& Now It’s Up At The Merc

05. January 2012 · Comments Off on & Now It’s Up At The Merc · Categories: Announcements, Symphony

Photo by Carl Cilker

Andrew Bales walked right into a surprise Wednesday, as the Rotary Club of San Jose presented him with its 24th Don Goldeen Award, presented annually to individuals who have made a significant impact on downtown San Jose.
Bales, the president of Symphony Silicon Valley, thought he was attending Wednesday’s meeting to support a friend, whom he was told was getting the award.
“I am truly speechless because I was here to give it to a more deserving soul, but now I’m mad at him,” joked Bales, who’s certainly deserving himself.
Bales was president of the Cleveland Ballet and helped forge the partnership that paved the way for today’s Ballet San Jose. He also stepped in to revive the city’s orchestra after the San Jose Symphony collapsed more than a decade a go.
The award is named for the late Don Goldeen, who was a longtime furniture store owner downtown. Previous recipients include Steve Wozniak, Tom McEnery, Irene Dalis and Mayor Chuck Reed, who was similarly surprised by the award in December 2010.

Seen here.

Congratulations, Andrew!

Read On Twitter (Update)

05. January 2012 · Comments Off on Read On Twitter (Update) · Categories: Read Online, Twitter

Update
I had tweeted back to Sal Pizarro yesterday and he replied:

it was just announced today. I’ll have it in my column for Friday, which should be online tomorrow.

Still nothing up at the Merc, but I’ll keep checking.

In case you didn’t see it, this is what this is about (I posted this yesterday):

spizarro Sal Pizarro
Congrats to Symphony Silicon Valley President Andrew Bales, recipient of the SJ Rotary Club’s Don Goldeen Award for impacting downtown.

… I’m looking for more information. Stay tuned. (And if any readers have more information do let us know!)

NewToMyEars™: Willem Pijper

05. January 2012 · Comments Off on NewToMyEars™: Willem Pijper · Categories: NewToMyEars™

Willem Pijper (1894-1947)

FBQD

05. January 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: FBQD

Cast and characters in the Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses:
*Ashlyn, voiced by Ashleigh Ball, is the oldest sister. She is practical, calm and knowledgeable. She loves music, especially playing the flute and oboe. She is straightforward and cares for her sisters, for whom she tries to act as a role model. Her flower is the purple geranium and her gemstone is a garnet. She bears the most resemblance to her mother Queen Isabella.

Subway Bach

05. January 2012 · Comments Off on Subway Bach · Categories: BachTrac™, Videos

I’d suggest everyone take the F train, but this event already happened (December 21, 2011).

Make Music NY Winter (2011): The Thru Line (F-Subway) from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Read Online … Ouch!

05. January 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Ouch!, Read Online

(I checked Snopes and so far nothing is there … could this be true? Sigh.)

Dear Helen Killer,

I love your site and was thrilled to hear of your “win” against PayPal. I recently had a heartbreaking experience of my own with them.

I sold an old French violin to a buyer in Canada, and the buyer disputed the label.

This is not uncommon. In the violin market, labels often mean little and there is often disagreement over them. Some of the most expensive violins in the world have disputed labels, but they are works of art nonetheless.

Rather than have the violin returned to me, PayPal made the buyer DESTROY the violin in order to get his money back. They somehow deemed the violin as “counterfeit” even though there is no such thing in the violin world.

RTWT

TQOD

05. January 2012 · Comments Off on TQOD · Categories: TQOD

Both Cats prefer the oboe to bagpipes. Winslow, in fact, is fascinated by it. But then she is also an addict: Catnip.

TQOD

05. January 2012 · Comments Off on TQOD · Categories: TQOD

Someone should really bring back the oboe in pop music. Ah, the Eighties.

Can Art Heal?

05. January 2012 · Comments Off on Can Art Heal? · Categories: Read Online

I do not doubt that it can.

Lt Col Ron Capps has no doubt that writing about his wartime experiences saved his life – and now he has the chance to help provide the scientific proof.

Over 25 years in the army and a career in the foreign service, he witnessed five different wars. He served in Rwanda, Kosovo and Afghanistan, where he was treated for post traumatic stress disorder.

He went to Iraq, and later in Darfur, Sudan, he attempted suicide.

“My medications weren’t working and I was self-medicating with whatever I could find lying around,” he says.

“I was having a lot of problems and one of the things I found that really helped me was writing. I wrote my way home.”

Anatomy of the brain

Ms Walker says making art lifts a burden from the vets’ shoulders
Now Lt Col Capps is running creative writing workshops at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), a new military medical facility at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, that offers holistic healing for brain trauma and other invisible wounds of war.

And for the first time, neurologists there will attempt to discover how creative writing and other arts therapies physically affect the brain.

“We have in this facility the technology to look in great detail at the anatomy of the brain and the function of the brain,” says NICoE Director Dr James Kelly.

“No other location in the country has all this in one place.”

Dr Kelly’s team is now creating a series of tests to monitor the brain’s metabolism and magnetic impulses as patients are exposed to writing, painting and music.

RTWT

Do note that it’s about the participation in the arts rather than the observation (although I’m sure going to a concert or a gallery can also provide healing moments) they are talking about.