My bell-o-logue.

I always thought I was playing the bells. But I was wrong. The bells were playing me.

And now, more from the trip-o-logue

Each day during our trip, we kept telling ourselves we'd wake up early and go to see The Today Show or The Early Show, but as of Sunday we still hadn't managed to get enough get-up-and-go.  In fact, we barely grabbed some breakfast to go before heading off to St. Patrick's Cathedral for Mass.  It's one of those churches where you really can't see the altar very well and therefore has TV monitors attached to the big pillars so you can see what the pillar is blocking.  It's also one of those churches where you can't hear terribly well at times.  But, it's also one of those church experiences you need every so often.  It's such a grand tribute to God that you can't help but sit there in awe and take the time for personal meditation.  I can listen to the priest's sermon at home any week, but once in a while it's good to sit in such a place and see where your own meditations lead you.

After some good meditation, it was back to the busyness and gaudiness of Times Square -- what opposites!  We had lunch at one of the countless McDonald's in Manhattan (I'm sure the movie "Super-Size Me" told me exactly how many there are) overlooking the TKTS line and decided that the line wasn't bad at all.  So after our overpriced McNuggets, we hung out in the half-price ticket line for about 10 or 15 minutes and got tickets to a matinee of "The Producers."  This left us somewhere around 2 or 2 1/2 hours before curtain time -- just enough time to squeeze in the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty.  Since we were short on time, we took the subway to the Chambers Street stop, skirted around two sides of the WTC site, walked through Battery Park City and Battery Park, saw the Statue of Liberty from afar, and took the subway back from the South Ferry stop.  As has been our unintentional tradition on recent vacations, we ran into controvery on yet another trip.  We went to San Francisco in the middle of the gay marriage protests, we saw protesters in South Carolina about the Confederate flag, and while in New York they laid the cornerstone for the new Ground Zero memorial, amid protesters of course.  We couldn't quite see the cornerstone, but I later figured out it was on one of the two sides of the site we didn't walk along.



(As a side note, along the way we also ran across a little church/shrine to my patron saint, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.  It's tucked in strangely among the office buildings, but of course it predates everything around it.  We didn't have time to go in, but I'm glad we found it.)

We made it back in time for "The Producers" and it was amazing how poorly dressed we all were for the theater.  Matthew and I were in nice shorts and tops and we were probably one of the better-dressed couples there.  Matinees are definitely more relaxed than evening theater, and I think full of tourists just like us.  We chose to see the Producers fairly randomly when we were in the TKTS line and had to make a quick choice, and unfortunately I think we made the wrong choice.  Despite winning something like 12 Tonys, neither Matthew nor I cared terribly much for the show.  It wasn't the acting or production per se, but it was really just the whole script.  Of course we knew the general premise before going in (two producers set out to make the worst musical ever -- "Springtime with Hitler" or something like that -- in order to scam investors out of money but it becomes a surprise hit) so we were prepared for the Hitler and Nazi stuff.  But it wasn't that part that offended us; in fact that was the funniest stuff.  Rather, it was the over-abundance of cheap laughs -- the too-long gay director scene, the bad one-liners, the bodily function humor.  The rest of the audience just ate up the cheap laughs; we were much happier at the higher humor of "Assassins."  Thankfully the second act had far more big musical numbers and far fewer speaking scenes than the first act since the musical numbers were quite good.  Still, we probably should have chosen something else.

Following the theater, we grabbed a quick bite to eat -- authentic New York pizza -- and ran off to the East River to get a place for the fireworks.  They close off about 4 miles of the northbound FDR Drive and fill it with pedestrians to watch the Macy's fireworks.  We were at the farthest north section of the road (around 48th Street) and it turns out that was a lucky choice.  It wasn't very crowded in our section, but we heard that further south the crowds were much bigger.  We were there about 2 hours early and in retrospect really should have brought a blanket, snacks, a radio (to hear the music that went with the fireworks) and maybe a deck of cards.  I guess we weren't thinking ahead about that but were rather caught up in the excitement of seeing the largest fireworks display.  And it was quite the fireworks display!  There were three barges in the River and they all shot off the exact same show.  It was really pretty to see everything in triplicate and from the angle we were at it really looked like the ones closest to us were bigger, adding to the beauty.  We tried to take pictures, but I don't think they came out very good (especially the ones towards the end after the sky got really smoky).  Every time I see a fireworks show I try to take pictures, but they never capture the grandeur of the real thing, nor the atmosphere.  With the digital camera I realized this partway through this year's show, so I gave up on photos and just enjoyed the show instead.  Probably a wise move to live in the moment, and definitely a worthwhile moment.  One of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen.

 

Absolutely, by a factor of like 900, the most surreal Over the Rhine song there was, is, and ever will be.

Oh. My.

Because why the heck not.

I have been putting this off, as I think I still have issues with it, but: Rough, rough draft of the moM-requested "There Is a Balm". What is needed to be known for listening enjoyment: Intro and outro LVed every four notes. Bass LVed pretty much throughout, starting anew every chord change. The 32-bar "bridge" or whatever is constantly crescendoing until the last time through the chorus. The MIDI version drops a couple fermatas. And no doubt there's other stuff I've forgotten.

Anyway. Vote: To be played at the unpublished music session at AGEHR, this or that piece from two days ago. Although let it be said that I may very well ignore all your votes and instead bring out my arrangement of "The Real Slim Shady."

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Reality show update of the, um, year, really.

I am kinda into "The Amazing Race" this season. And Kim, too, somewhat.

Poor, poor John Olerud.

I didn't know about this until this morning. Someone will pay for this! Pay, I say!

A rough draft.

Of a song. That is my song. And is a song that will be played a week from tonight in Norfolk in front of people who will probably think that it is too clever. Because it is that. Clever. At least in the last minute or 90 seconds or so. But I do not know if it is good. So you can decide.

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Also, I am extremely unfond of Blogger's new "features," which...ugh, I'm just too tired now to complain about it. Perhaps tomorrow.

I want to be a part of it... New York, New York!

So, despite asking for suggestions of things to do in New York City, I think we did nothing off the suggestion list. Of course, had we remembered the tote bag with all of the printouts (hotel confirmation, theater ticket discount coupons, etc.) we probably would have done some things off the suggestion list. But, we didn't and so we didn't.

Instead, we -- take a deep breath -- went to the Met, met a friend of Matthew's, strolled Central Park, heard the New York Pops, rode the carousel, went in Tiffany's, ate dinner by the Rockefeller Center fountain, saw Assassins, hung out in Times Square, went to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, saw the World Trade Center, glimpsed the Statue of Liberty, saw The Producers, went to the East River for the Macy's fireworks display, watched The Today Show taping, went up in the Empire State Building, shopped at Macy's, took the subway a few times, and walked, and walked, and walked.  Whew!  I'm tired just thinking of everything we did!

Perhaps I should slow down and go through a few parts of the trip in more detail.  On our first full day (Saturday) we spent a large portion of the day in Central Park.  Matthew had made plans to meet one of his friends from a Christian film message board at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which happens to be in Central Park).  There was an exhibit of Byzantine religious art that was closing that weekend that Matthew's friend (who lives in New Jersey) wanted to see, so they made plans to meet and check out the exhibit.  Despite my love of religious art -- especially objects used during Mass and devotional paintings, sculptures, etc. -- I think my favorite piece in the exhibit wasn't really all that religious.  It was a wrought iron chandelier that would have hung from the ceiling in a cathedral.  Up close in the exhibit you could see so much detail work in the metalwork, but it's amazing that so much work would have been put into that when there is no way you could have seen it hanging from the dome of a cathedral.  And apparently during celebrations they would light all the candles in the chandelier and then swing the whole thing around in circles.  Sounds a bit dangerous, but sounds truly beautiful.  There were many other great works and it was such a large exhibit that we didn't go to any other parts of the museum.  Thankfully I had been to the Met before or I would have felt a bit cheated not exploring it further since I was especially fond of "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" as a child. 
 

After Matthew and his friend parted ways later in the afternoon, we set off to walk back across the park.  Along the way we ran into a free concert by the New York Pops.  I've been to better concerts, but it was free, the weather was nice, and it was a nice rest along the walk.  We also stopped along the way at the Central Park Carousel, which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me that this was a must-see.  It's a pretty fast carousel, making for a fun ride.  Of course we walked along the Literary Walk, paused at the pond and boathouse with the remote control sailboats, and had some ice cream along the way.  The park is so enormous that we only went about a third of the way north-south and about halfway east-west.  And it was so beautiful and green.  There were areas along the way for "no sports" but "yes reading and sunbathing" to preserve the lawn and other areas for sports.  If we lived in New York, I could see us spending lots of time in Central Park, just like my friends and I spent lots of time in Kensington Gardens when I lived in London.

It was close to dinnertime by the time we finished with Central Park, so we headed down 5th Avenue back towards the hotel and Times Square.  Along the way we passed Tiffany's and I just had to go in.  In some ways I was impressed and in others, disappointed.  It truly is a large jewelry store, taking up five or six floors of the building (incidentally, not the first five or six floors but rather several floors throughout the building).  The first floor is the most impressive and just what you see in the occasional movie.  But, it is also too expensive.  We, along with all the other tourists, went to the sterling silver floor which is definitely more affordable.  But since there were so many other tourists floating around the silver floor it actually took away some of the mystique.  Last year I had a gift certificate to Tiffany and spent it when I was home in Chicago and while the store I spent it at wasn't the flagship and was much smaller, I think it actually felt more special there since I really got more personal attention.

We finally wandered the rest of the way down Fifth Avenue and over to Rockefeller Center.  We expected to just look at the fountain, etc., and continue on to Times Square for dinner.  But the outdoor restaurant right where the skating rink is in winter was just too tempting.  So we decided to splurge -- New York is so expensive for dinner anyway so why not spend a bit more and get a truly memorable experience?  We ate right next to the fountain which was a bit noisy but wonderful!  And they were even having a special deal on lobster so I had 1 1/2 lobsters -- complete with lobster bib.  Delicious food and beautiful scenery -- worth the splurge and the cheap food the rest of the trip.

We rounded out the day with an evening at the theater.  We didn't really have a specific show in mind to see in New York, so we ended up choosing an unusual sounding musical -- Assassins. Writing a musical about presidential assassins and attempted assassins seems like an odd choice for a musical, but we figured that it had just won five Tonys so why not give it a shot.  It turns out to have been a good gamble.  It struck just the right balance between humor and serious thoughts.  Apparently Gerald Ford had two assassination attempts, so the two attempted assassins got to be good friends on stage -- very funny.  And John Wilkes Booth spent much of the musical convincing the other characters that killing a president would solve their problems, ranging from stomach ailments to being ignored by Jodie Foster.  Great music, good rapport among the characters and actors, and unusual staging that worked well.  Despite being in the very last row (which, incidentally, had a better view than the second-to-last row) we could see well and had a wonderful evening.  (As a side note, it turns out that Neil Patrick Harris was in the musical, but I didn't realize it until much later.  I never thought Doogie Howser would end up on Broadway.)  I'll definitely be looking for the soundtrack after it comes out in August.

The final, official title of the closer-and-closer-to-being-done piece I'm taking to AGEHR National.

"And Every Living Creature That Moveth." (Double points for knowing the reference without Googling it first.) I'll try to put up a rough draft MIDI this weekend so y'all can pick it apart.

Useful procrastination.

I have a bad, bad habit of not getting work done where the deadline is impending, even work that's not terribly time-consuming or, interestingly, work that I enjoy. This is why yesterday, when I should have been working on one of my two half-finished handbell compositions I want/need to take to AGEHR national in a bit under two weeks, I instead worked on and largely finished (other than a quarter of the piano part and the ATB harmonies) part three of my Mass of Ordinary Celebration, the lengthyish "Holy Holy." Good for me. I guess.

But here is a question: The melody in this mass part covers an entire octave of range, currently from middle D to high D. For easiest congregational singing, what ought I change it to, if anything?

The saddest story in the world.

At approximately 7:15 this evening, I started hiccupping. After 90 minutes trying various removal techniques, I finally stopped through through the apparently successful method of trying to ignore them. The saddest story in the world is that now, about two hours later, the hiccups have started up again. Bad bad phrenic nerve.

I have nothing interesting to write about except New York, and Kim will be doing that, so I will be boring and write about my key ring.

Late last year, my key ring had nine keys: Two keys from the old house (house and sliding glass door), two keys from the new house (old locks and new locks), one key for the Honda, two keys for the Camaro, one key for the lock on our storage unit, and one key for the church. The church has been rekeyed (and I -- along with many others -- haven't been given a new key). The storage unit has been closed. The old house keys were given to the new owners. The keys for the old locks in the new house no longer work with anything. And just this week, we've given away the Camaro to charity.

What I am saying is I only have two keys on my keychain. Which feels like I'm wearing nothing at all. Nothing at all. Nothing at all. ("Stupid sexy Flanders.")

"New York's that-a-way, man!"

Um. So apparently Kimberly and I will be going to the city so nice they named it twice this weekend. So if you are looking to rob our house, this would be perfect timing. Also, if you have been to New York recently you may wish to mention things/places/stuff/food to do/go/buy/eat, particularly if they do not involve musicals tangentially about white slavery.