July 15 - San Francisco Composers Workestra

[San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra Board Members - Alexis Alrich, Michael Cooke, Mark Alburger, Erling Wold, David Graves]

Get a call from David Graves after classes today, and it's time to leap into action with the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, with a goal of finalizing membership for the 2008-2009 Season before our next Boad meeting on Wednesday, October 15

Page 1 MM A5 S2 F, too, prepared for publication.

June 7 - Al Fresco in Concerto Sousio

We start at Thinkers Cafe with Harriet March Page on 20th Street in San Francisco,



rendezvousing with Erling Wold to get the checks for tonight's



San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra show



Variations on the Ghost of Sousa Dancing (more at markalburgerevents.blogspot.com).



[GH / SFCO production of Steven Clark's Dionysus, with Karl Coryat, Meghan Dibble, and Lisa McHenry]

But first, Goat Hall / San Francisco Cabaret Opera board meeting at Doug and Miriam's (Mandel and Lewis, that is),



and a walk along California Highway 1, past greenhouses literal



and figurative in consort with the hills, just South of John Beeman's in the Half Moon Bay / Miramar Beach area,



past signs controlling and



quixotic,



to the sweeping lines of mountains and wires,



returning via construction



damage and



post boxes,



a tall crane (idle in mid-weekend-suspension) and



taller cypress against a triangle house,



in view of the perspicacious Pacific.



The show -- featuring harp and erhu,



and Loren's band --



is a hit, programming as follows



[Allan's Command Table, 6/5/08, Potrero Hill Neighborhood House]

Allan Crossman - Coastal Ghost



[Erhu warm-up, 6/5, PHNH]

Gary Friedman - Variations for Erhu and Chamber Orchestra

Loren Jones - Dancing on the Brink of the World:



Haight-Ashberry

The Castro



[Hande Erdem, getting in the proper mood for Camino]

Mark Alburger - Camino Real: Block 4



The Sousa Variations:





["Alexis on Warpath" (at left) -- not really (we were all in fine moods, candid just happened to turn out this way), 2/28/08, PHNH].

Alexis Alrich - MinSu



[Alexis Alrich, Michael Cooke, Mark Alburger, Erling Wold, David Graves]

David Graves - Sousa Variant




[Mark Alburger - Delusions of Beethoven]

Mark Alburger - Variations on Americana




[American NeoGothic - Lynn, and Erling Wold]

Erling Wold - On the Death of David Blakely




Michael Cooke - Stripes and Stars




[Rather than the black-robed figure above, Loren is "with the band," seated on an amp, considerably above...]

Loren Jones - Stars and Stripes for Desert




All this, and home, preparing page 14 of Act V Scene 2 Mice and Men for publication.

June 1 - Walking to Where

Walk from Princeton Harbor / Pilar Point vicinity



to Miramar Beach (to the south cloudier and progressively further clouding over) and



the Half Moon Bay residence of composer-bassist par excellence John Beeman (hale and hardy, and not clouded over at all).



Previous to this, sing with the St. Gregory's Choir (this is the congregation assembling for a professional shoot) in three selections from Michael Barger's lovely music, and am inspired to begin a new piece,



Op. 163 Songs of Degrees (Psalms 120-134), starting with Psalm 122 (I Was Glad / Pray for the Peace) with tone-cluster bombs in the Middle East(first page of music notated thus far), based on George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children, last movement, plus shrapnel from the aforesaid's Makrokosmos I: XI. Dream Images and Michael's setting.



Between the walk and the homecoming, track down the key for Potrero Hill Neighborhood House at Lisa Prosek's (Tom assisting, as Lisa is in rehearsal for upcoming Trap Door, opening this week) and conduct rehearsal of San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra in all selections for the upcoming Variations on the Ghost of Sousa Dancing show (this Saturday at Old First Church -- info at ofc.org, sfcco.org, and markalburgerevents.blogspot.com -- and a pleasure to become familiar with lyrical and stimulating writing by Allan Crossman, Gary Friedman, and Loren Jones in the first half of the show), with Erling deservedly relaxing during the break, after another successful Mordake this after.

May 31 - More Of Mice and Mordake

Page 11 of Mice and Men: Act V, Scene 2 prepared for publication, then off to see



Meghan Dibble (of Estragon Waiting for Godot fame, as well as Steven Clark's Dionysus and the Child in Sheli Nan's Saga among other wonderful roles) briefly (cooling heels with newspapers and blogging, while she and Harriet have a meeting re upcoming auditions) in the foggy-windy Monterey district of San Francisco,



with, nonetheless beautiful views south from her balcony (close to this vista, which is actually from higher up on the slopes of Mt. Davidson, SF's high point),



then off again to see the wizard Erling Wold's brilliant



Mordake, with the one-and-only John Duykers (of Mao renown in John Adams's Nixon in China, Pilate in Erling's Sub Pontio Pilato, leading roles in SF Opera productions including the Virgil Thomson Mother of Us All several years back) in this beautiful, intriguing, and ominous production -- written up soon at 21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com, 21st-centurymusic.com, and 21st-Century Music -- featuring altered recorded music by our own San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra conducted (though uncredited -- Erling has extended his apologies, cheerfully accepted) by yours truly.

May 2 - Into Each Life

Trying to get the press release done for San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra this morning, but the universe has other ideas and I am out of commission for several hours, deserted of good health, alas.



When the desert storm abates (actually having nothing to do with the 80-year-old burlesque performer Tempest Storm performing in Mojave, above -- who pops up, perhaps understandably, if one googles "Storm in Mojave"), discover that my trusty laptop is ailing, too.


A phone call to Erling rescues the situation, saving an extended trip to the Walnut Creek Apple Store,



and am able to salvage the day finishing up the percussion and string parts for Variations on Americana, also writing a program note and posting material re it at markalburgerworks.blogspot.com (filed under August 2007). Also, final print-out of hard-copy May 2008 21st-Century Music (available online at 21st-centurymusic.com and 21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com).

April 29 - Parts of It Are Excellent

Begin the parts to Variations on Americana -- the woodwinds.



Cristina teaches Theory class today and gives us first seven bars of Henry Mancini's Moon River, in 3/4.

C: Sol Re Do Ti La Sol Fa Sol Do Ti La Sol Fa Sol Do Re

Harmony: I vi IV I6 IV I6 viiho7


Home thereafter, writing up the Marin Symphony Carl Orff / Colin McPhee show (posted at 21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com, to be published in Commuter Times this Friday and 21st-Century Music / 21st-centurymusic.com soon).


Back again for Music History class, with The Police, Talking Heads, Mark Alburger, Tan Dun, Erling Wold, Prince, and Nirvana, among others (recordings, of course).


Left Bank with Owen, Doug, and Aaron -- then home and dark.