The following is the final paragraph from a review of some shows including one called The Armstrongs:
Is The Armstrongs too good to be true? The production values are suspiciously high, with a lugubrious voiceover by Bill Nighy, gloriously arch incidental music (gently farting bassoons and oboes) and razor-sharp editing. Whatever; it’s quite priceless.
If you want to read it for yourself note that the quoted paragraph is from the very end of the article.
I’m guessing the performance would leave me cold.
Sorry. Didn’t want to resist. Could have, of course. Didn’t.
Good: The Symphony Silicon Valley concerts this weekend are entirely sold out! This means not even one single ticket is left.
Bad: The Symphony Silicon Valley concerts this weekend are entirely sold out. This means Dan and Jameson can’t go because I (foolishly) didn’t purchase tickets soon enough.
Sigh.
I’m just not used to having concerts that sell out. I guess I need to plan more carefully and purchase tickets sooner, eh? We were also told that the next concert set (scroll to Nakamatsu Plays Grieg) is already nearing a sold out house. More good news!
Rehearsals went well yesterday; I love the arias we are doing, and of course the Overture to Don Giovanni is great. It’s also a good warm up for Opera San Jose since we’ll be doing Don Giovanni for the final opera of the season. I didn’t stick around to hear the end of the rehearsal, when they were doing the Requiem and I had intended to just pop into the house for the second half of Sunday’s performance so I could enjoy the incredible work, but I guess I’m not going to be able to do that unless I sit on a concert goer’s lap. That’s probably not a good idea.
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I was watching some morning show today (that’s not connected to “being smart” in the title of this post!) and whatever show it was had a woman on, talking about the internet and all those trendy places high school and college students like to use. Friendster. MySpace. Facebook (although I’m not sure who can access what at that site). And of course Blogger. You know these, right? If you don’t you might check them out sometime just to see how foolish some people can be. I’ve gone to sites that kids have supplied freely via a message board at Jameson’s high school. (No, I don’t look at my own kids’ places, as I feel like that would be intrusive unless they invite me to see them OR, as I’ve warned Jameson, I see that something going on with him that is terribly awry and I need to interfere in his life.) But reading the few sites I’ve visited, it appears that some students will write about anything including behavior that is not to be bragged about. Whether it’s truth or fiction, they seem to think they can say anything, show anything (lots of, um, interesting and suggestive pictures there), and give specific details on their whereabouts and lives. I guess they think there will be no consequences.
This is not necessarily so.
As the woman on the show said, anything on the internet is there for all to see. It’s “fair game” if you ask me. So if a student posts, for instance, a bunch of stories about drinking, or cheating in school, it’s just conceivable that a college who is thinking about accepting that student might land on the site.
Yes. Really. They are doing searches on students. Or at least that’s what the woman said. I don’t believe everything I hear on TV. Honest. It’s just that if I occasionally do silly searches on names, why wouldn’t a college?
And why wouldn’t an employer?
Apparently employers are doing searches as well. They will search on job applicant’s names. They will look at Frendster and MySpace and if they find behavior they don’t care for they just might not hire an otherwise qualified applicant.
Does this seem fair? Probably not to anyone who posts foolish things on those sites! But fair or not, what one puts up on a site can come back to haunt and harm.
So be smart. If you wouldn’t want an employer, a teacher, or maybe even a parent to read something, you might consider removing certain things from your little place.
If you think you are anonymous, forget about it! I’ve figured out who many anonymous bloggers are. It’s difficult to keep your identity a secret if someone is determined to figure you out.
I’ve mentioned before that I won’t name names here. I will never put down a colleague. I won’t tell you when I think a conductor or fellow musician is a jerk (although maybe I’ve never worked with a jerk. Hmmm. What do you think?!) I won’t gossip (and believe me, I could really excel in that if I chose to). And I don’t care to write about something that might cause hurt or harm to others. I try not to write about anything that will cause hurt or harm to myself. Have I succeeded? I’m not sure. I do write about my failings and my insecurities and I suppose that some would say that I, as a performer, should never admit those things. But this site is, I hope, a little bit of a view into a professional musician’s life. I want it to be honest. I will never lie here. Or at least I try to never lie. I just have to be careful about how much truth I tell!
Okay. I’m done. Really. Lecture over. I just hate to see poor choices in InternetWorld cause a person to have bad things happen to him or her. That’s all.
Now back to music topics. Those are more fun!
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It is an unfortunate irony that music-making intended in part to attract new listeners is usually the least well rehearsed and motivated.
-Bernard Holland (from a short review of a New York Philharmonic and Garrison Keillor concert)
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