new blog

Hi Reader(s)!

New computer=new blog. I'm going to take this one down when I figure out the best way to archive it on my computer (any suggestions are welcome from you more experienced bloggers). My new blog is called "Brass Tax" and you can find it at www.taxedbrass.blogspot.com

I would imagine most of the subject matter will stay the same. I just felt it was time for a change....

Hope you're well!

Love,

The Ren

Things that have happened since I last upgraded my OS

Sorry the blog has been so quite as of late, Reader(s). I guess I just haven't had that much to write about. I've had a few ideas driving home late at night on I-95, but by the time I get back, I'm not in the mood to wax poetic (or un-poetic as the case may be) about freelancing, or music, or anything. I'm preparing for another audition in a little over a week, so I'm really only interested in talking or thinking about music. I'm not spending much time with other people, which means that the only person I can bore with my thoughts on Ein Heldenleben is myself. I think it might be better that way.

My Dell is finally starting to kick it, and given that I've had it since 2002, I don't blame it for wanting to go where computers go to die. I've moved eleven times since I got this computer, if you include month-long interim living arrangements with friends and family. Four of those moves were over 1000 miles, and one of those was "international." Since I bought this computer I have finished my undergraduate degree, master's degree, and (dumb) diploma, won three jobs, lost one, lost the ability to play, and got it back again. I don't even want to think about how many people I've dated. And another thing... when I got this computer, 30 MB was HUGE.

2002 was a long time ago.

SO!!! I'm finally buying a new computer on Friday morning-- yes, this Friday. Black Friday. I am going to go to Best Buy at 5 a.m. for the "Doorbusters" sale because J. found a leaked ad that has the greatest deal on a new computer EVER. I really wanted a Mac this time, but its just not in the cards. Especially with a price like this. My plan, though, is to go in, buy the computer, stand in line, and leave. I will not get caught up in the deals. I will not think about doing any shopping for anything else. Under no circumstances will I enter another store. I will simply go into Best Buy, get the thing, and come home and go back to bed (or possibly make myself some coffee and play with my new toy).

But before then, I'm going to brave the traffic getting out of Philly on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and go home to hang with the family. Just a short trip this time, I'll be back in the Illadelph tomorrow evening to fit in some more practicing and anticipation of my new toy. I hope you are all well and that your holiday seasons are off to a Schlock-tacular start. My Christmas Craptacular season starts next week with the Kennett Symphony's Holiday show and doesn't end until New Years.

And if you're lucky, Reader(s), I'll tell you about my hilarious foray into contracting a Christmas Eve gig. This one might take the biscuit....

I was walking back to my apartment today after meeting a friend for lunch. I heard sirens, not an uncommon occurrence in any city, but especially not in Philadelphia as of late. As I was about to cross Arch Street, I noticed a procession of police cars, and as I looked around some more, noticed that traffic had been stopped and pedestrians were being stopped from crossing the street. It dawned on me then that today was the day of the funeral for a Philadelphia police officer shot in the line of duty one week ago.

I watched at least 200 cop cars pass, and that was probably not even half of them. It was poignant-- the cars were from all over the southeastern Pennsylvania area as well as New Jersey, New York, and Maryland. And it was sad. And it was poignant to watch his colleagues and comrades turn out from miles away to honor his service and his life.

The man who killed this officer was caught in Miami yesterday and will be extradited to Philadelphia on Friday. He confessed to the murder and he's probably facing a life in prison.

But as I watched more and more cars speed past, I began to get angry. Now, to be clear, I agree that it is a tragedy when a police officer (or any law enforcement civil servant) is killed. But I would also like to point out that when you decide to become a cop, getting killed is always a possibility. It is a dangerous job, especially in a city as plagued by violence and gun crime. It is absolutely awful that this officer was killed. But it is no exaggeration when I say that innocent people are dying EVERY SINGLE DAY in this city because of guns. And they aren't cops. They didn't choose lives or careers that involved carrying a gun or confronting violence head on.

I agree that cops and firefighters are heroes, and that this was an appropriate send-off.

I can't help but think that if the City of Philadelphia spent even half as much effort trying to curb city-wide violence as they did prosecuting the individual who killed one of their own, that maybe, just maybe, this city would be a better place to live.

Yes, but does it make you sweat?

I spent my junior year of high school as an exchange student in Finland. Why do I bring it up? Because the Finns invented the sauna and they won't have you forget it. The sauna is a cultural phenomenon in Finland. Every household has at least one, some have two or three! The Finns believe that the sauna will heal what ails you, and by the end of my time in Finland, I believed it too. There's something about sweating out your demons, throwing water on hot rocks, and trying to get an 8'x10' room to 150 degrees (F) that will heal you. I don't pretend to understand it, but I think it works.

So I decided to try Bikram yoga, where they heat the room to 105 degrees (F) and keep the relative humidity around 40-60%. I've had trouble finding an Ashtanga studio in Philly that lives up to my unreasonably high standards, and had heard a lot about Bikram. A colleague of mine recommended a Bikram studio in Center City with a huge number of classes and a schedule that allowed me enough flexibility to pick when I wanted to go every day. The whole thing sounded crazy to me, but I decided to give it a whirl.

Now, at the risk of giving you too much information, I'm not really a person who sweats a lot. I always say something cheeky like, "I'm a chic. I don't sweat. I glow." But trust me, in Bikram, you SWEAT. I've been to three classes so far, but at each class I thought, "I have never sweat this much in my life." I really didn't think I would like it. And I still don't love it like I love Ashtanga. I had it in my head that it would be extremely difficult. But its no more difficult than Ashtanga, except that you are sweating like there is no tomorrow.

I'm still keeping my eyes and ears out for an Ashtanga studio, but what one particularly wonderful teacher said in last night's class was this: "It doesn't matter how far into the pose you can get. What matters is that you come back tomorrow."

So I'm going to keep going back, at least for as long as I can. One of the best things I get out of yoga right now is patience-- patience to get into each pose and hold it, and patience to let my body heal and restore itself.

Namaste, y'all.

Real music

This afternoon I'm subbing in on a show that I've been intermittently playing for the last few weeks and then I'm off to West Chester to play with a local orchestra. Not a FANTASTIC group, but they don't suck either. And they're really really nice, which actually counts for a lot in my book. We're playing Rhapsody in Blue (snore) and Copland's Symphony No. 3. Now, I don't care if I never play Rhapsody again, but can I just try to explain to you how excited I am to play real music? Not some crappy Broadway compilation, and not some silly Motown show, but REAL music? There is at least one person I know in the section and I'm looking forward to being down bell from him. Not only a great player, but a funny guy. I'm playing THIRD, which will be new and different. I haven't played third horn in a REALLY long time. For those of you horn players out there thinking "But that's a high part! I thought she was having trouble with her high range?" Well, that's the part that was assigned to me, and frankly, I'm looking forward to it. I know I can handle it, as my chops have been improving steadily. My high C seems to have come back after an extended vacation (I think he said he's been in "Maui," but he might have said "Malawi.") There's a glitch every once in awhile, but I feel exponentially stronger every day.

Anyway, I was trying to explain what its like to play real, symphonic, orchestral music after a summer and early fall of almost exclusively pops shows.

Have you ever gone a really long time without eating at your favorite restaurant? Then one day, you're walking down the street and its lunchtime and you realize you have just enough time to avail yourself of that burrito you've been craving? And then you get excited and start thinking about what you're going to have on that burrito? Its kinda like that.

Or have you ever decided that you are going to stop drinking coffee? And then after about two weeks of headaches you realize that it was a stupid idea anyway? Then you stop by your favorite coffee shop and have a cup of dark roast and the first taste of it is PERFECTION? Its kinda like that.

Have you ever gone a month without seeing your love and then you meet him at the airport and fall into his arms and everything is perfect again? Okay, I don't think Copland 3 is going to be quite THAT good. But it'll be close.

THAT is how I feel today. I really do love playing the horn, especially now that I can do it again. FINALLY.

Aren't you tired of this yet?

Seriously, isn't everyone sick of Phantom of the Opera yet? For real, people. I do realize that for every one time the audience hears me participate in this particular tome of musical theatre, I have probably played it at least three times, usually more like six. So that's a 1:6 ratio of them hearing it to me playing it. So I can see why I might dislike it MORE than your average pops audience member. But still, why is it that you can't play a Broadway themed pops show without Phantom. Would they riot if it wasn't on the program? Do they know something I don't know?

I've been playing some concerts with this guy. If you bother to read his bio you'll see that he was in Phantom. Of course, Phantom has been running so long its hard to imagine that anyone HASN'T been in it. But I digress. After his rendition of Music of the Night today, the audience went APESHIT. I happened to notice a woman and her husband in the front row of the mezzanine who popped up before the orchestra had even finished the last chord, hooting and hollering. The woman obviously had tears in her eyes and I saw her mouth the words, "Amazing. Just amazing."

Really? For real? Was it THAT good? I mean, okay, he hit all the pitches. He didn't forget the words. He didn't come in a measure early like he did in the Cats medley in the first half. We'll give him a point or two for that. But "amazing?" I don't know. Maybe I'm a jaded, cynical, snob. Or maybe I just have really high standards. Or maybe I'm just out of touch. But I'm really okay with all that, at least this time. I don't like to get all snotty "oh I could do that" or whatever. Sure, there's a part of me that's a Broadway star. But that part of me only comes out when no one is around, or in the car driving down the turnpike late at night. I don't think I could do what they do. But that's partly because having to sing "Phantom" every week would possibly drive me batty.

I only have one run out show left for this particular series, and while it wasn't that bad, I'm happy to not have to hear Peter Nero's jokes for a few days. I'm also happy I don't have to play the never-ending Richard Rogers Medley. While it is certainly one of the better ones I've ever played (I love the transition into "Climb Every Mountain"... genius, I tell you) I found myself humming it last night and couldn't get it out of my head. That gets old QUICKLY.

Its unseasonably warm in Philly, and I'm looking forward to some fall weather. I went apple picking last week and came home with a bushel of apples, which is enough to make about 10 gallons of applesauce. So if any of you are hungry, please, come join me for a bowl!

There's nothing Philly loves more....

Those who know me know that I really could not care less about sports. I tried to like hockey for cultural reasons when I lived in Finland. It was alright, but it never stuck. I'm sure that AB has recollections of trying to help me understand football during our high school marching band days. I'm sure he'll be the first to agree that I just never really cared enough to learn what "First Down" meant. I've tried to watch the Superbowl a few times, but have found that sports announcers voices tend to lull me into a pleasant sleep. So, as you can imagine, baseball does not interest me at all.

I ran into one of my neighbors while waiting for the subway last night. He introduced me to his girlfriend and said they were going to the game.

"What game?" I said. He looked at me with a slightly horrified expression.

"What game? The Phillies!"

"Oh."

So you see, Reader(s), I just don't care about baseball. There was another game today, in Philadelphia. This time I didn't need to be told. I noticed the people on the train, dressed up in their Phillies best. Turns out today's game was the clincher... The Phils are division champs.

I played a concert today in Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center. Start time was 3:00. Based on what I have observed about Philadelphia, I would not have been surprised if no one showed up. 3:00 was the start time for the Phillies Game. Based on the fact that the Phillies are the losing-est team in the history of sports (with over 10,000 losses!), I never would have guessed they'd get this far. I'm betting I'm not the only one who thought that.

So, we've established that I don't know or care about baseball. But I do care about Philadelphia. And if there is one thing that Philly loves, its when Philly does good. When the score was announced at intermission, the crowd went WILD. I felt like I was actually IN the stadium, not at a pops concert, of all things. After the show, Peter Nero came out and announced that the Phillies had won-- even I was happy. Upon exiting the hall, it was easy to see that the entire city had gone ape-shit.

Philadelphia has problems. Lots of problems. It is has the highest violent crime rate of any city in America. Its so dirty it makes New York City look pristine. The Mayor is useless and the rest of the politicians are pretty corrupt. But what I love about Philadelphia is that it an honest place, with people who love it for its humble "We're not New York!" attitude.

There is an honesty about this city that I love. And there's nothing I like more than seeing everyone in Philly think that this city is as great as I do.