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Wednesday, December 13th

Patty at the National Concert Hall...

I was SO BUSY today that I didn't have time to write a decent journal entry. So that's that. But the evening activities made up for it. Patty was singing in the choir at tonight's YMCA performance of the Messiah at the National Concert Hall and had invited some of us to attend. I've been to a few performances before but always wished I could find the time to see more. I need to find me a man who would enjoy stuff like this! Anyway, it was awesome. Almost a full house. Click on Mike's nose to see more photos.

Mike brought his mom who was visiting from L.A., and she brought a friend with her as well. MaryAnn (whom I just met) and Wennie also came, and Barbara was there for half of the performance. Note in the photo above that Mike and MaryAnn are using binoculars that Mike brought with him. OF COURSE HE WOULD. Note also that we were sitting in the second row from the front. Later on we went out for coffee, which I'll have to elaborate in tomorrow's journal entry. Mike's mom was trippin' us out. She said, "Mike's a HAM!"

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The concert brought back memories...

Anyway, I don't know why, but during the entire performance I kept thinking about this one email I wrote ages ago about another performance I came to see, and it made me want to giggle. Aren't I horrible? And get this. I FOUND IT, filed in a now defunct email account. I've always wondered what I would ever do with those old writing samples I've kept. Now I know.

ROFL!

My cousins were singing in that performance and had invited me to attend. I in turn invited a bunch of friends, many who didn't come but who wanted to know how it went. So here was the email I wrote last year. I cringe at the grammatical errors and poor choice of words, but oh well, I whipped it up for fun. Anyway, for my amusement only, I've included it in today's journal entry. Please note that I took twelve years of classical music training (piano) and can therefore say the things I say about classical music.

Email: June 28th, 1999

"Oh sure, all you guys didn't show up and now you want to know how it was. Bah! Hum Bug! Just kidding. Well, it was to say the least, awesome! I've been to a couple of orchestral performances but never to one so "alternative." There were 4 parts.

"The 1st was a radical performance combined with a Percussion Quartet (basically 4 people placed behind the main orchestra running around each other banging on like 25 different instruments - one woman ran all the way around her section to grab what looked like a metal hammer just to tap this pipe-like thingy ONCE. We wondered what would have happened if she didn't make it in time or if she accidentally tripped over her dress and fell on that huge contraption which she tapped so gracefully).

"The music was sort of like Star Wars in enemy territory.

"The 2nd part was your typical, boring classical performance (without the percussion quartet) where everyone in the audience takes the time to flip through the brochure.

"In the 3rd part, an entire chorus of about 6 rows of people (60-70 people) wearing black and white of course, piled onto the stage in the very very back of the stage, and they did a performance in German I believe along with this special guest soprano who sat down next to the conductor when it wasn't her turn to sing (I worried that she'd get hit by all his waving, but she was fine). As it turns out, my cousin was in the chorus.

"The 4th part was amazing! EVERYONE came out and played together -- the chorus in the very back, the percussion quartet, the rest of the orchestra and the soprano (oh oh oh OHHHH!) lady -- the performance was spectacular! By the time it was over, the audience was quite excited and started to shuffle around as the schedule indicated that that was the last of the performance.

"But then, the conductor came back out on stage, took the mike, apologized for the length of this particular performance, and then gave a short speech about the importance of bringing the Taiwanese orchestra to international heights. That being his mission. Btw, he wrote the 1st and 4th pieces -- amazing -- which I didn't realize until after the fact.

"Next thing we knew, he asked us to look inside the brochure for a music piece called "Holy, Holy, Holy" and to SING ALONG WITH THE ORCHESTRA. So the orchestra started back up, the chorus piped in, and then! The conductor turned around 180 degrees and started conducting US -- the AUDIENCE. Of course EYE didn't know what in the world all those signals meant (at one point I really thought he was waving his baton at me and wanting me to sit down -- I can't sing worth jack *bleep* and I thought he could hear me), so I just sang along and savored the moment.

"I don't think I've ever been to such an orchestral performance in my life. I still can't figure out whether I was delirious from all the excitement of the performance, or whether I was just so hungry that I couldn't think straight. Anyway, you missed a good show. Joann, Dennis, Richard and myself thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe next time!"

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