In the old days

I found this on some website I do not recall. It is - believe it or not - a photo of a fashion show. All we see is one model but the site said it was taken because someone in the family happened to be there. As you can appreciate, there are no runways for the models. The crowd was not there for the show, I'm sure, so the extracurricular event is beyond me. It was supposedly taken in 1958, when women still wore swimsuits. How odd!!!

What bad economy???

I get out quite a bit. I see places - I hear stories - I read stories - I meet people. Every single day. From all accounts, the economy isn't doing well but I don't believe that at all and neither should you. Someone is trying to fool us. I see stores packed with customers. There are long lines everywhere. I see customers buying big ticket items. I see lots of people at banks - depositing big chunks of money. Every single day. I see that concerts with very expensive tickets get sold out. I see sporting events being filled to capacity. I see restaurants packed with people having a good time. Where is the bad economy the media is talking about???? NOT HERE, that's for sure.

Paganini

Nicolo Paganini is probably the most famous violinist who ever lived. That's not him to the left, that's someone else. It doesn't matter. He would have liked her. Paganini is - to violinists - what Marco Polo is to explorers - what Einstein is to scientists - what Roosevelt is to politicians - what Frank Sinatra is to singers. Paganini was like a trapeze artist on the violin - working without a net. He was born on this day in 1782.

Carman Moore

Carman Moore is an American composer, conductor, and teacher, born on October 8, 1936. He first obtained an undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and, after moving to New York, graduated from Juilliard with honors. His teachers there were Luciano Berio and Vincent Persichetti, among others. He is probably the best composer you have never heard of. That is a complete mystery to me. Critics across the board have consistently praised his music. His music has been performed by many great orchestras around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. He writes and arranges music for ballet, film, and theatre, and has written concertos, chamber music, and operas, in addition to many songs. He is the founder and conductor of the Skymusic Ensemble. Moore has also taught at Yale University School of Music and Carnegie-Mellon University. He also has a page on MySpace that includes a wonderful song for peace - sung by a child. I urge you to see it. http://www.myspace.com/carmanmoore

Film Music

Well, we played our film music concert at the Plaza Theatre last night and it was a resounding success. The public simply adored our guest conductor, John Scott. His resume is very impressive - he has worked with some of the great luminaries in the music business, especially as regards recording and film scoring.
My reward came simply in seeing that he enjoyed such a sweet and great moment of triumph at his age - he is 78. That, to me, was what made the experience memorable. During the ovation, he stepped off the podium and went around heartily congratulating the various sections of the orchestra with firm handshakes - he seemed to especially like the way the brass and woodwinds performed. He also took the opportunity to kiss Ida, Lora, Liz, Cristina, Anita, and Leslie - all of the girls closest to the podium.