we did. If Alyson's phone hadn't bleated at noon we might still be in bed.

We had a rehearsal in the Wintergarden for our concert there tomorrow. The place is big, which is not normally a problem, but the ambient noise is crazy loud. Everyone was shouting pretty loud and the sound was suffering. Lynne gave us a great direction that I hope sticks. She asked us to sing at the volume that feels right in our body and not worry about the actual volume level. I'm sure she said it in a more eloquent way, but I hope we take it to heart. It's a neat trick to start feeling the power of your body when you sing. What does forte feel like. We could use that in our regular concerts. In any case, Dick told us that the noise sources should be off tomorrow (ac, escalators, etc). If that is the case I think the concert could be magical. That's what I'm planning on because, yes you guessed it. I believe in magic.

I had to get a few pics of our great room today, especially the 'bloggin' station which I currently inhabit. A's sitting right next to me using some strange antiquated communication form called email. Ha, that's so yk2.

The evening was great. We went to Avenue Q. Yes. I, Eric Freeman paid good money to voluntarily watch a mu... a mu ... a ... a ... playwithsinging. But that's not all. Wait for it. Yes, gentle readers. I enjoyed it! The clouds part, the heavens sing. God himself gets off his ass and makes the sign thousands of evangelists have waited for for millennia. Ok, he made the lights flash in a trailer park outside Topeka and nobody noticed but (literally) God damn it he did! I enjoyed a musical! Seriously the musical (I believe I've overcome my aversion to that word) was quite clever. But most importantly it didn't take itself too seriously. I would comment on some of the best songs and possibly best lines but I understand that some of Alyson's students might read this and the play was rather dirty. It will be hard to look at Bert and Ernie the same way again.

We finished with dinner at a Turkish place on 9th. It certainly paid to get away from Broadway. The food was good and not crazy expensive (I've had worse on both accounts since we got here). The company was great ambiance was, shall we say, interesting. As John put it, "the bathroom was incredibly fragrant." (or something to that affect). Best of all it had the motto that keeps 'em coming back for seconds.

All in all a good day. Tomorrow I think we're gonna try to hit the MOMA before the concert. I've been looking forward to that for ages. Expect a full report!

-Eric
As usual you can see all the pix (from my camera, A's are coming) here: Wintergar...

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New York City

2005-11-07T21:25:00.000-08:00

Well, it's the third day here and it's the first time that I've really had the chance to sit down and write. It was pretty amazing to come back to this city after a year away. Some things I had forgotten: the thrill of hailing a taxi, the unbelievable amount of good food, how everywhere I turn there is something else to see, the garbage in the sewers, the flowerboxes overflowing with color, the sound of the subway doors closing, how night and day melt together with all the lights and people and action. I also forgot how I absolutely have no idea where things are. Where is the moss on the trees? I still get completely distracted by the people and the noise and color and the adventure and forget what street I'm on and where I was going. Luckily, Eric reads maps for fun.

We are staying in an apartment off of Bleecker on 11th street. A Greek couple rent out apartments and rooms. We have a big room filled with art, mostly pastels of landscapes and one huge one of naked women. Every corner is filled with trinkets and rugs, Greek urns, silver tea sets. I was very afraid I would break something just walking through the living room. The night we got here we got a half hour crash course on the EXACT way to unlock each of the three doors into the apartment. It's an art. Outside the door, there are trees in yellows and greens, cobblestones streets, a famous bakery with yummy cupcakes (I mean frosting with a little bit of cake), and lots of people walking their tiny dogs. Today I saw Matthew Broderick with his son. I don't know what is more amazing, the fact that I saw Matthew Broderick or the fact that I could actually identify a person from pop culture.

Carnegie Hall was pretty amazing. It was touch and go getting there. I came out of the subway at Columbus Circle, right in the middle of the New York Marathon, hundreds of people and not much sense of which way to go. I asked a bike messenger for help. We went to three entrances, cut off taxis, went through red lights, down the wrong way on one-way streets, through joggers and tourists and buses. When I finally got there, the audience was filled with old friends. The show opened with Meredith Monk and PME was next. I was very impressed by the whole performance. Monk's message about culture and communication between people was very moving and most of us cried at different times during the performance. It is so refreshing to see artists, especially in these times, celebrate ritual and community together. There was a real sense of a community moving through the music together, so I thought starting off with PME was perfect. I have never seen them so happy and engaged in Monk before, it was definitely one of their most moving performances. The highlights for me were: Explorer’s Junctures (which captures the essence of communication between people eloquently), Bjork's Gotham Lullaby, and the Panda piece (a testament to community, ritual, and resilience which brought me to tears). I am excited to hear PME perform it at the Wintergarden on Wednesday, particularly since it is so near where the twin towers once stood. After the concert, we had an amazing dinner at Carmine's- portraits on the walls, huge plates of Italian food and more than we could drink. There was a lot of toasting and laughter and speeches. At one point the fire alarm went off and in the middle of a fancy New York City restaurant with flashing lights and an alarm going off, the PMErs stay, eat and drink, and someone turns the alarm into a song.

Today PME sang at St. Paul's Chapel. This is the chapel where workers went to sleep on the pews and get food, medical help and support after 9/11. There are huge banners that line the balcony from around the country showing support and love. There is the pew where George Washington prayed after he was inaugurated that was turned into the podiatrist’s chair to help the workers. There are thousands and thousands of colorful paper cranes from around the world, patches from fire fighters and police from every imaginable place, shrines, and teddy bears. The concert was free and people kept pouring in from the street throughout the performance. Many people in the audience and on stage had tears in their eyes and the community seemed to surge up to meet the voices of PME.

Okay, well, as I told Eric, it's sort of hard for me to write just a little but there's a taste of some of the highlights so far.

Here are more pictures:Alyson's ...

:) Alyson

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St Paul's Concert

2005-11-07T21:20:00.000-08:00

Just a quicky today. I think Alyson's finally gonna post something. I can hardly wait to read it!
I posted a few more pics at the photo site: St Paul's...

Tomorrow is rehearsal for our Wednesday Wintergarden concert. I'm not sure, but I thought it might be on the radio (WNYC FM93.9). If it is I'll be sure to let y'all know.

-E
PS: All the photos are here: http://photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

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Concert Day at Carnegie!

2005-11-06T22:07:00.000-08:00

Today was amazing. So many things happened today that I almost don't know what to say. So I'll start with the beginning. A & I woke up early 'cause I had a 10am call at Carnegie. I'm sorry. I just had to write that. Self indulgent I know, but c'mon! How many times will I be able to say that? Don Kelly told me he was making calls from the green room before the show for the same reason. "Hi there, just calling from Carnegie waiting to go on. What's up with you?" I can understand.

Where was I? Oh yeah. We're in a nice place in the Village and got a chance to walk around a bit in the morning before things got cooking. Had one of those famous NY Bagels. Me: Honda (Bagel/Cream Cheese) Alyson: Ferrari! (Bagel/Lox/CC/Capers). And boy did the deli man let me know it! Anyway. Nice calm before the storm.

The show was freakin' awesome. We went on first so we got to sit back and relax and enjoy the rest. That was nice. Meredeth is so sweet to us. Every time we saw her she went out of her way to tell us how happy she was to see us. After hours and hours of prep she still had a little sugar for little old pme. It truly warmed the cockles of my heart.

Frankly, I think we nailed it. Everything was actually fun. After our Berlin experience I was a little nervous about pulling it off. But then right from the very beginning it was simply joyous. I think part of it was that we finally figured out our motivation. (that and lots and lots of practice). I have to say that Hocket was a particularly high point for me. It's a tune with just 6 of us on stage (scary: my heart was beating a mile a minute) that starts very fragile but grows to a big climax. Hearing the climactic chord ring though the house was exhilarating! The audience was caught a little off guard and started to clap before we were done. Oh well. It was awesome to get a reaction.

With our singing done it was time to enjoy the rest of the day. I finally got to hook up with A and we walked around a little. We tried to head for the park but there were all these people running around and we couldn't cross the street. I mean I heard NYC was crowded but this is ridiculous.

Anyway, we got back in time to hear the Bang on a Can Allstars, Alarm Will Sound and Bjork. All awesome. Did I mention Bjork? So moving. She sang a song called Gotham Lullaby with her harpist. I was unprepared for how moving it was. It's one thing to listen to her sing on a record in my living room. It's altogether another to be 10ft away while she pours it out. By the end I was in tears. Really. I was a wreck. For the next 15min I was crying at everything. It just suddenly seamed like everything everyone was saying was so emotionally charged.

The whole evening was simply insipring. I left with an even greater appreciaction of Monk and a gaggle of new ideas. I hope PME gets the opportunity to try some of her orchestrated stuff. We'll see what happens.

After that it was Dinner at Carmine's with the gang. Suffice it to say a good time was had by all. If you don't believe me, check out the pix. I think that's enough for tonight.

Still Riding High!
-E

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1st Day in NYC

2005-11-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

WE MADE IT! Alyson and I are here in NYC and I'm writing this from our cool pad in the Village. We, of course, were good little boys and girls and got to the airport the prescribed 1.5hrs early. Of course we both breezed through all check-ins. I managed to alienate my singing buddies by taking pictures of them at 6:30am in the morning (which according Mr James Yorkston is just way too early). Alyson, on the other hand got to a SFO so early there was no one else at the gate for a full half hour. Finally a large pre-teen Ukranian orchestra showed up and all was well.

Seriously, the flights were a slam dunk. No problems.

The traffic into the city was pretty bad and the clock in the taxi was off so we all thought we were an hour late for our first rehearsal. I kinda freaked because we were still getting the keys from our landlady when I thought I was due at the hall. More on that later. Alyson will have to post that story. With the freak avoided I arrived at rehearsal tan rested and ready. I have a few picks of our pre-Zankel rehearsal, but we were not allowed to take any pics in the actual hall (BUMMER!)

The rehearsal was all well and good and I think we'll sound great tomorrow. Meredeth was there to welcome us and she said some really really nice things that made us all feel good. I only whish I could remember them . Maybe someone else in the group will remember and post them as a comment (pretty pretty please someone save me from my awful awful memory)

The coup de grais of course was that we all got Carnegie Hall back stage passes! That's going in the scrap book for sure.

Ok that's enough for tonight. I got recruited to make a statement to the PMErs about getting some sleep before the show and here I am writing at 2am. Must sleep now!

-Eric

You can all of today's pics here:
NYC 11-5-05

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Last PME Rehearsal in Cali

2005-11-02T11:49:00.000-08:00

Hi there,
Last night PME had it's last rehearsal in prep for our Carnegie Hall debut. Sounds so grand, don't it? I took a few pics of the rehearsal. We seem awfully relaxed, no? Here we are listening to a recording of our Sunday performance. The pieces we sang are all part of our various programs in NY (selections from Meredeth Monk, Barber Agnus Dei & the Martin Mass).

Here we are listening to get some insight into our performance before trying it on the big stage. I have to say, it was hard listening to the tape of the show. No matter how good a show is, the recording is always a bit of a let down. It's really almost too easy to pick apart the faults. Dick gave us a few pointers and in typical PME fashion we all gave our opinions, sometimes to excess. Ok, almost always to excess. But then that's what we do. I think in the end we still feel like we're ready (warts and all). A former member of Meredeth's ensemble was in attendance at the Sunday show and had lots of nice things to say. That's certainly encouraging.

More pics of the last rehearsal are posted here:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/freemaneric@sbcglobal.net/my_photos

-Eric

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We're Going to New York!

2005-11-01T18:22:00.000-08:00

Hi There!

We're heading to New York next week. We thought this might be nice way for us to document our trip and let y'all know what we're up to. We're heading out on Nov 5th so start looking for updates around that time. Feel free to add your comments especially if they are about how rad we are.

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Picture Host

2005-03-13T14:56:00.000-08:00