Aisle Be Seeing You

Ivey Divey!

Author/humorist David Sedaris will give the Baccalaureate address at Princeton (yes, that Princeton) in June. Contrary to the title of this post, I approve of the choice. Last year Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison talked pretty to the Class of 2005, but she couldn't have been as funny, right? Articulate, yes. Profound, sure. But I bet she was never a Christmas elf.  Maybe we can get an early peek at his notes when he visits Symphony Hall in May...

Martha Graham chronicled

 
I recently came across this treasure trove of Graham Company articles and info, The Graham Archives at The Dance Insider. Granted, it is only the snapshot of a single media outlet, and some of it is quite partisan, to be sure, but it is the biggest and most comprehensive cache of easily read information I have come across on the Martha Graham Dance Company's trials (literal and figurative) and successes since they last paid Boston a visit (1996, Celebrity Series, thank you very much). For serious scholars, The Martha Graham Company maintains its own archival resource site which conatins links to other sites with Graham information.

The Dance Insider Graham Archive contains plenty of details of the controversy and (literal) trial over the rights to the Graham name (many of the actual court rulings are on the Graham Company web site), plenty of reviews of the current Company, photo albums and, in particular, this essay from current artistic director, Janet Eilber. If anyone out there knows of other "consumer-ready "information on the Graham Company online (i.e., more or less linkable), let me know and I'll make sure it gets posted here.

...and don't forget that Bank of America Celebrity Series is bringing the Martha Graham Dance Company to The Shubert Theatre this weekend, December 2-4. Get the details and buy tickets.

Photo caption and credits: The Martha Graham Dance Company in Graham's "Appalachian Spring," with sets by Isamu Noguchi: Martha Graham (Bride), Erick Hawkins (Husbandman), May O'Donnell (Pioneering Woman) and Company. Library of Congress staff photograph. Reproduced from the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. Courtesy Martha Graham Resources.

Email time capsule

Placing their bet on the survival of Western civilization, the folks at Forbes Magazine are providing all of us (or at least those who are pretty sure what email address they will have in a decade or so) an opportunity to write ourselves an "email time capsule" to be opened from 1 to 20 years hence. Take a look and start composing yours.

Thanks to ballet and knitting expert Leigh Witchel for his post on this.

Your thought for the day...

During his recent recital
I saw my celebrated colleague Fischkemper
levitate above the piano
I could hardly believe my eyes
but there he hovered
while the piano keys
all by themselves
went on playing the E flat trill from opus 111
thus demonstrating
even to the staunchest skeptic
that a mystical experience
accessible to all
was being enacted

-Alfred Brendel from his book of poetry, One Finger Too Many

Heart and Sol

Back in the days before the Celebrity Series became a non-profit organization (that happened in 1989), it was run by Boston impresario Aaron Richmond and a small staff. In fact, Richmond created the Celebrity Series in 1938. Naturally, we at the Celebrity Series have long regarded Aaron Richmond (and his protégé Walter Pierce) as world-class impresarios, among the last of a unique group of arts entrepreneurs and among the best. None other than the great Russian-born impresario, Sol Hurok, thought so, too. In 1965, when Richmond died, Sol Hurok was asked by The Boston Globe to offer a remembrance of his Boston colleague:

“...He had the ideal spirit; ‘Boston should see this company, hear this musician,’ That came first, money later. That made cultural life blossom. He wanted . . . that this country should know what is going on in the world. He put all his time, energy, vitality, knowledge to do it..."

Free Download from Either/Orchestra's "Live in Addis"

 
Russ Gershon, leader of the Either/Orchestra, checked in to let us know that the band's newest album, Live in Addis, which was recorded in Ethiopia, has reached #3 on the College Media Journal Jazz Chart and that you can download a cut, Yezamed Yebada, from the CD, for free at All About Jazz (for a limited time) - download here.

The Celebrity Series will present the Either/Orchestra's 20th Anniversary Concert at Berklee Performance Center on January 28 (that's 2006!).

Led Zepplin and Ancient Dances at Sanders

The image above is a snippet of the animation that was screened behind Wu Man and percussionist Robert Schultz as part of Chen Yi's Ancient Dances. Schultz played a variety of percussion instruments including a set of three Vietnamese bowls played by rubbing a stick around the outside edge (think wet finger around the edge of a wine glass). Wu Man played like a virtuoso, delivering a performance that made us follow her musical direction rather than be merely swept up in the pipa's exotic sound.

In today's Boston Globe, Richard Dyer remarked on the uniquely young audience Wu Man attracted, the cat-like alertness of Robert Schultz, and the Led Zepplin inspired Zhongguo Pop, by composer Anthony Paul De Ritis of Northeastern University. Read Richard Dyer's review of Wu Man's performance.

Man, oh Man!

Pipa virtuoso Wu Man visited Cathy Fuller's program on WGBH radio today and I got to go along. Cathy was nice enough to let me sit in studio with them while they talked and I watched from a foot away as Wu Man played the most amazing tremolo I have ever heard using all the fingers on her right hand. This wasn't the only remarkable thing she played, but it was the most riveting. Has anyone else heard one of these tremolos on a pipa up close? Are there any pipa players out there that can speak to how difficult it is? Wu Man told us it takes years to learn to do it properly. Can't wait to hear tonight's performance.

Wu Man's instrument is beautiful - rosewood back, carved ivory rose on the "fiddle head." Just stunning. Must make her nervous to carry it around everywhere...it would make me nervous.

We - the Celebrity Series, the City of Boston - are the last stop on Wu Man's tour. She's at Sanders Theatre at 8 o'clock. There are still some tickets left...I'm just saying.

Oh, and read Cathy Fuller's weblog, Fullermusic. Smart, knowledgeable prose and nice photos.

The photo is Cathy Fuller on the left and Wu Man on the right. Photo by me ;-)

At the Symphony with Arlo

There are a lot of people in attendance at a concert like Arlo Guthrie's last night for the Celebrity Series; and there are a lot of people working. So it shouldn't be too surprising that there were a range of opinions about it. One person backstage was heard to say, shaking their head, "Oh man, this just isn't for me."  Well, we were in Symphony Hall.

On the other hand, one patron emerging from the performance declared that she was "very moved" by it. And another that said she wasn't familiar with Guthrie's music and history, etc., but she was impressed.

Had a brief chat with Arlo's son, Abe Guthrie, perhaps the least stressed-out performer I have ever encountered.

And then there was this morning's live journal post from danmcgaw, in which he relates, "...the one that stands out was the last one, called "My Peace," which was some lyrics Woody Guthrie wrote late in his life that Arlo put music to. And it stands out because my dad was crying at the end of it."

Dan Gewertz reviewed the show for The Boston Herald. If you're local, there's a nice photo from the show in the print edition.

People in the Celebrity Series offices are humming a variety of selections from the show today. Now where's that tape recorder?

Guthrie, fresh from Kansas, to perform tonight

 
Dean Bevan's review of Arlo Guthrie's Lawrence, Kansas concert last Saturday from the Lawrence Journal-World:

"Always at ease, his voice is still mellow, perhaps more so at 67 than at 27; his sense of humor is as droll as ever, and his timing never misses..."

"...A lively young group, The Mammals, opened for Guthrie. Led by Tao Rodriguez-Seeger (folk great Pete Seeger’s grandson) and Ruthie Ungar, this five-person string and percussion ensemble filled the hall with high-energy picking and fiddling, from the fast-paced opener to “John Henry” and “Fall On My Knees,” as well as the comic “Haircut Money...”

"...And though it’s easy to focus on Arlo the ’60s legend, don’t forget that he is a very talented musician. His eloquent guitar solo on “House of the Rising Sun” easily eclipses the versions of Bob Dylan or The Animals..."  Read the complete review.

Arlo Guthrie performs tonight at Symphony Hall with Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, The Mammals, Gordon Titcomb, Abe Guthrie, et al. Tickets for the performance are still available by calling 617-266-1200 or by walking up to the Symphony Hall box office.

Photo by Jon C. Hancock (image reduced).