OMG RENÉE FLEMING

WEDNESDAY NIGHT I GOT TO HEAR RENÉE FLEMING SING AT BASS CONCERT HALL FROM THE FIFTH ROW, CENTER STAGE!!! Major props to Lauren and her sweet hookups for getting the tickets for this recital. Words can hardly describe this woman’s voice, but this picture might give you an idea:

Source: http://www.renee-fleming.com

I know this is the second entry in a row praising a brilliant classical music performance, but bear with me. The program was diverse, from Händel to Broadway, but with the emphasis on two German song cycles, by Berg and Schumann. Renée’s voice is the type that pierces straight to the soul, regardless of whether the emotion conveyed is longing, joy, love, mystery, or even the rousing feeling evoked by a martial call to arms. This, together with her skill at using facial expression and minor gestures to highlight the mood of each piece, makes her one of the rare performers who can singlehandedly capture an entire audience with her music, person by person, and do with them as she pleases. It was as if our hearts were prisoner to her voice. It’s as if she was singing to each listener individually. That’s how good she was; that’s how intimate her performance was.

It’s often said of talented persons that the world would be a better place if more people shared their gifts; but if everyone in the world had Ms. Fleming’s gift of song we would all be so transfixed by the singing that society would grind to a halt as each of us couldn’t help but stop and devote the attention that such talent deserves, overwhelmed by the sublime, transcendant rapture one experiences while in the company of genius. (Her accompanist wasn’t too shabby either (yes, I’m a pianist, I pay attention to accompanists too, get over it)).

The main performance was followed by four or five encores (depending on how you count them) that were just as spectacular as the main program. She started with Puccini’s aria O mio babbino caro, and o mio dio, it was amazing. The night was closed by a strong arrangement of You’ll Never Walk Alone (from Carousel) that was a fitting coda for a great recital.

Long story short, two lessons to take away: IF YOU EVER HAVE THE CHANCE TO HEAR RENÉE FLEMING, DO NOT PASS IT UP! Also Lauren rules for getting tickets — in the fifth row! To be this close to such a talented performer was awesome. Don’t knock her connections.

Last Friday I went to the Austin Symphony to hear pianist James Dick play Grieg’s Piano Concerto. It was amazing. His technique was flawless, his tone was perfect, and it was all so effortless… this is one of those concerts you walk away from never wanting to play a piano ever again, because you know that anything you do will seem like nothing next to the performance you just heard. The interpretation was beyond words, and the cadenza at the end of the first movement gave me the chills… oh, you get the picture.

Now for something completely different, Danny relates how working for Jamba Juice is not entirely unlike Office Space:


*edit*
[20:55] Mezmerik: i quit jamba juice
[20:55] Pundit966: why?
[20:55] Pundit966: bad management?
[20:56] Mezmerik: i decided it was stupid to have 2 jobs in college
[20:56] Mezmerik: too much of a hassle with scheduling and availability conflicts and stuff
[20:56] Pundit966: yeah makes sense
[20:56] Mezmerik: and i have the rest of my life to work
[20:56] Mezmerik: and i didn't like the way jamba juice doesn't pay jack because everybody and their cousin wants to work there
[20:57] Mezmerik: and they were turning into an "anything for a profit" type of company
[20:57] Mezmerik: it used to be a cool place to work
[20:57] Mezmerik: but when they told us we had to rotate the cups so the jamba logo faced the customers, i was like "i'll do that when you pay me relative to the additional profits you see"
[20:58] Mezmerik: and we had to have totally canned lines to tell customers
[20:58] Mezmerik: it was retarded
[20:58] Mezmerik: i never did any of it
[20:59] Mezmerik: i totally refused to peel the straw wrapper half way off the straw, make a snazzy design with it and stick it in the cup for a customer that had a straw already opened and ready to go
[20:59] Mezmerik: its crapo
[20:59] Mezmerik: its just like Office Space
[20:59] Mezmerik: they even got buttons for us to wear
[20:59] Mezmerik: just like the 'flair' from office space
[20:59] Mezmerik: i refused to wear them
[20:59] Mezmerik: its so retarded
[21:00] Mezmerik: people sit around in board rooms and think this crap up
[21:00] Pundit966: exactly
[21:00] Pundit966: that's what happens to business students though
[21:01] Pundit966: they get plenty of practice in their classes where they make pretty posters and presentations, then they end up in management where they try to make marketing decisions like it's a high school class project.
[21:01] Pundit966: "oh it will be cool to have employees wear flair to improve morale let's do it"
[21:01] Mezmerik: yeah
[21:01] Mezmerik: pretty retarded


Yay for hearing from old friends this week. First I get a card announcing that UW friends Chuck and Angie are getting married. I drop Nathan (of RIS2UTTS fame) an e-mail about using the phrase “SEE INTO THE FUTURE” on an exam (inside joke) and mention the wedding, and he responds by telling me that Jon Eck is also getting married, as are James and Dena. Then Gloria (high school/UW friend) e-mails me out of the blue to see how I’m doing, and passes on that Jennifer Vuckel (another high school/UW friend) is getting married this summer too. Sheesh, this is shaping up to be Summer of Love Part II: The Steve’s Friends Special Edition or something. This is so weird.

PS: Lauren tried to call me fourteen times on Tuesday because I left my phone at home. Don’t believe me? The pictures don’t lie:

PPS: At least she had a good reason.

PPPS: That reason was going to Trudy’s to celebrate Shelley getting her London gig in the fall.

PPPPS: Unfortunately I was lame and working in the computer lab without my phone.

PPPPPS: Lauren further attempts to justify her actions thusly:

woolsocks1: it was just one of those days where I’d be like “that’s a funny shirt

I should tell steve”, “omg wtf i should tell steve about this thing”, “OMG shelley’s

intrnship thingy”, “WTF IS STEVE!?”