All Southern 2008 Audio

The audio is from our January 27 concert at CSULB. I've only posted the Wind Ensemble stuff (if you want Symphonic Band, let me know and I'll make you a copy of the CD). I think I can safely say that this group is probably the overall best I've played with under an absolutely incredible conductor, Allan McMurray.

• Dance of the Jesters, Tchaikovsky. An awesome (and hideously fast) opener. Listen out for the clarinet runs.
• Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, de Meij. The actual fist movement of the Symphony. Very powerful.
• Le Baron Cemetiere Mambo, Grantham. My personal favorite; a really fun and upbeat mambo.
• An American Elegy, Ticheli. My favorite Ticheli work. It's very emotional and there is a lot of symbolism in it. Let me know if you are interested because I can go on forever about it.
• March from the Symphonic Metamorphosis, Hindemith. Our really cool closer with the normal quirky Hindemith sound.
  

Cal Lu

I got back yesterday from my Presidential Scholar visit to Cal Lutheran. I must admit, I was pretty impressed. Although a lot of it is "marketing" (as my mother puts it), I really felt comfortable with the whole small, familyish atmosphere. Despite the slightly uncomfortable sleeping conditions, it was a very good experience. I think my interviews went pretty well and I should hear about scholarship within a few days.

Last Saturday Karl and Jon threw a not-so-surprise birthday party for my sister's 30th. It went really well (that cake was awesome) and it was cool seeing everybody. If you're interested in playing the famous "guess the twin" game let me know. I am also proud to say that I survived my second (and probably last) 7 hour Easter marathon playing bells.

I got the CD of All Southern audio after a small delay (the first cd was shattered...apperently a casualty of the postal service). The audio is posted on the next post, and if you want a copy of the CD let me know.

The Dodgers and Red Sox set a world record with 115,000 fans in attendance of their exhibition game on Saturday. It was a very interesting set up in the LA Coliseum to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the LA Dodgers.

I have often had the debate about whether or not you can differentiate 128kbps mp3 quality vs. 320kbps. Finally somebody has set it up. Good luck and let me know how you do (I'll openly admit I was wrong).

I think this has been around a while but it's worth a mention. It's a 911 call and it involves stupid people and Burger King. It is pretty sad to hear how dumb some people are and even sadder to know this was clogging our emergency lines for two and a half minutes.

Well that's about it for now. Countdown to Chicago: 11 days.

Solo/Ensemble 2008

I must say, March 15 is historically a very successful day. Not only is it Andi's & Karl's anniversary and the birthday of the famous Matthew Stutelberg, but yielded 2 Superiors and 3 Command Performances at this year's Solo/Ensemble festival. My Solo (the Copland) got a CP along with our quartet and nonet. To be perfectly honest, I was sort of worried about Monochrome II (the nonet) but everybody really pulled it together and it gelled quite nicely. I have DVD's if anybody is interested just let me know. If I'm really bored I may extract some audio and post it.

Spring Break has been very nice. Having a week with little to do is a very unusual but good feeling.

The Latest on the college front includes acceptances to USC and UCSD. The only things I'm really waiting on are Pepperdine and the CSULB & CLU Presidential Scholarship decisions. This is somewhat nerve racking.

With Hillary and Obama in a dead heat for the Democratic nomination the questions begs to be asked: Why choose if you can combine?

A German woman woke up from what she thought was a leg operation to find she had been mixed up with another patient suffering from incontinence. Yep, she now has a new sphincter. That wouldn't be too fun.

In honor of Holy Week, we can celebrate by purchasing a HungryMan Salisbury Steak TV Dinner with an image of Jesus Christ in the gravy. I'm at a loss for words.

Thats it for now, hope you all have a blessed Easter.

Is Hillary Clinton a Muslim?

I'm Legal

Now that's a pretty scary thought.

I must say, my birthday was pretty swell. Being at All-State and enjoying a full day of rehearsing and listening to great music really made the day a good one. The only downside was not really seeing a lot of family/friends, but that was made up for other times. Highlights of this year's loot includes 18 boxes of Good & Plenty's, a rubber-band ball making kit, a Metrotuner, a bag of drug pens, losing lotto tickets, a bunch of cool shirts, and a really cool mug. Good stuff.

As expected, All State was pretty amazing. Casey made it into the Concert Band, and I got into the Symphonic Band. Our conductor was really animated and very good. The literature was a lot of fun too. We played some Traffic, a cool little tango thing, and a Grantham piece, among some other things. We sounded great and the experience was tons of fun. I'll post some audio when I get it.

The Future Leader thing in the paper the other day. The article/picture turned out surprisingly well. I just wish you couldn't see up my nostrils in the picture and she hadn't used the "skinny" quote in the article. Other than that, it was kinda cool.

A daycare teacher has been warned for giving cat food to the children. I'm curious about two things: 1) Why would anybody taste cat food, or give it to small children to eat? and 2) Why wasn't she fired?

A group of cannibals in the Ukraine have been locked up after they ate a friend who offered to cook them dinner. Guess they weren't full.

Representative Kingston (R-GA) was on MSNBC the other day criticizing Obama for not wearing one of those little American flag pins that every other politician on the planet wears. Where it gets fun: Dan Abrams calls him on not wearing one himself during the interview.

That's it for now...I need to practice some Copland.