Proof!

28. August 2010 · 4 comments · Categories: New York 2010, Photos, Ramble

It’s good to have someone around who can take a picture of me that doesn’t make me look too huge. Whew! Here’s proof that I was checking out all those double reeds at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (thanks, Dan!):

He sent me a ton of (huge) files for better photos, since he has a camera that does a bit better job than my little one or my iPhone. But for now I just wanted to put this up. Because. (I’m also hoping he’ll get more pictures from the Cosi event so I can post some of those as well.)

And now I’m hitting the hay … Dan managed to catch a cold while we were in New York. I was smart. I waited until yesterday. But it sure is wiping me out now. With

A Series From My Trip

25. August 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: New York 2010, Photos

These have nothing to do with oboe or music … but for some reason this bride caught my attention and I just had to take the pictures. I spotted her as we were walking toward High Line Park. I love the color … and I do get all squishy inside when I see a bride or a wedding. (Of course if you cut me open you’d probably realize I’m always squishy inside.)

These are best seen enlarged, I think, so just click on each one to enlarge, or command-click to open in a different tab if you’re on a Mac (not sure how other computers work):

Homeward Bound

20. August 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: New York 2010, Photos, Ramble

Our shuttle picks us up in a short while, and we’ll be back on the west coast this evening. This trip has been incredible, and I’m so glad we were able to make it happen. I so rarely take vacations, but doing something like this reminds me that I do have an awfully good time!

Below are some photos from yesterday. We went down to the Wall Street area. We saw the World Trade Center site (yes, it hurts to see it). We had lunch with Brandon near his current workplace. We walked. And walked. And went halfway over the Brooklyn Bridge and back.

I’d post more, but we have to head on out now! See ya on the other end of the country!

How Could I Leave Out The Bassoons?

19. August 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: New York 2010, Photos

… especially since one of them is my brother?! (Can you guess which one is Timothy?):

I am looking forward to Dan’s photos; I can promise you they will be much much better! The two above were taken from my iPhone, set on that backwards setting. I notice those are grainier than the normal setting. Ah well.

Thank you, Jennifer, for including me in Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required!

Così Pictures From Last Night

19. August 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: New York 2010, Photos

Just a few from my iPhone to share today … remember you can click on them to see them larger:

It was great fun to meet Sarah Loveland-Gill. We were oboe buddies (and tacet buddies as well … there’s a good amount of down time in Così):

Wednesday at MOMA & Così, Over & Out (for me, anyway)

19. August 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: New York 2010, Opera, Ramble, Some Assembly Required

Dan and I went to MOMA yesterday. It was wonderful, although of course we didn’t come close to seeing it all. I did get to my favorite rooms, and enjoyed Starry Night. I took pictures of various contemporary works that included music in some way or another. But taking photos of paintings really doesn’t work all that well. Still, I’ll post a few here. Because.

After that we met up with my brother Timothy, his wife Margaret, as well as Brandon and Lia. What a wonderful dinner at a vegetarian Korean restaurant! But what a shame that Timothy and I had to race out, missing dessert, because we needed to get to the Gershwin Hotel for Così. (This reminds me, I never DID get a picture of the Gershwin hotel, which has a rather interesting entrance. Oh well!)

No pictures right now … I’m too tired to go through them, and I think I should attempt to get to bed before 12:30 this time. Perhaps I’ll get some up later. Time will tell!

Only today left for New York City fun. We head home Friday. This really has been a very fun trip, and I can’t believe it’s about to end. I’ll be happy, though, to get back home.

There’s no place like home ….

A Couple ‘o Videos

18. August 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: New York 2010, Videos

Nothing that includes me, but here are a few clips from last night’s event:

This first is something you never hear elsewhere!:
Act I Duet “Al fato dan legge”
Ferrando – tenor Brian Anderson
Guglielmo – baritone James Bobick

and my favorite of all, Act I Trio “Soave sia il vento”
Fiordiligi – soprano Caroline Worra
Dorabella – mezzo-soprano Jennifer Berkebile
Don Alfonso – baritone Dennis Blackwell

QuickPix from Così!

18. August 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: New York 2010, Photos, Ramble

Dan was the photographer of the Così evening, and will be again tonight. He has sent me a few “quickies” and have given me permission to post them here for all to see … so here you go!

Michael of MMmusing (@mmmusing on twitter) was the “twhistorian”):

Jennifer (@gaspsiagore / @operamission) conducted, played harpsichord, talked, cleaned the bathrooms … oh … wait … not the last one …:

Singers Jennifer Berkebile (Dorabella) and Caroline Worra (Fiordiligi):

Singers James Bobick (Guglielmo), Brian Anderson (Ferrando) and Dennis Blackwell (Don Alfonso):

Some of the orchestra:

Yours truly (and the back of my brother’s head, along with his bassoon):

We were allowed to drink on the job … that was a first!

Tonight’s The Night …

17. August 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: New York 2010, Some Assembly Required

… as is tomorrow …!

Am I excited? Yep! Am I nervous? Not yet. I’m hoping I won’t be, but we’ll see! I’m hoping to meet up with at least one person beforehand for coffee, if I can get my act together; we were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for most of the day and I’m rather exhausted! It’s “feet up!” time for now.

The Così event seems to be getting some good attention. Here is a list of links I’ve found:

operamission’s ‘Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required’ is getting all sorts of fun attention. How cool is that? Here are links

New York Post

The New Yorker

Indian U’s Events Calendar

Broadway World

New York Times

Cabaret Hotline

Broadway to Vegas (scroll down)

Monday, Monday

17. August 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: New York 2010, Photos

Monday was a much more lazy day than we’ve had so far. At least for me. I actually woke up before Dan, and I took a photo of the Monday morning crowd:

Dan woke up with a cold (rats!), but he still headed over to B&H Photo for his own special private tour of the place. From the sound of it it was one big tour, too. He took quite a while to get back, so I had some time to be lazy and then headed out for a short walk. I’ve been posting “where’s Patty?” kinds of things at Facebook and Twitter, and the first looked like this:

Where’s Patty?

I helped folks out with this hint, though (remember if you can’t see a photo well, you can click on it and it will take you to a full view):

My back was killing me, so rather than actually shop at Macy’s (heck, we have those at home, right?) I headed back to the hotel to put my feet up:

When Dan returned we went down to a little place to pick up a light lunch (we really NEED light after all we’ve been eating!). After relaxing a bit, we headed out, passing this pretty church, Saint Francis of Assisi. It sits there so sweetly, surrounded by huge buildings:

We took a rather lengthy trip (long story about a wrong train) to Greenwich Village, and we hit Washington Square, of course:

Walking around a lot, we saw the house that, from what I read, was where John Wilkes Booth planned the assassination of Lincoln.

Walking some more we spotted a cool church with this plaque at the top (you have to click on this photo to read it):

We met up with Brandon for some excellent Cuban food at Havana Alma de Cuba … yum!

All in all, a less busy day. I guess we need those every so often, right?

Tuesday (today for some readers, tomorrow for others!) I’m thinking we might get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and tomorrow night is the first Così event which not only means I get to enjoy Mozart, but I finally get to see my brother Timothy, and meet some of the Twitterfolk and Facebook Friends I’ve never actually met in person!

Rainy Sunday

16. August 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: New York 2010, Photos, Ramble

So Sunday was another full day here. We ate at the Hungarian Pastry Shop. We saw the Children’s Sculpture Garden, Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine (heard some incredible organ music there too), enjoyed a pretzel (too salty and we were ripped off like good tourists should be), visited B&H Photo, had a fabulous cup of coffee at La Colombe in Tribeca, shopped at UNIQLO …

And yes, it rained! It was warm — still no sweater needed — and I do like me some rain.

After doing a bit ‘o shopping in Tribeca we headed over the Brooklyn. We were going to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, but the rain told us this wasn’t the day. We took a train instead, and after a bit of a detour (oops, express train!) we went to Lia’s, and then out to The General Greene for dinner. Yummy!

So now that the story has been told … here are some pictures! (Click on a photo to enlarge.)

Breakfast at around 11:00 (so much for adjusting to the time!):

Sculpture Garden:

St. John the Divine Cathedral:

Coffee!:

Walking a Brooklyn Street:

Love me some beet salad for dinner:

Saturday in New York City

14. August 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: New York 2010, Ramble, Some Assembly Required

Not really oboe-y at all … but I thought I’d share my day with you:

Today was quite a busy day. It began with a walk. We were going to get my latté and Dan’s cappucino (somewhat late, as we did sleep in) at The Birch, next door to the Gershwin Hotel, where Così will take place. We were meeting up with Jennifer Peterson, who will be conducting Così. Dan will be taking photos on the nights I’m playing, so he was checking out the venue. The coffee was a great way to start the day, as was meeting Jennifer.

From there Dan and I took a train* to the Museum of Natural History. We had lunch there (by this time it was after noon) and later Brandon met up with us there. We checked out the dioramas, fossils, and meteors, among other things. After that we walked a very short walk to Central Park, and had a brief visit there. We took a train to High Line Park, and walked. And walked. From there we walked and took a train to our dinner destination of Veselka. We had a most scrumptious dinner with Brandon and Lia. I think we arrived back at the hotel at about 10:30 or so. One long day, but very fun.

My back held out, but there were times when it was unhappy. Fortunately I can usually find a place to take a seat for a while. The weird thing was that my left knee has decided to be pesky. But that’s life, eh?

I’ll post pictures later. I have to download some from my camera, and I can’t do that at the moment.

*While I want to call it a “subway ride” I suspect “train” is the word a true New Yorker would use. I’m using it because it’s shorter. ;-)