Category: General Thoughts

  • Casting and rejection

    Well, we’re almost done casting Gargoyle Garden for the August run. We’ve cast every role except “Annabel”, and we’ve narrowed that down to two wonderful little girls. Either one of them will do quite nicely. We’re simply working through our pros and cons at this point. But, let me say this: I hate casting. I…

  • Gargoyle Garden venue and performance dates

    Hey! Ho! Kerrack-kerah!! We have our venue and our dates for the 5 performances of Gargoyle Garden! We’ll be performing the show on the main (upstairs) stage at the Bleeker Street Theater, 45 Bleeker Street in the East Village (@ the corner of Lafayette and Bleeker. The 6, B, D, V, and F subway trains…

  • Gargoyle Garden update

    Well, things are, uh…, proceeding. Good news/bad news/no news. Good news: Jeff and I have received our venue designation from the Fringe Festival organizers. It’s a great venue. I can’t tell you where it is yet, though, since the organizers are putting the final touches on where all of the festival’s 200 shows will be.…

  • Gargoyle Garden in August

    Well, after much thinking and pondering and consideration of the finances needed to bring Gargoyle Gardento the NYC international Fringe Festival, Jeff LaGreca and I decided to mount the show. So, we’ve been busy contacting some of the original performers to see if they’re interested and available. Some are. But some aren’t. So, we’ll need…

  • Conductors = Robots?

    well, it’s not that bad… The Robot’s movements are fairly fluid–although a bit, erm…, robotic. Also, the world did not end.

  • NYC International Fringe Festival

    Well… the good news is that my children’s opera, with libretto by Jeff LaGreca, has been accepted in the NYC International Fringe Festival. Jeff and I are excited that our work has been recognized this way. We’ll be deciding soon if we’ll be mounting a performance there in August, 2008. We are both leaning towards…

  • Concert on May 2 and May 4

    Please join me and my fellow composers of the Random Access Music composers’ collective on May 2 and May 4 for six world premieres, performed by the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble. This performance will be the third year of collaboration between RAM and Lost Dog. Joining the Lost Dog players will be special guest artist,…

  • me: social entrepreneur

    Last Fall, Steve Charles, one of the editors of the Wabash College alumnae magazine, contacted me to see if I’d be willing to participate in an online interview about social entrepreneurship. He seemed to think that my many activities with the Astoria Music Society as well as with the Random Access Music composers’ collective made…

  • Music so bad it’s wonderful to listen to

    In 1997, two Russian emigrees, Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid, created “the most unwanted song” of all time. When the two conceptual artists (who also experimented in the visual arts, too) arrived in the United States, they became fascinated with american-style public opinion polling. So they polled 500 people on their music preferences–everything from instruments to…

  • Overheard in Queens, NY

    A few days ago, I was walking along Ditmars Blvd., which is one of the busy, commercial-district streets near where I live, when I saw a high-school aged boy elbow his friend and shout, “Hey! Look at Beethoven over there!” With wonder and excitement, I eagerly turned to see what he could possibly be seeing… could…