beautiful, funny, sad & true

Alyssa, my great friend and ‘partner in crime’ is moving tonight. She’s going to Cincinnati for an internship as part of her doctorate program, and at the same time, she and Luke are moving there together. You remember Luke; he’s the guy she met while he was living in New Zealand. It’s a great story, and you can read all about it here.

These last couple of years have been tumultuous and eventful for both of us, and we’ve really seen each other through some tough times. She’s really great, and Portland isn’t going to be the same without her.

The good news is that now I’ll have a cool new city to go explore and hang out in with my friends Alyssa and Luke. And where I once had just one friend, now I’ll have two.

But there’s certainly going to be an Alyssa-shaped hole in the universe now.

Yesterday I scored big time at the record store. I originally went there because I somehow lost my copy of “Neon Golden” by The Notwist. Well, they had it, and for only six dollars. So I scrounged throught the DVD’s, and came across the second season of Da Ali G Show. I already have the first season, so I grabbed that too.

I also found the special edition of This is Spinal Tap, not for myself–I’ve seen it a zillion times–but for Stephanie and her long-time guy Tony, who have both been professional musicians forever, and who have both somehow gone their whole lives without ever seeing the movie. So I told Steph that was unacceptable, and that I was going to get them the DVD as a housewarming present.

But the ultimate score was the soundtrack CD to Goodbye Lenin, by Yann Tiersen. Surprisingly difficult to find, I’d been looking for it for ages, but somehow it turned up yesterday. Yay! I think I have all of Yann Tiersen’s recordings now.

Yeah, I’d say it was a successful trip.

Crystin, Aram and baby Lyric at Crystin’s parents’ house in Woodland, Washington.

trip to Sisters, Oregon for a gig with Stephanie Schneiderman and CellistSkip

I thought we agreed that it was going to be ‘Stephanie Schneiderman’ and THEN ‘Elk Meat’.  Sheesh!

Last night was pretty awesome.

I got the chance to play chamber music, with an ensemble, on the cello for the first time. My friend FlutistSusan organized a ‘sight-reading party’, and since none of our apartments is large enough for such an event, she made a new plan. She called her friend who owns a big, beautiful house over in the Sullivan’s Gulch neighborhood, told her of the plan, and her friend said, “That sounds great! Why not invite people from the neighborhood and turn it into a Big Deal?”

So that’s what happened. Susan made some platters of amazing hors d’oeuvres, and it was just tremendous. The ensemble consisted of FlutistSusan, CellistSkip, ViolistAlicia who had to leave early and was replaced by ViolistTatyana, and BassistJustin. And, of course, CellistMe.

I was totally in over my head, but loved every minute of it. On the easier pieces, such as Mozart and Haydn, I played the cello parts and Skip played the second violin parts way up in the high register of the cello. On the more difficult pieces, Skip would play the cello part, and I’d come in and out as well as I could keep up.

The two pieces that were the most fun were the Bach Brandenburg Concerto #2 (an all-time favorite of mine), and “Libertango” by Astor Piazzolla, where we all let our metaphorical hair down. Since I was familiar with the song from playing it on the accordion, I didn’t use sheet music, but instead improvised lots of high melodies around the flute and viola parts, sometimes harmonizing with them and sometimes doubling them, as I felt they needed to be emphasized. It was a total blast. A night like that is the reason I started playing cello in the first place.

But it wasn’t over yet.

The Young Immortals just picked up the boxes of their new CD from the duplicators, so they decided to have an impromptu party at the cozy (tiny?) M Bar. All of the usual suspects were in attendance, and Jake gave a free CD to everyone who showed up. I opened my copy to find that I was given production credit on the CD, and that Jake had some very kind words for posterity in the ‘special thanks’ page. It was really a fun night. The guys are now headed out on tour. For the next two months, they’ll be painting this country. No, I don’t know what color they’ll be painting it; I guess you’ll just have to go see them and find out for yourself.

Today is Independence Day, so as I’m writing this I’m doing laundry (What else?), and in a little while I’m going to check in on Lady Jane (Alyssa’s cat) and get some coffee. This afternoon, I’m driving up to the little town of Woodland, Washington to spend the afternoon with Crystin Byrd and her family and parents, all of whom are some of my closest friends. Tonight I’m going over to my old apartment (Remember?) where they’re having a block party, and I’m going to watch the fireworks from the rooftop.

I’m taking tomorrow and Friday off from work, because CellistSkip and I are driving to Sisters, Oregon to play a gig with Stephanie Schneiderman. We’ll all be staying overnight and coming back sometime Friday.

It promises to be an amazing week.

So the live show of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me was really cool. I’m listening to the broadcast of the show as I’m writing this. It’s very cool to be able to imagine the action that’s taking place on a radio show; it’s very different from the way we USUALLY imagine the action that’s taking place on a radio show.

The show was scripted, for the most part, but most of the jokes were improvised. The cast went through the entire show live, and then the producers, who were taking notes throughout, talked to the cast via their headphones and told them which parts needed to be touched up. So they went through and re-read those particular lines, and the audience attempted to sound spontaneous. There were lots of particularly hilarious guesses and improvised moments that I’m sure have been cut from the actual broadcast. We had a total blast.

The Breanna Paletta–Sarah Castro–Scott Gallegos show last night was great, and between the musicians who were playing and the ones who were friends watching from the audience, the Portland music scene was very well-represented. Good times. It was particularly fun to hang out with Sarah again. She moved to L.A. a year ago, and just moved back to Portland a month or two ago. We closed the place down last night, and I didn’t get to sleep until 3:30 last night.

My dad and stepmom were in town this weekend, so at 9:00 we met for breakfast at Violet’s Cafe out on Sandy. It was. . .okay. At one point, they spent half an hour talking to one of the owners of the restaurant, while I sat there looking around and thinking, “Hello? Haven’t seen you guys in a year. . .?”

The Young Immortals’ much-anticipated new CD will be coming out of duplication on Wednesday (the same day the guys head out on a two-month tour), so tonight they’re having a CD listening party for friends and fans at an apartment in NW. Jake told me last night that he credited me as the producer on the album, which was a very nice thing for him to do.

I called the repair shop yesterday, and was told that my cello will be ready today. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to play it again, especially after all the work that’s been done to get it up to ‘classical’ specifications.

Crystin Byrd’s song–the one we recorded for the movie soundtrack–is finished. Both she and FilmmakerAndrew loved the newest mix, so I’m going to take the CD of it over to Crystin today. We’re very excited about this opportunity. I’ll write more about the movie and let you know where and when it’s showing, so hopefully you’ll be able to see it.

So that’s the latest news; it’s been a good week.