Alexandra Nechita

I was recently reminded of an experience I had walking
around Boston a few years ago. I was on Newbury Street,
shopping with a friend of mine. Well, I wasn't shopping,
but she was. Thus, I thought myself totally justified in
stepping into a little art gallery for a breath of fresh
air, so to speak. I immediately noticed very large
canvases, something like Picasso (one of his myriad styles
anyway) but vibrantly colorful and intriguing. I asked the
owner about them. They were painted by a young artist named
Alexandra Nechita .
She was 12 at the time of the painting. I think she's 18
or so now. Wonderful...

Erin McNulty

I just found out a daughter of my first music teacher,
Vivian McNulty, is a dancer in the San Francisco Ballet.
This has to be one of the most difficult jobs to get of
any profession. An
article from our town paper, when she
landed the apprenticeship (before she got into the main
company).
The SF Ballet Roster . What an unbelievable
achievement. Congratulations Erin!

Thoreau has a blog

A blog worth reading...

http://blogthoreau.blogspot.com/

Sousa

I live in a building with elevator music. Heavy, classical
elevator music. Often it's kind of cool to hear Stravinsky
(I heard Rite of Spring last week) and Beethoven (9th
symphony?!) et al. But this morning at 9:00 I was forced to
travel 5 floors to the sounds of a Sousa march. This was
too much. I tried with all my might to ignore the
oppressive brass (and *@%^ing piccolo), but my mental and
concentrative powers were not up to the task. I burst out
the door as from death himself. I think I'm going to take
the stairs more often...

Abi

I got Abi Tapia's
new cd in the mail today. She's a fantastic
singer/songwriter in Austin. I saw her live in Pittsburgh
last year. She's the cousin of a friend of mine here. I
love her story... She decided she wanted to be a musician
about halfway through college. She picked up a guitar, took
a few lessons, and started writing. A couple years later she
released her first (real) CD, and this is the second.
Go the website and listen to Calamine Lotion and Hand Over Your Heart.
Fantastic lyrics! It's so humbling to be privileged enough to study
music for umpteen years with tons of expensive lessons etc
and have someone like Abi come along, pick up a guitar, and
show you what it really is to be a musician. Humbling, but
wonderful just the same...