Bravo!

Bravo to the Capitol Pride Symphonic Band! This weekend we had our fall concert: Looney Tunes and Fairytales. We played the Lord of the Rings Symphony (five very technical movements) and some whimsical pieces, including Sorcerer's Apprentice and selections from Wicked. We are a non-audition community band, but our performances exceeded my expectations. A friend who attended even told me we were more entertaining than the National Symphony she had seen a few weeks ago!

Here we are on stage and eager to play. And a shot of the dapper-looking clarinet section.

fall pics

This weekend was a perfect blustery fall weekend: sunny, warmish, and swirling leaves. I took some time betwen the concerts to walk around town, relax, and take the season in. For brunch I hit a restaurant that has a lot of vegan fare.

a good friday night

Ok, so I've been really lame lately on keeping the blog up to date! I'm still here. I feel like my life has been ruled lately by work and band. Both are going well and are starting to slow down. These pics show what I was looking forward to Friday night--me, me, me. Actually, that's the plan for the entire weekend. It's a beautiful fall weekend here; soon I'm heading out of the house to see where my feet might take me (shopping, museum, park?). I'm looking forward to reclaiming my life.

More pics from the storm. My brother took these pics of Buffalo. He had lost power for about five days due to all the trees being down. The city will probably lose a large percentage of its greenery.

The last two are pics of my parents' house (the one I grew up in). It's very sad to see all this damage! I spent a lot of time climbing those trees.

happy fall

  

 
sheets. 

 

I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing things like this. 

LOTW

 

I see this truck go down my street with some frequency. Cracks me up every time. 

This photo from my friend Don's blog shows the damage--the trees had most of their leaves and the snow created too much weight. Over 250K people don't have power.

Can I call it or what? Western NY was hit by two feet of snow. I'm glad to see the white stuff, though--from afar. (photo by AP)

Cleaning off the car was always my least favorite part of winter, especially when you had to scrape the ice.

Sometimes I miss the Motherland...

...and then there are days like this! BTW, the Severe Weather Alert = Lake Effect Snow Warning! It's too early in the year for this.

Incidentally, I had lunch outside today--it was warmish (68) and sunny.

Opens October 20th!

 

I've been waiting a long time for this one. Sofia Coppola always does visually stunning movies that make us think twice about the realities of life. Watch the preview.

It'll be interesting to see how she conducts an 18th century period piece to a 1980's soundtrack. 

Clarinets have Spirit.

 
Our section rocked Band Camp weekend. Here we are donning our wizard hats during the Sorcerer's Apprentice. Friday night rehearsal put us in the mood. 

 
Late-night carousing. I had signed up for a party-friendly room. 

 
Brr! Late night campfire...it was cold in rural NJ! 

  

 
Everyone looking sad and tired at Sunday morning's rehearsal! 

 
Twisted fun at the PJ party. I think my hips still hurt. 

 

I put together a skit (they helped) for the clarinet section to perform at the PJ party. It was called The Wickedest Band Director There Ever Was (since we are practicing selections from Wicked). We rocked! Here we are practicing a ditty. 

  
Enter, Wicked Witch of the Brass. We melted her at the end with water pistols.

 
Glinda, the Good Witch of the Woodwinds, makes her entrance. (we were on a costume budget) 

 
The trombone skit was a take on Everyone run, the homecoming queen has a gun. As you can see, it was both funny and scary. 

 
Lunch at the cafeteria. Just like high school! 

Our concert is coming up at the end of the month. 10/27 and 10/28! Come out and enjoy it!

Capital Pride Symphonic Band - Halloween Concert

Looney Tunes & Fairy Tales - a whimsical Halloween Concert, full of magic, mayhem, wizards, hobbits, and something Wicked.

Featured in the concert is the Symphony No. 1, Lord of the Rings by Johan de Meij. The Symphony was written in the mid-1980's and calls to mind some of the characters - Gandalf, Galadriel and sinister Gollum, and the places - Lothlorien, the Shire, and the dismal Mines of Moria.

Other works on the program include a dance feature on The Sorcerer's Apprentice a Percussion feature on Copland's Hoedown, and a medley of "Looney Tunes" that will make you long for Saturday morning cartoons.

Come in costume, but come and enjoy this magical concert!

For more information: http://www.dcdd.org/

This one time...

 

Fellow clarinets practicing hard at Band Camp! You read that right; more to come.

Who said you can never be a kid again?