August 3 - Cast of Nine and Billions

At last we have a cast -- complete for now -- for Mice and Men excerpts -- and all at rehearsal, which goes very well over entire three hours at Chamber Arts

Suzanna Mizell - Curley's Wife
Maria Mikheyenko - Lennie
Wayne Wong - George
Erin Lahm - Slim / Whit
Alix Jerenic - Candy
Adam Broner - Crooks
Marilyn Pratt - Offstage Soprano

Megan Cullen - Carlson / Boss
Mark Alburger - Curley



Beyond, a return to lamentably-developed Walpert Ridge above Hayward, with views west to the edge of Garin Regional Park, with a hint of the Bay, plus Peninsula ridges and fog beyond -- as great a discovery as any during the walk, is the "back gate" of Garin / Dry Creek Pioneer, which will save perhaps arduous hikes down and around Cal State East Bay. Instead, can proceed next time on a course directly into the parks....


Return via a suburban hill-park picnic area


and the comforts of the car, still with the fog beyond -- dinner with Harriet at a local pub,



plus beginning of "Odysseus" movement of Iliad Songs prepared for publication.

April 27 - Death and Life

Finish preparing the full score of Variations on Americana (will be doing the parts this week), then off to Chamber Arts (again!) for rehearsal of the 10 Deathsongs that are San Rafael News with Kristen Jones and Elizabeth Henry, and



Eliza O'Malley, Harriet March Page, and Janet Lohr.


Record Elizabeth and Kristen in

III. Death Catch
IV. Immortality
VIII. Rain-Death Fugato (Death Is the Rain)
IX. The Reproductive Organs

All above will be recorded by Eliza next week, plus Harriet and Janet in Death Catch and Rain-Death Fugato.


Also record Kristen's solo VI. Ozymandias (yes, above image is Olmec rather than Middle Eastern...)


Then off for another walk along Fairview Road, above Castro Valley and Hayward, featuring views east to unfortunate new construction in the pristine hills,


and west to a hazy San Francisco Bay,


dallying with a llama (get it?) through the slats of a fence --


make that two (in the spirit of the double and triple popes of the Babylonian Captivity and the multiple usages of the "Delay Lama" in the DVC lab) --



and a gaunt horse (is that an apocalyptic pale horse?) --


make that two, too (and a black horse! -- and weren't there duo steeds in the Synge / Vaughan Williams Riders to the Sea?).



But no cats (or guard ducks, for that matter) in sight.



A swing past the highrise of Cal State East Bay (an eventual walking goal), down (Mr.) Jackson Street and over the San Mateo Bridge (beyond pyramided roof) to San Francisco allows errands at Goat Hall and John Partridge's,


then over the Golden Gate to Kinko's San Rafael (the view of San Pedro Ridge while xeroxing) to print up a couple of copies of


The Bald Soprano: Overture (on the cover, that's Tisha Page as the Nurse, who's flown back home to Seattle by now after her whirlwind yesterday, and Percy Martinez as the Firechief, who's flown God-knows-where, in my direction of several year's past before Goat Hall began its ongoing renovations),


followed by a drive to the Civic Center (with views up toward the eucalyptus on Ridgewood Drive near where we used to live), and dynamic Marin Symphony performances of Colin McPhee's Tabulah and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, the latter with supertitles -- first time experienced in an oratorio after all these years of use at various operas -- a visceral experience, with report in a few days for Commuter Times and 21st-Century Music (21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com and eventually at 21st-centurymusic.com).



Up late mixing Elizabeth and Kristen's recordings, with particular attention to Ozymandias, since all the rest are still works-in-progresss until Eliza et al can be added (shot of K by Tom Voigt during The Playboy of the Western World run, one of six dressing room knitting shots...hm).



For Ozy, it's Big Electric Lead Guitar Center, Piano Right and Left Hands at Left and Right 16, two recordings of Kristen as "Epic Diva" with standard settings (Chorus, Track Echo, 1/4 Echo, 1/3 Reverb) at Left and Right 32, a string of 4 Ceramic Drums and 2 Dombeks at Left 48, and the first eight Tambourines at Right 48 -- both percussion tracks set to "Edgy Drums," and all instrumental tracks at maximum reverb.