BOB'S BLOGS ~ ~ ~

Hello everyone!

I'm researching graduate programs in performance and was looking for some suggestions of professors you might know/like and the schools they teach at. I also wouldn't mind if any of you know some piccolo enthusiasts... I'd love to study with someone that loves picc as much as me. =]

Let me know. =]

http://blog.indecision2008.com/2008/10/07/six-million-questions-for-barack-obama-and-john-mccain/

The Commission on Presidential Debates wanted to open tonight's "Town Hall" debate to more than just the 80 undecided Tennessee voters who will be present.

So, they opened up the forum to people all across the country, who were invited to use a medium called the "Internet" to submit their own question. The organizers thought they might get as many as several dozen questions, which could then be pared down to a more manageable size.

They got six million of them...

At least six million questions have been submitted via the Internet to be asked at the town-hall-style presidential debate Tuesday in Nashville between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. That’s a lot of queries for 90 minutes, and obviously they won’t all get asked -- there will be time for only 15 to 20.

The moderator, Tom Brokaw of NBC News, is sifting through those millions of questions to find six or seven that he might pose. The other dozen or so questions will come from among an audience of about 80 likely voters from the Nashville area who will be on stage with the candidates.

Now, if there's anyone who can read through six million questions and bring them down to seven, it's Tom Brokaw. Fortunately for him, a lot of the questions submitted were repeats. For instance...

* 850,000 asked, "What is your opinion on the economy?"

* 1.2 million asked, "Barack Obama, is it true that you are a secret Muslim?"

* 2.7 million asked, "Are the odds that Sarah Palin will consent to a Playboy spread higher or lower if she is elected?"

So now we can put the Shakespeare books away. And the DVDs. How many versions of Hamlet do we own- is it four or five? There's Larry's and Mel's and Nicol's and Ken's. So four?  Yes, four.  I've really enjoyed this year.

We went to Stratford twice. Once for a workshop and once to watch David Tennant play Hamlet. We saw Lear at the Globe. We've watched film versions of Cymbeline, Richard II, Measure for Measure, Macbeth. 

The last thing we watched together was Kozintsev's Lear. I didn't like it much. It's got the commissars breathing down its neck.  The guy playing the king is like a little fluffy chick. I understand the director picked him out of a crowd of extras because he liked his eyes.

Ailz is in the front room now with her invigilator.  Every so often I can hear the rattle of her keyboard. It's good how the Open University allows disabled students to be examined in their homes. She's just taken a mini-break and I've carried in hot drinks.

  erastes , for the idea.  I didn't know that such a thing even existed.  I must admit, this got me a little misty.

(X-posted)
Nick Reynolds: 1933 - 2008

Nick Reynolds, founding member of the folk/pop act The Kingston Trio*, passed away on October first, of respiratory failure. Reynolds sang, played 4-string tenor guitar, bongos and congas, as well as the 'Boo-Bams' (a set of varying lengths of 'tuned' plastic tubes in a hammock-like frame struck with a mallet that made for an intriguing percussive sound), and somewhat played the role of comic relief on stage, and in their 7-Up TV spots.

Reynolds was with the Trio from 1957 to 1967, when the original act disbanded, and stayed away from the music business until 1987 when he re-joined founder Bob Shane and 'New' Trio member George Grove from 1987 to 1999, when he retired from performing for good. He is survived by remaining original Trio member Bob Shane.

Give either the album Stereo Concert, or College Concert, or just the tracks 'Little Boy' or 'No-One To Talk My Troubles To' a listen, if you can find them...



_{(*without whom there wouldn't have been a Peter Paul & Mary, without whom there wouldn't have been a Bob Dylan, without whom there wouldn't have been The Beatles as we knew them past 1964...)}

This afternoon, I was on my way down Walnut St. going to the library.  As I approached Liberty St., the light in my direction was green, so I started to drive into and through the intersection.  Thank God that I'm a very alert driver.

A car coming from the left ran the red light at at least 35 - 40 mph.  If I hadn't seen it, and slammed on the brakes, I doubt that you would be reading this now.  I would have been hit broadside, full speed, on my side of the car.  As it was, there was a matter of inches between the front of my car and the whizzing by side of hers.

As I have the moment burnt into my psyche, I can tell you that the idiot girl driving was (you guessed it!) yaking away on a cell phone.

Thankfully there wasn't anyone directly behind me, or I'd have been rear-ended, and probably knocked into her vehicle.

Hi, I'm new in this community. I just started listening to classical music. I recently discovered it's easier to concentrate and get work done listening to classical music than Jurassic 5. So far all I really know is that I enjoy Beethoven and Haydn a lot and I kind of think Mozart is over rated. I'm sure the previous statement outs me as a complete Philistine. I used to listen to mostly punk rock. That's my excuse. Anyway I have a specific question. Can someone please explain to me the difference between Classical (period), Baroque, and... uh... the third one... Romantic. As far as I can tell I prefer Classical. Anyway can someone give me a succinct explanation of the difference between the three? I'd appreciate it if it was couched in terms someone who has no idea what you're talking about could understand. I started to read the Wikipedia entries and they were complete gibberish. I just don't have time to read all that mess right now. Thanks!

Tell me what you guys think about this:

This is frightening - PLEASE! do watch it.

> The DEMOCRAT PARTY IS TRYING TO HAVE THIS VIDEO PULLED IMMEDIATELY. PLEASE
> CLICK THE LINK BELOW-

> Please send this to everyone you know TODAY as it will be pulled off the air
> soon.
>
> This should get your dander up.
>
> This is an uninterrupted 51-second video of Obama speaking; he's telling us
> exactly what he will do to the military...watch it before this too is removed
> off the web site.

> http://macsmind.com/wordpress/2008/06/08/obama-wants-to-protect-america/
>
> Pass it on...the USA needs a Wake-up call.
>
> This is absolutely shocking & reprehensible. He plans to unilaterally disarm
> our nation.
>
> The question is... for what?? The U.S. and her citizens will be
> defenseless.....

Is the mother!

I do a lot of bitching about living out here in the middle of Nowhere, Oklahoma. One of my biggest pet peeves is that the only store that I have access to all by myself is the corner Mom and Pop place. When I go to my pantry to see what’s for dinner and the cupboard is bare… it can be pretty depressing but… I have a hamburger helper in the cupboard. I’ve no hamburger in the freezer. I don’t like the hamburger they stock at the store. It’s cheap and I don’t trust how they handle it.

I do have Lovera’s Italian sausage and it works just great with Hamburger Helper. Even if I didn’t, they stock it at the store too and it’s got so much garlic that I don’t think it could possibly ever spoil. Lovera’s Italian sausage is the very best thing about Nowhere, Oklahoma. Somebody does something right here.

Just a few miles east of us is Oklahoma's little Italy.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3676/is_200305/ai_n9258291
The tiny town of Krebs hosts some of the most authentic Italian food in the state.

( I'll bet you a stack of ravioli you've never heard of Krebs, Oklahoma. )

Shouldn't insurance companies be required to cover birth control if they cover Viagra?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHrMs4XcwTA

Yesterday I made an official visitation as grand commander of D.C. to Cockeysville, Md., where the Maryland State Association of DeMolay Chapters held its annual Honors Day to confer the Degree of Chevalier and the Legion of Honor.

My friend Peter picked me up right after Mass and whisked me up to Maryland, where we got there just in time for the 1 p.m. start time, only to find out that they'd switched the time to 2 p.m. Oh, well. That gave us time to freshen up a bit before the ceremony and to meet a number of the key players in Maryland, including my counterpart as grand commander and the new executive officer up there.

Peter had a good friend receiving the Legion of Honor, so he got to see old friends, too.



After the ceremony, Peter and his friends and I went to a nearby Carrabba's Italian Grill for a combination breakfast/lunch/early supper. I was surprised that none of them had ever been to a Carrabba's before. It's one of those national chains, this one based out of Houston, and I always think of them as being a little better than a Macaroni Grill or an Olive Garden.

Peter's friend's ex-girlfriend's boyfriend and I both had the manicotti. Peter's friend and Peter's friend's ex-girlfriend both had the mezzaluna, a half-moon shaped chicken ravioli. Peter had the lobster ravioli. All of our meals came with salads.



We'd grabbed little pastries at the reception following the investitures, so we didn't end up ordering dessert at the restaurant. The others were all driving back to New York and we were off to D.C.

These are two songs for mezzo soprano and harp, intended to be performed as a set.  I'm thinking about sending them off to a colleague of mine from LA, a young mezzo soprano who is currently enjoying a major career in all of the top venues, for her consideration.  This is very dificult for me, as , while I find it easy to promote myself as a singer, I do not find it at all easy to promote myself as a composer.    It feels a bit like begging, which I have little stomach for.

Anyway, I wrote the second of these a while back, but have revised it considerably.  The first I wrote in the last three weeks or so.  I am as pleased with them as it is possible for me to get, so it is time to let them go.  

I am including the words behind a cut.  They are important to a complete understanding of these songs: my music is almost totally text-driven.  I deliberately set only a portion of the Rosetti poem, as it makes better sense for what I was trying to achieve, both musically and mood wise.  The first is a setting of the words of a Basque carol (my last name is Basque, BTW.)

These are both downloads, but I hope you'll take the time.  I'm rather proud of these.
( texts and links... )Before the paling of the stars,
Before the winter morn,
Before the earliest cock crow,
Jesus Christ was born.
Born in a stable,
Cradled in a manger,
In the world his hands had made
Born a stranger.

Priest and king lay fast asleep
In Jerusalem;
Young and old lay fast asleep
In crowded Bethlehem;
Saint and angel, ox and ass,
Kept a watch together
Before the Christmas daybreak
In the winter weather.

Jesus on his mother's breast
In the stable cold,
Spotless lamb of God was he...

Christina Georgina Rossetti


 </td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

Speaking of old legal traditions, I am saddened to report that as of this month, judges and barristers (trial attorneys) in British civil courts will no longer be wearing their traditional wigs. Apparently after a several year study, they discovered that, while the barristers and judges wanted to continue wearing their wigs and gowns in the courtroom, the general public (the British equivalent of Joe Six-Pack??) thought they looked silly.

Judges and barristers in the criminal courts, however, will continue to wear their wigs.



The British have been wearing wigs in court since the 17th century, when wigs were quite fashionable and all the wealthy and important people wore wigs. The custom started in the French royal court and quickly spread because it was not only fashionable, it had practical applications in helping to avoid problems with head lice. The custom died out in France around the time of the Revolution and in England in the famines of the early 19th century. However, in court, the custom persisted, though solicitors (office attorneys) ceased wearing wigs, as they primarily dealt with clients and the public in their private offices.

British courts are rather different from American courts, even though our law and judicial system springs from theirs. British lawyers are much less adversarial than American lawyers, and they are more interested in justice and fairness than a win-at-any-cost verdict we Americans seek. I wonder if the wigs and robes are not partially, if not largely, responsible for that extra British civility. I, for one, will certainly mourn the passing of the wigs.

I just heard Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. If you did not get a chance earlier today, you will be able to listen here after 3pm Eastern time today.

Yesterday was the 55th annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in anticipation of today being the first day of term for the Supreme Court of the United States. I was privileged to be able to attend and actually got a seat in the cathedral.

Red Masses are a medieval tradition originating in Rome, Paris, and London, marking the official opening of the judicial year. They are intended to bless judges and public officials and to ask God to watch over the wise administration of justice. It's the "lawyers' Mass." I don't think I've ever before seen so many men in suits in a Catholic church!

This year's guests included the Chief Justice of the United States, four associate justices of the Supreme Court (a majority of the Supreme Court is Catholic, by the way), the Secretary of Commerce, some ambassadors, several members of Congress, and quite a large number of members of the federal judiciary. The processions also included law faculties from Catholic and Georgetown Universities dressed in academic regalia.

Eight bishops concelebrated the Mass, including the Archbishop of Washington, the Archbishop of the Military Services, the Bishop of Arlington, and the sometimes-controversial John Patrick Cardinal Foley, now Grand Master of the Equestian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

The music at this Mass absolutely blew me away. The cathedral is getting good enough to think of as a musical church in the league with the Episcopalians and Anglicans!

Recently, the cathedral reorganized its music department and took on a new pastoral associate for liturgy and music, and ever since then, there has been an increasing major improvement in the musical literature being performed, and in the past couple of months, there hasn't been a single time I've sat in Mass at the cathedral and cringed, as used to happen so much in the past. Of course, this wasn't without some controversy.....the new music director is the person who was music director for the papal Mass at Nationals Park last April, who I found effective, but some accused of being "vapid." He was a friend of the new archbishop's back when he was in Pittsburgh, so I'm not surprised at all that the archbishop has replaced the music staff at St. Matthew's with his own people.

Anyway, obviously, this was a special event service, but the cathedral does a number of those throughout the year, so with a music staff that has questionable taste, it could still be disastrous. I'm hopeful for what the new team is and will be doing.

The Washington Symphonic Brass and the cathedral organist provided about ten minutes of baroque-sounding prelude music, then the choir sang a five-minute anthem by Anthony Piccolo called "O Come Let Us Sing unto the Lord" as an introit. Prior to all of that, though, those of us who had been seated in the cathedral an hour early had heard the choir rehearsing until about five minutes before the prelude started.


Choir rehearsing before the service.
The empty pews were for people who would process in.

The altar party wasn't quite ready when the introit was over, so after a minute or two of silence, the organist filled in a bit for a couple of minutes until they'd gotten all those judges and bishops out on the steps organized. Finally they gave the signal, and the organ, brass, tympani, choir, and congregation started in with Ralph Vaughn-Williams' arrangement of Old Hundredth "All people that on earth do dwell."

Next four costumed Knights of Columbus brought in the American and D.C. flags, and everyone sang the national anthem. Some woman back in the congregation decided to grace us with her high note, too.

After that, the Mass proceeded fairly normally. Mass setting was the Proulx A Community Mass with brass accompaniment, and Gregorian chant Latin versions of the Gloria (responsorial, from Missa de Angelis) and Agnus Dei (Mass XVIII). At the end of Mass, they sang "America the Beautiful" as the Supreme Court was escorted out by the bishops (the CJ went with the archbishop and Mrs. CJ was with Cardinal Foley). Then for the formal recessional hymn, they sang Thaxted (O Spirit all embracing), one of my very favorite hymn tunes, in a lovely setting with brass and tympani.

In addition to the introit, the choir sang Palestrina's Veni Creator Spirtus for the offertory and a beautiful performance of Friedell's "Draw Us in the Spirit's Tether</i>.

Cardinal Foley gave an 11-minute homily. Rather than ascending the pulpit or even standing at the ambo, he sat in a chair placed in front of the high altar. During the rest of the Mass, instead of concelebrating at the altar he had his own prie dieu on the side.

Mass lasted about 90 minutes, but we'd been in the church at least 45 minutes before that, so it was a long morning. It was a zoo leaving; the Secret Service was everywhere and the people coming in for the 11:30 Mass were standing outside on the steps waiting for our service to get over. Here are some pics:


Secret Service guards the car of one of the justices.


Archbishop Woerl and Cardinal Foley

It’s about to rain. I’ll wait until “Mother” does her thing. Fall in Oklahoma is a bit like Spring in New England. It rains a lot, which is great for late crops.



I woke up this AM with a nasty lower back ache, wondering what on earth I had done to it. When I took "the kids" out I realized what it was.



I weeded the grapes yesterday.

( Air Duke’s got a squirrel up in the pear tree. )

This neighborhood has a lot of places that probably do more business as carry-out, instead of dine-in, which is something I don't really understand, but I guess it's a holdover from pre-gentrification years. One of those places is Golden China, a surprisingly good place on Georgia Avenue.

Here are some of the things they offer. They have a nice cold sesame noodle appetizer that's so large it's easily an entree. The noodles are, of course, cold, and served in a soy dressing with sesame seeds and chopped scallions. Surprisingly tasty. They also cater to a Latino clientele, so deep fried plantain chips are on the menu. I got some and found them almost addictive, though they need to take a cue from the Latino community and provide a dipping sauce like bean dip or sour cream. And, one big surprise on the menu was "pato con arroz," duck with rice, a fusion of Chinese and Latino cultures. I had to get it. The duck was fabulous. And it only cost me $6.95.

---

Another local Chinese carry out is Eddie's, a place that also includes some limited inside dining space. The owner has practically papered the walls with photos of him posing with various political and military celebrities and officials. I had a pork lo mein, and it was a very large serving.

---

In a completely different neighborhood across town, it's a different world. I had midnight brunch at a neighborhood place called Annie's Paramount Steakhouse the weekend before this last one. I got a cheeseburger and fries. I particularly like their fries. They are thick, very crispy on the outside, and soft as air on the inside. Robert was in a more gourmet mood. He ordered the prime rib. For his sides, he got a baked potato and some steamed carrots (in big coins, or "bonne femme"). I was pleasantly surprised to see with the recent menu changes that the prime rib now automatically comes with Yorkshire pudding.



I always like eating at Annie's, and their all-night dining on Friday and Saturday nights is especially nice. They recently remodeled the dining room and added an upscale room upstairs, but I have to confess I really preferred the old, run-down place.

My friend Brian took me to lunch the other day at Sushi Aoi near the Washington Convention Center. I've been by the place innumerable times, but this was the first time I'd ever been inside to eat. It was fun.

Now, Sushi Aoi is a full-service sushi bar, and everything looked fresh and nice, but we both ended up ordering the very same bento box luncheon special, the pork syogayaki. The syogayaki is a large serving of thinly sliced pork lightly grilled then tossed in a sweet ginger sauce and served topped with cooked onions. Our bento boxes also included a California sushi roll, gzozas (vegetable dumplings), and a little iceberg lettuce salad, plus steamed white rice garnished with black sesame seeds.



The boxes came with miso soup to start. I had a hot green tea, and Brian had iced tea.

Here's Brian with his Kody Pose:

---

Kevin and I went to lunch this past week at Smith & Wollensky, one of the top steakhouses in town. When we got there, though, neither of us ordered steak!

Kevin was feeling experimental and tried their chili shrimp flatbread, a sort of pizza made with a long rectangular piece of flatbread. It looked quite intriguing, but I don't think the spicy shrimp and avocado filled Kevin's saiety needs.

I had the chicken chopped salad. It was quite good, though I thought it was rather too sweet.



Beforehand, Kevin had a bowl of their soup of the day, a nice bacon scented pea soup garnished with croutons. Afterwards, we split the sorbet, picking two scoops of pear and one of coconut. Kevin really liked the pear; I really liked the coconut.

We're thinking about doing Indian food at lodge for Columbus Day next week, so we're having to do some research, trying Indian foods and looking for a good Metro-accessible source for Indian sauces and/or spices.

This past week, we went to Jyoti Indian Cuisine in Adams-Morgan, and found not only good food, but some great prices. They had a special that amounted basically to a thali platter, and we were stuffed for less than $10 each.

The plates arrived with a mold of yellow and white rice in the center, surrounded by five little containers of various foods. Starting at the 10 o'clock position and proceeding counter-clockwise, we had:

• Chicken Masala, a dish of tandoori-roasted chicken slowly simmered in sauce and spices;
• Mater Paneer, green peas with little chunks of homemade Indian farmer cheese;
• Chana Masala, chickpeas and potatoes cooked in sauce and spices (yet spicier and different than the chicken version);
• Dhan Saag, spinach with yellow lentils;
• Raita, a cooling yogurt and cucumber dish that's really more of a condiment than a dish

I washed mine down with a couple of cups of hot chai tea, a spiced tea and milk drink. Their version is milder than many I've had, though I think it would have been better just a little hotter.

With the meal, we were brought two enormous pieces of naan bread that were unusually good.



I was a great lunch, and very much well worth the price.

---

For the contrast, we also tried and considered Moroccan food from Taste of Morocco in Silver Spring, Md. I've eaten before at their location in the Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington, but this is the first I've been to the Silver Spring location. Silver Spring is larger and the decor is more elaborate, but I missed the infectious enthusiasm and constant encouragements to taste new things from the proprietor at Clarendon.

The food is always good at Taste of Morocco. We opted to share a "Zenata" Moroccan feast for two.

The meal opened with a "royal salad," a combination of their four main salads, a cucumber and tomato in vinaigrette salad, eggplant and tomato sauce salad, baba ghannouge ( eggplant with tahini, lemon juice, and garlic), and hummos. The hummos was my favorite.

Next came a chicken bastilla, a delicious dish that I think is unique to Morocco. Using round disks of phyllo dough, they stuff the bastilla with chicken, almonds, and onions, bake the rounds, then dust them with cinnamon confectioner's sugar before serving. The combination is sweet but mouthwateringly good.



Next came the main course, the royal couscous. I've long been a fan of couscous, and what they make here in unusually fine and delicate. Couscous, of course, is tiny, tiny pieces of semolina pasta that is indigenous to Morocco, but it's been exported to France, where it's popular there much as regular pastas from Italy are here in the U.S. In this version, the couscous serves as a bed for a saffron-scented stew of lamb shank, lamb merguez sausage, roasted chicken, and seven vegetables. I thought it interesting that the vegetables included acorn squash—a vegetable indigenous to the Americas—but the squash was delicious in the combination.

For dessert, our waitress brought us a platter of assorted Moroccan pastries, the exact identities of which I have no clue. They were good, being mostly of the dry, crunchy cookie variety. The waitress made a show of pouring our Moroccan mint tea (a lovely but very sweet, hot, mint tea) into clear glass drinking glasses to have with our desserts.





I enjoyed our meal at Taste of Morocco, though I thought the service was a bit off, an unusual thing since it was hardly busy in there due to the heavy rainstorms that day. It's not that they were inattentive, because they were there tending to us often, I think it was just the finer points. For example, we had but one set of knife, fork, and spoon, and in between courses, even if they were dirty, the waitress would take them off our plates and set them back down on the table so we could reuse them for the next course.