February is full of promise at this point. We’ll see. I have another hoopty thanks to the kind heart of a very good friend. It’s a 7-up soda can on wheels. Not really. It’s a bright green and tiny, tin can of a Geo Metro and I like it a lot even though driving it is a bit like driving a ride-on lawnmower at 70 mph down the freeway. I think I can actually feel my hair blow back while I’m driving with the windows UP and I'm pretty there was bugs in my teeth when I got out of the care. Believe me when I say that if I get hit in this car, it will be my undoing, but it gets great gas mileage and me and La Petit Grenouille (the Little Frog) are becoming fast friends. I need to get tires for the Frog’s first serious road test later this month – a drive to Fresno to judge a contest. I pray to God it doesn’t abandon me en route. Please God, just this one and I won’t ask for anything else for awhile. So for now, I’m driving and not missing crunching through the grass in the pre-dawn hours AT ALL. Driving is liberating and the ability to be mobile has improved my outlook in ways I can’t begin to articulate. Thanks Diane from the bottom of my heart. You are a friend in the truest and deepest sense of the word. And that’s all I have to say about that.Last Saturday my friend Stu and I made the stupidly long drive to Cupertino to attend the Homestead guard show. We ran into several Rene-Friends and catching up with them was good. The shows were all early season stuff, some really bad and some really good. I think my favorite of the evening was Rhapsody. It’s hard to go wrong with a Josh Grobin-like song combined with above average abilities. I have to admit that while I was highly confused by Raiders show concept until it was explained to me afterwards, I loved the layering and the way the ensemble kept subtly shifting the form from one end zone to the other while morphing within the block. It was a very cool and controlled effect. Much like their Frida show a few years ago though, if you haven’t seen the basis of the concept, it’s hard to fully appreciate the show. This year it’s based on a specific Picasso painting that I haven’t see (or don’t think I have) so see me educating myself before the next show. Logan World seemed very young (a transitional year?) and there’s a lot yet to be fulfilled but their rifle line is quite simply SLAMMING and I enjoyed the choreographed tricks tremendously. Some good old school daredevil exchanges and changes in elevation make this show fun to watch. I’m sure the show and the kids will mature through the course of the season and be Logan’s usual in-your-face slam dunk before Dayton. Good for them. Bring it home to California.
I have done what will probably end up being a regrettable thing and signed on to teach two winter programs this year. One is still a bit sketchy and one is set in stone so we’ll see where that goes. At this point I’m emotionally committed to both. The design concept for both programs is done in my head. So for now I’m teaching 4 nights a week and I think it will be good to be too busy for a bit. Woodcreek High’s (fondly called the Woodies) show is based on the music of Qidam – a cirque de soleil show. The details are coming together and rough choreography is done through the first two minutes. My major frustration is that progress is being impeded because we are stuck in the band room! As soon as we can stretch out in a gym or cafeteria we can complete the details and move on. I’m excited about the potential of this show but we are running out of time to do it justice, so I’m pushing for something to happen soon. I have the exact same problem at the other school, Franklin-Elk Grove (they’re fondly called the Frankies). In fact, the problem there is so serious it may be terminal. They are in jeopardy of needing to look for another instructor this season if we don’t get a facility soon – or end up folding their winter program entirely. I don’t understand why band directors don’t get that a decent rehearsal facility is paramount to the success of a program. They wouldn’t try to put a field show together in a band room would they? And if they would, then I’m involved with the wrong program. Sheesh!
So all in all, I’m broke, busy and quite a lot off balance but there’s a dim light at the end of the tunnel … hopefully it’s not a train. I just have to keep reminding myself that I can’t fix everything for everybody and that trying to just makes everyone miserable. Sigh. In the meantime I will content myself with the knowledge that while I may have seriously questionable taste in life partners, I choose great friends.
Til next time, thanks for yielding to lawnmowers on the freeway.
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