Barkfest

This morning I almost put up a sign on my downstairs neighbor's door saying, "I'm so glad your annoying Bichon Frise has stopped its incessant barking! I think its neutering must have done it some good." But I realized it was because it and its owner moved out this morning! Hooray! Now I don't have to deal with its schizophrenic explosion every time someone walked down the sidewalk.
Then, what should happen not thirty seconds later, but a new dog and its owner moved in to a different apartment in my building, and it started barking from the back yard! I don't know what it is with my building and dogs. Will the barkfest never cease? If your dog barks that much, it should not live in my tiny tiny building, in a crowded neighborhood, with no place to run free. I'm praying that someone quiet moves in downstairs and spares me from Dolby 5.1 surround-sound yelping.
Pictured right: The culprit in question. From the I'm-disgusted-it-exists website Precious Pet Paintings.com.

Amy Winehouse

Meaningless celebrity update: I read on CNN this morning that the singer Amy Winehouse is only 24 years old. In fact, she's almost exactly a year younger than I. But why did I think she was at least 35? Oh, right.

Cool Ministers

I subbed as the pianist for two Lutheran Church services this weekend and I chatted with a very cool husband and wife minister team! The husband is totally batty. But in a good drinking buddy way. The female minister and I chatted for a bit in between services and she seems really cool, as she said she likes giving sermons because it gives her a chance to use "guerilla faith" and try and motivate people or inspire them. Well, it's a little sneaky sounding, but I don't think she has any intention of trying to convert me or anything. In fact, she added my name to some list of available musicians for hire within the church world. Maybe it'll result in some side gigs pounding out Joyful, Joyful a few more times. Cool with me.

The lady minister also said another thing which I admired, which was very plainly stating, "I don't shop." Not like "I don't buy groceries" or "I've worn the same worn-out shirt for 37 years" or anything, but in the context of "I don't fall into anything resembling consumer culture". And being a minister seems appropriate to that way of life. I oscillate between wanting to own every book and cd in existence, and then wanting to get rid of everything I own and live with my one book, one shirt, and one drinking glass elegantly arranged on the immaculate floor. But in any case, I think it's pretty awesome for someone in this age to admit without pretention, "I don't shop...I've been to Shadyside once, with all the fancy stores, but it was for a gift for someone."

Part-Time International Male Model

I can't believe I've neglected to mention that I've also become a part-time international male model. Semi-professional, of course. I'm looking for a part-time semi-professional agent.

A while back I posed for some photos that Sally took in an entry for exhibit at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. The exhibit was showcased as 'Uncensored!' and Sally's idea was to take several long panoramic (and vertical) photos and affix them to a spinning cylinder (actually a lazy susan), then encasing the cylinder in a box with a hole cut into it. The piece is titled 'Intimate View' and the viewer can only see a tiny fraction of the photo at one time, piecing together what the photo actually was without ever seeing it all at once.

I've included a photo for scale, and then a tiny photo of one of the interior views. Suffice to say being a show called 'uncensored' the photos were slightly scandalous, and NSFW, so they say on the internets. I, for one, was delighted to be a part of the experience, and I applaud most chances for people to have an excuse to be naked in the name of art. And hundreds of people saw Sally's work, which is great, ahem, exposure for her as an artist and photographer.

Now that the show is over, Sally has the box looming large on a table in her living room, allowing house guests to unsuspecting view my every thing.
I'm available for future photo shoots on a part-time basis, preferably at exotic international destinations.

Night Vision Composition

Rare footage of a composer in mid-composition, folks...you won't get to see this one very often. Look how he wears his music like a stole and hides from public view...Oh, and look over there, a zebra. Are they black with white stripes or white with black stripes? Maybe if we're lucky we'll see the wallaby today.
So I'm writing a piece for two clarinets, strings, and a bass drum, and I was having trouble "seeing" the piece as a whole even with a map drawn out and computer playback and all. Not a particularly good sign, but I'm trying a new kind of form, a quirky instrumentation, and some new polytonality as well, so I didn't expect a quick churning out of a piece. I wanted to see it printed out in long form, so I shoddily cut all the pages of the score up and taped them together. Well, the piece was a bit longer than I thought, so now I use it more like a scroll rather than a tapestry. Luckily it helped! And more edits can now be made.

Turkey Hunting Alarm Clock

In my parents' hunting catalogue there is an alarm clock for sale in the shape of a turkey, which, when time to get up, sounds an alarm with the "realistic" sounds of a rifle, and a bird scurrying off into the trees. I'm totally serious. Now I know nothing gets me going in the morning quite like gunshots next to my head, but this seems a little out of control. Then again, some hunters are out of control, camouflage-ing both their trucks and their tool boxes inside the truck beds. As if we couldn't see it driving down the highway the other day.
But what should really happen with the ideal turkey-hunting alarm clock is for a life-size shotgun to unfold out of the back end of the alarm clock and actually blow your turkey-shaped clock to smithereens each morning (well, just once, unless you have a good supply of crazy glue). This will certainly get you up on time without having to ever hit that pesky snooze button.

P.S. I know you want to go trademark this right now, 'cause it's a goldmine in product development. Well too bad, I totally call it.

10,000 page views!

Guys and gals, we're almost at 10,000 page views! 'Course, a lot of them are me checking my own blog, but that's not important! If you are the lucky person you should let me know. Prize for you!

Bloomington, Indiana

I went to Bloomington, IN. this past weekend and saw the music school there, but more importantly saw my good friend Gabe and his girlfriend Nathalie. They showed me around the city and we experienced many cuisines, bookstores, record stores, and watched movies. In essence, it was all I could hope for! We also went to a lake, which was supposed to have a beach, but with all of the midwest flooding that's happened recently, the sand was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was an underwater basketball hoop and this tree coming out of the lake waters. But don't you think this picture has a certain Rembrandt-y quality? The weather was a bit tumultuous but it looks great at this moment, the clouds reflecting in the water. Even that boat is Flemish school. You'd almost expect to find a skyline of Haarlem in the background. Yup, it's all Netherlandtastic except for the damp-looking grill in the middleground. That is very contemporary art of America, for barbecues are surely the installation art of the midwest.

Jerry's Records, Westminster Gold Genius

As a treat to myself for a teaching successful first piano lesson, I stopped into Jerry's Records in Squirrel Hill and discovered a vast cavern of literally millions of record albums. It was more than I could ever dream of. In fact, the classical albums alone take up an entire apartment-sized room, floor to ceiling.

I was looking for one record in particular, and thought I'd take a long shot at seeing if they had it. It's the Berlioz 'Romeo and Juliet' from the Westminster Gold collection, a record label in the 1970's that used humor and irreverence (while still maintaining great design work) for their classical album art. I'd been looking at this record on an online auction for over a year and it was about $25--more than I wanted to pay, but the image is so great I really debated it for a long time. But I found it at Jerry's! And I got it for $8, which I think was totally fair, even though I probably could have bargained. But it's totally worth it to keep them in existence!
Here is the full folio spread, in all its hilarious soft-focus glory.
Not only does it capture my interest in male nudes (and cute ones at that) but Romeo is wearing socks! When the album is closed, you think it will be the typical 'star-crossed lovers' shot and then the surprise gets you on the back. Brilliant!
They have many witty covers, one of which is this album for Flute and Harpsichord Sonatas. Think about it.
And then there are some simple yet effective beautiful designs, too. I especially like this cover for string quartets, with a clever allusion to literal string, but there are four hands working together to make their creation (Cat's Cradle). And in string quartets, the ensemble playing of all four musicians, rather than the individual players, creates the work. Also, the weight of the typefaces is always carefully chosen. It's a great package deal! I think that kind of clever design is totally missing in this modern age.

Piano lessons, Indiana

I have to give a 7-year-old girl her first piano lesson tomorrow. Have I taught anyone piano before? No! But I gotta start somewhere. And she won't know the difference between me and Glenn Gould. Yet.

Also, I leave for Indiana on Thursday for a long weekend. I'm seeing friends and visiting the university. This will be the farthest west in the U.S. I've ever travelled, except for Hawaii. But I don't think that counts, as I didn't stop anywhere along the way.

Internet date failure

Internet dating is a fickle landscape to navigate. Unlike real human interaction (say, at a bar, or through friends), one has the choice of not responding to instant messages, or avoidance to get the point across. On the positive side, internet dating can bring cool people together who might not be in the same place at the same time, and it can, but doesn't have to, involve liquor. I naturally, am optimistic that internet dating can work for me. But not this week. Several failed attempts later, and one actual coffee date finally happened, with someone that didn't click.

Perhaps I'm misreading the tone of messages. I also have the feeling I'm more inclined to meet up in person sooner than most people. I just believe you can find out so much more about someone by seeing their body language. And I'd rather get to this point early than hope that I'm meeting Mr. Fantastic when he turns out to be Mr. Meh-tastic.

Or perhaps I give off the wrong impression, that people misread what I write to be something other than the kind of person that I am. I seem interesting, right? I have a blog, right? Therefore I must have something going for me. (That's irony. It too doesn't translate well in writing.) If you didn't know me, what kind of a person do you think I am from this post? (Well, other than a guy who apparently wears shirts made out of barbed wire woven into a plaid pattern.) Or this blog in general. Or if you do know me, does the same tone equate to my real person? Curious! And fingers crossed for the next Mr. Fantastic.
"What do I have to do to get an internet date around here? I mean, what do I have, like, "say you'll get coffee with me and bail for no reason" written on my forehead??"
"Well, yes, yes in fact you do. And it's written in Arial to spite you."

Alia Musica Pittsburgh

Last night a great Pittsburgh chamber music ensemble premiered a piece I wrote for them. Alia Musica Pittsburgh is a group of University of Pittsburgh composer-performers who write music for one another. This summer guest composers were invited to write pieces, and I was honored to be . The concert was in Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, which has surprisingly great acoustics in its Fabergé egg shape and intimate seating. The building itself is also beautiful; its Medieval cloister design seemed appropriate to my work for the evening, Cathedral Disturbances.

The work is scored for a chamber group of piccolo, two saxes, two strings, and piano, and is really two separate parts: the first part ("quiet in the church!") leads up to the second ("dance party!"). The performance went well, and I was delighted to have my first real Pittsburgh premier, with an audience that I haven't personally all invited. I think the dress rehearsal went a little better, but as Mark pointed out, there weren't people in the auditorium to muffle the sound, so it seemed a bit more...cathedral-y then. And the saxophones sounded especially great in performance. Yet again, I must repeat how much I love the saxophone family! Everyone played very well, and hopefully I'll get a recording for posterity.

My piece was the most chord-based on the program, which ended in a long fade-out in texture around a B scale (with raised 4). It's funny that several people told me the piece was "pretty". I don't really know how to take that. Well, of course I'll take it as a compliment. But sometimes it feels like a brush-aside for more ear-straining, challenging works. It might be a case of semantics, but I think in this case "pretty" is not the same as "beautiful", to which I often aspire. "Beautiful" works are more difficult to pull off effectively, and could easily turn into cutesy or cheesy. Why not say something like spacious, religious, glamorous, twinkling, harmless, revelatory, fresh, fun, childlike, had a certain joie de vivre et cetera? Hooray for adjectives!

It will be interesting to see how my music progresses into the professional world. I want to challenge myself compositionally, and branching out into different stylistic areas (or processes) can only be a good thing for me. But I don't think I'll lose that desire to create something beautiful, personal...this is getting a little too schmaltzy, a little too Midnight Shoveler School of Musical Morality, and You Too Can Sign Up for $19.99 a Month. I digress.

Finally, I have to give a few words to the fantastic design work for Alia's printed materials, done by Jen Gallagher. Her subtle variations for postcards, posters, and programs were perfect, and all based around the layout seen above. The poster is clean and effective, and even looked good in greyscale if one wanted to print out a poster from home but didn't have a color printer. I think she also used the golden section, perhaps? Her typesetting in the programs is also really sharp. A delightful evening, all around! And when we left the concert hall, the sky outside was just so...pretty.

Equally Yoked

There is a Christian dating site called Equally Yoked, which I'm sure works well when that's what you're looking for in a partner, but all I can think of is this scenario:

Woman: "Honey, are you hungry at all?"
Man: "You know, I could go for some Cracker Barrel."

I'm glad there aren't literal yokes involved.

Project Nunway

This year's premise is hotter than ever: 10 nuns (and select gay friars) compete for the chance of a lifetime- a fashion spread in Elle Magazine and one hundred thousand dollars to start their own religious fashion line. Every week one nun is eliminated.

Tim Gunn gives rosary beads of wisdom like, "Have Faith in Fashion, people! Make it work!"

The flamboyant gay nun calls every outfit "fierce", "Tranny" or, at best, "Hot Messiah".

But when it comes down to the judges, you're either in or you're Excommunicated.

One nun tries to design a sexy swimsuit for a Russian nun-slash-model but ends up falling short.

Michael Kors criticizes: "Magdalene, it looks like you've fallen right back into your old habits again. What happened to sexy swimwear?"

Magdalene replies, "I don't know if the Lord intended me to be a fashion designer."
And we all know what that means.
auf Wiedersehen.

College Graduations and Niagara Falls

So much has happened all in the last week! This blog has briefly left the world of comics and collages and has apparently taken a turn to the photoblog. Well, comics shall return soon. I just have to think of something funny to draw in the midst of looking for a job after the summer. Perhaps a funny coming about the irony of hoping your big employment break will come through at Borders Bookstore when you've just earned a Master's Degree. Hilarity!My sister graduated from college. I'm so proud of her. I graduated from second college. I'm proud of my big fat diploma which is more than twice as big as the last one. And the last one was all in Latin, so now that this one is in English I can read it all.
My dad and I went on a motorcycle ride on a beautiful day! This is over his shoulder.
My friends and I went to Niagara Falls Canada for the Memorial Day Weekend. Take that, American holidays. Well, Niagara Falls Canada is basically Canada Lite, so we weren't really escaping the United States. This waterfall behind me is Niagara Falls, and it is not a fake backdrop! But I do wish that our yellow ponchos were a little less bonnety and a little more keep-out-the-deluge-y.
We also fit into a pod at the Ferris Wheel, joined by Mark's friend Ted, who visited from Toronto.
Finally, I got back to Pittsburgh and the very next day I had a premier and a recording of a piece I wrote for bell choir! And here they all are in their Chancel Glory.
Phwew. I think the summer will be a bit less eventful than this, but I'm glad that all events went very smoothly, and not a single handbell was thrown at anyone.

Vacation Bliss

On mini vacation in Western NY. I'm waiting for friends to visit tomorrow night, whence we go to Niagara Falls! I'm excited for "Canada As Adults", because the last time I was there I was a teenager, which was fine, but now I have free will. Having a few days in the meantime to think all by me onesies is great. I'm thinking:
1. I love the quiet of the family's house! I can practice piano for an hour, watch tv, go for a walk, and then come back to the piano...and it's still as quiet as ever.
2. I'm reading a book of writings by the composer John Luther Adams (he works out of the wilderness of Alaska and sometimes writes hour-long works with strings and harps only on white keys; in other words I am completely in love with him) and I am transfixed by his every word. My, how I admire intelligent writing which is still personal and thoughtful. And he gets bonus points for talking about the aurora borealis.
3. Am I at a compositional bench marker? A mini crisis? Now that I'm done with my Master's program I still think my music could be so much better, so much more solid, and yet I don't quite know how to do that yet. I think I'm torn between attempting an ascetic/Arvo Part/"less is more"/spiritual side of me and the funky pop music/minimalism/jazz chord side of me, and perhaps I can find a way to make both sides happy in works to come? 4. I think I'm thinking too much. I should just listen to the stream. Gurgle!
5. This country livin' is a doozy on my digestive system.
6. But the ahi tuna at the fancy Arts & Crafts style restaurant was the most delicious graduation present ever.
7. My parents finally called the piano tuner and he came this morning, and now Wungsten will happen at A440. Delightful.
8. I'm practicing John Adams (the non-Alaskan one) 'China Gates'. I'm going to try to make it happen for real.
9. I've forgotten everything about science and social studies that I learned from 7th-12th grade, as proven by my well-taken notes I've saved. I thought I'd never heard of Mark's quiz-word "regolith", but BAM! There it was on my 8th grade science review sheet about the earth's crust. I am also now re-acquainted with the 5 nations of native Iroquois people, which acronym nicely to SCOOM.

Harp Recital

I played the harp on a three-harp piece at Duquesne University the other night... All but a few lucky parents were priviledged to see my first classical performance debut in Pittsburgh. 'Course, the harp is not my instrument, and I've only taken four lessons, and I was the only boy, towering over the other harptastic blond girls. And the piece was on the program between the principal harpist of the Pittsburgh Symphony and a five-year-old girl who was too short to even sit on the bench. We made a small impact, but it felt good to perform again! And then we got desserts.
Photo: Me playing the harp. Just kidding. Don't I wish. It's King David, circa 1600, on a triple-strung harp, wearing fantastic sandals. But both performances did include a little kid to hold up the music.

Palindromesemordnilap

There are some great palindromes out there. They read the same both forward and backwards. "A man a plan a canal Panama", "Madam I'm Adam", even "Yo Banana Boy!" Sally introduced me to "Sniffum' Muffins" yesterday...but perhaps my favorite palindrome is Avobilhucoiefokniserjaerhobnbohreajresinkofriocuchlibova!
Oh, it has to make sense? Right. Let's stick with Sniffum' muffins then.
(Thanks to Scott for hilarity.)

Fallingwater and Ohiopyle

This past weekend the gang and I went to see Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's 1930's masterpiece of a summer home for the Kaufmann family. Then we went down the road to Ohiopyle, PA for a fantastic lunch on the river, songs in the grass, and warm rays of sunshine! First, we sandwiched Fallingwater between our heads like a delicious architectural Oreo.

The building is amazing for its cantilevered 'horizahnal lahns' (horizontal lines, as our tour guide told us) but I think it's equally impressive for its snapshot into what was the ideal living conditions for the architecturally radical at the time- claustrophobic hallways lead out to sunlit rooms, which lead out to bright verandas that feel like they're floating on the water. Some of the things that were crazy for the 1930's now seem absurd, like the low ceilings, and mazelike houseplan, but I could see what Wright was envisioning, and with tens of millions of dollars over budget, presto! He got what he wanted. The rooms are quite tiny, but every small detail has been accounted for- even the electrical outlets submerged into the floors. I loved this lower level pool, which looked mysterious and magical. We sang Beatles songs in the grass and wished we were born in better days. As if the 1960's were better days, but we know better.
I stuck my feet in freezing springtime river and Matt got chilly vicariously. It was even a good hairday (or lack thereof) for both of us.
We all appeared in the obligatory self-photo, which for some reason I look like the only comfortable subject:
These pictures remind me of my excursions with another Fantastic 5, this time from TA 46 at Vassar. We took great trips to Dia:Beacon and Storm King Art Center on similarly sublime summery days. We all met up again in Washington DC recently for more fun and frolic! (Does anyone have photos they could send me of that weekend?) Perhaps good things come in fives.

Sometimes you have to make a choice.

Two homonyms diverged in a yellow wood...
and I took the road not shaken?