the far side of nowhere
71 days until the vernal equinox
I met Buddy on the way in. His human said that he agrees with me about dogs’ inability to sit still.
I had three (3) shrimp tacos with tomatillo hot sauce, sour cream, jalapeño peppers, and pico de gallo salsa. The guy at the counter was talking about the time he accidentally ended up with double habanero hot sauce.
I took an excursion in the Common and met Oscar, who was not at all corgi but some sort of shih tzu mix but his human tells me that people often mistake him for one. The place was still lit up for the holidays, which is nice because the darkness may not be as oppressive as December, it’s still there by 4:30 in the afternoon. I can live without the twenty or so different renditions of Winter Wonderland, White Christmas, and Let It Snow, though.
The church is one of the two with Tiffany-designed windows. It’s all Romanesque otherwise. And it looks like the ceiling needs a new coat of paint. The scale of the pulpit and box pews made the orchestra players and conductor look rather short.
There’s a program but it’s just a biography and list of players (string orchestra and bandoneón (it’s like an accordion but it lacks register switches. They were typically made in Germany but are popular in Argentina))
William Boyce - Ode For the New Year, 1758
I can hear both the classical period and the baroque period. There’s a countermelody, but there’s that Classical simplicity.
Boyce became Master of the King’s Musick after Handel died and refused to compose a new setting of Zadok the Priest for George III’s coronation. He was also deaf.
There’s this void of British composers that runs from Purcell to Elgar with the exception of Händel but he immigrated from Germany. It’s not quite true, because there was Villiers-Stanford.
Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 - He described it as all the definitions of concerto at once. All the players have independent parts, combining and recombining. The first movement is made up of that da-da-da dum-dum-dum motif and it’s still there in the rest of the work, more subtle.
Johann Sebastian Bach - Prelude from English Suite in G Major - This was arranged for bandoneón replacing the keyboard. It sounds less like a church organ and more like a carnival organ.
Domenico Scarlatti - Capriccio K. 20 in E Major - he’s never conducted Scarlatti before because he’s a keyboard composer.
Josef and Johann Strauss II - Pizzicato Polka - I’m surprised this didn’t use the bandoneón. The two brothers collaborated and I can’t find out how they did that.
Johann Strauss I - Radetzky March - A new years staple in Vienna.
Ástor Piazzola - Concierto para quinteto. He’s probably the most well-known Argentine composer (there’s Alberto Ginastera and there’s Osvaldo Golijov, whose claim to fame is that his wife dumped him and left him for a billionaire hedge fund dudebro cum (Latin word.) Republican activist. Oh, shit, I have some of his music performed by A Far Cry) and even has an airport named after him.
Ástor Piazolla - Oblivión - In English, Oblivion is the state of being totally destroyed, a state of nothingness. It must have a different context in Spanish, maybe forgetfulness. There’s no Engish wikipedia page.
Ástor Piazolla - Adiós Nonino - Nonino is a Spanish diminuitive of grandfather, written in memory of his father, who had the nickname Nonino. It’s based on a previous tango. It’s probably the only sad music out there performed in a major key. So it sounded more like he was honoring his life and not mourning his death but then at the end, he’s gone.
The encore started with “esq” and I’m not even sure if it was by Piazolla.
The rain had just started to turn to snow as I was walking through the Common.
Despite the 23 minute wait for a train, Park Street Station was mostly empty. Maybe it was the snow, not that it actually accumulated a whole lot. Maybe the zombie apocalypse was on. Someone coming down the stairs had an umbrella that looked suspiciously like the Umbrella Corporation logo. I met a boxer, that is to say, the dog.
On the other hand, the train was full. I guess one of the cars was out of order.
They said their name was Spartacus but that’s what they all say. They all say they’re Spartacus. Pompompurin is a cross between a golden retriever and a flan and, oh, shit, I remember him from Hello Cthulhu.
Something smelled of old, melted cheese. And not good cheese.
Burning Question: So, speaking of Abby, how did I get the names Esselarea or Illyree from Abby anyway?
I met Buddy on the way in. His human said that he agrees with me about dogs’ inability to sit still.
I had three (3) shrimp tacos with tomatillo hot sauce, sour cream, jalapeño peppers, and pico de gallo salsa. The guy at the counter was talking about the time he accidentally ended up with double habanero hot sauce.
I took an excursion in the Common and met Oscar, who was not at all corgi but some sort of shih tzu mix but his human tells me that people often mistake him for one. The place was still lit up for the holidays, which is nice because the darkness may not be as oppressive as December, it’s still there by 4:30 in the afternoon. I can live without the twenty or so different renditions of Winter Wonderland, White Christmas, and Let It Snow, though.
The church is one of the two with Tiffany-designed windows. It’s all Romanesque otherwise. And it looks like the ceiling needs a new coat of paint. The scale of the pulpit and box pews made the orchestra players and conductor look rather short.
There’s a program but it’s just a biography and list of players (string orchestra and bandoneón (it’s like an accordion but it lacks register switches. They were typically made in Germany but are popular in Argentina))
William Boyce - Ode For the New Year, 1758
I can hear both the classical period and the baroque period. There’s a countermelody, but there’s that Classical simplicity.
Boyce became Master of the King’s Musick after Handel died and refused to compose a new setting of Zadok the Priest for George III’s coronation. He was also deaf.
There’s this void of British composers that runs from Purcell to Elgar with the exception of Händel but he immigrated from Germany. It’s not quite true, because there was Villiers-Stanford.
Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 - He described it as all the definitions of concerto at once. All the players have independent parts, combining and recombining. The first movement is made up of that da-da-da dum-dum-dum motif and it’s still there in the rest of the work, more subtle.
Johann Sebastian Bach - Prelude from English Suite in G Major - This was arranged for bandoneón replacing the keyboard. It sounds less like a church organ and more like a carnival organ.
Domenico Scarlatti - Capriccio K. 20 in E Major - he’s never conducted Scarlatti before because he’s a keyboard composer.
Josef and Johann Strauss II - Pizzicato Polka - I’m surprised this didn’t use the bandoneón. The two brothers collaborated and I can’t find out how they did that.
Johann Strauss I - Radetzky March - A new years staple in Vienna.
Ástor Piazzola - Concierto para quinteto. He’s probably the most well-known Argentine composer (there’s Alberto Ginastera and there’s Osvaldo Golijov, whose claim to fame is that his wife dumped him and left him for a billionaire hedge fund dudebro cum (Latin word.) Republican activist. Oh, shit, I have some of his music performed by A Far Cry) and even has an airport named after him.
Ástor Piazolla - Oblivión - In English, Oblivion is the state of being totally destroyed, a state of nothingness. It must have a different context in Spanish, maybe forgetfulness. There’s no Engish wikipedia page.
Ástor Piazolla - Adiós Nonino - Nonino is a Spanish diminuitive of grandfather, written in memory of his father, who had the nickname Nonino. It’s based on a previous tango. It’s probably the only sad music out there performed in a major key. So it sounded more like he was honoring his life and not mourning his death but then at the end, he’s gone.
The encore started with “esq” and I’m not even sure if it was by Piazolla.
The rain had just started to turn to snow as I was walking through the Common.
Despite the 23 minute wait for a train, Park Street Station was mostly empty. Maybe it was the snow, not that it actually accumulated a whole lot. Maybe the zombie apocalypse was on. Someone coming down the stairs had an umbrella that looked suspiciously like the Umbrella Corporation logo. I met a boxer, that is to say, the dog.
On the other hand, the train was full. I guess one of the cars was out of order.
They said their name was Spartacus but that’s what they all say. They all say they’re Spartacus. Pompompurin is a cross between a golden retriever and a flan and, oh, shit, I remember him from Hello Cthulhu.
Something smelled of old, melted cheese. And not good cheese.
Burning Question: So, speaking of Abby, how did I get the names Esselarea or Illyree from Abby anyway?