Art

Do you every yearn for the creativity you feel you once had?

This weekend was an art weekend.

Friday Night I went to see a Music in Context presentation with one of my sisters. The topic was Music and Rebellion. Performed pieces were by Bob Dylan, Beethoven. One of the main presenters is a volunteer assistant to the conductor of the Oregon Symphony. This was a very cool presentation placing the music with the author's biography and completely living up to its name (meaning it put it in context). My sister is very excited for the next in the series....imagine I will be getting a mailer for it soon. Next concert presentation is Friday, May 19.

Saturday I saw the movie/documentary Boys of Baraka with my sisters and their friends. (Last minute invite and decision on my part). Very good film. Apparently there is (or was) a program that took children (middle school or just about to enter middle school) children at risk in the Baltimore, Maryland area and sent them to Africa for 2 years to study and prepare them for high school. The documentary says about 76% (forgive my memory for numbers if wrong) of children do not graduate high school in Baltimore. The program let the kids focus on just being kids and talking through problems. I've never been to Baltimore, but watching the contrast between Baltimore and their experience in Africa was an eye opener. I do not understand how anyone would enjoy life in a place like that (Baltimore that is) from the film. I teased my sisters about picking what is probably the only teaching movie in the festival, but it is a very good movie, check it out if you get the chance.

Saturday Night. Symphony. I've come to the realization (that in my mind) I've given up trying to find someone to take the symphony.....even given a chance to ask.....anymore just assume no one wants to go. Oh wait, talking about art. I saw (or rather heard) Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. This is one of my favorite pieces of music (Alaska airlines or no, I still like the piece). I enjoy trying to catch Gershwin or Shostakovich whenever I can so this made for a good musical weekend. I never realized the scoring of Rhapsody included Banjo before.....I can't even pick it out.....

Sunday......uhh......uhhhh.....no art.

Monday, work, but light traffic thanks to the Bankers Holiday.

Tuesday. Film fest volunteering. Short films. The program promised the most experimental films of the festival. It didn't disappoint. After the first short, the next half hour film was minus sound. Just visuals....if you are trained and expect sound, could be difficult to sit through. How can an engineer sit through this? They just half to let themselves go and feel sometimes. My favorite short had to do with a showing of a corny film bit of a college class (guessing early 80s from the clothes) and the presentation of the first law of thermodynamics coupled with a cartoon of a fox and.....beaver? reading a piece of (Nietsche?) in a different than intended context. Perfect engineer, geeky philosopher humor. Note; someone who has studied the actual usage of something may find humor in its misapplication.

That's it for now, Friday night working another show, this one from Colombia. Likely to be busy, but also likely to be a good show.


Rainbow Falls, Big Island, Hawai'i, May 2005, by LHD