Saturday, April 30, 2005

Whenever I talk to Steve Coolidge, the first thing I ask him is, "How's the [violin] concerto coming?" Today he showed me how it's coming. Posted by Hello

Thursday, April 28, 2005

In the affluent Sacramento suburb of Fair Oaks, chickens are as plentiful as songbirds. They congregate around the park next to the Fair Oaks Amphitheatre. Posted by Hello
In case you were wondering just what they want. Posted by Hello

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

As always when I visit Jerry and Laurel, I stay in their basement. Books line the walls. Between the two shelves is Jerry's tiny office, where he does his geology consulting and also edits and prints his award-winning photographs. Posted by Hello
The French horn section during a break. Posted by Hello
The engineer's desk in the chapel. I sat to his left reading along in the score and trying to turn pages silently. If you happen to turn a page during a quiet measure you can ruin the take.

Beyond the desk you can see the podium where Wendell conducted the session. He let me conduct the very end of the session, where the orchestra recorded some "risers" --- orchestral sound effects. Posted by Hello

Monday, April 25, 2005

Me sitting in the chapel. Wendell is on the right instructing his son on how to be quiet during a session. Posted by Hello
The control room for the 1stCom session.  Posted by Hello
In the Bastyr cafeteria is this long piece of butcher paper that students can draw on. Posted by Hello
Tom, a piano tuner I met in the hallway just before the session. We have tuner friends in common in Seattle. Posted by Hello
Setting up for recording in the chapel. I had my laptop and printer set up in the chapel but later moved it back to the control room. Posted by Hello
Bastyr University used to be a seminary and now is a school of natural medicine. It looks like the kind of place rich liberals send their kids. Posted by Hello
The brilliant and erudite Claudia Fitch and me at Trattoria Mitchelli near Pioneer Square in Seattle.  Posted by Hello
The tin family at the Crossroads Mall in Bellvue. Posted by Hello
Entering Seattle, where going to Starbuck's isn't just a good idea --- it's the law. Posted by Hello
In the Sacramento airport, studying the scores. Really bad Chinese food. Posted by Hello

Friday, April 22, 2005

Wendell's state-of-the-art studio is well disguised by the mess outside. Posted by Hello
Proofreading the scores for the Seattle session. Wendell plays his original MIDI files, track by track, simultaneously with the files from the scores I've made. I follow along on my laptop and make any corrections on the fly, holding the small keyboard in my lap. Today we spent 5 hours proofing the last three scores. Posted by Hello

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Monday, April 18, 2005

Monday at 9 am


Ugly beauty
Originally uploaded by mstivers.
From the top of Duane Street in Silver Lake, you can see the reservoir and hills behind it and, in the foreground, the line of cars heading downtown to work.

Local relic


HPIM2446
Originally uploaded by mark47.
According to Jennifer's brother Russell, these shin guards have been in this tree for weeks.

Kienholz


Kienholz
Originally uploaded by mark47.
Also at LACMA, this Edward Kienholz assemblage of a couple making love in a car. Music of the 40s plays softly from the car radio. When this piece was first shown it caused an uproar.

Our favorite piece of the day was "The Central Meridian," a walk-through environment by Michael McMillen which tells a life story through the objects in an imaginary garage.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Downhill Derby


Downhill Derby
Originally uploaded by mark47.
This bulletin board at the Silver Lake bakery/cafe advertises the Silver Lake Downhill Derby. That would be a pretty exciting race, because Silver Lake is full of really steep hills.

Tiny elevator


Tiny elevator
Originally uploaded by mark47.
This is part of the permanent collection at the LA County Museum of Art. It's a tiny two-door elevator. All the lights work like real, the doors open and close, and you can even push the buttons on the outside.

Privacy cubicles


Privacy cubicles
Originally uploaded by mark47.
Right after picking up Rachel from Union Station, we ate dinner at Phillipe's, a Los Angeles institution (and where the French dip sandwich was invented). They have these ingenious "phone booths" where you can talk on your cell phone without bothering everyone around you.

We did lunch


We did lunch
Originally uploaded by mark47.
Me, Amy, and David. We (plus spouses and Rachel) ate at Cheebo on Sunset. Please send lots of money so David can produce his great play, "Uncivil Unions."

He also made the Batmobile


He also made the Batmobile
Originally uploaded by mark47.
Jennifer's mom Faye (right) lives in Silver Lake, which is lousy with show business worker bees. Her neighbor Daniel (left) is a model maker. He built the original Stargate. Right now he's working on the new King Tut exhibition.

Priorities


Priorities
Originally uploaded by mark47.
We are staying the condo of Jennifer's brother Russ. He used to have a tidy two-car garage. Now he has a tidy pool room. He spent $3k on a tournament-quality pool table and balls. (Russ once won a college pool tournament, but had to return the trophy when he confessed that he wasn't a student.) In the lower left are all his trophies, mostly for baseball and wrestling.

Spring break flip-flops


Spring break flip-flops
Originally uploaded by mark47.
They have a built-in bottle opener.

We don't have change
Originally uploaded by mark47.
Please, please, PLEASE don't ask us for change.

Friday, April 15, 2005

This plaque is a treasure to railroad lovers and a nightmare for punctuation lovers. Posted by Hello