ub-SESSED: infatuations in the age of attention deficiency

She Love’s My Automobile

2012-02-12T11:17:00.001-08:00

My dear dear friend, Jeremy, visited the great nation of Texas (for the first time!) over the holidays, which I took as an opportunity to try out for the first time the “Joseph Roberts: This Is Houston, This Is My City, and This Is Why It’s Fabulous (And If You Disagree Then Get The Hell Out And Move To Dallas Already) Greater Metropolitan Tour Extravaganza!”* In other words… experiences quintessentially Houston and Houston alone.

In reality it was merely an excuse to visit a myriad of locales around the city I for which I haven’t made the time, all wrapped up in the guise of “Southern Hospitality.” That’s the secret about us Southerners— we’re just as selfish as everyone else, it’s just harder to detect because of our accents lull you into a false sense of security. Regardless, the first stop on our “Joseph Roberts: This is Houston, This is […] Tour Extravaganza!” was none other than longtime Houston institution …

The Art Car Museum!

The Art Car Museum, or “Garage Mahal” as many know it, opened in February 1998. […] The Museum has its conceptual origins in the 1984 Collision show curated by Ann Harithas at the Lawndale Art Center. Collision unveiled Larry Fuente’s “Mad Cad” art car which has since been featured in museums and cultural institutions across the country. The Collision exhibition provided enthusiastic fuel for the art car movement in Houston and eventually precipitated the Art Car Parade and the international Art Car movement. – Via the museum’s website

Due to the sheer number of art cars in the collection, the museum tends to rotate different specimens in and out of the museum gallery. As such, here are some of their most current pieces.

There’s even a Luke-sized option!!

For a real taste of what these things look like on the road, here’s a compilation of one of the more recent events:

Artist: Willie Nelson / Album: Live and Kickin’

Tutto è Tranquillo e Placido

2012-01-21T16:48:00.001-08:00

This past weekend at the John Cleary Gallery we had our first exhibition opening of the year, featuring the work of San Diego photographer, David Fokos.

David Fokos on Plum TV from clifford reese on Vimeo.

Though I deal with our photographers through email and over the phone on a daily basis it is often a bit nerve-wracking actually meeting the artists (especially during an opening) for no other reason than I want to make sure that they are pleased with the hanging, lighting, labeling, etc. -- it is kinda my job after all.

Morning Rings, Study #3, Boston, Massachusetts, 1997

Catherine had forewarned me that David emerged out of an engineering background, and I would have been a bit more surprised had his first comment, after the requisite introductory small talk mind you, not been something along the lines of: “Okay, everything looks great and now I’m going to make small tweaks to just about everything.” But that’s the thing: I welcome the criticism because A.) who better to perfect it than the artist himself and B.) it allows me to do a better job next time.

Foggy Night, Stafford, Texas, 2005 Taken near Catherine’s home when David was visiting for a past exhibition

Especially instructive was the lighting process, and if you come to the gallery then you can see how fabulous these pieces look in the right light… for as lovely as they look here on the interwebs, no pixilation can properly compare to the real thing.

Fresh Snow, Chilmark, Massachusetts, 2007 – something Houston, TX (currently at 78 degrees) will not be seeing for quite some time

Just as we change the front of the gallery for every new exhibition, so do we try to rotate the photographs throughout the rest of the gallery as well. When Catherine told me the large Renate Aller piece was coming down behind my desk in favor of three of David’s smaller pieces I requested that perhaps I could chose one of them, for selfish reasons only, natch. Regular blog followers might remember seeing David’s work in a previous post from last year where I talked of first seeing his work, and I now have the opportunity to live with this piece behind me for the next month! I LOVE THIS JOB!

“Nightwatch, Port Townsend, Washington, 2002"” I miss you, my dear Mason!

David was also accompanied by his wife, Barbarella (@divabarbarella), AKA: my newest favorite person ever in the whole world. Typically I have about two “new favorite people ever in the whole world” per year… looks like the rest of y’all are going to have to try an awfully lot harder during 2012. Barbarella, a long time columnist for the San Diego Reader, regular NBC/KNSD “News in the Morning” contributor, socialite and TEDx emcee extraordinaire—among other fabulously not-so-hidden talents—is basically a San Diego (and now Houston) celebrity. Check out her most recent piece, “The Pointy Ball Game” from The Reader about being in Houston during a Texans game and enjoy this interview with Maestro Jahja Ling of the San Diego Symphony from her “5 Questions With Barbarella” series:

Needless to say, David and Barbarella, Catherine and the rest of the after-opening gang were the perfect antidote to a stressful day – oh, by the way I got profanity spewed at me for the first time by a client earlier in the afternoon and spent the entire evening with what I think might have been a migraine– and though the time was brief it was quite the extraordinary evening and one I shant forget for some time. “Shant”’s a word, right?

As you can tell from the lack of personal shots, in all of the tizzy of the evening I forgot to take one single picture with anyone. Looks like I’ll be heading to San Diego sometime soon!!

Artist: W.A. Mozart / Album: Le Nozze di Figaro

Falling

2012-01-19T09:48:00.001-08:00

It has widely been reported this morning that our very own Gov. Rick Perry will be dropping out of the presidential race today. In honor (?) I thought I’d repost a couple of pictures and their respective captions from the Things That Are Less Steep Than Rick Perry's Drop In The Polls article I've seen floating around.

“The Matterhorn, an icon of the Swiss Alps, seems to be mother nature's perfect illustration of Rick Perry's South Carolina numbers. It starts out so tall, so majestic, but what goes up must ultimately come down.”

“New York's Coney Island Cyclone. This iconic roller coaster was built in New York in the late 1920s. And the name fits Perry's campaign: fast, rickety and a lot of fun along the way. Except for him”

“A wish on a shooting star might be the Texas governor's best shot at becoming president in this election cycle. South Carolina probably isn't.”

“Hang 10, Rick! We're guessing Perry's more the land-locked type, but even these big swells are mellower than Perry's plummet in the South Carolina polls.”

“Like this life-size brontosaurus, Perry's campaign started out larger than life. But where things stand today, Perry's campaign down south is going the way of the dinosaurs. (Who we're sure roamed Earth only a few thousands years ago.)”

“Remember the Alamo, Rick. But don't check out the roof - it might bum you out.”

Artist: Florence and the Machine / Album: Lungs

Rainy Days and Mondays

2012-01-10T16:33:00.001-08:00

I was awoken yesterday morning at the crack of dawn (9:00 am—it was my day off) by the perpetual booming of thunder and offhandedly checked the weather report for Houston to discover a GIANT RED DOT headed right for Houston. Now, mind you, I love nothing more than staying in, wrapped up in a blanket, to watch movies in the rain. That was… until I got this text message from Catherine:

Catherine: Uh, this is Robert’s Carpet. If you go out, will you swing by the gallery? If you don’t, no worries. If it floods, then it does. Ugh.

No relation, btw

For those of you unfamiliar with the vicinity of Robert’s Carpet to the gallery… let’s have Senor GoogleMaps help us out a bit, shall we?

Yup, that would be 358 feet

Being five minutes away from the gallery means that it’s easy easy to get there if need be, and when I got to the parking lot I was greeted by what I am affectionately referring to as the “Tiny Charybdis of Richmont Square”:

If you listen you can hear it’s twin on the other side of the lot!

Luckily everything was dry as a bone in the gallery and no last minute art saving had to be done. I later read in an article on cnn.com that over 7,000 people (that would be the entire population of my hometown, Crockett, mind you) were without power in Fort Bend County alone and that the rain came so quickly that in just ten minutes 1.6 inches of water fell, leading to a total of 6.3 inches in 12 hours. This picture I saw floating around on facebook just about sums it up.

Artist: The Carpenters / Album: Classics, Volume 1

Close to the Border Line

2012-01-04T08:30:00.001-08:00

This recent story on the Norwegian butter shortage reminded me of a story that Vera, my host mother in Belgium this summer, told me when crossing the border into the Netherlands for our trip to Maastricht.

Vera explained to us when crossing the border that women from Belgium used to go to the Netherlands and smuggle back butter (apparently it was some good shiz back then). In order to do so they would sew secret pockets in their dresses and once the police figured out they would stop the women and “detain them for questioning” in a really really hot room. That way, if the women actually were smuggling contrabuerre then it would melt fairly quickly into their clothes… otherwise, if there was no liquid butter to be found after a couple of minutes, they would be set free!. Oh you crafty, cholesterol hating Dutch!!

Artist: Billy Joel / Album: Glass Houses

Leftovers

2012-01-01T14:14:00.001-08:00

I haven’t exactly been the best at staying on top of some of my posting in the recent months, so we’re going to call this portion of the blog the “holiday leftovers” – which in no way diminishes their importance btw! We all know that leftovers are buh-mazing.

Thanksgiving Visit with Jan:

Back during Thanksgiving I had my annual Jan Reynolds Ingersoll visit!!! In fact, she even came to church to hear me sing that Sunday morning because I had a solo! (Read about the experience on her blog here). And, if you know anything about a visit to see Jan then you know to expect a couple of things:

Blurry photo of the two of us / An action shot with some kind of weapon / Me, posing with a giant stuffed animal

And lest we forget – an appearance from our good friends Feral and Domesticated Cougar (this time in holiday attire!):

I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR!!!

Christmas Eve Shrimp Dinner with Will:

Before the two Christmas Eve services at my church I again had the pleasure of joining Will and his family for their annual shrimp dinner. I even got to catch up with my favorite misunderstood Christmas curmudgeons! (This year I was doubly lucky because I also got to see them all again on my drive home from Crockett back to Houston after Christmas!)

Sid Becomes the Pied Piper Once Again:

When Hannah was visiting recently after Christmas, her dad, my uncle Sid, came over to the city for the day to help dress shop for Hannah’s junior voice recital in February. In the car to dinner I showed him my clarinet I had taken from Crockett and he couldn’t wait to play it when we got back to my apartment later! (Too bad the ol’ gem needs a bit of work to it). At any rate… it was the first time he’d picked one up in years!

Proof for the grandparents!

Sugar and Spice… :

No good leftover meal is complete without a second (or third) helping of those holiday pies, cookies, cakes, random sugar packets you have lying around the house just begging to be finished before they spoil. And by spoil I mean someone else eats them. Regular blog readers will know of my undying love for anything Speculoos, and this Christmas totes delivered!! Mallory’s dad had traveled recently to the Netherlands and was kind enough to bring me back, in addition to the yearly Maersk butter cookies, a jar of the ONLY FOUND IN EUROPE crunchy spread! Not to leave Mallory high and dry on the Speculoos front—here she is with her giant cookie!

Mom managed to join the fray and somehow found me a whole CASE of the German equivalent of Speculoos. What the WHAAAAAT!!!

And now… FOOD COMA!

Artist: No Doubt / Album: Everything in Time

Mean Monsoon

2012-01-01T11:17:00.001-08:00

AND BEHOLD! ANOTHER YEAR BEGINS!!!!!

As only Bubble herself can explain it:

I’ll be spending the day doing Absolutely Nothing while catching up on Absolutely Fabulous before the premier of their newest specials in the next couple of weeks!

Eddy Monsoon and I hanging out in episode five of series one and episode four of series two

Artist: Dan Auerbach / Album: Keep It Hid

What Are You Doing New Years Eve

2011-12-31T16:12:00.001-08:00

Rockin’ it old school: Ella Fitzgerald

Rockin’ it new school: Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Artist: Ella Fitzgerald / Album: A Swingin’ Christmas

Photograph

2011-12-31T16:00:00.001-08:00

This Christmas, with the generous financial support of a variety of holiday benefactors, will be known heretofore as “A Ruth Orkin Christmas”* throughout the land (or at least in my apartment). I took one more step towards what I envision is adulthood and purchased my very first piece of art—and from the John Cleary Gallery, no less!!!

Ruth Orkin: Couple in an MG, Florence, 1951

Now first a bit of exposition: For those of you who aren’t aware, I had the privilege of studying abroad in Florence, Italy the first semester of my junior year at Baylor. As one might imagine I had an absolutely astounding time—however, I never came away with that ONE memento that I knew I would have forever and make me think of the experience as a whole. (Don’t get me wrong, I did plenty of great shopping, traveling, eating, etc.)

Joseph on moped, Florence, 2004

Even before I began working at the gallery, when I used to come visit Catherine I would sometimes rifle through the drawers of pieces and I came across this one. I mean seriously… the goggles, the ecstatic grin, the cap, the car, the city, the EVERYTHING!! How could I not love it, right? Immediately I had one of those dramatic soap opera moments: *shakes fist into the air* “One day, you WILL be mine!!” … … …

… … … AND NOW IT IS!!! I get to wake up to that crazy grin every morning now!

In reading up on both the photographer and the photograph I can easily say that I am in love with this woman!! Now, I could wax on and on and on about how fascinating her life was and show you picture after picture after stunning picture but who really has time for that. So instead, I’m just going to wax on and on about how fascinating her life was and show you picture after stunning picture from her catalogue. You’re welcome. (Information and photographs primarily from www.orkinphoto.com)

Born the child of a silent film actress and a toy boat maker in Los Angeles, California, Ruth Orkin began taking photographs at the age of 10. While living in Hollywood she became the first ever messenger hired by MGM studios. At the age of 17 she took off on a bike ride across America to New York to see the 1939 World’s Fair, stopping stopping to take photographs along the way (often making sure to include her bicycle as proof of the trip.

El, 1939 / Washington Monument

Moving to New York in the early 1940’s, Ruth began photographing for various magazines around the city, particularly focusing on street photography of the city.

White Stoops / Tired Little Boy / Man in Rain / Central Park

Concomitant to her work in New York she also spent many summers at the Tanglewood festival, shooting rehearsals with many of the major musicians of the day—an introduction to the photographing of celebrities she would continue to do throughout her career.

Bernstein and Marion Anderson / Woody Allen

In 1951 LIFE magazine assigned Ruth to travel with the Israeli Philharmonic on its first American tour, later leading to her shooting in Israel for a period of about two and a half months.

Jewish Refugees at Lydda Airport, Tel Aviv, 1951 / Sea Wall

Following her travels to Israel she headed northwest towards Europe and it was in Florence, Italy that she met a fellow American, Jinx Allen (now Ninalee Craig), who shared her fascination with art and travel. Immediately they head out among the city to document what it was like for a single woman to travel alone in Europe after the war, leading to what is now considered her most iconic image:

American Girl in Italy, 1951 (Which just recently celebrated it’s 60th anniversary. Read the article and an interview with Jinx, still alive at 83, here)

Jinx, Beads / Jinx, Goggles / Jinx, Staring a the Statue

Upon her arrival back to New York she married fellow photographer and filmmaker Morris Engel, a union that produced two short films, “Little Fugitive” and “Lovers and Lollipops”, the former of which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1953.

With the advent of color photography, Ruth Orkin was one of the pioneers of the genre, looking once again towards the streets of New York City for inspiration.

Ladies Home Journal cover, circa 1950 / Mother and Child in Water, 1950

Until her death from cancer in 1985 Ruth lived the remainder of her life in an apartment overlooking central park, continuously photographing the world and people around her.

Muted Autumn

As many of you know, once I’m interested in something I am oft found devouring as much information as I can possibly find on each respective subject (See: “In Praise of Cultural Omnivores”. [See also: the title of my blog]). That being said I received a couple of Barnes and Noble (r.i.p. Borders) gift cards and immediately bought a couple of books on Ruth Orkin:

So finally, thank you thank you every one for helping my “Ruth Orkin Christmas” come true… I honestly couldn’t be more thrilled!

“Being a photographer is making people look at what I want them to look at. […] My life’s work was determined by four passions which I had as a kid: Film, photography, music and travel. And eventually, I realize now they all fell together in photography. Today it seems to me a lot of young people go out and say ‘I’m going to become an “art photographer.” That to me is a joke. What’s important is, to me, what you’re shooting… what it means to you. And if somebody else sometime eventually calls it art then alright, it’s art photography.”

- Ruth Orkin

Artist: Jamie Cullum / Album: Catching Tales

*As well as the year I got a ginormous television (but I’m not allowed to post pictures as it might entice the inner-thieves amongst you to do bad things)

White Christmas

2011-12-31T14:42:00.001-08:00

I lamented last year around Christmastime that Texas isn’t exactly the most “idyllic” of settings for Winter positioned holidays. Now, you all know I’ve never really been one to let a silly thing like scorching hot temperatures keep me from expressing my holiday cheer and have oft been found with enough saltwater seeping from my pores to float a mid-sized barge but, damnit, it’s December and you can pry that soggy paisley scarf from around my neck only AFTER I’ve passed out from severe dehydration (and even then there might be some lingering synapses, so perhaps the “cold, dead hands” metaphor is a bit more apropos) [long sentence much?]. I’m also pretty sure my good friend, Television, agrees with me:

Modern Family’s Cam and Jay (my favorite plutonic May/December relationship) from the 2011 Christmas episode

from The New Adventures of Old Christine

This year there really wasn’t much to complain about because it was quite chilly (proportionally) and there was a fire in full blaze when I got to uncle Sid’s house in Lufkin. My fraternal grandparents had driven down from Midland and mom and dad had come over from Crockett for the festivities. I kinda took the day off from taking any pictures so Sid was kind enough to send me a couple of family shots!

Pheobe, Sid, Catherine, Liz, Hannah

Grandmother, Granddad, Mom, Dad and I

The cousins!!

Artist: Barbra Streisand / Album: A Christmas Album

Singers with One Name

2011-12-30T15:44:00.001-08:00

Joseph and his Hanna / Hannah with Joseph’s JosephJoseph

Artist: George Carlin / Album: Complaints and Grievances

That Good Old Baylor Line

2011-12-29T22:44:00.001-08:00

Congrats to Baylor football on a fabulous season... Heisman and Alamo Bowl champs much?!?!

Fling it far, biscuits!!!

You Have to Be Carefully Taught

2011-12-29T12:07:00.001-08:00

My cousin, Hannah, came up yesterday to spend a couple of days in Houston over her Christmas break from Carnegie-Mellon and it has been a fantastic chance to hang out and chat more than we have in a long time. At one point during the evening I posted the follow to my facebook and perhaps I should have worded my excitement in a different way:

The “Tolerance” statues in question are an installation along the Allan Parkway by artist Jaume Plensa that I have often seen while driving by but never had a chance to actually go and visit. And as proof of my bad influence:

Me, Hannah and, as always, I keep one giant metal statue empty to represent our unfulfilled hopes and dreams…

… just kidding. My friend Zach was off having dinner with lesser people.

Artist: Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II / Album: South Pacific

Light My Fire

2011-12-27T14:27:00.001-08:00

As seen driving home from church Christmas morning:

Commentary on the duality of heaven/hell or (more likely) a crafty holiday business model! Either way, it’s good news for the wise men vis-à-vis the recent announcement of quickly declining frankincense availability

“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and ~~frankincense~~ sterno©, and myrrh.”

~ Matthew 2:11, KJV (King Joseph Version)

I mean… would you wanna be in a manger in Bethlehem in the Winter?!?!?

Artist: The Doors / Album: The Doors

Every Day Is a Holiday (With You)

2011-12-25T14:00:00.000-08:00

(Images from the John Cleary Gallery “Deck the Walls” holiday card. Top L-R Susan Burnstine, Renate Aller, Charles Grogg. Bottom L-R Jeri Eisenberg, Elliott Erwitt, Maggie Taylor)

Artist: Esthero ft. Sean Lennon / Album: Down with Love

The Chimney Sweeper

2011-12-21T13:10:00.001-08:00

Last year around Christmas time I featured a video about a couple who, for some inextricable reason, kept receiving hundreds upon hundreds of letters addressed to Santa. It’s quite a fascinating story and if you haven’t seen it then take a couple of minutes and watch it. (DO IT!!)

This year’s bizarre letter to Santa story, courtesy of io9, comes to us from our friends across the pond in Dublin, Ireland. Per the Irish Times:

It may have been slightly scorched over the years but a letter to Santa written 100 years ago, which was later discovered in a Dublin fireplace, has the magic of Christmas written all over it.

On Christmas Eve 1911, a brother and sister, who signed their names, “A or H Howard”, penned their personally designed letter to Santa with their requests for gifts and a good luck message at their home in Oaklands Terrace, Terenure (or Terurnure, as the children spelled it) in Dublin. They placed it in the chimney of the fireplace in the front bedroom so that Santa would see it as he made his way into the Howard household in the early hours of the morning.

The letter was discovered by the house’s current occupant, John Byrne, when he was installing central heating in 1992. […] Ownership of the house changed over the decades, with the Byrne family moving there in 1961, but the letter survived. “At that time, the fireplaces were made of brick with a shelf on either side,” said John Byrne who works in the building industry. “The letter was found on one of the shelves.”

The letter remained remarkably intact given the passage of time and was only slightly burned from fires set in the house over the years.

Does this mean there’s still hope for that Teddy Ruxspin I wanted when I was four?!?!?!?!

Artist: Benjamin Britten and Dietrich* Fischer-Dieskau / Album: Songs and Proverbs of William Blake

*Interesting music nerd/pop-culture reference. Rain (Dwight from The Office) Wilson’s actual middle name is “Dietrich” because his parents were ardent opera lovers.

Big Brother

2011-12-18T10:15:00.001-08:00

Along with Jesus and Beethoven, December is also the birth month of my brother, the very ~~one and only~~ second Matthew Bryson Roberts!! On a recent Halloween post I shared my penultimate favorite picture of us; and, in honor of today, I share with you the ULTIMATE picture… it pretty much sums up our dynamic to a “t” If I do say so!

J.D.: “Listen to me play a scale!!!!” Matt: “Um J.D., can’t you see I’m working here?”

But let’s be honest: really, not much has changed over the years…

Joseph: “Hai, gia vinta la causaaaaaaaaaa!!” Dr. Roberts: “Um Joseph, can’t you see I’m working here?”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Artist: Stevie Wonder / Album: Talking Book

Angels from the Realms of Glory

2011-12-17T15:45:00.001-08:00

BEST.

COSMIC.

TREE-TOPPER.

EVAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“The two-lobed star-forming region, dubbed Sharpless 2-106, is located in an isolated part of our Milky Way galaxy nearly 2000 light-years from Earth. The bluish ‘wings’ are lobes of super-hot gas illuminated by a monster star—dozens of times the mass of our sun—forming in the center of the still-expanding nebula. A dark ring of dust and gas circling the star (dark bands, center), material that may one day coalesce into a planetary system, acts like a belt, cinching the nebula into an hourglass shape.” [via ScienceNOW]

Artist: Renee Fleming and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir / Album: The Wonder of Christmas

Beethoven Day

2011-12-16T15:03:00.001-08:00

Though there is no hard historical evidence proving that today is Ludwig van Beethoven’s birthday… ye old fount of knowledge, wikipedia, informs me that it is the 16 that is typically celebrated as his date of birth. It’s been quite a Beethoven couple of months for me, actually: I went to a performance of his 9th Symphony in September with my friend Rachel, and Jennifer and I recently saw Houston Grand Opera’s performance of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio— a first for me!

SO!!! In much the same vein as my previous Bach birthday post here are a couple of my favorite usages and machinations of Beethoven’s music:

The opening titles to one of my top favorite movies, The Fall (Symphony No. 7, 2nd Mvt.)

In my ongoing series to eventually post all clips from both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 (Symphony No. 5, 1st Mvt.)

And finally, since we haven’t heard from La Voce herself (Mizzzzz Renee Fleming), I figure now is as appropriate a time as any for a video of her singing an arrangement of “My Funny Valentine” set to Beethoven’s “Moonlight” sonata.

Artist: Andrew Lippa / Album: You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown

My Grown Up Christmas List

2011-12-08T16:55:00.001-08:00

Much in the same vein as my 2012 New Apartment Housewarming Gift Registry Extravaganza, I present to those of you who have not yet crossed my name off your list (I’m talkin’ to you Senor Kringle) my Christmas 2012 White Wonderland of a Wishlist—let everyone cheer!!!!!!!

Bespoke British Baggage: As BoingBoing put it, this “gloriously impractical” luggage from Williams British Handmade is sure to draw attention at the baggage claim turnstyle. (You know… because I’m sure people who can afford to even consider buying this stuff take care of their own bags.)

Booze Books!!: These sneaky little things from BenderBound are an ~~alcoholic~~ bibliophile’s wet-bar dream come true. My only complaint—what… no Barenreiter?!?

Doctor Who goodies from ThinkGeek: I mentioned last year how the nerd inside me looks forward to the annual Doctor Who Christmas special every year. Why not celebrate with a Tardis mug and Weeping Angels t-shirt!!

Sugru polymer clay and LEGOs: Just so you know, Catherine, this is how I will now be hanging all of the shows in the gallery!

SodaStream Water Carbonation Machine: Ever since I was quite young I have always loved sparkling water. One of my favorite things about going to Europe is that, as opposed to in America, it’s quite ubiquitous over there. My host family in Minden even had one of these machines and I probably went through a whole CO2 cartridge just on myself.

Look, I Made a Hat: Stephen Sondheim’s follow-up to last year’s Finishing the Hat, the combination of the two offering his entire collection of lyrics as well as anecdotes for his entire body of work. Somebody puh-LEASE Sondheimize me this year!! (The video below explains it all if you aren’t familiar with Modern Family)

Stealth Toothbrush Sanitizer: Because let’s be honest, it’s the perfect companion to the fancy pantsy toothpaste squeezer I mentioned in the last registry.

And FINALLY, for a bit of a laugh… if you think this list is a bit hodge-podge then check out the holiday shopping list these guys came up with (as seen on BoingBoing):

I’m pretty sure a gallery just down the street would probably sell an oil painting of circus clowns storming Normandy Beach.

Artist: Aretha Franklin / Album: This Christmas

Cover Up

2011-12-07T16:59:00.001-08:00

My friend, Jamison, shared a link to “The Worst Classical Album Covers Of All Time. Ever. Really. Part I” from classical 91.5 out of the University of Southern California and one of them seemed holiday appropriate enough that I’m making a whole post about them!

Ummmmmmm… !!!!!!

I’m pretty sure this is also as good a time as any to put up this ol’ thang from a master class I did with her several years ago at U of M:

This is actually the SECOND picture I took with her. In the first one I looked awful so you best believe I went back to get another one. (That’s right, this incident was not the first time I had done that)

Obviously lighthearted fair like the Mario Brother’s theme aren’t included

I’ve already discussed on here previously how Brahms is a good part of your daily breakfast routine. I do take a bit of exception with the title of this album, though, because I’m pretty sure that I’ve already proven that, in fact, SABRINA and I are the best of Brahms!!

And finally, with a bit of help from our friends in the German auto industry, Wagner’s Die Walkure

Artist: Stefy / Album: The Orange Album

A Better Future

2011-12-07T09:34:00.001-08:00

Let it be known… 8:17pm next Tuesday!

Artist: David Bowie / Album: Heathen

Another Christmas Song

2011-12-06T16:57:00.001-08:00

Last December I took the opportunity to discuss some of my favorite holiday traditions, ranging from my love of Maersk butter cookies to the annual return of CHRIMMUHTREEHEAD!!!

One such post also dealt with the Christmas at Baylor concert DVD I get out every year and watch while I wrap presents and reminisce about being a part of the production. Besides that, there are only two other things I watch every year during the holidays, the first being the movie Love, Actually and the second being the subject of today’s post, Stephen Colbert’s 2010 Grammy award winning Christmas special: A Colbert Christmas- The Greatest Gift of All!. (If you’re unaware of who Stephen Colbert is, it might be easier just to direct you to his wikipedia page, should you care to know). Some of you might remember certain songs from the special appearing on my holiday iTunes playlist from last year.

At any rate, the special is a musical variety hour in which the character of Stephen Colbert gets trapped in his cabin in the woods and is visited by a myriad of celebrity guests: Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, Feist, John Legend, Jon Stewart, Elvis Costello and, oh yeah… Santa. For your viewing pleasure, a couple of my favorite numbers from the special!!

Stephen getting’ things started with a plea for royalties

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Toby Keith puttin’ a smack down against those on the wrong side of the “War on Christmas”

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

In which Jon Stewart attempts to sell Stephen on Hannukah:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Stephen and Elvis Costello warning that there are much worse things to believe in during the holidays

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Here’s to you, legions of dispassionate dyspeptics!!

Artist: Stephen Colbert / Album: A Colbert Christmas- The Greatest Gift of All!

Sister Song

2011-12-06T15:56:00.001-08:00

I recently mentioned going to see a production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte last month, but it wasn’t the only time I saw the opera that week. In fact, I saw about thirteen hours worth of Cosi spread over three different performances (!). Two of them took place at Opera in the Heights and one was put on by Rice University—starring my friend, Kelley (she of the best fall day evar), who was an undergrad at the University of Michigan when I was there but is now getting her masters from Rice.

Post-game pic!! Fioridi-GETIT!!

One of my favorite parts about the opera—and especially how Kelley’s Fioridiligi and the student playing her on-stage sister, Dorabella, play them—is the relationship between the two sisters. They get some of the best music as well, so for those of you interested in a bit of Mozart then enjoy!!

Renee Fleming and Joyce di Donato (of this epic blog post) singing “Ah guarda sorella,” in which two sisters jokingly gloat about their lovers, constantly trying to one-up each her.

In fact, the way that Kelley and her counterpart played it, the duet kind of reminded me of a scene in Luc Besson’s (the director of The Fifth Element and the opera scene from this blog post) most recent movie, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. The movie is basically a French, female [have I already alienated some of my readers?] version of Indiana Jones [did I win you back?]. Basically all you need to know is that Adele’s sister is wounded and Adele spends the whole first part of the movie going to Egypt to steal a mummy who she thinks is a pharaoh's doctor and, with the help of a mystic professor, attempt to bring him back to life so that he may heal her. You know, or as we say here in America: Tuesday. At any rate, this scene explains how Agathe became wounded in a tennis match that began as a bit of sibling rivalry and ended in a grunty, sweaty, pointy, tragic hot mess. It’s a really fantastic movie (which I never saw in theaters because it never came out here… I had to watch it on a tiny tiny screen on an AirFrance flight two years ago and was grateful for it!) and I highly recommend it. If you can find it, that is :(

Aaaaaand now that you’ve indulged me in that bit of mental circuitousness… here’s the second, and last, of the Cosi clips for the day. Ana Maria Martinez, Sophie Koch and Sir Thomas Allen singing "Soave sia il vento,” in which the sisters bid their men farewell as they go off to war (though in reality they haven’t left at all and later pretend to be Albanians in order to test their girlfriend’s fidelity… it’s your basic Mozart plot). At any rate, this is just STUNNINGLY beautiful music and singing:

BRAVA, STARZELLEY!!

Artist: Idina Menzel / Album: Live from the Zipper Theater

Here’s to Life

2011-11-23T10:39:00.001-08:00

Today marks the 75th anniversary of LIFE magazine being in print, and as such they have a couple of great “Best-of” lists going on at their website. Whenever I think of LIFE it is inevitably the iconic photographs that have been produced in it's tenure that come to mind. Lucky for you their website has created a list of the top 75 photographs from the past 75 years. 75!!!!!!

In honor of this grand achievement I thought it would be fun to cull from The John Cleary Gallery’s very own collection of LIFE photographs, some of which are found on the best-of list. In the instances where there is an overlap, I have copied the blurb provided on LIFE’s website.

Alfred Eisenstaedt: Three Frames of Children at Puppet Theater, Paris, 1963

“Yes, LIFE's photographers took many classic images of the powerful, the rich, and the famous -- but Alfred Eisenstaedt's gift was making stars out of everyday people, by patiently observing and capturing them in magical moments of joy and wonder. Here, he trains his eye on a young audience at a puppet show in a Paris park: Each delightful child reacts in an extreme and distinct way to the moment when St. George slays the dragon, displaying a range of emotions -- amusement, horror, triumph, fear -- that hints at the many facets of the human experience.”

Margaret Bourke-White: American Woolen Co., Lawrence, MA, 1935

Philippe Halsman: Edward Steichen, 1959

John Dominis: Mickey Mantel having a bad day at Yankee Stadium, 1965

“In perhaps the greatest-ever photograph of a legendary athlete in decline, John Dominis captured New York center fielder Mickey Mantle at Yankee Stadium in June 1965, at a point in his career when alcohol, injuries, and plain old advancing age were dulling the incandescent talents of the future Hall of Famer. Here, in Dominis' photo, Mantle flings his batting helmet away in frustration after a terrible at-bat -- a gesture that, even in the twilight of his career, Mantle managed with physical grace and, somehow, a kind of flair.”

Yousuf Karsh: Joan Miro

Gordon Parks: American Gothic, 1942

John Loengard: The Beatles, Miami Beach, 1964

“In John Loengard's popular photo of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, taken during their first trip to America, the lads' famous mop tops bob undisturbed above the water's surface. The pool was quite chilly that day, thanks to a cold snap -- check out Ringo's grimace -- and Loengard has said the Beatles even began to turn blue; still, in the short minutes he had to get this shot, the photographer cleverly asked the boys to sing, and thus managed to draw out the playfulness and passion that made them so beloved.”

Ralph Morse: Frank Gehry “Testing” His Furniture Design, NYC, 1970 (Some of you may remember a stairway design by Frank Gehry from a post on stairs—yes, a whole post on stairs—from a little over a year ago!)

Carl Mydans: Dancing at Rosie’s Café, Texas, 1937… because why not end with a shout-out to my home country!!

Artist: Barbra Streisand / Album: Love is the Answer

Copycat

2011-11-21T07:06:00.001-08:00

As I am sitting here in the lobby of an oral surgeon in League City waiting for Mallory to get out of some (minor) surgery I thought I’d do a quick blog post of a video I saw a while back on BoingBoing. What exactly does this buh-crazy animation of cats have to do with Mallory or surgery? – not much, but I’d imagine that with the drugs I’m sure she’s currently on, it’s not to impossible to imagine her hallucinating the following:

Omg WHAAAAAAAAAAT IS HAPPENING!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! (PS… I love this)

Artist: The Cranberries / Album: Bury the Hatchet

A Big Black Lady Stops the Show

2011-11-17T15:53:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to knock off another one of my “must do’s” while living in Houston: going to the gospel brunch at the House of Blues!!! My gallery neighbor, Yvonne, recently celebrated her birthday and her husband put together a surprise party at the venue and I was lucky enough to get an invitation. As the moniker “gospel brunch” might suggest, there is live gospel ensemble that performs while you eat your delectable brunch (oh you’d better believe there were chicken and waffles to be had!!)

Yvonne and I with Geri, owner of Hooks-Epstein Gallery, who is actually making that face on purpose

Open mouth, unhinge jaw! Oddly enough, I’m referring both to how I ate my lunch and how fabulously these gospel singers manage to perform

For those of you who do not know, I am a huge fan of gospel music and for the hell of it here is one of my fav’s Jennifer Holliday (she of the original Effie-ness—deal with it Jennifer Hudson!)

WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO MY EARS (and her vocal chords)!!!! One of my favorite user comments on this video: “[Girl] ain’t got jaw tension… [girl] got HEAD tension!”

I would also be remiss to not make mention of Our Lady of Gospel Music, Mahalia Jackson, in an entire post on the genre.

THE QUEEN!

I also happened to notice a picture of Lightnin’ Hopkins on the wall, which quickly reminded me of a statue of him that resides in Crockett. In reading over his wikipedia page I discovered that, at least as far as I can tell, there’s no connection between him and my home town… I had always assumed he was born there or something. Count that as the new something I learned for the day.

Picture at House of Blues and statue in Crockett, TX

Artist: Martin Short / Album: Fame Becomes Me

After the Fall

2011-11-15T18:05:00.001-08:00

I’ve been meaning to do a Fall post for a while now, but since the word Fall is really quite meaningless here in the great nation of Texas then I thought now was as good a time as any. Case and point… there is a forty degree difference between the expected high in Houston and Ann Arbor, MI for tomorrow. At any rate, here is a menagerie of things that make me think “Fall.”

Subject to Change, by Maggie Taylor. I mean come on, if ever there were a Mr. November in the Maggie Taylor twelve year calendar then this would be he.

Pianist/Comedian Victor Borge and baritone Robert Merill performing “Autumn Leaves”

I remember watching Victor Borge all the time on PBS fundraising drives when I was a kid and he has consistently made me laugh ever since then.

One of my favorite things about the change of seasons is the drop in temperature… the colder the better! Partly because I enjoy breaking out my coats and scarves but mostly because I can use my Pottery Barn faux fur throw without breaking into an instant sweat. Seriously… this thing is amazing!

fur-mazing! (gross)

And finally, the advent of Fall means the approach of Thanksgiving and the wonderful inevitability of devouring a Greenberg smoked turkey!!!! That’s right, these perfectly smoked—and mail orderable—birds out of our very own Tyler, Texas are one of my favorite things about the season.

Oprah loves ‘em and, though that may be a deterrent for some of you, so should you!

Artist: Journey / Album: Frontiers

At the Round Earth’s Imagin’d Corners

2011-11-11T13:55:00.001-08:00

2011 appears to be a great year for the notion of the sudden appearance of another planet in the night sky, at least as far as the cinema-scape is concerned. Lars von Trier’s Melancholia opens today in theaters, the narrative of which “…revolves around two sisters during and shortly after the wedding party of one of them, while Earth is about to collide with an approaching rogue planet.” (via Wikepedia)

I’m pretty sure this will clobber the competition for best comedy of the year … … …

Earlier this summer another movie, this time focusing on the appearance of not just a rogue planet but another Earth itself, was released. The aptly titled Another Earth follows the story of “…Rhoda Williams, a bright young woman accepted into MIT’s astrophysics program [who] aspires to explore the cosmos. A brilliant composer, John Burroughs, has just reached the pinnacle of his profession and is about to have a second child. On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, tragedy strikes and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined.” (via the films homepage).

So you’ve got your rogue planet and you’ve even got your parallel Earth… but let’s take it a step further, shall we? Last week NOVA began a new four part series, The Fabric of the Cosmos, based on (and hosted by) the work of acclaimed astrophysicist Brian Green. In the summation of the first episode, which focuses more specifically on the notion of space itself, the scientists delve into a new theory about black holes and the notion that perhaps our Earth is merely the projection of an astral hologram, a universal imprint on the edges of a black hole. I’ve embeded the video to start at the relevant time but watch the whole episode if you’ve got an hour to kill!

Mind = BLOWN!

Artist: Benjamin Britten / Album: Holy Sonnets

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

2011-11-10T09:07:00.001-08:00

It’s been a while since we’ve had a mention of Our Lady of Tennessee (AKA soprano supremo Sabrina Laney Warren) and a recent post on her Facebook wall was pretty much begging for some blog postage.

A quick bit of backstory… over the past couple of weeks I have been getting texts from her about how someone who plays for some of her lessons reminds her a lot of me and she’s even starting referring to him as my blonde doppelgänger. Then I later found out that he is also a Baylor grad. His last name is Aber, which is eerily reminiscent of our Eber day in Germany. THEN Sabrina informed me that he also had one of the same shirts that I took on tour this summer and apparently that was the last straw—they decided to do a bit of photo reenactment from one of my earlier posts:

CLIPPITY CLOP, BISCUITS!!!

Artist: Gerard Alessandrini / Album: Forbidden Broadway, Volume 3

Like a Rock

2011-11-09T09:46:00.001-08:00

One of the wonderful (and yet, often troublesome) aspects of being in this biz called “show” is that it is a very very small world. Example: I recently went to a birthday party for my friend, Julia, who studies at the University of Houston and naturally I ran into three people I knew, one with whom I had gone to Michigan, and those whom I didn’t know at least had many mutual acquaintances. That’s always my favorite awkward moment… when you realize you know someone in common but don’t know if you share the same opinion of said person. It’s always a bit of a verbal ballet (which is about the only kind of dancing opera singers tend to know) we all do to figure out what level of dirt telling we can get away with. Which, by the way, the scale of “dirt telling” for singers basically has a base line of about 6 on a scale of 1 – 10.

Yet I digress. All this to say… with as much traveling around that we all do for auditions, performances, lessons, etc. it’s not uncommon to see old friends pop up outta the blue every now and then—which brings me to the point of this blathering.

A small opera company here in Houston, Opera in the Heights, is doing a production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte and my friend and studio mate from Baylor, Sarah Beckham, is performing (the hell outta, btw) the role Fioridiligi in one of the casts. I haven’t seen Sarah in about seven years, the last time being when I went to audition at Boston University… an experience I mentioned previously back in February when I took a small vacation to the northeast.

In addition to Sarah as Fioridiligi, my friend, Zach (who was mentioned in one of my favorite posts ever but has thus far eluded being photographed) is performing the role of Ferrando in Sarah’s cast and Jennifer is the Despina in the other cast. I unfortunately have conflicts with Sarah and Zach’s performance dates so I was able to go to the final dress rehearsal with Jennifer and the above picture is from the casts’ post-performance drink session.

Thought it’s a bit of short notice, if you want to listen to some live performances from Cosi by Zach and Sarah you can tune-in to Houston’s Classical 91.7 (streaming online here) for today’s edition of The Front Row at NOON.

And, as a bit of a parting shot—and because there’s not really anything she can do about it—my absolute favorite picture of Sarah evar!

Artist: Bob Seger / Album: Like a Rock

P.S.: A little back story behind today’s post title. As Sarah is not from Houston, the company has put her up with a host family and the “father” was at the final dress as well. He came up to her at intermission because he had to leave after the first half and the conversation went something like this:

Man: Sarah! You sound so fantastic… just spectacular!

Sarah: Oh thank you!!

Man: I especially loved the, hold on one second… I really like that one song, wait a minute I wrote down the name of it… that part where you sang by yourself, where IS that paper—oh here it is. My favorite song of yours was that “Like a Rock” one, that was just great!

The adorableness of this is that “like a rock” is the translation “Come scoglio,” which also happens to be one of the most famous arias from the opera and like, ever… but as some of you southerners may know, is also the name of that song from the Chevy truck commercials. So for your listening pleasure (and because I think everyone should listen to the aria at least once), here is lady Renee Fleming rockin’ out some Mozart.

P.P.S.:

The Tree of Death

2011-10-31T15:23:00.001-07:00

Our final Halloween animated short comes from Fuh-rance—Mortys focuses in on a mother grim reaper trying to balance her job and her family life in the 21st century. I saw this video quite a while ago and it was actually the inspiration for doing a weeks’ worth of animated shorts… hope you enjoy!

Artist: Danny Elman / Album: Sleepy Hollow

Superman

2011-10-31T15:02:00.001-07:00

I mentioned last year that I’m not exactly gung ho about dressing up for Halloween. It’s not that I think it’s silly or immature or whatever… I just honestly can’t be bothered with it. I typically just wear orange and call it a day but thought I’d one up myself (only just a bid) and got my “costume” from shirt.Woot, which I have mentioned here a couple of times before.

“Laundry Day” close up; don’t I look thrilled?!? I’m helping pass out candy at Catherine’s house tonight and she loaned me the cape!

I also mentioned in the post from last year that it’s not like I never dressed up as a kid—in fact it’s quite the contrary. I think I specifically mentioned a certain year when Liz Kelly and I went as Superman and Supergirl (and Jenny Yates’ costume was all abuzz with the mom's because it was from Neimans or something fancy!) Since then I have gotten the visual proof of it and other childhood Halloween’s past!

Able to leap tall… stumps?

It actually wasn’t uncommon for Liz and I to go as a duo:

*cough* Cam *cough

If not a duo then at least in tandem:

With her brother, Daniel (far left), and my brother, ~~Matt~~ Dr. Roberts (far right)

And finally, a non-costumed picture that is still Halloween appropriate (and is still a good representation of me and my brother).

I’m putting on a show and Matt’s doing all the work!

Artist: Barbra Streisand / Album: Superman

Devil’s Food

2011-10-30T14:05:00.001-07:00

My friend and gallery neighbor from the Hooks-Epstein Gallery, Yvonne, invited me to her sister’s Halloween party this past Friday and lemme tell you, they were NOT messing around.

Let’s just take a look at a small selection of the food-stuffs they had provided:

Yes, that would in fact be a breadstick spider filled with dipping sauce and a Cheshire Cat cheese ball.

Mummy dogs, Ghost of Monte Cristo sandwiches, a meat head and ~~meat~~eyeballs

The hosts (far left and Beetlejuice) with Ketchup, Mustard and Hotdog

I had to head out early because I had been developing a steadily worsening sore throat over the day and A.) didn’t want to get anyone else sick if it were infections and B.) really didn’t want to be that creepster just sitting in the corner not talking to anyone. Needless to say, I should have taken more pictures of the great costumes and decorations buuuuuut I didn’t so get over it already!

Artist: Alice Cooper / Album: Welcome to My Nightmare

A Night on Bald Mountain

2011-10-30T13:12:00.001-07:00

In response to a bit of the naughtiness of yesterday’s post I think it’s appropriate for a bit of Sunday redemption… this time in an “oldy-but-goody” excerpt from Fantasia. That, and I will find a way to use every clip from both Fantasia’s at some point on the blog. So far I’ve made one previously so… I guess y’all’ve (is that how you spell that? Seems like a bit of apostrophe over kill, right?) got a lot to look forward to.

Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” and Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” are combined in this battle between the “profane and the sacred” from the original 1940 (!) film.

Get it lil’ ghoulies!!

Artist: Modest Mussorgsky / Album: Fantasia

Until Death Do Us Part

2011-10-29T14:23:00.001-07:00

Well it’s Saturday, which means it’s time to loosen up a bit!! That’s what Saturday means, right? Sadly enough, I’ll be spending it at home and in bed with a horrible sore throat… wah wah. At any rate, Mourir Auprès de Toi (To Die By Your Side), is a collaboration between director Spike Jonze (best known for Where the Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and his many forays into music video land) and designer Olympia Le-Tan that focuses on the “star-crossed” love story of two characters from book covers in the fictional Parisian bookstore, Shakespeare and Co.

Fair warning, there’s a bit of “loosening up” happening in the video—they are only felt puppets, mind you—but it might be a bit inappropriate for some of you. You know who you are!

Spike Jonze: Mourir Auprès de Toi on Nowness.com.

Artist: Danny Elfman / Album: The Corpse Bride

Happy Weekend

2011-10-28T16:10:00.001-07:00

Today’s selection is another Academy Award nominated short film, this time following two undertakers as they attempt to deliver their ~~package~~ ~~goods~~ ~~commission~~ ~~charge~~ coffin to its final resting place.

Artist: Ray Merrell/ Album: Keep the Customer Satisfied

Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa

2011-10-28T13:13:00.001-07:00

It’s not often that I genuinely ask people to donate money for causes; the only other time I can remember is when Keliy Anderson-Staley was raising funds on Kickstarter for her Imagined Family Heirlooms project which, by the way, far surpassed its goal! I know some of you donated and I thank you!!

At any rate, I’m back on the street corner lookin’ for more handouts … not for myself, mind you, but once again for a good cause! My friends, Jamie (she of the bestfriendedness as well as the creator of the infamous Chrimmuhtreehead) and Abby will be going next month to do some work with the Amani Education Project in Kenya and want to help do a little extra something special for the children of the school in the Maweni Village.

Per Jamie and Abby:

As some of you may recall, in Fall of 2007, Abby ventured across the sea and landed in Kenya. Living there for 3 months and working at Amani School truly changed the entire course of her life. Next month, we're both going, granted for a much shorter amount of time, and we'd love to do a little something special for the kiddos while we're there.

Haller Park is a wildlife refuge not far (by our standards) from the village that the children live in. However, the majority of the children in the village have never been on any trip or any kind, much less a fun one where they might get to meet a famous hippo and tortoise pair. In addition to seeing fun animals and their first field trip, we'll also make sure they get a healthy lunch. However, we realize we can't do it alone.

If all of our friends and family included in this email were to donate, you would each only need to give roughly $3.91 to take these adorable kids on the journey of their lifetime. Though, we realize that not everyone will donate, so your generosity is really appreciated. Plus, any extra funds not used for this field trip will be donated directly to the school.

For more information on the Amani Education Project click here, and please follow this link in order to donate!! You may need to create a Paypal username and password in order to donate. Don't fret, creating login details is free, as is general membership with PayPal. Upon donating, you'll receive a confirmation number, an email with donation details and a link to print your own receipt.

Thanks in advance!!!

Artist: David Sedaris/ Album: Me Talk Pretty One Day (yeah, yeah, it’s an audiobook but I’ve already set a precedent… PLUS, Jamie went with me to a David Sedaris book signing, so it’s doubly appropriate)

Vincent

2011-10-27T15:06:00.001-07:00

Because it would be unfair to not have Tim Burton represented…

Artist: Josh Groban/ Album: Josh Groban

Hello, Dolly!

2011-10-26T16:01:00.001-07:00

Our next Halloween animated short selection isn’t so much terrifyingly creepy as it is… cherrily creepy?

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Artist: Jerry Herman/ Album: Hello, Dolly

Every Day a Little Death

2011-10-25T16:15:00.001-07:00

So apparently I’ve just given up on blogging, huh? October of last year I made it a point to do a blog post a day… this month I’m up to a whopping three. So, in order to get back in the biz, I’ve decided that since there is a little less than a week to Halloween I would feature an appropriately seasonally themed animated short a day until the 31st!

Our first installment, The Lady and the Reaper, is an Academy Award nominee (2009) and follows the tale of an elderly woman who is waiting for death in order to be reunited with her long passed husband.

The lady and the reaper from Hormoz Zamanpour Siahkal on Vimeo.

Why do they all talk like Sims characters?!?!

Artist: Stephen Sondheim/ Album: A Little Night Music

A Whale of a Tale

2011-10-15T13:17:00.001-07:00

As with a large percentage of my posts, this really has no intrinsic value other than it’s beautiful… oh yeah, I guess it teaches you stuff too. Surprise, surprise, I found this on BoingBoing.

The above reminded me, for obvious reason, of a segment from BBC’s Life. If you listened to my advice a while back then you have already seen it, but for those of you who didn’t then here’s a little taste:

And, just because it’s the way my mind works, a little 30 Rock for your Saturday afternoon pleasure:

YOU WERE TOO LATE, AL GORE!!!

Artist: Kirk Douglas/ Album: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

To Build a Home

2011-10-08T15:59:00.001-07:00

I have officially been an “inner looper” for two weeks now and through setting up my new apartment I have come across a few decorating deficiencies with which I figured you blog friends could help out. Gift registries courtesy of BoingBoing, Gizmodo and io9. There’s a wide variety of items and price ranges to chose from, so spend spend spend!

Carved Gourd Lamps: Calabarte’s stunningly intricate lamps come in a variety of styles and sizes. Check out his homepage for more examples his work. Also, seeing as how it’s been just shy of six months since I’ve put up a new header I figured this was as good a time as any to change it up. (Plus it seems appropriately October-y for some reason).

Fancy Pantsy Toothpaste Squeezer: For just the price of around a hundred tubes of toothpaste you too can own this absurdly opulent device intended for the laziest and richest amongst us. Yay dental hygiene!!

*Note—$10.00 tube of Marvis toothpaste not included

Elipson “Sound Tree”: Umm… do I really even need to explain this one?! It’s a tree made of speakers!! Also, feel free to throw in that pair of chairs on the right and we’ll call it a joint housewarming/Christmas present.

“Tree of Life” poster (option 1): It’s a tree trunk made out of ANIMALS!!! Noah would be so happy.

Tree of Life poster (option 2): I mentioned previously how I was lucky enough to catch this movie showing at the Michigan Theater when I was in Ann Arbor this summer and I’m a bit ub-sessed with the movie poster. PRETTY COLORS!!!

Blown-glass Goldfish Bowl: The only pet I’ve had since moving away from Crockett was when I was living in Ann Arbor. My friends Will and Clinton had a guinea pig, Mr. Piggles, that seemed reasonable enough to deal with so I decided to get one, thinking they might become friends as well—they just ended up fighting a lot. At any rate, I decided to give Phineas away after about a year because I wasn’t home enough to spend any quality time with him. A goldfish, though… you don’t even have to pet them! (In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s recommended you don’t do so).

~~Tsunami~~ Hurricane Capsule: And now perhaps the human equivalent of a fish bowl—a Japanese designed survival pod intended for use in a tsunami but, I’m assuming, perfectly acceptable for hurricane season here in Houston. Plus… it “could hold four adults and had survived many crash tests. It has a lookout window and breathing holes, and could also be used as a toy house for children.”

A. Can’t you see me floating down Richmond in that? B. I LOVE that he removed his shoes before going into the capsule.

Artist: The Cinematic Orchestra/ Album: Ma Fleur

Oh Be Joyful

2011-10-08T15:41:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my friend, Rachael, invited me to go to the opening night of the Houston Symphony’s 2011/12 season. More specifically it was Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (aka: Ode to Joy), which I had never seen in live performance!! This was also a chance to check off another venue from my “Places to See Concerts in Houston” list (having already gone to the Wortham, Alley Theater, Verizon Theater, and Fitzgeralds). This year I’m hoping to make it to the ballet to knock another one off… any takers?

Getting prepped!

Here is the full symphony if you are interested in listening/watching. Conductor Leonard Bernstein leads the Vienna Philharmonic with soloists Gwyneth Jones, Shirley Verrett, Placido Domingo, and Martti Talvela. (This is actually the third of three clips but it’s the finale… watch all of them if you have the time though!)

Rachel and I after the show!

And, because I still listen to this song about once a week, a different arrangement of the above music… and in my opinion, a much more technically demanding version to boot. I mean, did Beethoven ever write a rap? Check and mate.

Sheryl Lee Ralph! Lauryn Hill! Sign language! Jaw tension! Gospel music! And that’s just in the first ten seconds alone!!!

Artist: Frank Wildhorn/ Album: The Civil War

Bye Bye Blackbird

2011-09-24T10:12:00.001-07:00

(I’m still woefully behind on my blogging as is evident from this Labor Day Weekend post I’m just now getting up. Things have been pretty busy at the gallery and I’m in the process of moving further into the city [yay!] this weekend so I basically get home from work and pack and pass out… sorry.)

For those of you who aren’t exactly up to date with your hunting calendar then I’m thrilled to let you know that, in Texas at least, Labor Day weekend is perennially the opening of dove hunting season… or as it’s known in our family: The Roberts’ Annual ~~Bird of Peace Murdering~~ Dove Hunt Extravaganza Weekend. I kid, I kid of course. Some of you may take issue with hunting but I don’t… and for many reasons: population control, shooting guns is generally quite fun when in a safe and controlled environment, and of course, dove tastes delicious.

The festivities are always held in Midland, TX (where my fraternal grandparents live) and this is the first year I have been able to get out there in well over ten years. Little ~~J.D.~~ Joseph wasn’t as interested in hunting as I am now and being away in the foreign lands of Michigan didn’t help that much either.

At any rate… due to a snafu with my license I wasn’t exactly able to hunt, per se, so I had to stick to shooting pictures as opposed to birds this year.

The hunting lease our family always uses is about 25-30 minutes outside of the city and at the second entrance to the property was a fence lined with coyote tails… “a warning” I was told by one of the workers.

I also couldn’t help but notice the property had an outdoor “venue” for performances.

I’m totes doing a recital here!

All of the hunting takes place on the dirt roads surrounding a large sunflower field (the birds come to eat and are shot when entering/exiting) and dawn is one of the better times to go out.

Dad and uncle David getting their gun on

Brett, my brother’s friend and college roommate (of recent wedding fame), and his dog, Millie joined the party and a large portion of my time was spent with the latter: the perk of not being able to hunt means that it’s absolutely acceptable—even expected—to have an early morning aperitif! That’s what hunters call it, right?

Speaking of dogs, Matt brought along Scout as well to do a bit of bird-doggin’ and she was quick to find some moisture to cool off in. And what fun is a sopping wet dog without a bit of a roll in the dirt?

Scout just loves a good action shot!

We also got a little visit from the game warden… just to make sure everyone was licensed up and not exceeding their respective limits.

During some of the slower bits, not that there really were any, I figured I’d take a self portrait of sorts.

It looks like I’m holding the tree BUT I’M NOT!!! (How sad for me)

By the end of the hunt everyone had their limit and the ground was littered with shell casings and feathers:

So perhaps this doesn’t qualify for “littered” exactly but you get the point.

All in all it was a great couple of mornings and hopefully next year I’ll have my act together a bit more regarding the license! Group photo time!!!!

L to R: Uncle David, Granddad, Dad, Scout, Matt

And finally, one parting shot:

*BAM*

Artist: John Kander and Fred Ebb, Liza Minnelli/ Album: Liza with a Z

BONUS: Ever wondered what it sounded like to go dove hunting but did feel like getting up before the sun did just to find out!? Well you’re in luck because I recorded a bit of audio while out there!! Now that I think about it I’m not exactly sure why I didn’t move it into the 21st century by taking a video but I suppose that’s the lot you’ve been cast today.

Bicycle Race

2011-09-07T16:02:00.001-07:00

I have mentioned before that I tend to shy away from birthday posts for friends and family… mostly because it sets a precedent and I don’t want anyone getting upset that I didn’t do one for them on their birthday. There are rare exceptions, however, and they always come about rather circuitously. So, behold the rube goldberg machine that is my mind:

Monday would have been Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday and Google celebrated with an animated homepage doodle yesterday (putting it off a day because Monday was Labor Day). Watching it inspired me to make a Queen playlist at the gallery while doing some cleaning and the song “Bicycle Race” came on which then immediately made me think of my friend Heather, whose birthday is, wait for it… … … TODAY! (The connection being that Heather and her husband, Bo, are avid fans of bikes). Still following?

First, I planned on putting up the music video for the song until I actually watched it and realized it might not be exactly blog appropriate. Nothing too scandalous, just nekked people riding bikes and all. I opted instead for just the audio so enjoy and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!!

Heather and I have been dear dear friends since high school and, along with the third part of our trio, Jamie, is basically the reason that I got through high school in Crockett. Her house was like my second home (she was literally right across the street) and I am happy to count her among the elite of my friends… and you know how elitists I can be! Also, she had a fan.tastic blog of her own called Lost in Drawers and I suggest you check it out.

So for a quick jaunt down memory lane here are a couple of pictures of us from her wedding a couple of years ago!

Artist: Queen/ Album: Greatest Hits I

Bonus!! For those interested, here is the animated Google doodle:

Piano Man

2011-09-04T18:51:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I had the chance to meet up with my dear friend Jeremy (he was getting his doctorate under Martin Katz while I was at U of M) and help him drive across country and set up his new apartment in Bloomington, Indiana, where he is just beginning a post-doctoral fellowship and teaching classes at Indiana University. He’s basically one of the smartest and most talented people I know so it’s no surprise one of the largest and best music schools in the country caught on as well.

After flying into Hartford, Connecticut I was picked up by Jeremy, who had just finished up working at a camp in Lenox, Massachusetts and we were off to Buffalo, New York to go to his parents house, have a quick dinner and get a bit of a nap in before the 13 hour overnight drive. As nothing particularly interesting occurred during the trip there really isn’t that much to report on. Towards the last four hours of the drive we would switch off sleeping and driving and arrived in Bloomington relatively refreshed.

Luckily for Jeremy (and by proxy myself and my back) his parents had gone down earlier in the month to accept and unload the Pod that had been packed in Minneapolis before Jeremy was gone for the Summer. Prior to tackling the re-arranging and decorating, however, we grabbed breakfast at one of Bloomington’s most well known eateries—the Runcible Spoon! I think I can comfortably say that breakfast is mine and Jeremy’s favorite type of food

“They dined on mince and slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon…” ~ The Owls and the Pussycat, by Edward Lear

After breakfast it was back to the apartment for a quick nap then off to shop for the necessaries! For the next couple of days we slowly pieced the place together, with Jeremy taking care of his responsibilities (faculty ID, class schedule, etc) in the mornings and coming back in the early afternoon. I basically would wake up and think to myself: “Okay, if this were my place how would I decorate it?”… and then I would just do it. Luckily he didn’t take too much issue with my work so it worked well for both sides!

Jeremy, lording himself over his new dominion in true Lady Strauss mode. (Umm, by the way, that coat rack was only $12!)

While in Bloomington I also had the chance to meet up with another fellow U of M friend and have lunch. Lenora and I both did our Masters degrees together and it has been a while since I have seen her!

SOUTHERNERS UNITE!!!!!

I also had a chance to check out Jeremy’s new office (he has a grand piano!) and on my way to the music building I noticed that, though he had only been there for a scant few days, they had already erected a statue in his honor:

They even got the coat right!!

I leave you finally with the “advertisement” Jeremy made for his class, in which he will talk about different styles of singing, the singers who were great at it, why they made the musical decisions they did, and what is appropriate to do in our day and age. Sounds a little dry, right? Well… as this video is proof, it will be nothing of the sort.

I kiiiiinda wanna apply to Indiana University just so I can take this class. (Though, I suppose I could just call him up and ask any pertinent questions if I really needed to.)

Artist: Billy Joel/ Album: Piano Man

Salt of the Earth

2011-09-03T20:07:00.001-07:00

The house belonging to Josh and Leah happened to be right on the water overlooking Muskegon across the divide and I was reminded of a picture I stopped to take once when going into town one day during intensive week. On the way to Meijer I passed a giant mount of sand (?) salt (?) something (?) and was reminded of the work of one of the gallery’s artist, Tom Hawkins.

My poor imitation (it’s the sincerest form of flattery, right?):

The real deal:

Salt Mound, Bonaire

Salt Harvest #5, Bonaire

Salt Harvest #3, Bonaire

For information about the artist or to see more of his work, check out his website here or contact the John Cleary Gallery here!

Artist: The Rolling Stones/ Album: Beggar’s Banquet

Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?

2011-09-02T07:02:00.001-07:00

After my brief stay in Ann Arbor it was back to the campgrounds at Blue Lake for one more final round of concerts. Sabrina and I were fortunate enough to get to stay with Leah and Josh as our host parents!! Leah was technically my boss (though I do consider her a friend now) and was responsible for hiring me last year for the Elijah tour. Truth be told the only reason I returned this year to do the Brahms was because I failed to get one single picture with her in 2011—and you all know how much I love a good photo op!

As I feel I have already exhausted myself on talking about the camp itself I’ll just focus on all the fun we got to have in North Muskegon… starting with THE FOOD. Bernie O’s is a local pizza joint that has been ranked nationally and even appeared on the Food Network (did you hear that, Jan?!). One of their claim's to fame is the Firebird pizza, which isn’t so much an homage to Stravinsky as it is to the fact that it uses ghost chili peppers. There is a competition to eat the pizza (at the third level of crazy heat) within a certain time limit and if you win then you get to go on the wall of FLAME! Josh and I joked about doing it but you need a third person and neither Leah nor Sabrina were up for it.

Please notice how the wall is completely empty :(

We, however, opted for a couple of more sane options and they. were. DELECKER!!

Before Sabrina and I had to part ways again we needed to get a picture we’d been talking about taking for the whole summer. It was noticed very early on that our computers appeared to match our respective sizes and here is the evidence to prove it:

Yeah, I’m pretty sexy in argyle sox and shorts.

Now, some of you may notice a certain toy of the equine persuasion trying to get in on the photo action. Sabrina found it in the basement and naturally neither of us could resist a good opportunity to prove our ages.

Apparently we’re not very coordinated… It looks like I’m trying to speed up while BriBri is slowing down

There aren’t really words to describe how appreciative I am for Leah over these last two years doing the international tour. She didn’t go to Europe this summer (she was busy coordinating all nine of the Blue Lake tours while concomitantly organizing over twenty European groups that were coming to the states to do tours themselves!) and was greatly missed by everyone. I’ll never forget last year when sweating my way through 3 hours of Elijah in the summer heat every other day she was always there on the front row acting as our cheerleader. I’m pretty sure she was contractually obligated to do so, but she at least did a good job of pretending to enjoy it each time ;)

Finally, as is customary for the last picture of these such posts, we got a family photo!

Leah and Josh: host family first timers NO MORE! I finally got to get my picture with yooooouuuuu!!!

Artist: U2/ Album: Achtung Baby

Put on Your Sunday Clothes

2011-09-02T06:20:00.001-07:00

This video has been floating around recently on several blogs I read and I thought it would be appropriate for a new edition of the now mostly defunct DANCE PARTY FRIDAY (it also happens to coordinate quite well with Jan’s weekly installments of Fashion Fabulous Friday).

To celebrate the opening of the Westfield Stratford shopping center in Britain, a video of 100 years of fashion in East London in 100 seconds was put together in this lovely little package for your viewing pleasure. ENJOY!

Artist: Jerry Herman/ Album: Hello Dolly

That’s Entertainment

2011-08-31T19:46:00.001-07:00

I spent another one of my days off in Ann Arbor exploring some of my favorite haunts around State Street, beginning with seeing two movies (The Tree of Life and The Trip) at the gorgeous Michigan Theater on Liberty.

In addition to appreciating the fact that they show independent and art films I also LOVE that they still have an operational organ that is played before each movie. I arrived at one show just in time to catch the last vestiges of one such performance.

Though the news is a couple of weeks old, when I first got back the news broke that Borders Bookstore was being liquidated. Ann Arbor is the corporate headquarters and home to store #1 so I felt it only fitting to stop by and check out the sale. It was still in its infancy then (only up to 40% at that point [lame]) but I did make my final Borders purchase in the form of Jane Austen’s Persuasion… because I know you care and all.

Also in the nearby vicinity is one of my absolute favorite Ann Arbor spots: Encore Records. I used to go there about once a week and troll through the immense selection of records in hopes of adding to my own. Luck was with me this time as I found yet another Martin Katz collaboration with Frederica von Stade!!

All in all I’d say it was quite a perfect day by Ann Arbor entertainment standards!

Artist: Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz / Album: The Bandwagon

A Happy Place

2011-08-30T12:11:00.001-07:00

(So I fully realize it’s been just about three weeks since I’ve updated the blog!! My apologize to the four of you who regularly check… there’s been a lot going on since getting back to Texas and I’m actually currently writing from Bloomington, Indiana [more on that in a later post]. Just a couple of more Blue Lake posts and I should be up to date!)

In between the round of concerts at Hill Auditorium and the Blue Lake homecoming concerts I had about a week off, during which I was able to spend some free time in my former hometown of Ann Arbor. Any trip to the city wouldn’t be complete without a jaunt to Kerrytown, and I spent the large portion of a day re-visiting this charming neighborhood.

Kerrytown is home to many of my favorite places in the city, ranging from Kerrytown Concert House to Hollander’s Paper Store—and let’s not forget that divine delicatessen, Zingerman’s!! Brian, who was my “host family” for a couple of nights, and I ventured to the deli for lunch and I was not surprised in the least to see that lines were still forming around the corner despite some new construction under way.

*Sigh* … the memories (and dollars) I have spent here

L: Brian waiting patiently in line. R: It’s the light at the end of the tunnel!!! (except in this case it’s not so much a “light” as it is free samples of their mac 'n cheese or smoked meats from around the world)

My regular order: #73 Tarb’s Tenacious Tenure: “All-natural turkey breast, fresh avocado spread, Wisconsin muenster cheese, tomato & plenty of Zingerman’s Russian dressing on grilled farm bread” (Russian dressing on the side with) add Honeycup mustard, cucumber-y pickle and an iced cold brew coffee. DE-LECKER!!!

Another favorite spot, and I know my mother would agree, is the Treasure Mart, an antique store just down the cobblestone street from Zingerman’s.

“Excuse me… can you ship these giant stained glass windows to Crockett, TX?”

Ann Arbor is also a great city for book lovers and Kerrytown is home to several really great independent book stores.

And finally, while I failed to get a final picture with Brian, I do have this one from one of our nights out in Minden that I haven’t put up yet. Even though I knew him only peripherally last year on tour I must say I am very happy to count him among my close close friends. I will miss you!!

EBONY AND IVORY, 2011

Artist: Katie Melua / Album: The House

Milkshake

2011-08-10T13:07:00.001-07:00

Today is National S’mores Day and the perfect day for me to do a bit of retro-blogging. A while back in March when my friend Lembit came to visit for the Houston premiere of his oratorio And Then I Remembered we tried out a recipe for s’mores milkshakes that I learned from another friend of mine, Zach.

Step 1: Broil marshmellows in oven until toasted

Step 2: Blend together with your ice cream of choice, preferably vanilla or chocolate (or both) but definitely BLUE BELL, and Nutella

Step 2.5: Add Speculoos spread if available.

Some of you may remember my birthday post from this year as well as a bit of a security snafu when flying back into the country how much I love the Speculoos cookie spread. WELL, folks… I’m giving you a bit of an exclusive here because you Texans can buy the stuff at Central Market!!!!!!! Now, to be fair it is delicious in the same way that American Nutella is delicious. And by that I mean the European versions are made with slightly different ingredients and tend to be more buh-mazing, but the stateside versions are still very very good. Point of order… they also sell just the plane cookies as well but do not have the “cruncy” version :(

(Instead of Speculoos spread make sure and look for Biscoff spread)

3. Pour and enjoy!!!!

Artist: Kelis/ Album: Tasty

Back of a Truck

2011-08-10T09:35:00.001-07:00

We’re gonna take a brief pause from catching up on the last couple of posts from the Blue Lake homecoming tour because I wanted to post something that I saw last night while driving to have dinner with my friends Will and Aaron, who were visiting nearby Dodge, TX for the week.

The drive on I-45 N at 5:30pm isn’t exactly the quickest of drives and stops occur frequently due to general congestion and the occasional accident. So it wasn’t much of a surprise to have to stop for a while. That is, until three fire trucks and about eight police cars meandered their way through the traffic. Oh yeah and the two news helicopters I could see floating a couple of exits down. It wasn’t until I detoured on the feeder road that I discovered this was causing all the fuss:

Needless to say it made the news this morning (and even showed up on Gawker!)

PS— For anyone interested I actually took my picture while stopped at the stoplight on the feeder… just sayin’

Artist: Regina Spektor/ Album: Eleven Eleven

A Sort of Homecoming

2011-08-08T09:45:00.001-07:00

One of the parts of the whole tour I was looking forward to the most was the return to Ann Arbor for a series of concerts appropriately entitled “Experience Blue Lake.” An overwhelming swath of campers for the program comes from a 100 mile radius of Ann Arbor and one of the feathers in the tour’s cap are the performances at gorgeous Hill Auditorium. This was my first time being back in my home for four years since I moved last August and it was a treat to be back.

Just like last year (LINK), the Brahm’s Requiem was broadcast live on Blue Lake’s very own public radio station (LINK) for the entire WORLD to hear.

The back of Hill with the satellite and equipment trucks parked in full view (with a bit of bell tower in the background thrown in for good measure)

Joining us once again to conduct the Requiem was ~~Carole~~ ~~Dr.~~ MaestrA Ott. She had the thankless task of preparing the choir and orchestra for the European tour without the benefit of actually getting to conduct us while overseas. Needless to say it was an immense pleasure to get to work under her baton again, not only because her musicality and expression were unrivaled by any of the guest conductors in Europe but because I consider her a dear friend as well. Even though she conducts and teaches in North Carolina I am dependent upon the very small musical world that we live in to bring us back together collaboratively in the future.

Three very content divas

Sabrina and I were also joined by a very special guest in the audience in the form of John Nevergall, who long time blog readers will remember was the tenor soloist in last years Elijah (broken glass during his aria, anyone?!). Though he lives in Ohio he drove up for the concert and I am so grateful to have gotten to see him, if only for a short time after the performance.

“Bist du’s Elias?!?!?!”

I also must give a special shout out to my host “moms” for this portion of the tour. Mom of course being in quotation marks because they were actually my friends Kristin (who, though a mom in her own right, is absolutely nowhere near near near old enough to claim that title over me) and then later Cynthian.

Like John before, some of you may remember Kristin from our sharing the stage in Le nozze di Figaro, Armide, and Albert Herring as well as, you know, being kind of a kick ass friend. Unnnnnfortunately I was stupid and failed to get a picture with her and her darling Alyssa before getting away so I leave you with a picture I pilfered off of her facebook profile.

Cynthian and I have also had the pleasure of performing together in Albert Herring and Eugene Onegin and is also a member of that wundermusical family the Brundages—as in, Julia of the Singing Seargeant’s fame and Mary Anne and David of my utterly fabulous vacation weekend to Washington D.C. this past February. Cynthian actually commented that I had basically seen everyone in her family more recently than I had seen her, so I’m glad we could rectify that situation!

Enjoying sangria at Ann Arbor’s popular summer drinking destination, Dominick’s

Artist: U2/ Album: The Unforgettable Fire

Tea Pot

2011-08-07T12:35:00.001-07:00

Even though the European leg of the tour was over Sabrina and I still had a mini-tour of sorts around parts of Michigan with both the choir and the orchestra, so the day after my granddad’s birthday party I flew back up to Chicago and then over to Detroit. The first leg, however, was just the Puccini and My Fair Lady numbers with the orchestra in two separate towns: Midland and Saginaw.

Some of the orchestra staff, along with Sabrina and I, were lucky enough to have the H Hotel in Midland as our “host stay,” which turned out to be a very nice respite from the craziness of what seemed like a solid three days of travel. And by respite I of course mean… I had a king size bed and room to myself.

The Lobby of the H Hotel

Sabrina and I adding a bit of lobby foliage to our attire. (Eric better stop photo bombing or our host mom from Minden is going to hunt him down again!)

Unfortunately, due to vocal exhaustion I was unable to sing the first performance in Midland. If you know me then you know it must be serious if I am on complete vocal rest for three days straight. Sabrina became my interpreter and we became known as the Blue Lake equivalent of Jay and Silent Bob. One of the hotel staff found out and delivered this buh-mazing tray of teas and lemon and honey!

Luckily, I was able to perform on the second concert in Saginaw at the Temple Theater… and thank goodness because what a beautiful space it was!

Though we didn’t have a home in the literal sense of the word, the chairwoman for the two communities was the one who took care of all our accomidations and food and was our de-facto host mom… and what a fabulous one she was!

Thank you, Lois!!!!!

Artist: Operator Please/ Album: On the Prowl

Family Man

2011-08-04T21:24:00.001-07:00

After our 12 hour bus ride from Germany to Paris and the 9 hour plane ride to Chicago I still had one more flight to catch until I was truly back in the homeland—Texas, that is. My brother, Matt, picked me up at the airport in Dallas and I spent the night at his house.

BENJAMIN!!!! (Making his blog debut)

The next morning all of us headed off to Kilgore for my granddaddy Dan’s 85th birthday partay!! My mom and aunt Brynda had been spending mucho tiempo getting all of the guest list, food, decorations etc. together and with over 150 guests it was no small task! Bonus: It was held at Bodacious Bar-B-Q and I was able to get my first bbq fix for quite a while!

DE-LECKER!!!

One of the most amazing things about the party was that there were soooo many pictures of the birthday boy and his family and friends scattered about. Additionally, many of the tables had facts about the different decades in which Dan has lived.

Ah the ‘70’s… I remember them well!

A view of about 1/3 of the room. (Also, I’m pretty sure the collective age of the group as a whole would overwhelm even the most advanced of computer processors!)

But what’s a birthday party without a cake, am I right? Nancy and Brynda didn’t disappoint either with this three-tiered hunk of chocolate deliciousness.

Can we also notice how well the candy flowers on top match the ones on the tables. Classy touch, Ballenger gals!

Mom and Brynda doin’ some cake cuttin’! (Two days back in Texas and I’m already abbreviatin’ my endings)

In addition to our two national flags—Texas and U.S.—there were also oil derricks (Kilgore was a huge oil town back in the day) and all of the colleges that Dan helped support over the years. Naturally I cherry picked the Baylor and University of Michigan ones. You know what that makes me?… … …

A BUM!! An educated bum, but a bum nonetheless.

I’m not quite sure how he got a hold of it but Luke decided to change his allegiance from Texas A & M to the old maize and blue.

One certain pair of pictures was displayed prominently on the “family” board: The top one was taken at an airport when we were all younger and then the bottom was an attempt to re-create the first when we all went to London/Paris to celebrate Joyce and Dan’s 50th wedding anniversary!

The next morning at brunch we couldn’t help but take another group shot seeing as it has been well over 10 years since the last one! (With Joanie and the great grandkids thrown in for good measure!)

Before leaving the party everyone was asked to sign one of two pictures of Dan as a child… here they are!

HAPPY 85th GRANDDADDY DAN!

Artist: James Taylor /Album: In the Pocket

PS: While we’re celebrating numerical milestones… this week I passed 20,000 views. THANKS EVERYONE!!

Pour Me

2011-08-03T10:57:00.001-07:00

I feel like all I’ve talked about on here for a while is ME and, contrary to what many of you may think, I like to have a bit more balance of art and science and pop-culture blah blah blah represented on here. I saw this recently on BoingBoing… I WANT TO GO TO THERE!

Looks like someone’s gonna be making a trip to the art supply store soon!

Artist: Trick Pony/ Album: Trick Pony

You’d Think a Person Could Travel Lighter Than This

2011-07-29T13:14:00.001-07:00

We departed from Dillingen on Thursday, July 14th at around 4:00 pm Paris bound for a flight the next morning. Before leaving, however, I was able to get a picture with Carole and our lovely host family:

I MISS Y’ALL!!!!

Even though he wasn’t able to join us for the farewell I feel it necessary to represent our host brother, Leopold:

No really, don’t bother getting up to say goodbye!

The bus ride to Paris took twelve hours (!) and as we were crossing the border from Germany to France we were able to see some final fireworks in the French countryside in celebration of Bastille Day (yes, that’s how far behind I am on the blog…) In fact, we got into the City of Lights around 4:00 am, and as we didn’t need to be at the airport until 7:30 we did a bit of sightseeing. No, seriously though… with 70 children at the break of dawn the day after a huge national celebration in the capitol city we decided to visit the Eiffel Tower. To be more succinct, the campers got to sightsee while all of the staff were on drunken, skeevy French guy patrol. I took one picture in the whole process:

That’s all you get!

The whole endeavor went off basically without a hitch. Well, except for the fact that when leaving the tower I heard a loud bang followed by some mild yelling from our driver, Peter. I looked forward and saw an extremely inebriated reveler swaying in front of the bus and a large hand print on the windshield. So… maybe he walked in front of the bus and maybe Peter maybe maybe hit him with said bus. Maybe. He just kinda stood there stunned and stumbled off after a couple of seconds. I couldn’t help but laugh because the hand print stayed there for the remainder of our trip to the airport, reminiscent of that scene in Titanic when Jack and Rose get it on in the old timey car.

Get it little Frenchy!

Everything at the airport went smoothly and I took the opportunity to get a final group shot of the choir staff before we got back to the States. Even though we still have a couple of more concerts together one of the counselors, Seth, won’t be joining us… he’s being all selfish and moving to South Korea to teach English. Pfffft, whatever.

Zack, Jessie, Ed, Carole, Seth, Joseph, Kate, Sabrina, Josh, Zach!

If you would have passed me in the aisle on the plane you would have seen the following view. I was a bit paranoid about dropping my glasses or putting them somewhere where they might get crushed so I found what I would consider an elegant solution to the problem:

It’s always a bit nerve-wracking when taking a large group of inexperienced international travelers through customs and security but there were no problems to speak of. It wasn’t until catching my flight from Chicago to Dallas that I personally had a bit of a snafu. I mentioned previously in my birthday post about the glory that is Speculoos spread and how I received a jar of “crunchy” from Sabrina and purchased some “creamy” for Mallory. Now, being classy and European they were kept in glass jars; as such I decided to pack them into one of my carry-ons so they didn’t break in transit. Stupid me, apparently… sure, it got through French security and American customs, but they were not having it when I went through security for the domestic flight.

TSA Agent: I’m sorry, sir, but this liquid is over the allotted number of ounces.

Me: Wait, this counts as a liquid… it’s like peanut butter.

TSA Agent: Yes, sir, it’s considered a liquid.

Me: But you can only get this in Europe. Did I mention it was my birthday present?

TSA Agent: You are either going to have to exit security, check it and re-enter security or throw it away right now.

Sabrina: Wait, since one of them is crunchy and has a higher ratio of cookie chunks can we just count that one as a solid?

TSA Agent: *not amused by Sabrina’s logic*… … … Sir, you are either going to have to exit security, check it and re-enter security or throw it away right now.

So… I took the former option and did some major re-vamping of my other carry-on bag and checked the spread. Yes, that’s how delicious it is and how determined I was to get it back to the States for myself and Mallory. I made sure that they knew it was special property when I went back the second time as is evident below:

After about 36 hours of travel I arrived in Dallas and was picked up by my brother, Matt. That weekend was my granddaddy Dan’s 85th birthday party and then it was back to Michigan for the Blue Lake homecoming portion of our tour!! Obviously more on that later…

Artist: Dominick Argento/ Album: Postcards from Morocco

Fire and Rain

2011-07-28T14:15:00.001-07:00

In addition to touring the lovely Augsburg, one of the reasons for going to to the city was to see an open-air performance of Verdi’s Il trovatore in the evening. Unfoooortunately Mutter Erde had other plans in mind and the opera was rained out.

Sarah called her mother and informed her that we would be returning to Dillingen for the evening instead and when we got back there was an amazing dinner all set up for us! Apparently this type of service is genuinely done during the winter months as, well, it tends to get a little steamy.

Choose your meat (turkey shown here), cheese and/or vegetables; grill

Place in empty skillet-y thing

Finish cooking underneath the grill

Remove when cheese is BUBBLY and devour!

It also doesn’t hurt (when in Bavaria, of course) to pair a delicious meal like this with some beeeeer. And, since we’re on the subject, can I just put it out there that this case of 20 was only 10 euros!!!!

DE-LECKER!

Artist: James Taylor/ Album: One Man Band

I Say a Little Prayer

2011-07-22T17:48:00.001-07:00

Before heading back to the glorious United States of America we had a full free day in Germany and our host sister, Sarah and her boyfriend, Andreas, took Carole and I to the city of Augsburg! Andreas is actually from the city and his mother (with impeccable English) was our tour guide for the day!!

Our first stop was the world’s oldest—and still operational, mind you—social housing complex in the world, the Fuggerei. According to Wikipedia’s page on the subject:

The rent was and is still one Rheinischer Gulden per year (equivalent to 0.88 euros), as well as three daily prayers for the current owners of the Fuggerei - the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, and the Nicene Creed. The conditions to live there remain the same as they were 480 years ago: one must have lived at least two years in Augsburg, be of the Catholic faith and have become indigent without debt. The five gates are still locked every day at 10 PM. The doorbells have elaborate shapes, each being unique, dating back to before the installation of streetlights when residents could identify their unit by feeling the handle in the dark.

One of the community’s most notable residents was that of Franz Mozart, grandfather of Wolfy and father of Leopold, another resident of Augsburg for a spell. The Fuggerei has left his old place much like it would have been in his day as a part of the museum.

Andreas and Sarah in front of #14!

Kitchen (duh)

Living room… don’t forget to pray for Herr Fugger or you’ll be EVICTED!!!

Bedroom and entry way. Why is ALL of Europe too small for me!?!?!

And now for some other buildings that are important but I can’t exactly remember what they are for:

Those cow skull motifs are right out of the Texas national architecture playbook!!! That’s right I said national!

Besides being home to some of ol’ Mozart’s relatives, Augsburg is also the birthplace of poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht.

Name not necessarily ringing a bell? He collaborated with Kurt Weill on The Three Penny Opera, which provided the world with the song “Mack The Knife.” And now my favorite version, dedicated to my friend Jeremy!!

It’s a surprise hit!!

Artist: Aretha Franklin/ Album: 30 Greatest Hits

Lazy Bones

2011-07-20T17:47:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this leg of the tour was host to two different performances of the Brahms’ Requiem (perhaps to make up for the fact that we didn’t do one when in France). I failed to get any pictures from the first concert, however there was a nice review in the paper about it:

With a warm timbre, he [Joseph Roberts] sang the humble selection ("Lord, teach me yet"), he was powerful in proclaiming ("Behold, I unfold to you a mystery"). Sabrina Laney Warren's soprano solo was a soft-lined, expressive consolation song full of vocal grace.

~from the Augsburger Allgemeine (full article here)

The second one, in the nearby town of Donauworth, was held in a very beautiful baroque Catholic church—it’s certainly been a while since you’ve seen any pictures of a church so here’s your last installment for Europe!

Exterior and interior shots

Apparently it is a Bavarian tradition to display the bones of long passed saints in the church proper with the notion that, while one is good, two is certainly more saintly.

Saints Stephanus et Benedictus (I think?) Stephanus has quite the sassy pose going on— I mean, if you’re going to rest for eternity for all the world to see you might as well be photo-ready, right?!?!

CEILING!

As this was the last evar performance in Europe I had the luxury of actually going home and enjoying ~~a couple~~ “one glass of wine/beer” with dinner… and Sarah and Mamma D. didn’t disappoint! There is a type of beer sold in Bavaria (only during the weekdays according to Sarah) called stark beer that is very very strong and they managed to procured some for us! Apparently it is so strong that before we were allowed to drink it our host mother told us we would need to eat a lot of protein in order to counteract some of the effects—HUZZAH!!

DE-LECKER!!! (to be fair, one of the beers is Carole’s!)

Artist: Harry Connick, Jr./ Album: Oh, My Nola

When in Rome (I Do As the Romans)

2011-07-19T14:41:00.001-07:00

When driving us to the nearby town of Gandolf’s-finger (truth be told I can’t for the life of me remember what it was really called but it sounded something like that) our host mother took us by an ancient Roman temple built for the god Apollo. Edith Hamilton would be so proud!!

Me: Pretending I’m hiding from a camper. Carole: Pretending the column is her husband (she got married the week before going on tour!!)

Artist: Barbra Streisand/ Album: People

Get It Get It

2011-07-18T07:23:00.001-07:00

(I realize I haven’t posted in a bit but the last couple of days have been a bit busy what with all of the traveling back to the US and a quick stop back in Texas for my granddaddy Dan’s 85th birthday party. More on all that later, though… still have a couple of more posts from my last stop in Germany to catch up on!)

The last leg of our European tour led us to Dillingen, Germany for a much longer duration than all of our other stops (we had two Brahms performances instead of the usual one). Throughout the trip some of the choir staff had been using “Get It” as our go-to phrase whenever something good would happen and over the course of the tour it transformed into DillinGETIT the closer we got to our last stop.

I was lucky enough to share a family with the choir director, Carole, and on one of our first days our host mother took us on a tour of the town.

View of the city and statue of a submarine built by 19th century engineer and resident of Dillingen, Wilhelm Bauer

I don’t remember what this was but it reminds me of my trip to Heidelberg last year!

Apparently this tower is where the German equivalent of Robin Hood was imprisoned before he was executed by being pulled apart by two horses. At least I think that’s what I heard— Is that even right, Carole?!?

We also stumbled across one of our favorite things about Germany: A vending machine that sells BEER!!!

Can we also comment that it is 1,00 and 1,20 Euro please?!

And finally, Carole and I enjoying a delicious cup of coffee at home after the fabelhaft tour of the village!

DillinGETIT!!!!!

Artist: Scissor Sisters/ Album: Scissor Sisters

Climb Every Mountain

2011-07-13T03:59:00.001-07:00

For my birthday this last Friday the chairman decided to celebrate by taking the group on a hiking tour of the French Alps. Okay, so maybe it was just happenstance that those two things occurred on the same day, but it sounds muuuuuch more flattering the way I put it.

As far as birthday cakes are concerned, I was fortunate enough to have TWO! The day before during a rehearsal break I was walking around with some of the orchestra counselors and we stopped in a bakery to get some coffee. Now, you must know that one of my favorite things in the world is merengue cookies, and this particular establishment had a, shall we say, birthday sized merengue I just couldn’t pass up.

Ummmm… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEE!!!

Following are several pictures from the hike. There’s not a whole lot to explain except that it was extraordinarily beautiful and a fantastic way to celebrate my 27th.

Orchestra staff member (and dear friend) Brian Dunbar taking in the scenery

We came across this shelter at one point during the hike:

Brian: What is this, Frodo Baggin’s house? When did the Shire move to the Alps?!?!

We stopped at a rest area for lunch and enjoyed this view while picnicking:

The rest area… we have the same birth year!!!

NATURE!!!

We also managed to find some fresh (albeit tiny) strawberries

On one of the trails there was a tree trunk that had been carved into a "throne” of sorts. Now how could I pass a chance to sit in it…

Birthday King!

I mentioned earlier that I had two birthday “cakes,” the first being my ginormous merengue and the second when we got back to Villard-Bonnot for dinner:

Bon Anniversaire, indeed!!!

Artist: Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II/ Album: The Sound of Music