Back from Ojai

Posted by mellissahughes on

I left beautiful sunny and cool Cali yesterday morning, and arrived in the sticky humid pool that is NYC late last night. Oh my God!! this heat!!! the first thing I did after climbing the three floors to my apartment was to install the air conditioner.

So the Ojai Festival finished with a bang. Mad props to SIGNAL for a phenomenal opening concert Thursday night. 8 Lines and Daniel Variations went really well, despite some sound issues. So Percussion also offered up Nagoya Marimbas, and Four Organs, which, despite the legend stories of their premieres, I found really fascinating to listen to. The communication between the players was magical, and the M-Audio “organs” were awesome. As the patters got longer, the sample patches deteriorated, which was really cool. SIGNAL played with such intensity. Dare I say, the ladies of the string section played with the balls the Ojai Orchestra was lacking…I know, very unfeminist of me.

The thing about Reich’s music is that it is insanely difficult, and highly dependent on the mixing, which is why Steve usually mans the sound board. People come expecting to hear the same quality they get at home on their CD’s. That’s NEVER gonna happen, especially at an outdoor concert. For me, the kick out of watching his music, and live music in general, is the excitement and anticipation of something being created right before my eyes, especially something so inhumanly difficult! I say this because one snarky blogger commented on how he would rather keep his CD of the Daniel Variations. To that I say, you don’t come to a concert to hear great music, you come to see great music being performed, and with that comes all the good and the bad.

Sunday’s afternoon concert began with Steve Reich performing Clapping Music with Russ Hartenberger from NEXUS followed by two Ligeti Etudes expertly played by Eric Huebner, and Ionization with NEXUS and So Percussion. Ionization is not a piece you get to see too often, it takes a tremendous ensemble in skill and number, so seeing rockstars perform a monumental piece like Ionization was really thrilling. But the highlight to Sunday’s concerts was definitely Drumming, which Steve performed on also. I can’t even describe how truly awesome this piece is live, especially with NEXUS, the original performers, and So Percussion. I will echo another bloggers comment that it was sort of like watching the baton of minimalism being passed down from father to son.

The final concert came together somewhat, but not with any help from the festival orchestra. I had hoped that they would have a better stylistic understanding of the Baroque stuff, but no. the performance of the Pergolesi was pretty stale, despite great performances from Dawn Upshaw, who sounds great, and mezzo Kate Lindsay.

The orchestra did not get it together for the Tehillim. The strings were a mess, and missed a repeat in the second movement, and the winds missed an entrance. The singers had to ask where the monitors were, the sound guys were sitting on them!! We pulled it off, but David himself had to work really hard to keep the orchestra together, and he was seldom able to give cues to the singers. Lucky for him we were really on top of things, and obviously the percussion was amazing.

Not quite sure what to say about the orchestra. Pretty puzzling. On the east coast, most of my colleagues literally give up their day jobs to play this rep. This sort of unpreparedness just wouldn’t fly out here. Even more frustrating was the candid way that some of them joked about the difficulty of the piece, as in “the whole thing’s in four, right??” Har-har. If it were me, and I were performing a new piece, I’d check it out before I played it, it’s not like you can’t buy a recording on i tunes for .99, right? Oy.

ps Dawn Upshaw definitely encouraged us to skip the after party to get In and Out Burgers instead! How cool is she?

Ojai, the Adventure Begins

Posted by mellissahughes on

Well, I landed in Burbank CA yesterday and had my one and only rehearsal for Tehillim at the Colburn School in downtown LA. First impressions: it’s a little cooler here than I thought it would be, and not humid at all. (Don’t forget I’m an east coast girl.) I haven’t really had an authentic Californian meal, but I will say that the sushi I snacked on during my rehearsal was out of this world! and I just picked it up at a little deli.

Nexus kind of blows my mind. These guys have been playing Reich’s music forever, in fact they’re the ones that Steve wrote a chunk of music for. They’re really chill, and totally on it. One of the guys told me this was somewhere near his 80th Tehillim or something. The set-up is a little different than I’m used to- the percussionists are sitting, but I guess when you’ve played it 80 times you don’t exactly need to stand and deliver. They messed around with our placement too. Also, the voices and the organs are the only amplified instruments! I’m used to everyone being amplified, which makes sound checks a total nightmare! David Robertson said that when everything is amplified it just gets louder and louder and there’s no dynamic variation, and while I totally agree with that, it’s an outdoor concert, and the winds will already be fighting the outdoor heat, and then unamplified?? yikes!!

I will say one snarky thing: Tehillum is SIGNAL vocals with Nexus percussion augmented with two guys from So Percussion, plus the Ojai Festival Orchestra-a group of freelancers. I was kind of disappointed in the rehearsal last night. It seemed like a large number of the orchestra hadn’t even cracked the score before the rehearsal- key signature changes completely not observed, repeats and da capo’s totally missed… the strings in particular just never really dug in to the sound. So, we were subjected to this rinse and repeat rehearsal technique so they could kind of get it together. It was pretty frustrating, but luckily David gave the vocalists permission to mark. With the exception of the percussion and the vocals (which definitely brought the fire and brimstone to the rehearsal) it was the most passive playing of Reich’s music I’ve ever observed- and btw- they were all MEN. (and how often are the vocalists the ones with their shit together???)

I know, I’m being kind of harsh, and this is a pick-up orchestra, and Tehillim is only one of ten pieces they will play, (also on this concert is Pergolesi) Contrary to the SIGNAL people, these guys don’t eat sleep and breathe to play this rep… but still, stylistic nuances aside, I kinda hope they get down to business before Sunday’s final concert.

Ok, I’m off to get “Bad Ass Coffee” and explore the beach, which is not even 100 yards away from my hotel. Tonight I’ll be at the SIGNAL concert, (Four Organs, Drumming, Nagoya Marimbas and Daniel Variations) where my colleagues will crack this festival wide open!! (and we have girls in our band……)

Breaking News

Posted by mellissahughes on

You may remember a post that I did on Mother’s Day weekend concerning the Iraqi daughter who was beaten and suffocated to death at the hands of her father in Basra. Her crime was speaking to a British soldier.

Her mother, who divorced the husband, and had her arm broken when she attempted to leave, was gunned down this morning as she exited a car. The women’s rights groups she was helping was trying to smuggle her into Jordan.

Link

Previously on Mellysblog: Mother in Mourning

Melly’s Music Links

Posted by mellissahughes on

If you’ve been wondering why the music posts have dwindled, it’s because summer is approaching, and I’m slowing down a bit. However, next Tuesday I fly to California (for the first time!!) to sing the final concert at the Ojai Festival with SIGNAL. In Ojai SIGNAL will perform Steve Reich’s Drumming, the Daniel Variations and Tehillim, a piece that makes my head swirl. I’m pretty sure that Steve himself is playing percussion in Drumming! Also on the program that evening is the Pergolesei Stabat Matter with Dawn Upshaw!

SIGNAL is a group that was founded after the June in Buffalo Festival last year. In short, we were kickass, and peeps liked us, so plans were set forth for us to keep playing together. This season SIGNAL will perform Reich’s Music for 18, the You Are Variations, and music of David Lang and a tour with Helmet Lachenmaan.

California, Avacados, Beaches, Dawn Upshaw!! Anyone have a bikini that I can borrow next week??

Ten things I’ve done to save cash lately

Posted by mellissahughes on

This weekend I found myself gawking at a $5 single bumper car ride at Coney Island. One ride, $5?? And then I remembered that $5 is nothing now. It’ll be about the cost of one gallon of gas in the next three months. I realized that I was definitely entering a new point in my life……

That turn around point where you start to realize that changes in our economy have affected you? That happened to me sometime this month. Last week after my blackberry straight up broke, and all the insurance I’ve been paying on it for the past year is apparently a scam, the realization hit me: I was po’ po’ po’, and after tallying that there was roughly $1200 owed me from gigs, it was time to put a plan into action.

The first thing I did, after cry, was make what I call a “stress list” where I just list out everything that is freaking me out, and then I tried to formulate a plan to make some progress on everything on that list. Sometimes just making that list helps me feel better.

Since I’ve made the decision NOT to work for corporate assholes full time, I’ve needed to cut back on frivolous spending, and instead of freaking out about it, I’m trying to make it an adventure. I’ve been pilfering great blogs like The Simple Dollar for great ways to save a little bit, and contrary to what you may think, even little tiny eentsy weentsy bits help:

1. Travel. Now that I’m not working in Manhattan everyday, a monthly pass isn’t really necessary. There’s plenty of days that I’m working from home. Buy a weekly unlimited pass for busy weeks, and have a $20 card for other times you aren’t going to be in the city. And walk every once in a while.

2. Set a weekly budget for food, and leave yourself $20 bucks for frivolous spending, it’s way easier to stick to a budget if you give yourself some money to play with and not feel guilty about.

3. Eat out once a week, but no more. I realized that I could feed myself for $30 a week, probably less if I didn’t buy beer and ice cream, but I shop at the grocery store and look for deals.

4. Make one big meal a week and freeze portions of it for later. Last week I made Hamburger Stroganoff which fed two adults two big meals. (It would have lasted longer, but Matt had three helpings one night.)

5. See if there are things that you consume frequently that you could make yourself. Something I did recently was make my own oatmeal packets. I’m a sucker for brown sugar instant oatmeal. I bought a big tub of instant Oats, and a bag of brown sugar, and a package of smaller Ziploc baggies for less than $5. I made 48 dried servings of oatmeal. The ones you buy at the store are usually 8 servings for around 4 bucks. Obviously this was a smart move. (and you can keep a few on you while you’re gigging. It’s a quick snack, and there’s usually hot water bubblers everywhere you go.)

6. Pay your bills weekly. Sometimes it’s hard to find $80 for your phone bill if it happens to fall on the same week as your student loan payment. I found that if I stuck to my budget, I could find a spare 15 or 20 bucks each week that I could pay my phone bill with.

7. Buy produce. Way cheap, and healthy for you, especially if you’re supplementing your diet with Ramen. I made myself a staple diet last summer of hummus, pita, cheese and grapes; a peach or a banana for a snack, and a bowl of cereal in the morning. Pasta with sauce that I doctored up with spices and broccoli and REAL parm cheese.

8. Make friends with beans. Also way cheap, and can be eaten as a salad, or fried up with tortillas and a little meat for kickass buritos. Protein extravaganza!!

9. Commerce bank – if you’re like me you probably have change piles in various bags and jars. One Saturday afternoon Jack and I counted change that I had in one jar, and it was over $24. If you’re close to a Commerce bank, you can take it in, guess how much is in there and win a prize, and they give you cold hard cash, without taking a cut. $24 buys a lot of groceries if you’re careful.

10. Cut your coffee with cheaper coffee. Okay, I love, love LOVE my coffee, and I’m an unashamed snob about it. Last week I was running low on my Starbucks Sumatra whatever, and cut it with Cafe Bustella (which I call Cafe Busted, cuz it tastes like shit). It was the best coffee I’ve made yet. So, a $9 bag of grounds with a $5 can of whatever you can find, mix and you should have two weeks worth of blended coffee. Not too shabby.

And finally, this is something that I’ve been meaning to do: Start a garden. As much as I want to, I’m not sure I have the right skills yet. My ultimate dream would be tomatoes, basil, rosemary, peppers and cilantro growing right in my kitchen, but not yet. Tonight, I’m attending a Community Garden meeting in my neighborhood! Hopefully, I’ll pay a set price, labor a few hours a week in the garden, and have a crate of seasonal produce delivered to my apartment each week. I’m really excited about this, especially the ability to teach Jack about community and labor. God, could I sound any crunchier???

The cleavage, shoes, cackle, make-up, and campaign of Hillary Clinton

Posted by mellissahughes on

No lengthy diatribe here…. Video of sexist media coverage of Hillary’s “campaign” and by that I mean her wardrobe, demeanor, looks, laugh, and body.

I’m not a fan of Hillary, I’m not a fan of some of the below the belt tactics she has used to garner attention from the media, but I will say that sexism is sexism, and it’s a disservice to the progress of women to NOT say anything. I know that sexism sells, that it generates millions of web and you tube hits. Phrases like Take out the Garbage and Iron my Shirt are classic examples of sensationalism, but it’s still wrong. You’re either a part of the problem or a part of the solution. All I have is my voice, you know, as shrill as it may be.