Click here. If you like what you hear, you should know that I had nothing to do with it (obviously). However, Trisha is not only a great songwriter, she also bought my CD, making her an artist of unequaled taste. I first met Trisha backstage at Justis' concert in Markham. She and I were both trying to breakdance; it's nice to see that we both have other talents to rely on. She can sing, and I can make neat noises with a cupped hand and my armpit. To each their own, as they say. Anyway, let me know what you think.
December 4th is the next concert, in Chinatown at the Church of Grace for Fujianese. I'll be playing a showpiece as well as a trio with pipa and piano. The pipa is, to my uncultured eye, a Chinese mandolin. Mavis Pan, the jazz pianist/composer, likes to infuse Eastern sounds with jazz, making it something incredibly delectable. Email me if you're interested; admission is free. The News Archive | Email
Some emails came in about how hideous the picture was on Irrefragable. Yet another witty one from David, NJ, said, in its entirety, "Look, it's not that you look dumb in a moustache. Okay. It is." An email came in from a Cindy, Texas, "effort does not begin w/ an a for your information. maybe...a for attempt? iono if you were going for some parallelism there, but the "d for dumb" will make ppl think that you are (and failing at it too)."
Maybe I was going for 'parallelism'? I'm pretty sure I wasn't going for 'dumb'. But it would seem other people understand that the meaning was, "They get an 'A' for effort; but a 'D' for dumb." I don't know; it was a joke. Like the grade letter 'A'. You get a big fat D an A.
Tonight, a performance of Josef Suk's Piano Quartet in Goldmark Hall at the Mannes College of Music. The News Archive | Email
There has been a recent flux of visitors to the Media site. As a result, I have decided to add another song from the Lightning Strikes Twice CD onto the Media section. Pay Attention is Track Six on the CD, and has been uploaded to the fifth page of the Media, along with the customary Irretrievable side note. Irrevocable has been updated after half a year, Irrefragable has been updated today, and I've even thrown in a picture for good measure. In fact, I think if I wrote a poem quick, I would have updated every page on this site within the past two days.
Once again, I don't want people to get the wrong idea about my office job; I'm severely dedicated to what goes on here. Last night, I checked my email and did some online banking. This is essentially what I do in the office. One might say I take my work home -- I suppose the same way that one might not.
What I have planned for the weekend: German class. If this doesn't spell immediate fun and excitement to you, you are in sore need of revamping your assessment of fun and excitement. Speaking of which, someone came by yesterday under the Yahoo query: do men use the fly in their underwear to pee? I don't know about you, but I have used the underwear fly maybe twice in my entire life -- both times to see if I can. (I kind of can.)
The Mannes Orchestra will be performing at Alice Tully Hall tonight; we're playing Prokofiev's Third Piano Concert, Le Chanson de la Rossignol by Stravinsky, and Debussy's La Mer. If you ask me, the piece by Stravinsky is the creepiest thing I've ever heard in my life on the program.
Sitting in the office. Doing lots of stuff.
How they came by yesterday: you rock my socks idioms (which makes little sense), naked football players (which I never wrote about), and Adrian Fung is gay (which I resent).
My sister came by to visit for the weekend. I think she had a good time. I don't know. Any account I give of New York is stunted by the fact that it can only be summarized between my scope of the Upper West Side. Church is about as north as I go, which is 120th Street and Broadway; Lincoln Center is the lowest I go, which is at 66th Street and Broadway. Prior to my friend Adobo moving to the area, I had never been to the East Side unless it was by accident.
So, all in all, I think my sister had a good time. We walked to SoHo and she asked me what certain things were, and I would answer with very knowledgeable shrugs. We did have a great Italian dinner in Times Square, though, which came with complimentary wine and dessert, as well as a 15% discount. I would attribute this great find to my tour guiding skills, but I had only a vague notion that we were even in Times Square at the time. The News Archive | Email
I don't drink coffee; however, I do, on occasion, wear it. This morning, while making a mad dash towards the Concert Hall for a recording session, a lady walking her poodle spilled her coffee all over my lap. Well, I was walking, so it was my legs -- I guess laps are things that disappear when you stand up. Okay, she spilled her coffee all over my pants, after which, her poodle took great interest in everything below my belt. Still only half-way to the hall, I wondered how different my day would have been had my pants only been 'stress-free'.
Thursday night, come to Mannes Concert Hall for a program that includes the Brahms Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano. I don't know if the word 'clarinet' makes you not want to come; I, too, had my reservations for the clarinet. I used to play it in middle school, which might have something to do with it. But the trio is really beautiful music and the clarinet will not be in my hands. The News Archive | Email
On the subway today, I noticed the poles people hold while the train is moving are filthy. Anyone living in New York knows how dirty the trains are; anyone who doesn't can probably imagine. Anyway, today I saw this kid on the train, about three years old, sucking on the wall. I don't know how that kid is not dead.
How they came by yesterday: a Google search for "excretory faculties", of which I had the pleasure of coming up first. Also, someone came by from Belgium, using Google to translate my page into French. It's hilarious to read what you've said in French. If you ask me, the debacle of my learning French came mostly because I couldn't communicate with it; now I'm thinking Google could have gotten me into Harvard.
Taken from a concert played two weeks ago in a beautifully-named Flushing, Queens, I'd just like to point out that, if you want the picture to turn out well, you have two options: one, blur out my face; two, take a picture of the pianist. I seem to contort my face whenever I'm performing on the cello; I saw a picture taken from a Montreal recital where I look exactly like Robert De Niro -- which, if you think about it, is pretty cool. Anyway, in this picture, I don't look like De Niro; I look like I'm about to sneeze.
If you'd like to see my face-shifting live, be sure to check out the Concert Schedule, which has been updated today. The next one is this Saturday.
To switch things up, I'm going to write the News items first instead of deliberating on crucial side issues like what I had for dinner last night. Check this month's Concert Schedule.
This past weekend, I went over to Jon's apartment and we played Halo like it was 2001. It has come to my attention that people immediately assume that, because the last two posts have had to do with video games, I am not busy and my main purpose in life is just to breathe precious oxygen and write stories about how I'm trying on pants. This is not the case.
I will tell you when I figure out what the case is.
Scherzo by van Goens; trios by Martinu, Haydn Saturday, November 6, 2004, 2pm Bowne Community Church Flushing, QueensRachmaninoff Vocalise; Brahms Clarinet Trio Thursday, November 11, 2004, 8pm Mannes Concert HallSalon Concert in the Upper West Sunday, November 14, 2004, 3pmJosef Suk Piano Quartet Tuesday, November 23, 2004, 8pm Goldmark Hall
The News Archive | Email
There has been a recent flux of visitors to the Media site. As a result, I have decided to add another song from the Lightning Strikes Twice CD onto the Media section. Pay Attention is Track Six on the CD, and has been uploaded to the fifth page of the Media, along with the customary Irretrievable side note. Irrevocable has been updated after half a year, Irrefragable has been updated today, and I've even thrown in a picture for good measure. In fact, I think if I wrote a poem quick, I would have updated every page on this site within the past two days. 
Taken from a concert played two weeks ago in a beautifully-named Flushing, Queens, I'd just like to point out that, if you want the picture to turn out well, you have two options: one, blur out my face; two, take a picture of the pianist. I seem to contort my face whenever I'm performing on the cello; I saw a picture taken from a Montreal recital where I look exactly like Robert De Niro -- which, if you think about it, is pretty cool. Anyway, in this picture, I don't look like De Niro; I look like I'm about to sneeze.