Symphony Parnassus and Dead Elvis

For a little afternoon fun before the Halloween madness overtook the city, I went to hear Eric play with Symphony Parnassus in their Autumn concert at the Herbst Theater.

This fun little program featured a suite from the "Bride of Frankenstein" as well as the prelude to "Psycho," which actually is quite good, even in concert. The Dead Elvis for Bassoon and Chamber Ensemble was not my thing, but they rounded the afternoon off with a very respectable, if slow-ish reading of Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique.

Cheers to Stephen Paulsson (the Symphony's mastermind and director) for pulling their concerts together.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon -- in shocking 3-D

We celebrated Halloween with the Jazz Passengers at SF Jazz this year, and it was a total wacko, cornball treat.

The talented (really REALLY talented) seven member Passengers performed their own score PLUS slightly ad libbed dialogue to a screening of the horror classic "Creature from the Black Lagoon." And if that wasn't enough, it was shown in fabulous 3-D! I had the most fun halfway through when I took off my red/blue glasses for a moment, and looked around at the audience. There everyone sat, staring at the screen at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater, like a 1950's ad for 3-D movies.

The Jazz Passengers have a great shtick worked up for the movie, complete with little asides and "Mystery Science Theater 3000" type commentary. Amazingly, as they play, they also perform all the dialogue (in rainforest explorer-type garb, no less) and it's hilarious.

The 3-D, I was amazed to see really did work out well, particularly in sequences that were obviously filmed to give you a sense of depth. It did make my eyes tired after a while though. Like looking at the old Magic Eye prints that used to be so popular in the 1990's.

Check out How 3-D Glasses work.

Edward Villella and Alonzo King at Words on Dance

Edward Villella and Alonzo King, two rather different dance personalities, were the guests of honor at Words on Dance's program at the JCC in San Francisco. Interviewed by photographer Rose Eichenbaum, who chose both men as subjects in her new book of portraits, the two reminisced a little about their respective dance backgrounds, but mainly talked dance philosophy -- it's one of the best parts of any Words on Dance presentation when you hear this kind of stuff.

Some of my favorite quotes from the evening:

Villella: People think dance is about "the step" but it's about the continuity-- how the connection is made.

(Villella goes on to note about the safety zone that comes of just teaching technique) If you are teaching technique, then you are never wrong -- it's the student that is wrong.

Villella: There was a moment in Prodigal Son I couldn't get. In frustration, Mr B. finally said "Byzantine icons, dear, Byzantine icons." He taught me Prodigal Son in one half hour, another half hour and 45 minutes of rehearsal. Then I never saw him again. Arlene Croce once said to me, "Maybe he wanted you to show him."

The participants also occasionally quoted others:
Eliot Feld: Your creative work owes you nothing, you owe it everything.

(and my favorite) Katherine Dunham: Ask yourself who you are, what were you put here to do, and if you're not doing it, why not?

Secret in the WIngs at Berkeley Rep

"Secret in the Wings" is everything that the "Black Rider" should have been -- but sadly wasn't.

Mary Zimmerman's beautiful and luminous play has all the surrealness of a fairytale, all the incomprehensible horror and impenetrable beauty of a world seen by a child, with the kind of clean dramatic structure that should make Robert Wilson blush.

Within a series of seven nested tales, that go from the frame of an ogre's babysitting assignment, to the story of the Princess who wouldn't laugh, to a retelling of the Chldren of Lir, to some completely new tales.

With beautiful elements like the falling leaves, floating feathers from the swans, one story intertwines with another, (although in the strictest sense, they are begun, one by one, then resolved in the reverse order form which they were introduced) addressing a wide range of human experiences from love to loyalty to hatred and revenge. Zimmerman, who also directed the production, has a sure hand with the dramatic aspects, and the nine member cast obviously implicitly trusts her judgement.

Whereas Black Rider seemed to be all about hip posturing in dark clothes, "Secret in the WIngs" is lush and old fashioned-- a little corny, but unafraid of being so, as long as it can tell the story it needs to tell. Some moments are exquisitely beautiful too. On actor holds up a frame while another "sails" a model ship in the middle of the empty square space. It sounds almost ridiculous, but as it turned out in the moment, was exquisitely beautiful.

John Scofield at Yoshi's

So we trekked over to Oakland to see John Scofield's Trio last night.

What were the sounds that man was able to get out of his instrument? Was he kidding? It was a fun evening, no doubt, but I still have trouble when they wander off on little musical forays far far away from the tune.

Still, the energy in the club for the last set was high and the trio responded, kicking out versions of standards (as my husband had to explain to me) of "Perdido."