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."