Christmas Music Awards: Part Deux

This award is for Best Non-Traditional Christmas Track:








If you need a break from the traditional Christmas style, then James Brown's Funky Christmas is for you. But this award goes to one track that stands out from all the rest:


"Santa Clause, Go Straight To The Ghetto"



Find it, buy it, download it. It puts smiles on faces. Just look at this album cover! ------>













Following in a close second is Louis Armstrong's:


'Zat You Santa Clause?


From the album "Verve Presents: Very Best of Christmas Jazz".

This is another great album. Not just a good Christmas album... but really a good jazz album. But be warned: Some may find a few songs on here a little too jazzy and not 'Christmasy' enough.






















Don't miss part one below... and feel free to add your own award winners in the comments section!

Christmas Music Awards

Here is some of the best, little-known christmas music out there:



Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite:


Perfect Christmas music for when you're tired of hearing 50 million versions of the same carols. One of my very favorite albums to listen to and one of the few I can listen to from beginning to end... over and over. It is now only available with two other Ellington suites (the "Peer Gynt Suite" and "Suite Thursday") that aren't Christmas music... but the Nutcracker Suite alone is worth the $9.98 that amazon.com is selling it for.





An Oscar Peterson Christmas:



Arguably one of the best things to ever come out of Canada, you just can't beat Oscar Peterson. His version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" may be one of my single favorite christmas tracks ever recorded... and that is just the first song on the album. Recorded 12 years ago at 70-years-old I don't know why this isn't a more popular Christmas album.



P.S. Feel free to add any other albums in the comments section that are worthy of awards.

Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie

This is the Warsaw National Philharmonic. We played there the other night. Ukraine's first lady was there as well as "many other famous Polish people." At least that is what we were told. We played Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances (if you haven't heard it, get it.. listen to it).

Warsaw is much cooler than Tokyo. I don't even know why. The hall wasn't as nice as many in Japan, but the city was so much better. Which is surprising. I thought the 'culture shock' of an Asian country would hit me and be something completely new and fascinating. It wasn't.

Maybe it was because they play baseball, have the same electrical outlets as the states, and I watched Monday Night Football twice. Or maybe the Japanese just aren't the bustling, suit-wearing, hi-tech businessmen that we think of them as.

Poland was just a more comfortable culture/environment. Half Eastern European, half Western European.

Home, Sweet Home

Well, I am home. There's nothing like your precious wifey-poo meeting you at the airport and bringing you home to a nice, warm home and a hot bowl of soup. That's tough to beat.

Thank you, dear!

Monday morning we leave for Poland... *sigh* (It's only four days this time)

Suntory Hall

I played here last night...

It is well with my soul

So..... Just wanted to let y'all know that Jamie wrote an email from Milan. They had to switch to another plane and spend one night in Italy in order to do it. Pretty cool, huh? I mean, hey, it's Milan...
They were accomodated into a 4* hotel with all meals included. I simply find it amazing. It's like a dream come true or something. For me at least it would be.
Anyhow, they were to leave for Japan the next morning. Haven't heard from him again since then. I'm sure their percussion team is simply enjoying themselves too much... too busy to write their wives. Mmmmhmm... one of them called me the other day to find out whether I knew anything about their arrival. Oh well, boys are boys. My Jamie is a wonderful exception, he is a good boy :)

I'm sure this post was a little too emotional for Jamie and his 'normal' style of writing. But hey, I'm me, just wanted to let you know that everything is well with my hubby. He might have to delete this post when he comes back, cuz it doesn't quite fit his virtual little world :) Oh well, I know his password, why not use it?

Sincerely yours, Jamie's faithful sweet wife ;)

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow is the big day... first international tour with the Philharmonic Orchestra. We're off to Japan... Here's the thing I hate about travelling:

I spent over a year studying Russian because I couldn't stand not understanding what was going on around me (and I'm still learning). But as soon as I get to the airport: "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" I have no idea half of what is going on around me. Japan is worse because you can't even pretend know the 'letters' and try to sound something out... look at this:

Kyiv's subway system took our family less than a month to get used to. There are three lines... the red, the blue, and the green. This is Tokyo:
People think Kyiv is a hustling, bustling metropolis with three million people living here... Tokyo is 12 million in the city limits and countless more and the huge, suburban, surrounding area.


On our way, we get to spend the night in Milan. So we'll see if I end up with a picture like this one before heading off to Japan:

The Hardware Store

Building a house takes a TON of trips to the hardware store. After work, everybody would ask me very sarcastically if I was going to 'Epicenter' (the Ukrainian version of Home Depot) and EVERY DAY I would run in to pick something up or order something to be delivered. This is Dima trying out the different banya (sauna) apparel that was on sale.

Dima has been remodeling (or rather, "modeling") an apartment that he and is wife bought about a year ago and just moved in last Sunday.

Day two of no pictures on blogger again... So much for every day.

Finally...

Yesterday I tried running pictures through Picasa... wrote up a long post... and then it didn't upload.

Here is the picture for the day before yesterday:

Our house has the chicken pox. This is what it looked like just after installing insulation and just before putting on the final coat of whatever to make it look purty.

NO PICTURES

Blogger won't let me post pictures... sorry. I'll try again tomorrow.

Revival

In an attempt to revive this blog, I am starting a new project. We'll see if I can post a picture every day from our daily activities. The picture may not be posted on the day it was taken... but hopefully it will reflect something that is happenning in our lives.

Picture number one:

Playing the cymbals for four hours every day at work can take its toll. No worker's comp... no band-aid break... no nothing. This is what my finger looked like after I had cleaned it up a bit. I still can't get it all of the cymbal...

(This post is dedicated to Anna Watcher-of-bloody-disgusting-things Peipon)

Quite a Concert...

"Toshimitsu Tanaka is one of the most prolific composers today in Japan, with a repertoire of over eighty compositions for all media. Notable among these are the tetralogy of Requiems for orchestra - The Grave, Gunzo, PATHOS, and maze - spanning twenty years, from 1972 to 1992, and his diverse percussion music, from the Sadlo Concerto for marimba and orchestra, commissioned by Peter Sadlo of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, to Personna (a competition for roto-toms and marimba players on one side, and, on the other, percussionists in traditional Japanese demonic masks, all playing one large gojinjo daiko Japanese drum."

I played the Ukrainian premiere of 'Personna' tonight. It's very complex and it usually would have taken a month or more for us to put something like it together... I had less than two weeks to learn it and only few days to put it all together with the other people playing... and the composer (who is for Japan what Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Rachmaninov were for the USSR) was in the audience.

I'm pooped...

But it's over... Ukraine has know heard Personna and I can finally get a good night sleep.

Hold on to your Honey

It's DONE!

If my calculations are correct, it has been about THREE MONTHS since Dasha and I have had a home. Workers kept promising finish dates, but the would pass by with no finish in sight.

Finally... Dasha and spent the night in the house. No workers... no anybody.... just us, and we're home. Light... check. Water... check. Hot water... check. Internet enabled computer... check.

Tonight was the first night we spent the night. Grandma (she lives on the first floor), Dasha, and I (we live on the second floor) 'christened' the house last night with a little bit of scotch whisky. Mmm... mmm. Still a lot of work to do here... but at least we're HOME!

(This is an old picture... I'm too lazy to go outside and take a picture of the completed house)

Anouncements!

Anouncement number one: As Mrs. Taylor suggested, I am planning a wedding reception for Ben and Linnea here in Ukraine. Mandatory attendance is required from the bride, groom, and their families. Just let me know a date that works best for you all...


Anouncement number two: Our builders told us that our house should be done within a week's time!

Righteous hatred

I just want everyone to know... I HATE the fact that I missed Ben and Linnea's wedding. I survived not being at Jack and Stacey's even though I was concocting schemes to get there up until the day before their wedding. Seeing as how I had "successfully" missed that wedding, I figured I could handle missing Hannah and Patrick's, Noah and Katie's and Ben and Linnea's.

Wrong...

It must be that while Jack, Hannah and Noah are very dear people, I really don't know Stacy, Pat, or Katie very well.

But Ben and Linnea are TWO very special people... getting married... on the same day... to EACHOTHER!

I don't like it... not one bit.

I'm jealous that Ben gets to be part of the Shelton family... That his in-laws are Mr. and Mrs. Shelton and that Jack and Jared are brothers... in-LAW. I'm jealous that Linnea gets to be part of the Taylor family, too. I'm jealous that only one picture (360th, I think... it's in my favorites folder) has me in it... and that even in that one I'm stuck behind Matt's phone... etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.

Blogging...

Blogging really isn't very interesting from someone else's computer. Being at mom and dad's, Dasha and I have been using a combination of different computers. I've been back to work as well. There really isn't much to say.

Besides the Philarmonic, I've been giving drum lessons to a kid from our church as well as to the son of the dutch ambassador.

The house is still being built. It's finally getting closer. Over the past couple days we've been picking out toilets, sinks, kitchens, bath tubs, bidets, etc. etc. etc. Way too many choices... and they're all pretty permanent.

But, we're trucking along... gettin' er done.

Back to work...

It was inevitable... it had to happen. Summer is basically over for me. Today was my first day back to work. Four hours of rehearsal every day... six days a week, for the rest of this month...

Then the concerts start...

Then the tours.

It looks like I'll be going to Japan at the beginning of November and Warsaw, Poland at the end.

11 months and 30 days until next summer vacation.

Sorry, mom

I was trying to come up with some good captions for the blog... the only problem is that the possibilities are ENDLESS:

"Not Again!"

"We understand, mom. It was a long flight."

"It happens to the best of us."

"I just LOVED the chili!"

"You know, adult diapers are a 3 million dollar a year industry."

The truth is, mom was sitting in a chair and someone else spilled diet coke on to it.

Moving...

For those of you who don't know: Dasha and I are in the process and moving. This is Dasha:

"When You're moving your whole world becomes boxes. That's all you think about is boxes.

'Boxes, where are there boxes?' You just wander down the street going in and out of stores.

'Are there boxes here? Have you seen any boxes?' I mean it's all you think about. You can't even talk to people because you can't concentrate.

'Shut up I'm looking for boxes!' Just after a while you become like really into it you can smell them. You walk into a store... 'There's boxes here. Don't tell me you don't have boxes! Dammit, I can SMELL them!' I'm like I'm obsessed. 'I love the smell of cardboard in the morning.'

You could be at a funeral. Everyone's mourning crying around, and you're looking at the casket. 'That's a nice box Does anyone know where that guy got that box? When he's done with it do you think I could get that? it's got some nice handles on it.' And that's what death is really. It's the last big move of your life. The hearse is like the van. The pale bearers are your close friends the only ones you could ask to help you with a big move like that. and the casket is that great perfect box you've been waiting for your whole life The only problem is, once you find it you're in it."

Fun...

I don't know why exactly... but this picture really made me smile when I saw it...

Thank you, Annie.

The Weddings

This is me at Ben and Linnea's wedding. It's the only shot I have of the wedding. I am seen here at four in the moring (Ukraine time) trying to make that special Skype call to Matt Robin's phone and talk to Ben and Linnea while they were cutting their cake.

Here I am again at Noah and Katie's wedding. They had me standing WAY in the back (Ukraine in the back). I couldn't even see sthe action or say hello. And the service at the reception was horrible. I'm standing there in the Noah shirt (you'd think they would know I was in the fan club) and no one even offered me a drink.

Those who were closer report that they had a great time. Dasha and I will try to be there next time.



P.S. Sorry I have no pictures with Dasha my date... I don't think she wanted this type of flattering picture taken of her and published.

"I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go
I'm filling the cracks that ran through the door
And kept my mind from wandering
Where it will go"

Squirrel goes on rampage, injures 3

I couldn't NOT blog this...:

BERLIN (Reuters) - An aggressive squirrel attacked and injured three people in a German town before a 72-year-old pensioner dispatched the rampaging animal with his crutch.
The squirrel first ran into a house in the southern town of Passau, leapt from behind on a 70-year-old woman, and sank its teeth into her hand, a local police spokesman said Thursday.
With the squirrel still hanging from her hand, the woman ran onto the street in panic, where she managed to shake it off.
The animal then entered a building site and jumped on a construction worker, injuring him on the hand and arm, before he managed to fight it off with a measuring pole.
"After that, the squirrel went into the 72-year-old man's garden and massively attacked him on the arms, hand and thigh," the spokesman said. "Then he killed it with his crutch."
The spokesman said experts thought the attack may have been linked to the mating season or because the squirrel was ill.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1432171020070614

John Piper is BAD

I found this randomly and thought it was entertaining... especially for all the Piper fans out there.

Design

Some of you may know that Dasha and I will be moving soon to a little house right outside of Kyiv. It is a duplex and the second/top floor will be ours. It is still being built so everything will be done the way we prefer. The question is... how do you decorate this type of area?

These two picture (above and below) don't match up. Ours will be closer to the top plan than the bottom as far as where that door is.
So what do you do with all these slanted walls?

If anybody knows or has ideas... comment!

The Weather

It's been a whopping 11 days since my last blog... and what do people talk about during uncomfortable pauses in conversation? The weather...

I just thought I would mention that while the projected high in Salisbury, MD was 65 degrees farenheit... the high in the Kyiv (the froozing former soviet union) is 88! (If you could make numbers 'capital' like letters I would have done it.)

And now you know... the rest of the story.

Happy Victory Day

Europe Worship Link Conference, 2007

So this is where I was last weekend. I didn't do the video, one of the leaders at the conference did. These clips are mostly from the 'Arts of the Nations' night where everyone played something that represented the culture of their country.

One of the biggest chunks was our presentation from Ukraine. It was all very last minute. We didn't have any idea that we would be doing until a few hours before we went up. I'm playing the piano on the second Ukrainian bit... Have a look:

Anna's Hours

I haven't checked Anna's blog for a while. I checked it today and I'm a little worried. Could Anna be overworking? Look at those tough office hours she's putting up with.


We will all continue to pray for you, Anna. Especially for your difficult TWO AND A HALF HOUR work week.

:P

Wednesday

This is where I'm going on Wednesday.

This is a car here in Kyiv... right out in front of the conservatory.

Those are New York tags, by the way.

Things You Won't See In America - Part 5

Today, Good Friday, is a Special Edition Video Installment of 'Things You Won't See In America'. This video was taken today by me on my phone today. It is Kyiv's central square, 'Maydan Nezalejnosti' or 'Independence Square'. This was center stage for the orange revolution and with another 'political crisis' brewing here in Ukraine (I don't know if it has made it's way into western news cycles), you can see that some people have taken to the streets:



Today's thing you won't see in America is:

The Religious Left

You can hear the Orthodox choral pieces in the backround. No, that's not from the Conservatory (located just off camera)... it is being blasted over the loud speakers. It is all part of a video talking about church history that you can see being played on the big screens on both sides of the stage.

But the kicker in this video is all the pink. All the tents, flags, etc. that are pink are there representing the SOCIALIST PARTY of Ukraine. The very same socialist party that betrayed and effectively ruined the 'Orange Coalition'.

Seems a little odd... and not something that you would see in the states.

Out and About

It has been a while since I've been outside running around... and with the weather as nice as it has been I couldn't turn down the opportunity to kick the ball around Saturday morning.



A couple of us decided to get together and play and the rest are just guys that were hanging out that wanted to join in.

Take note of the lucious grass... Its impossible to plant new grass because it will just get trampled the first day.

Things You Won't See In America - Part 4

I don't have a picture to go with this... but this is something that has frustrated me over the past couple of days... and it just isn't something you're likely to see in the states:

The '24-hour tire service center' down the street has been closed twice in the past two days. So why the 24? Why claim 24-hour service when you're going to close down at night anyway?

It's little things like these that get on people's nerves. It is because of this type of thing that many Ukrainians are not going to Crimea (Ukraine's 'Florida') in the summer but are looking for cheap deals anywhere else (Bulgaria, Turkey, baltic states, Egypt).

This isn't supposed to be a complaint against Ukraine... even if it sounds like one. But you still probably won't see this in America (and not because America is so perfect and wonderful... but because the owner of such a place would probably be sued for false advertising and wasting people's time).

I'll try to make part 5 more positive...

A Big Day...

Today, my blog is celebrating it's first birthday. I've made it... I've made it a whole year. I'm kind of surprised myself to be honest. It all started with the post 'Mouth Soap' (a classic, I'm sure you all remember... hehe).

In celebration I'm adding this clip. Last night I was at a 'drummer show' with the guest star being Marco Minneman (he's a pretty famous drummer). Anyway, he was discussing memorizing music and how to put together long lines of memorized music without even being able to read music. His theory is that you can memorize anything if you put it to words/melody.

So, just for fun... he played a 'solo' over a 3 minute clip of Monty Python's Life of Brian that he had memorized. This is only 31 seconds of it that I recorded on my phone so the quality isn't great. I was quite entertained.




P.S. Someone better make sure Matt Robins sees this!

P.P.S. Last night, I also won a DW Drum's t-shirt for my vast knowledge of drum history.

"More fun, more flames, more flameouts: more Gilmore."

I just don't get it... Dasha is already watching season 3 (borrowed from Jeanne) and I still haven't been able to sit through a whole episode.

I don't think its well-written and I don't think that its well-acted and I think the highly-praised "suds-free storyline" is lame.

What do people like this show for and how can there be so many seasons of it?

Here are the promised pictures that go with Part 3 of the highly-acclaimed series 'Things You Won't See in America'. (Women the world over have given this series two thumbs-up!)

Things You Won't See In America - Part 3

Here we go, my third post of this series. This week's thing you won't see in America is:

March, 8th

Here, this is no simple date. This is like Valentines day, Mother's day, plus every woman's birthday all wrapped in to one. But don't think you can get away with congratulating your significant other exclusively... you must congratulate all women. Co-workers, wives, sisters, moms, daughters, aunts... if it's a woman, you have to congratulate it.

International Women's Day. While it does cause us mortal men some extra hassle, we do get a few days off at work because of it.

Pictures aren't working... I'll add them later.

There and Back Again

Things You Won't See In America - Part 2

This one is a bit sketchy because the picture isn't great and there be something like it in America. But... if there is, I've never seen it.

Technically, this blog, should probably called Things You Probably Won't See In America - Part 2.

The picture was taken while I was driving with the camera in my phone so you'll have to cut it some slack:

As you can see, there are two triangle-shaped stickers on the back of this car. The bottom one -- 'Y' -- is the first letter in the russian word for student. This sticker will be most likely coming off this car in the coming months.

The other sticker is more important. If you can't make it out, it is a high-heeled shoe (a 'pump', if you will). This is an unofficial but very widely-used warning symbol meaning:

WOMAN DRIVER.

This week's thing you won't see in America goes not only to this sticker, but also to the fact that a woman would publicly claim to be an inferior driver and displaying that claim quite publicly on her vehicle.

The wide, wide computer world...

It's quite a bit odd, to see your parents out in the blogging world. I saw my Dad's comments on Hannah's blog today and it reminded of a Seinfeld bit (what else?):

Estelle (George's Mom):"I'm out there, George."

George: "You're not out there."

E: "I am too."

G: "You're not out there. You can't be because I am out there. And if I see you out there there's not enough voltage in this world to electro-shock me back into coherence."

Are these the same parents that used to make me check their e-mail for them? Are these the same parents who couldn't connect to the internet without one of the kids coming to help? Are these the same parents that had me set up the annoying 'Net Nanny' parental control software?

The times have changed... now they've moved on from PC to master Mac, they're setting up wireless home networks, banking, and even sending out newsletters and blogging with pictures and power point presentations on a regular basis (all with a little help from the Brown's).

It's almost time let them go... all by themselves, in the the wide, wide world.... of computers.

Things You Won't See In America - Part 1

There are many parts of everyday life here in Ukraine that are perfectly normal. There is nothing wrong, in general, with these things... they are just, shall we say, different. Definitely not what Americans would be used to. Some of these things I can say are bad... some of these are perfectly good ideas that just aren't used/accepted in the states.


In any case, this is my first post of a series I'd like to do that is dedicated to things that separate our cultures... and in an odd way, bring us together (or something).



Number 1 on my list of things you WON'T see in America.. (drum roll please):

DIRTY EGGS!

To many Americans, it may come as a surprise to find out that eggs are not naturally clean. Chickens are not the cleanest of birds and many people (especially from the Eastern Shore of MD) have a general knowledge in this department due to the amount of hen houses in the Salisbury area (thank you, Perdue) and what they look and smell like (the hen houses, not the people from Salisbury). THIS IS WHERE THEY GET EGGS! They pull them straight of these houses of filth.

We take it for granted that our eggs are bought cleaned, with no exceptions (at least that I've ever seen or heard of).

The pictures may look quite tame... but you must remember, something has to be holding those feathers to the eggs.

The President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, just became one of my favorite European politicians. Here's a little Q & A to show why:

Q: Isn't there enough empirical evidence and facts we can see with our eyes that imply that Man is demolishing the planet and himself?

A: It's such a nonsense that I have probably not heard a bigger nonsense yet.

Q: Don't you believe that we're ruining our planet?

A: I will pretend that I haven't heard you. Perhaps only Mr Al Gore may be saying something along these lines: a sane person can't. I don't see any ruining of the planet, I have never seen it, and I don't think that a reasonable and serious person could say such a thing. Look: you represent the economic media so I expect a certain economical erudition from you. My book will answer these questions. For example, we know that there exists a huge correlation between the care we give to the environment on one side and the wealth and technological prowess on the other side. It's clear that the poorer the society is, the more brutally it behaves with respect to Nature, and vice versa.• It's also true that there exist social systems that are damaging Nature - by eliminating private ownership and similar things - much more than the freer societies. These tendencies become important in the long run. They unambiguously imply that today, on February 8th, 2007, Nature is protected uncomparably more than on February 8th ten years ago or fifty years ago or one hundred years ago.• That's why I ask: how can you pronounce the sentence you said? Perhaps if you're unconscious? Or did you mean it as a provocation only? And maybe I am just too naive and I allowed you to provoke me to give you all these answers, am I not? It is more likely that you actually believe what you say.