Last night we saw The Year of Magical Thinking, a play adaptation of Joan Didion's account of the year after her husband died and during the horrific illness of their daughter. It was a two-nights only at the Gloucester Stage Company where we are subscribers. It's a one actress play that lasts for close to two hours and starred Nancy Carroll who gave a brilliant performance (she did at the Lyric Stage earlier this year).

Although I've never read the book, I'd think that seeing this dramatization would be a lot more powerful than the book because it is so personal. It's a pretty powerful story. Of course it made me think a lot about death and its aftermath for the survivor.

We were sitting out on the porch after having sherry and cheese and noticed that a bunch of bugs - probably gnats - were swarming around the green glass. They were ignoring the brownish one. Various experiments of moving them around didn't change the attraction although one did land and stay on the brown glass.

Camera resolution is not good enough to actually see them.

Last weekend, rsc and I went to Portland, OR to attend the annual motss con. This was the 22nd one and we've been to the last 19. They've always been lots of fun - with lots of socializing, lots of eating, and some touristing.

It's interesting to reflect upon this in these days of social networking. net.motss was created as a Usenet Newsgroup in 1983 and as usenet matured (if you can call it that) the naming scheme changed and it became soc.motss. motss stands for members of the same sex - that name chosen because it was felt in those days if gay or lesbian or glbt were used in the name then some sites might not carry it.

It is an early example of a social network that became well established and after these many years still exists. This newsgroup like many others isn't as active as it was as things like LJ or Facebook have taken over and some ISPs such as Comcast & AT&T no longer carry it.

Many of the active participants have met face-to-face at local events, and at these cons. It was through this connection that we got involved in contra dancing and I'd say just about all our current friendships have come about through soc.motss and the dance community.

I'm going to post some more abut this con with some pictures soon. I've been stuck with deciding what to do in LJ or what in Facebook and thus did none thus far.

Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) is an invasive weed that has been pretty successful in its establishment on our front lawn/meadow. Once there was just one of them and I kind of liked its flowers and appearance - big mistake! I've been at war with it this spring/summer digging it up.

It looks like this now except that it is embedded in the grass.

Sometimes it just pulls up but usually I need an asparagus knife to dig it up since it's root is pretty solid. This tool is supposedly used to scrape asparagus stems, however I suspect that it is only used as a weeder - and a good one at that. I also used it to dig up some plantains and dandelions today.

We just saw You're a Good Man Charlie Brown at the Gloucester Stage Company. I'd say that it was well done but making a full length musical out of the themes in that splendid strip (which is still being rerun in the Gloucester Daily Times) is a big reach. It was enjoyable (and saved us from watching an ugly Red Sox game).

This theatre is in its 30th year. It was founded by Israel Horowitz - he is no longer the Artistic Director and most seasons including this one have a Horowitz play - often new ones. We've been subscribers from almost the beginning. They do about six plays each summer.

This is a special year for Horowitz - there is a project to perform all 70 of his plays in various places from Mar 31, 2009 to Mar 31, 2010. Mar 31 was his 70th birthday. Pretty nice tribute to some extraordinary achievement. One of his plays, Line, is in its 36th year in an Off Broadway run.

One of the players drafted by the Red Sox is Seth Schwindenhammer. If he makes it to the team his name will be the longest ever (beating out Saltalamacchia by a letter - he plays for the Rangers). This presents a challenge to the people who sew names on the backs of uniforms.

Curtis, the comic strip is very repetitive with the same plots from year to year, but sometimes funny. Today Greg, Curtis' dad, gave an incredible little speech to Curtis that sums up my feeling. He said:

Panel 1: (while watching TV) Witness the face of hate, Curtis.

Panel 2: This is a perfect example of a closed-minded person who uses "freedom of speech" with a twisted sense of religion to tell others how they should live!"

Panel 3: Curtis: Is freedom of speech a bad thing? Greg: Not at all! It gives me the freedom to tell 'em what they can do with their advice!

I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. Like just about anything that I read by Gladwell it is very interesting.

His thesis in this book is that frequently instantaneous reaction yields much better decisions than the thoughtful gathering information and weighing it all. He has many case studies and interviews to support this thought.

One example is what happens in a hospital ER when doctors are trying to determine if a patient is having a heart attack. A quick decision is very important and the wrong decision leads to deaths or wastage of scarce resources that can also impact other patients. They found that just collecting a few basic pieces of info (BP, EKG, and pain evidence) was much more accurate than adding in many other factors (diet, parentage, certain blood tests which take time to get, etc.) One thought is that as you collect more information you begin to doubt what you've already learned.

He has an example of an expensive statue which careful studies by various experts convinced the museum that it was real. Yet several experts on first look within 2 seconds decided it was a fake. And careful studies showed it was a fake - $10mill down the drain.

Another issue is that preconceived notions have a very important impact. An example is with auditioning of musicians for classical orchestra positions. For many years there was a ingrained thought that women musicians weren't as good as men. This seemed to cause few women to be selected. Then many orchestras started doing auditions where the candidates were behind a curtain. In most cases the director can evaluate a musician after hearing a minute of less of playing. The sex, demeanor, nationality, sex, size, and other traits can cause the decision to not be based upon the musical talent but other factors. SInce auditions have now become standard behind the curtain there are many more women being chosen.

"Packaging" of products as well as musicians seems to have a big effect on what people like. As part of an example of people deciding which of two liquors they liked. The majority chose the one in the fancy bottle; a later experiment where the contents were reversed the majority again chose the liquor in the fancy bottle.

I just finished reading The Protest Singer - An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger by Alec Wilkinson. It was most enjoyable - the book includes his entire 1955 testimony before the House Unamerican activities Committee (HUAC) which is pretty fascinating to read. I was going to post a bit of it and then I remembered that I wrote about Pete Seeger after having seen an American Masters episode about him and noticed that I had quoted exactly what I was about to quote this time.

There was a story in the book about when a friend of his (John Cronin) asked him to come talk to his class Citizen Advocacy in the Evolution of American Democracy at Pace College in 2001. Cronin told the class about the upcoming visit: he said: "We have a real treat coming, Pete Seeger is coming to visit." and then reports - I felt like I was talking to an oil painting - the people didn't know who Seeger was. Of course the class was a big success - Pete had them singing a protest song in 5 minutes and Cronin says they talked about his visit for 45 minutes in the next class.

There's quite a bit of interesting discussion about his musical philosophy such as why singing and performing is what is desirable - not just listening. He talks about folk music and how the way songs are passed on and sung in different styles by region is an important. Some folk musicians sort-of resented the fact that the way he sung a song became the desirable one because he was so popular and thus dilutes some of the point of the folk tradition. (this is my simplistic interpretation/memory of what I read in the book).

At 90 Pete Seeger is still active - singing and protesting.

Seen in our yard - first perusing the car. And then we followed it around for a while.

The problem with attempting to go to bed shortly after we've migrated to Gloucester. Everybody gets to sleep wiyh us for one night.

Our room at Glen Oaks Motel had a nice orchid. Lunch the next day had an interesting table decoration and view.



( A couple of other artifacts )

Tonight I took Robert rsc to dinner at Craigie on Main in Cambridge as a slightly belated birthday dinner.

It was most excellent. I had Assiette of Three Terrines: Quatre Foies, Fromage de Tete, Lamb Rillettes with a bunch of sauces on the side and Robert had Sweetbreads for our first course. We both had grilled/roasted scallops with clams as our main course that came served with pineapple salsa. For dessert we had a Olive Oil and Taza Chocolate Mousse and Gingerbread Pain Perdu (there was no problem finding the ginger bread). Plus decaf expresso and seven herb tea. They served the tea properly in a nice pot - I've been surprised how poor the tea service is in some very nice restaurants.

I had a Northern Lights which was St. Germain, Scotch, citrus, Bittermens Tiki Bitters (their description also says: Crisp, Smoked Elderflower and Douglas Fir) followed by a glass of Vouvray. I like trying out these weird drinks - is one was good. Robert had a glass Bourgogne Blanc.

We ran into my friend Henrietta Davis (a Cambridge City Councillor) and her husband who were celebrating her birthday at the restaurant.

The prior occupant of this place was La Groceria, a very nice italian restaurant who had been there for many years which occupied the first floor and the second floor also. Before that La Groceria was a tiny little place and above it on the 2nd and third floors was the apartment of the late Marleen Montgomery, the leader of an off beat music school and director of The Quadrivium, an early music performing group that I was a member of for a number of years. Marleen used to hold classes, soirees and workshops in her apartment and was there many times. It used to be wierd later on eating in the upstairs rooms of La Groceria in the very room that used to be used for workshops.

While visiting Big Sur in April we saw lots of Seals / SeaLions. These were at Point Lobos State Park which is close to Carmel.



( more pics )

Today is Robert's (rsc) birthday.

Soon he will receive the various inane gifts I have obtained. We are in that stage of life where we have too much stuff and don't really need anything, but the tradition must go on. We will celebrate again quietly with a birthday dinner next week at Craigie on Main.

Last month we spent a couple of days in Big Sur before going to Queer Dance Camp./ Here's a peek through the rocks from one of the beaches. There were lots of signs about No Surfing and that if they had to come rescue you you'd have to pay the costs.



( looking south at the coast )
Seen along the road

( a sign and an artifact )

Who says you can't find a phone booth anymore? While driving around in the Big Sur last month we espied this:

This weekend was the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA - the A is for Association). This annual event started in 1944. It takes place in the adjacent Mansfield, MA high and middle schools and at times there are 12 parallel sessions with major dance events in the two gyms. We did a bunch of Contra Dancing and some English Country Dancing - but there were shows, Morris and Sword Dancing outside, and various other things going on as well.

Our Gay and Lesbian dance groups operate a food booth in the cafeteria. Our menu includes pasta with marinara, pesto, butter, or disgusting cheese sauce - with or with out veggie or meat balls; salad; hot dogs; scones, popovers, muffins; croissants (some stuffed); cookies; lemonade, iced tea; hot or cold tea and coffee - and probably something else I forgot. Sam and Chris are the head chefs and organizers and a bunch of volunteers serve and collect money, etc. I worked about 12 hours at setup, take down and serving. We let volunteers choose to which of the various groups to dedicate their share of profits. The food booth is a nice community building event - there were about 30 individuals volunteering during the weekend. The bookkeeping isn't all done, but it looks like we made close to $4,000.

I was quite exhausted - all that standing, dancing and the excessive heat - but it was lots of fun.

On our trip to the west coast earlier this month we spent a couple of days at Big Sur. While we were there we went to the Henry Miller Library, an eclectic place that is sort of a museum. Henry Miller was a prolific author who also painted (I'd never seen his painting but there were a bunch at a nearby gallery and they were pretty nice). He is best known for Tropic of Cancer which was published in Paris in 1934 but until a obscenity trial which overruled some pornography laws did not get published in the US until 1961. A lot of his books were there as well as other books which were for sale. They have performances out in front sometimes, but what was most interesting was the weird stuff.

A sign near the entrance:



( Some pics )

On April 15th, 1947 Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. I was nine years old at the time and vaguely remember the event and follow-up. He was an excellent choice to break this color barrier pretty much always keeping his cool when encountering extreme prejudice and hate. Robinson went on to be a very exciting player on the field and made it into the Hall of Fame.

MLB is commemorating this by having all players wear number 42 on their uniforms (without players names). 42 was retired several years ago but players with that number were allowed to keep it. 42 is on the wall in Fenway Park along with those Red Sox players with 10 or more years on the team who made it into the Hall.

A few weeks ago when I went to a planning meeting in the Cambridge High School this quote of something he said was on the wall:

I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.

I think that would be pretty good advice to follow for lots of people.

Too bad that Obama wears number 44. Now here is a far-fetched thought: Grover Cleveland wore 22 and 24 so if presidential numbers could be reused and if you called Ford 37r because he was an unelected president then Obama would be 42.

It was three weeks ago and I only posted a sunset picture.

Guana Island is a fancy resort in the British Virgin Islands. It's a private island near the airport on Tortola. The island is 800 acres and there is just this one hotel with at most 30 guests. The main beach has this fine white sand with coral reefs for good snorkeling. You go up a hill to where the main house and other houses are - there is a 250 ft peak and an 800 one, too as well as about other beaches reachable by trails or boat. It is operated as a nature preserve as well; they reintroduced Caribbean Iguanas and there are a few hundred on the island. Down on the flat land behind the beach is a salt pond with 6 bermuda flamingos (too small for them to breed), a croquet field, two tennis courts, two donkeys (whose predecessors used to be transportation up the hill), and an elaborate garden with lots of edible fruits. In October they host scientists month for researchers to do various studies.

The food is good, the other guests are always congenial. You eat family style, there's a cocktail hour with a do-it-yourself bar, there's lots of socializing, and it feels like a house party. We tend to go there two out of three years in early March and see some of the same people each time. We think this was our 18th trip there. I characterize the place as one where there is nothing to do and not enough time to do it. There are lots of diving pelicans at the beach and I always find it mesmerizing to watch them. We've stayed in the same room the past several times and one of its features is a lovely porch for viewing the sunset - seen here: . Our timing this year was perfect since we left early on March 1 just as it was beginning to snow.

( Some Wild Life )

Last night we went to another Robert Kapilow What Makes it Great concert which is part of the Celebrity Series to which we have a sub.

The work for this was Dvořák's String Quartet No 12, the American which was composed when he was in the US. The pattern of all Kapilow's programs is the same. For the first hour he talks about the piece, illustrates parts of it on the piano and with the performers (The Parker String Quartet), and gets audience participation singing bits of the theme and tapping out some of the rhythms. He will often start with a simplified version of a part and then show how the composer used a more complex form which is "what makes it great".

After an intermission the piece is performed in entirety. It is a lovely piece and pretty familiar since it is played on the radio quite a lot. One little surprise was that the top string of the cello broke during the 2nd movement - fortunately his part didn't really need it in this section so they were able to complete the movement; then he went out to get a new string. Playing with a new string is a bit of challenge since it doesn't hold its tune for long. I don't think I've ever encountered such an event.

Parts of this piece use a five-note scale that may be based upon some Native American music he heard. My own image for some of the feeling of this piece is out west on the Great Plains but perhaps this is derived from knowing what the piece is about since I'm not very familiar with NA music.

Next year he will do the Mendelssohn Octet and another concert with Cole Porter songs. Should be fun.

Before the concert we had dinner at Bombay Cafe with eblaug_rss and RP. After the concert we went to JP for the last couple of contra dances and then went out for ice cream

We went to see Dvořák's Rusalka tonight at the Boston Lyric Opera.

The scene opens with 3 Rhinemaidens swimming in the - oops wrong opera. The scene opens with 3 water nymphs swimming in the river. Rusalka is another water nymph and later gets turned into a human so she can go get married to the Prince. In the second act Cordelia - oh that was last night - the foreign princess mocks Rusalka because she is mute and tries to win over the Prince. This causes the situation that the lead soprano wanders around the stage for most of the second act without singing. Eventually as one would expect in most operas the Prince dies and Rusalka wanders off in misery.

And oh yes, there was a lot of other stuff happening with some very nice music. The set with lots of projected images of woods and ferns and other stuff was great. It was a nice opera and production.

And tomorrow we are hearing Dvořák's String Quartet No 12 - otherwise known as the American at Robert Kapilow's What Makes it Great which are always entertaining and educational.

OK, so tonight we watched the PBS King Lear. And that's my plot summary.

Ian McKellan as Lear was perfect. I didn't recognize any of the other names in the cast.

My favorite characters in Lear are the evil nasty sisters: Goneril and Regan; and especially Goneril - fortunately they don't get killed until close to the end because I would have missed their presence. To be honest I find it hard to track the big picture of the "plot" but all the interchanges are very fascinating.

"Beethoven once remarked that if he had understood the arts of war as well as he had those of music, he could have defeated Napoleon. Who, listening to this concerto, could doubt that?"

These were the last two sentences in the Program notes for Beethoven's Emperor Concerto which we saw performed by the London Symphony Orchestra with pianist Alexei Volodin last night.

They also played the Prokofiev Symphony No 5 which is a huge piece with a stage full of musicians and a hall full of sound. Not really suitable for listening to on an iPod. It was a wonderful concert with two big pieces very well performed.

Our seats were front row first balcony very close to the stage (about the closest we've ever been) and you get a really good view of the performers as well as a slightly different sound than further back. They used the European formation with the second violins on the right and the basses on the left. Where we were made it difficult to see the basses and the harp because they were almost under us. Sitting up so close with the violas facing us let us really hear some juice viola parts. The second movement of the Prokofiev has some really nice brass and other winds. The conductor, Valery Gergiev, conducts without a baton and he did a lot of motion with his right hand - somewhat different than his left - with wiggling fingers.

The guy sitting next to me took a couple of pictures of the orchestra with his iPhone and posted to FaceBook several times, at least once during one of the pieces. He was paying full attention to the music so it wasn't that he was bored.

Sitting up so close made me muse about the idea of a piano with its bass strings on the right instead of the left - wouldn't that be more suitable for an English orchestra?

Also I am happy to report that I saw only one light bulb out in the ceiling chandeliers. I still wonder how they change them. Huge ladder - I doubt it? Lower the chandeliers? Super Kangaroo?