It’s good to have someone around who can take a picture of me that doesn’t make me look too huge. Whew! Here’s proof that I was checking out all those double reeds at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (thanks, Dan!):
He sent me a ton of (huge) files for better photos, since he has a camera that does a bit better job than my little one or my iPhone. But for now I just wanted to put this up. Because. (I’m also hoping he’ll get more pictures from the Cosi event so I can post some of those as well.)
And now I’m hitting the hay … Dan managed to catch a cold while we were in New York. I was smart. I waited until yesterday. But it sure is wiping me out now. With
These have nothing to do with oboe or music … but for some reason this bride caught my attention and I just had to take the pictures. I spotted her as we were walking toward High Line Park. I love the color … and I do get all squishy inside when I see a bride or a wedding. (Of course if you cut me open you’d probably realize I’m always squishy inside.)
These are best seen enlarged, I think, so just click on each one to enlarge, or command-click to open in a different tab if you’re on a Mac (not sure how other computers work):
Our shuttle picks us up in a short while, and we’ll be back on the west coast this evening. This trip has been incredible, and I’m so glad we were able to make it happen. I so rarely take vacations, but doing something like this reminds me that I do have an awfully good time!
Below are some photos from yesterday. We went down to the Wall Street area. We saw the World Trade Center site (yes, it hurts to see it). We had lunch with Brandon near his current workplace. We walked. And walked. And went halfway over the Brooklyn Bridge and back.
I’d post more, but we have to head on out now! See ya on the other end of the country!
… especially since one of them is my brother?! (Can you guess which one is Timothy?):
I am looking forward to Dan’s photos; I can promise you they will be much much better! The two above were taken from my iPhone, set on that backwards setting. I notice those are grainier than the normal setting. Ah well.
Dan and I went to MOMA yesterday. It was wonderful, although of course we didn’t come close to seeing it all. I did get to my favorite rooms, and enjoyed Starry Night. I took pictures of various contemporary works that included music in some way or another. But taking photos of paintings really doesn’t work all that well. Still, I’ll post a few here. Because.
After that we met up with my brother Timothy, his wife Margaret, as well as Brandon and Lia. What a wonderful dinner at a vegetarian Korean restaurant! But what a shame that Timothy and I had to race out, missing dessert, because we needed to get to the Gershwin Hotel for Così. (This reminds me, I never DID get a picture of the Gershwin hotel, which has a rather interesting entrance. Oh well!)
No pictures right now … I’m too tired to go through them, and I think I should attempt to get to bed before 12:30 this time. Perhaps I’ll get some up later. Time will tell!
Only today left for New York City fun. We head home Friday. This really has been a very fun trip, and I can’t believe it’s about to end. I’ll be happy, though, to get back home.
Nothing that includes me, but here are a few clips from last night’s event:
This first is something you never hear elsewhere!:
Act I Duet “Al fato dan legge”
Ferrando – tenor Brian Anderson
Guglielmo – baritone James Bobick
and my favorite of all, Act I Trio “Soave sia il vento”
Fiordiligi – soprano Caroline Worra
Dorabella – mezzo-soprano Jennifer Berkebile
Don Alfonso – baritone Dennis Blackwell
Dan was the photographer of the Così evening, and will be again tonight. He has sent me a few “quickies” and have given me permission to post them here for all to see … so here you go!
Michael of MMmusing (@mmmusing on twitter) was the “twhistorian”):
Jennifer (@gaspsiagore / @operamission) conducted, played harpsichord, talked, cleaned the bathrooms … oh … wait … not the last one …:
Singers Jennifer Berkebile (Dorabella) and Caroline Worra (Fiordiligi):
Singers James Bobick (Guglielmo), Brian Anderson (Ferrando) and Dennis Blackwell (Don Alfonso):
Some of the orchestra:
Yours truly (and the back of my brother’s head, along with his bassoon):
We were allowed to drink on the job … that was a first!
Am I excited? Yep! Am I nervous? Not yet. I’m hoping I won’t be, but we’ll see! I’m hoping to meet up with at least one person beforehand for coffee, if I can get my act together; we were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for most of the day and I’m rather exhausted! It’s “feet up!” time for now.
The Così event seems to be getting some good attention. Here is a list of links I’ve found:
Monday was a much more lazy day than we’ve had so far. At least for me. I actually woke up before Dan, and I took a photo of the Monday morning crowd:
Dan woke up with a cold (rats!), but he still headed over to B&H Photo for his own special private tour of the place. From the sound of it it was one big tour, too. He took quite a while to get back, so I had some time to be lazy and then headed out for a short walk. I’ve been posting “where’s Patty?” kinds of things at Facebook and Twitter, and the first looked like this:
Where’s Patty?
I helped folks out with this hint, though (remember if you can’t see a photo well, you can click on it and it will take you to a full view):
My back was killing me, so rather than actually shop at Macy’s (heck, we have those at home, right?) I headed back to the hotel to put my feet up:
When Dan returned we went down to a little place to pick up a light lunch (we really NEED light after all we’ve been eating!). After relaxing a bit, we headed out, passing this pretty church, Saint Francis of Assisi. It sits there so sweetly, surrounded by huge buildings:
We took a rather lengthy trip (long story about a wrong train) to Greenwich Village, and we hit Washington Square, of course:
Walking around a lot, we saw the house that, from what I read, was where John Wilkes Booth planned the assassination of Lincoln.
Walking some more we spotted a cool church with this plaque at the top (you have to click on this photo to read it):
We met up with Brandon for some excellent Cuban food at Havana Alma de Cuba … yum!
All in all, a less busy day. I guess we need those every so often, right?
Tuesday (today for some readers, tomorrow for others!) I’m thinking we might get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and tomorrow night is the first Così event which not only means I get to enjoy Mozart, but I finally get to see my brother Timothy, and meet some of the Twitterfolk and Facebook Friends I’ve never actually met in person!
Purchases through these links help fund the cost of the blog. Thank you very much!
Oboe sheet music for beginners to experts. Solos, ensembles, play alongs, and methods at Sheet Music Plus.
Hear Me At Work
Here are just a few recordings from the past. It's rare I have anything I'm allowed to share, due to union rules.
