I woke up at five this morning from the sound of the cat pushing his ceramic bowl around on the tile floor, and my runny/stuffy nose has kept me up since. After filling his bowl with water, he then proceeded to stare at it, followed me into the bedroom, jumped on me, then left.
I'm heading out to the Roasting Plant in a bit, but not before blogging aimlessly.
This past week: Sun, 5/13: Went to Red Bulls vs. Colorado Rapids match. If I had any desire to cheer for either team, it would have been more fun. The crowd was kinda lame. Mon, 5/14: Insignificant. Tue, 5/15: Saw NYCB perform Carousel, Middle Duet, Moves, and La Sonnambula. I liked the first one, if only because I'm a sucker for the old school Hollywood/Broadway music. I'm indifferent toward the second, although both Maria Korowski and Albert Evans were great. Robbins' Moves was a silent ballet, something I had not witnessed before. The choreography worked for me, and I thought it was near impossible to dance to silence. It was done in such a way that you couldn't even imagine them dancing to music. If I consider it further, Moves is an apt title. Because they truly weren't dancing...they were just moving, moving their bodies into different positions because that's what dancing without music is. I fell in love with Nikolaj Hubbe's Poet in Sonnambula. Darci Kistler made a ghostly apparition as the Sleepwalker. Perhaps a mere shadow of her former self? Wed, 5/16: ABT's La Bayadere, featuring Veronika Part as Nikiya, Marcelo Gomes as Solor, and Michele Wiles as Gamzatti. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect cast. Poor, handsome Solor...it was like trying to choose between sultry, sexy siren Ava Gardner and proud, coolly beautiful Grace Kelly. If you ask me, you're damned stupid if you don't choose the former, but royalty has its allure. I have never witnessed more fiery passion from a dancer, Ms. Part, and loved the contrast to Wiles' pristine technique. Thur, 5/17: Insignificant. Fri, 5/18: Greek Trilogy. I wish NYCB would perform the longer version of Apollo. Another wonderful performance from Hubbe. Don't care for Yvonne Borree. How is it that a principal dancer can't seem to get over stage fright? Everyone has it, but her nervousness is so visible that it distracts from anything else that she might be capable of doing. I haven't seen one assured performance from her yet. Ashley Bouder and Megan Fairchild made up for one bad muse. Bouder's dancing is just explosive. Nothing could stunt her presence. Orpheus is one wacky ballet. It's like a surrealist painting come to life. My companion said, "Why are there flying potato chips?" The pas de deux where Orpheus leads his wife up to earth should be heart breaking, but Nilas Martins can't do it for me. Sorry Nilas, but Nikolaj still holds the title for favorite Dane. Wendy Whelan was the better half. Agon needs to be done with a sense of danger; I felt some of that edginess on Friday evening's performance. Strange how Teresa Reichlen makes Maria look small in comparison, bodywise. Reichlen doesn't interest me much; she could learn to be more musical. I get a kick out of watching Amar Ramasar, but I'm not yet sure if it's because I really like his dancing or because he's the only Indian ballet dancer I know of. I hope to see more from him in the future. Sat, 5/19: Ate a late dim sum lunch. Went to Benjamin Moore for a color consultation and supplies and ended up spending several hours in the new apartment taping and painting the edges. Hope the walls turn out as I hope. I think we might be the only non-Hispanic (the only non-Dominican?) tenants in the building. I heard reggaeton music nonstop.
If JD and Elliot rekindle their romance, I'm going to stop watching Scrubs. I hate this "they were meant to be with each other" bullshit. If Elliot really is dumb enough to get back together with JD, well, she deserves the unhappiness that will undoubtedly ensue. If Scrubs goes in this direction, I'm afraid there will no longer be any quality television for me to rely on. G4 doesn't even air Arrested Development reruns anymore. The occasional TCM, Food Network (even that sucks now; I actually prefer the PBS cooking shows a la Jacques Pepin, Lidia Bastianich), South Park, and Frasier reruns...oy. I heard that ABC will no longer be picking up Mitch Hurwitz's new show, either. God, I hate network execs. AD was the greatest show in the history of television...not an exaggeration...and it only made it to three seasons. Now they won't even give Hurwitz's new show a chance. Frick on a stick! I can't stand talk shows. Do people even remember what variety/talk shows used to consist of? Instead of celebrities promoting themselves, their new movie, album, or book, they would actually do something entertaining. It's not the same as the music group or artist performing at the end and getting a handshake from the host. No, the host would perform, too. The singing, dancing, comedy skits, all of those would seem so spontaneous and fun. I don't buy the argument that TV is crap because it's TV. It doesn't have to be.
Why can't we have this anymore? Ella and Dinah use call and response, singing and improvising with harmonious abandon. The camaraderie is infectious. Compare this to the Beyonce-Jennifer Hudson duet at the Oscars, and it's almost embarrassing the way the two Dreamgirls stars try to top each other's voices. It turned into a "Who can sing louder?" competition. They were in a self-absorbed universe of their own, even as they shared the stage. That's what sells nowadays: a rivalry that makes great tabloid fodder.
Recently I saw Cassandra Wilson at the Blue Note, paying the ridiculous price of $55 and overcharging me on a 3-ounce glass of Sprite. I’m so glad that I did see her…what a performer. I didn’t know what to expect from her, and throughout the entire set, she kept me on edge. If I had to sum her up in two words, they would be “playful” and “unpredictable.” She’s not your jazz vocalist who does the familiar standards and run-of-the-mill arrangements. Well, she did do a couple of standards, but even those couldn’t be described as straight-ahead. She uses silence as much as she does her deep, mellow vocals—evocative of Miles Davis. By the way she interacted with the other musicians, allowing them plenty of room to solo and take center stage, one sees how she has inherited the ethos of true jazz musicians. Wilson is one of two jazz singers (the other being Abbey Lincoln) I can think of today who knows that the musicians around her are not just there to support her voice and that they work as a whole, making her more instrumentalist than chanteuse. One of Lincoln's former pianists told me she preferred billing as the Abbey Lincoln Quartet rather than Abbey Lincoln and her trio. But even Wilson is vastly different in this regard; whereas Abbey took a motherly role over her musicians, encouraging and guiding them, Wilson’s role on stage is more of the friend, laughing, teasing, and dancing as the others play. At one point she sat down on the platform to watch the guitarist with keen interest. Her performance style doesn’t seem to be that of audience pleaser, and we often felt like she was more aware of the presence of the other musicians than us. So comfortable was she in her element. She’s not one to indulge in vocal gymnastics, even though she has a BIG voice. Seriously, melisma gets old, fast.
This is not featured on Mi Sueno and not to be confused with "Dos Gardenias." Pianist Roberto Fonseca is currently one of my favorites. And with Fonseca, I don't have to worry about him dying of old age before I'll get a chance to see him perform live.
I find it deceitful when Western media portray the Buena Vista Social Club musicians as forgotten entities in their home country. The Economist’s obituary of Ferrer began with “NEGLECT is the essence of Cuba.” Neglect? Ferrer along with other Cuban musicians were denied visas to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles a few years ago. These musicians made a commitment to their country, and if the only things that mattered to them were fame and prosperity, they would have defected. Regardless of whether the Cubans have the wool pulled over their eyes by the government oppressors, the countrymen embrace their culture (how fascinating that the people can even venerate the ballet, a Western art considered too elitist by many Westerners) and music continued to flourish and evolve on the post-revolution island. Commentators would realize this if they watch the Juan de Marcos Gonzalez (not the Ry Cooder) documentary, or even bother to read any interviews of his. Gonzalez also does a wonderful job of bringing the younger musicians to international audiences with Afro-Cuban All Stars. While not quite as financially viable as the BVSC name has proved to be, he recognizes the importance of having the youth carry on the musical legacy while maintaining their roots. Many don't realize there is more to Cuban music than BVSC alone or the sounds of pre-Castro Cuba (ie Beny Moré and Xavier Cugat).
