I visited New York on a whim over Christmas. We chose excellent weather (it didn’t rain, despite the forecast until this afternoon, when we had already left). And I captured this shot on top of the Empire State Building. I used Snapseed on my iPad to edit the shot; I love the effect that is created and the feeling. You can see the statue of Liberty in the distance.

But I was ultimately disappointed with the lack of a really good classical shop. At least I was fruitless in finding one.

I traveled to Academy Music to browse their used collection; there might have been a couple finds, but despite gravitating towards the “pre-classical” selection of what was almost 100% used stock, the employee wouldn’t get out of my way to let me browse. I wasn’t about to stand around her like a derelict trying to see what they had there…

I guess in the U.S. the CD shop is really dying out. I enjoyed my trip to Amoeba in California in the past several years. But despite buying digital music and ordering for years from Amazon, I still like to think I could find a nice little classical shop to browse in. (The used aspect of their collection didn’t bother me.)

I remember the romantic notion (was it from a movie?) of looking around in the Bs (for Bach and Biber, of course) and bumping into a cute person looking from the opposite direction. (I used to start in the As and work alphabetically.) Now, without good shops, you’ll never physically bump into someone with your shared interest. That aspect of buying music in a real store and carrying out real media probably bothers me the most – the nostalgia of some movie I’ve long since forgotten.

Anyhow, we did see Chris Botti in concert at the Blue Note. I only own his one “December” album but I enjoyed the concert nevertheless of him not being my all time favorite. His fellow musicians (among them Billy Killson on drums) were outstanding too. He was the biggest name I could find performing in our short planning for the trip.

This page from the current Stingers ensemble names me as the founder. It also says I was “the Admiral.”

In our second year, Douglas left and I did in fact become the unofficial leader of the group, conducting many of my own compositions.

You can hear the MIDI version of an arrangement I did of my own piece which I re-titled Sting Me, Baby. Listen to this piece as it was performed by the Stingers in 1996.

The most prodigious work for the ensemble was my senior thesis project, a piece in six movements based on Mayan religious ritual for 6 trombones, to be performed in the University’s Wilson Commons building. It was called The Mayan Ballcourt: Partita for six trombones. (Find a webcam here to peer inside this “Borg Cube” type structure, a real hallmark of the university, designed by I.M. Pei.)

The first movement of this work is called Burning of the Itz. The only recording ever made of this first movement is available here. I don’t have this first movement in a digital format; it was written out in pencil because of the free-form nature of the piece.

Above, an except from the fifth movement, “The Game.”

Below, an except from another big piece I wrote, Fanfare à 12, this from the most popular “98″ edition.

In the fifth section, I spelled out the word “Stingers” in musical notes… you can see the start of that in this screenshot.

Among the most popular of my pieces arranged for The Stingers was Entrance, Passage, and Fugue, which was an arrangement of a piece for wind ensemble (performed in concert by the university’s own wind ensemble). The piece takes its theme from Bach’s Musical Offering, a very difficult and chromatic theme.

Recordings were made by Stingers alumnus Mr. Orlando Quiroz.

Seen above, from L-R, Orlando Quiroz, John Hendron, and Michael Buchler in Wilson Commons, circa 1994.

We began a tradition of performing an annual concert, known as the Slide Show. For our last concert in May, 1996, we played one piece outside in Wilson Commons, and finished with the Mayan Ballcourt piece to close the concert (again, outside). The concert took place annually in the May Room. Below, the Stingers playing Also sprach Zarathustra by Strauss.

From the program:

For more nostalgia, our first article in the Campus Times:

My best memory with the group was coming back to Rochester after graduation, and helping them perform in the lower level of Wilson Commons. They invited me to play with them, conduct some of my own arrangements, and just hang-out with the gang. While at the time the whole concept of a trombone group playing pop music (by mostly non-music majors) seemed downright silly. But we had drive and determination.

We weren’t the Eastman Trombone Ensemble — but we still had a lot of fun. One final gem, some of our more popular tunes, including Lassus Trombone with The Saints Go Marching In.

And we’d never get this far, either. I mean, my gosh, they have real t-shirts and stuff.

One note about the dress you see – in our debut year, Matt and I came up with the idea of wearing turtlenecks. I have no clue why. Steve Jobs had not yet come back to Apple – and I was unaware of his black turtleneck trademark. So, we wore real full-neck turtlenecks, alternating black and white. As you can see above, I was a “white” one.

I am not sure that turtlenecks and jeans were the right choice then — but looking to the present, and my adoration for Steve Jobs, it was interesting to say the least. We later would dress in shirts and ties, and yes, occasionally we’d dress the part for pieces like Brown Eyed Girl, performed in the Welles-Brown Room.

On January 15, 1993, I sent this letter to my friend in college; he was in Ohio, and I was in Rochester, NY. He sent me copies of almost every letter I sent him last year, and I am now just getting around to reviewing them. There are 151 in total, and they paint a very interesting picture for me. It’s like a secret biographer has written a book about you, and I notice things about myself then that are still with me now.

For instance, in February of ’93, I suffered a significant hypoglycemic attack after exercising too heavily by running in the gym. I remember I had been putting on weight and wanted to run to take it off. This was 1993. I weighed around 150 pounds. Crazy, I know.

I still remember that night. It was awful. But all the details are in the letter! What I ate when I came back; how I felt nautilus, and what my blood sugar was in the morning. I am thankful I wrote the letters and doubly so that my good friend kept them.

Anyhow, the one I copied above was actually written-out, and addressed to my friends who were roommates. I mentioned a new violinist/conductor I discovered. Like anyone needs proof that I’m a long-time fan of Herr Goebel.

Earlier this May, I wrote about a freak discovery when looking online. A new recording by Goebel’s Musica Antiqua, by an obscure composer named Johann Friederich Meister.

I’ve been listening to it a lot since May. I am struck by two things, I believe, separately, and those are (as one might suspect):

(1) the composer’s work or contribution (some really good writing contained within), (2) the sound and performance of MAK.

Let me approach those in reverse order.

MAK well documents the instruments they’ve used since their commercial releases by HPP-aware labels like Archiv in the late 1970s. Goebel shared his own instruments with fellow colleagues. This gave MAK a “sound” one can pick out from among the competition. And it was a certain sound (one might say one heavily weighted towards the craft of one Jakob Stainer). Manfredo Kraemer, an alumnus of MAK, has done something similar in his recordings with his Rare Fruits Council, playing on instruments by David Techler. But in this recording the forces are light: Goebel and Schardt on violins, Brandt on cello, and Berben on harpsichord. I can’t say what instrument Klaus-Dieter Brandt plays, but his sound mixes well with those Goebel violins. But even beyond the sound, this group might be described as the “core” of the latest MAK sound, having collaborated on their successful projects earlier in the decade with Bachiana.

Moreoever, MAK under Goebel seemed to have found that impeccable interpretive style that was lost on some of their other contemporaneous recordings (including the ones of Dowland, Telemann violin concerti, or Gluck). These other recordings were not poor ones; but never has the modern MAK ever sounded so focused since their recordings, say, of Bach in the 1980s or confident, as with their Telemann Tafelmusik. The strength of the interpretation here is what made this release so outstanding.

Next, we’ve got this composer that likely most folks hadn’t heard of prior. Meister wrote compelling music for his time; he died likely after the turn of the 18th century. The harmonies and their progressions are as rich as anything written in the instrumental oeuvre of the time. The rhythmic motifs are arresting in an agreeable, almost foot-tapping way. There’s a conservative side to his writing too, but none such that we might be led to yawn. This composer’s surname as no joke. A master he was.

I’ve been trying to find music this week that somehow fits the gravitas (for me) of the passing of Apple co-founder and chairman, Steve Jobs. No doubt Jobs was not a fan of MAK or of the music of Johann F. Meister. But I feel we’ve lost an inspirational soul. My method to deal with this is to seek-out appropriate music. MAK came on my radar, of course, and their recording of this mysterious composer, a surprise treat, really, came to the forefront along with their recording of Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge.

Excellent! From the Dave Holland release, Prime Directive

This is an excerpt from a letter from me, to my friend, written on the computer. In this section, I’m begging him to get an e-mail account. It was 1993.

I actually pasted in a section of a telnet session. And I remarked about the fine recording of Bach’s Brandenburgs via Musica Antiqua, Köln.

This last excerpt is from another letter, where I detail a listening session and a book I purchased. I am anxious to find this said book, as I do not currently have it in my possession. Interestingly enough, I still have a passion for Bach’s music and fonts. Sadly Borders is no more.

I visited three cities during this past week’s travels to Canada. First, we flew into Burlington, VT, which I think is a nice little town. We had two lunches there (on Saturdays arriving and leaving) and the weather, the small-town appeal, and the lake were all quite charming. The weather was great and the breezes cool.

The shot above of the airport gives you a sense of what summer in Vermont is like… to be surrounded by gentle hills and mountains.

Lake Champlain borders against Burlington and how I would have loved to taken a boat out into those waters. Perhaps we’ll get to return sometime soon.

We drove from Vermont into Canada.

There was a long wait to cross the border. The striking thing is, when you get into Canada, you’re in a rural setting for at least 40 miles, before you approach a “real” highway.

We stopped at the Richilieu shopping center to get Coke and Canadian currency.

Our first and best dinner in Montréal was at Joe Beef. Outstanding French faire, from the best oysters I have ever eaten to the atmosphere and desserts. One of the items on the menu was horse steak. Now that’s French.

This dish was centered around a freshly-made aioli, which is basically a garlicky mayonnaise. Outstanding.

While in Montréal, my first visit, we saw the Totem show by Cirque du Soleil.

It was very well done, as the previous shows I have seen have been. It was a very hot day by the water, but thankfully the tent is well air conditioned.

My overall impressions with Montréal, however, were not great.

We heard some great music on Sunday morning performed at the Place Jacques Cartier, including Bach, Vivaldi, and Telemann. It made my day.

Old Montréal had charm, but ultimately felt touristy.

The Hôtel Gault in town was a nice place to stay; it’s modern but the staff was most helpful and the location is ideally situated between old Montréal and the financial district.

We also dined at Ferreira, which is a Portuguese restaurant featuring seafood.

During our visit we got to partake in the conclusion of the Montréal Jazz Festival, and took in a great evening with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.

This was not a group I had followed, but I was glad I attended. There was some real talent on stage from all four musicians.

The mixture of culture in Montréal and in Québec in general was interesting.

It felt “odd” being in a clearly North American city with all the French around. Most everyone spoke English we encountered, and made the intimidation factor disappear with our lackluster skill at Français.

Here’s a picture of me taking a photo of our friends who traveled with us, at a small lake in the city’s largest park, Mont Royal Park.

The Olympic Park area, which features the old Expo’s playing location and the Biodôme, was disappointing.

I read it was an embarrassment to Montréal. It cost too much and there isn’t much to show there now.

This tower, which gives a view over the city, costs $15 to go up and see. We elected not to. It was not finished in time for the 1976 Olympics.

Montréal is also a city covered in grafitti.

It’s everywhere, even on the nicest buildings, and little seems to be done to remove it.

Most interesting, across from Victoria Square, was this Parisian-style entrance to the Métro.

Another special meal in town was had at Toqué, where we had lunch. This is their “Orange Party” dessert.

The second leg of the trip was more relaxing, spent at the Mont-Tremblant resort in Québec.

We even managed to make it to the summit (it was easy by gondola), and stood on top of this observation tower.

The views looking down were great.

One of the meals we had in Tremblant was at sEb, named after the chef, Sébastien.

In Tremblant, it was the start of the International Blues Festival, which attracted a large crowd.

In all, we had a good trip away from the heat of July in Richmond.

What has become one of my favorite meals is roast chicken, following a recipe by Thomas Keller, chef of several well-known restaurants, including Per Se in New York, and The French Laundry in California.

His recipe is for a “dry” chicken; he roasts his at high temperature for just one hour, seasoned with thyme, salt, and pepper. After being carved, he bastes the meat in melted butter, and to mine, I added lemon and shallots. More thyme.

It’s infinitely satisfying, especially with slices of French baguette to sop-up the sauces.

Tonight, it was with the music of l”arpgeggiata with Christina Pluhar, with their album Los Imposibles. Good food, good music, and good company together can transport you.

Evidently, I followed a trend of publishing humorous or apropos instant messenger chats.

Sometimes I wrote about food. In this case, a turnip cake that I drenched in hot oil and soy sauce.

And sometimes the chats were posted because they took an off-color, like a baby cow’s easter suit.

Of course, if you were writing websites by hand in the late 1990s, you were frequently “updating your site,” learning new techniques using HTML and graphics as you did. This was pre-CSS.

And sometimes I made fun of Microsoft, like in this photo, where they stole the look of Mac OS X aqua buttons, seemingly, because it was cool.

Sometimes the posts got musical, actually, like in this one, where I had posted a video of me conducting…

At one point, I found reason to include a duck in the look and feel of the site, which may have been better suited towards a company website where they sell rain slickers.

And for some reason, I had the bad idea of showing people how messy my desk was…

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But the writing was always a little off-the-wall, here, for example, in my March, 2002 post, comparing the ornamentation in Vivaldi opera to oily Indonsesian coffee.

Amid the fleet of missing items from my work area at home (Vivaldi DVD, cell phone, etc.), I am looking forward to reviewing, soon, a new CD entitled “The Vivaldi Album” by Grammy-award winning opera star, Ceclia Bartoli. I first enjoyed the DVD of her Vivaldi arias with Il Giardino Armonico, however, the new CD offers a better edition of the aria entitled di Due Rai Languir Costante, which features a duet for sopranino recorders. The ornamentation is so rich, it’s like oily Indonesian coffee (that’s a good thing) with an overflow of rich cream sitting on top.

And yet some of what I wrote, like this from November, 2000, is shocking:

Oh buddy, what a discovery! I bought a big tub of Brummel & Brown spread, an imitation butter spread made with yogurt. While my saying is always “Butter Makes it Better,” I never have tried this Brummel & Brown. What a smash! It’s SO tasty on bread. It spreads smooth like a butter cream, and it’s so good. One could eat the entire tub! Go out, get some, and spread it on Thick! Yum, yum, yum

I never did again buy that imitation butter. It must not have been that good.

Thanks for entertaining my stroll down memory lane. Next time, I do promise, a review.

“What did you do this weekend?” a friend at work will ask.

“Ah…” I’ll think, with flashbacks to sleeping-in on Saturday, on Sunday, and no big projects accomplished. “Not much,” I’ll say, “Did some creative cooking.”

I’ll ask in return, and inevitably, the answer is centered around child activities. Games, meets, matches, doctors, etc. Or travel. “We went to the beach and had a great time,” or some such story.

The more this goes on, I do realize I don’t maximize my leisure opportunities and I need to improve in this area.

1. I don’t plan personal things well. Vacations, time to read, time to write, time to enjoy.
2. Each weekend I lament I didn’t exercise more the week before, then… I repeat the same cycle.
3. I like free, unplanned time. But I need to use it better when I have it.
4. Despite buying books and music, I rarely get deep appreciation from them. It’s like I can’t find enough time to tune out the rest of the world (i.e., the Internet, house chores, etc.) to focus on… a book, a magazine, or a CD (or it’s virtual equivalent).
5. I hate budgeting time for socialization and that stagnates it. Not good.
6. I spend much too much time shopping for food. Consolidation of trips is what I need.
7. I hate making phone calls. Dentists, personal business, etc. Love the e-mail.
8. I need a reliable DVR system. I wasted half a day yesterday because I wanted to watch a show that comes on at 11:30 AM. I should have been able to record that, or the knuckleheads that run TV ought to let me buy/rent/watch it on demand. If I choose to watch 2 hours of TV Food Network, let me pick the shows I want.
9. I need to follow-through on goals I set – like trimming back our holly tree. 2 weekends. Not trimmed.

I reflect upon this because I just wrote a long letter to an old friend to fight my insomnia. I wrote about half a dozen different things, like…

1. The summer vacation. (Read above). Hope flickered this weekend for a bit about that Bachfest in Leipzig.
2. Most people don’t know where Leipzig is.
3. Details about the school program I’m in now.
4. Personal medical update.
5. Reflection on my parents.
6. Recent things at work.
7. A recent family birthday.
8. Cookery as a hobby.
9. Repairs on my iHome brand iPhone-charging clock radio.
10. Getting the house painted.
11. The brand of cooktop Eric Ripert has at home.
12. A call to teach me something new.

I need to keep needling my friend to start a podcast with me… two hosts are so much more fun than one… I’d like it to be about music or food, but also incorporate our own quirky personalities.