KenCen pics

Allison, Jeff, and Marc wait outside before our sound check.

Up on the roof! It's a great view from the upper terrace that wraps around the entire building. After Saturday's rehearsal we had lunch up here at the KC Cafe. Yum!

The clarinet section! We are many!

An American Elegy

We played a very sweet and soft piece called "An American Elegy." It was written in memory of the Columbine High victims. While we were rehearsing in the spring the Virginia Tech shootings tragically occurred. This was a very emotional piece for both the audience and the players.

You can download an .mp3 of the song here.

Songs of My Family

I'm still riding a little bit of a high from playing at the Kennedy Center this weekend. It was an unbelievable experience to be on the stage (front row) and playing for 1600 people. The audience was extremely receptive to the selections we played with and without the chorus. The Capitol Pride Symphonic Band received a lot of great compliments.

We even got a nod in the 6/26 Washington Post. The review is probably accurate for both groups. And hey, we're a non-auditioning community band and not paid members of the National Symphony Orchestra (even though we used their green room and sat in their chairs)! So to be recognized for our enthusiasm is a great reward, as was the heartfelt camaraderie between the two ensembles.


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Gay Men's Chorus

The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington presented the world premiere of its latest commission, "This House Shall Stand: Songs of My Family," on Sunday afternoon at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. GMCW Artistic Director Jeff Buhrman conceived the work as a way to explore relationships in gay and lesbian families, and the chorus set up an online questionnaire to solicit stories. Composer Robert Seeley and lyricist Robert Espindola then turned the stories into a cycle of 13 songs for chorus, soloists and chamber orchestra.

Espindola's texts capture real emotion, despite some grammatical gaffes that one hopes will be removed before future performances. The stories provided ample material for Seeley, whose score for "This House Shall Stand" sits solidly in the musical-theater tradition, with uncomplicated textures, catchy tunes and sweeping balladry. The resulting work contains some vivid and affecting vignettes: "At the Window," for example, pairs a heartbreaking tale of a gay man unable to visit his hospitalized partner with an equally moving melody.

Under Buhrman, the chorus sang with crisp ensemble and unmistakable passion throughout. The anthemic number "This House Shall Stand" made a rousing finale.

The concert opened with selections by a symphonic ensemble from D.C.'s Different Drummers, which played under Artistic Director K. Scott Barker with an enthusiasm that provided some compensation for a general lack of polish. The ensemble sounded best in its two most appealing works: Gustav Holst's delightful First Suite for Band and Frank Ticheli's "An American Elegy," whose ruminative harmonies memorialize the victims of the Columbine High School shooting.

Alternative energy.

Fructose biofuel spells sweeter news for shift out of oil

Thu Jun 21, 4:59 AM ET (Reported by AFP)

Chemists in the United States say they have broken new ground in biofuels, transforming plant sugar into a liquid fuel that packs 40-percent more energy than ethanol and appears to have fewer of its drawbacks.

Read the full article here.

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This is good news on the alternative-energy front. While corn-based fuel has its drawbacks (and fewer than oil-based energy, I am sure), it is still an important part of the mix to attain clean, plentiful energy. This article is a perfect example of the large gains a little R&D money can make. If our politicians had started pushing (and funding) conservation and alternative energy seven (okay, seventeen) years ago, we would be much farther ahead than we are now.

So what are we waiting for?

Like, for real.

It's hard to believe I will be playing here in just a few days! There will be almost 300 performers on stage...!

Reducing your carbon footprint.

Follow the link to read some easy solutions for reducing your carbon footprint (and other environmental impacts). These are all common-sense ideas, but I wonder how many people really employ them in their day-to-day living? We've all seen these lists before, but it's always good to have a reminder! Green is good!

http://www.kyero.com/articles/lower-your-carbon-footprint.php

(Thanks to Marc for passing along.)

Come to our fab concert!

DCDD and GMCW Play at the Kennedy Center - 6/24/2007

DCDD's Capitol Pride Symphonic Band (CPSB) invites you to join us at the Kennedy Center on June 24, 2007 when we accompany the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington (GMCW) for the joint concert Songs of My Family. The CPSB and GMCW are very excited to be sharing the stage together...and on what better stage to do it?

The CPSB is very proud to be the special guest of the GMCW. We will be performing several songs together, including “When You Believe” from the animated musical “Prince of Egypt” and Randall Thompson’s stunning “Testament of Freedom.” The CPSB will also be playing a solo set featuring “First Suite in E Flat” by Gustav Holst, an “American Elegy”, and “Jungle Fantasy”, a hot latin-African groove.

The GMCW will be performing the world premiere of SONGS OF MY FAMILY, a 45 minute song cycle with chamber orchestra. The commissioned work is based on the stories of LGBT families. With soaring melodies and beautiful lyrics, this new work will enrich our own understanding of family, and will shape the way family is experienced and celebrated in our culture.

Please join us in this celebration of music and family. Songs of My Family will be performed on June 24, 2007 at 3 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are now available through the Kennedy Center website. For additional information, please call (202) 269-4868 or email us.


And watch for our 2007 - 2008 season lineup!

http://www.dcdd.org

Contact: Publicity Chairmen press@dcdd.org

Coming soon to a 'hood near you (and me)!

I was very ecstatic to see a new awning go up the other day with a DD/BR logo...four blocks from my house! They're not my favorite, but it's not often that I turn down a donut or ice cream. Now, if they would put in a DQ...

Just around the corner from this location is where two drive-by shootings (at least one fatal) occurred earlier this month. It exemplifies the diversity of Columbia Heights and the ways that it is changing.

By the way...on the post below I was happy to see that many of the lights visible through the Capitol windows were fluorescent bulbs...even the ones in chandeliers!

Now, if we can convince them to put solar panel arrays on the Cap roof as a symbolic (and logical) gesture for the whole nation...

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On the cap steps for an evening concert.

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Dc's different drummers!

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Big Apple Corps band!

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Greetings from the dc pride parade!

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On the porch waiting for a t storm. 95 today. Ah, remember the days of porch drinking and mountain storms in culpeper?

Once

Recently I saw the movie Once. It was quite refreshing...filmed in 17 days on a budget of $100K, it's somewhat of a musical (mostly some great acoustic guitar) following a few days in the lives of a Dublin street performer and a young immigrant woman. It's about the connections between people, going after what you really want, and the what-could-have-beens.

Two Carrots up!

Sent from my phone.

Taking the train to work.

Occasionally I take the Metro to work. Though it increases my commuting time, it saves me some stress from driving (which is terrible here), allows me to catch up on reading, and is good for the environment. Gas is currently $3.05/gal here. I live about 23 miles away and use two gallons per day commuting to work. One-way Metro fare is $3.95 because I ride the train to the end. Door-to-door, driving takes about an hour and the train about 1.5 hours one-way. I would like to live closer to work, but that would mean vacating the city and living in suburban Virginia, which is a red state!

p.s. The train is nearly empty because I ride from the city to the end of the line, whereas most people are doing the opposite.

New tunes. + let's get on with it.

Last week I bought my first physical CD in years (that is, not a downloaded purchase). I was in Target and needed a copy of Rufus Wainwright's Release the Stars ASAP. The album was no let down--jazzy, well orchestrated, and with witty lyrics. It grows on me with each listen.

You can listen to Going to a Town on his website. It's a melancholy tune where he sings "I'm going to a town that has already been burned down, I'm going to a place that has already been disgraced...I'm so tired of America." His smart lyrics are about our country's small-minded and conservative ways. To me it's reminiscent of Morrissey's 2004 "America is Not the World." I hear other traces of M's irony-laden pangs of the heart, like in Do I Disappoint You?

Rufus is one of the few artists who perpetuate the art of the full album (as opposed to single hits). And, in his longer-haired days, I was told we resembled one another ;) But then I recently found out he had a past meth addiction. Oh well. Check out his website anyway, you can catch a peek of him dressed in lederhosen!

Rufus speaking about the title track and a friend who didn't show at his recreation of Judy Garland's Carnegie Hall concert:

“It’s written about the idea that it’s time for both me and her -- and, let’s say, for all people in their thirties, our generation -- to let everything go and to love as much as possible and really be the best that you can be as a person. Now that we’re in our prime, having scaled the wall of adolescence, ridden on the train of our twenties, and been around, once you hit your thirties, the die is cast. It’s about action at this point; you have to fulfill your destiny or muddle into uselessness. That’s the essential message of the song and it is the message of the record: Now is the time to act on your desires and your dreams, to use your good side. Let’s get on with it.”

You can hear more of his songs on My Space. I do have to admit I needed to listen to Rufus many times before I got hooked...