summer saturday in valencia

Ahhh...the first non-pressure completely free day since returning from Vienna nearly a month ago.
In retrograde:

watched the chinese team excel in men's gymnastics while getting some emails out;
made salad for dinner with the nippy 'joelle' olive oil from the central valley, a market find;
took yvonne shopping at target;
saw film, wall-e, with yvonne and ed, marveled, tried to hear erika's cello in the string section;
popped blue popcorn and smuggled it into theater;
read chapter on wagner in c. abbate's book, In Search of Opera, to consider for my course;
swam some laps and discovered innards (rat? bird?) on the bamboo rug outside, gift from cat;
laundry and more laundry;
booked flight to birmingham AL over Labor Day to visit sister Lynn and her son's new baby;
short hike in Rice canyon, hot at 10 AM (photo is from nearby Ed Teasley canyon) ;
purchased handsome white wicker hamper, to replace one that died after twenty years.

Bus Träume

Finally a chunk of downtime, starting with seeing the film Dancer in the Dark, lit up by Björk's award-winning, insane performance, as she launches into fantastical Busby-Berkely-inspired numbers driven by the rhythmic / mechanical factory noises. Then early morning hours of nostalgic dreams for the public transportation in Vienna (seeds planted by that Lars von Trier film?). Fortunately I have this photo of bus with soccer ball wheel at the bus stop in Liesing---one of the countless images of soccer balls scattered throughout Vienna (which Yvonne never failed to point out, despite her mild annoyance with the Fussball mania). The city became increasingly obsessed with its hosting of the European Football Championship. Another startling representation (how many people besides us had double takes?): old statues in Vienna with football shoes painted onto their feet.

Back to reality: today started off skyping with Douglas Kearney as we pick up speed with Crescent City, our opera with partial performances on the New York City Opera VOX series (2006), and the Dag in die Branding Festival in The Hague (2007). Yea!!! I've missed living with our characters, especially the divine Madame Marie LaVeau.

After running various errands, and lunch with a friend, today's scorching August afternoon came to a close with a visit to the farmer's market in Newhall for luscious California tomatos and strawberries, as well as freshly baked pita bread, tatziki, and almonds. But the best stand was the goat's milk soap stall with a live baby goat, so adorable with those little yellow slit eyes taking in everything and luring in the customers.

Sucktion DVD and photos

'Surviving' often means surrounding yourself with competent, visionary, and like-minded creative energies. Obsession also a plus. A shining example: the team that our director Nataki Garrett gathered for the production of Sucktion (Elizabeth Brooks, costume design; Michael Gend, lighting design; Marianne Nedreberg, set design), and our post-production ensemble (Aleigh Lewis, videographer, members of soNu, myself, and Douglas Kearney). We managed to pull a dvd together in the past two days---as shown in one of our sessions at my house, yesterday: Sage Lewis, my assistant, Aleigh Lewis, and Nina Eidsheim; to get a couple of trailers out of it; and to post one on YouTube. Look here for superb photo documentation with clever commentary by Elizabeth Brooks: the silvery vacuum cleaner with the band soNu and Nina in her reflective dress. (I've uploaded one of EB's photos, above left, of soNu: Phil Curtis, Nina Eidsheim, and Gustavo Aguilar.)

SUCKTION (trailer)

Celebrating in Koreatown

from left to right: Phil Curtis, Nina Eidsheim, Anne LeBaron, Edward Eadon, and Gustavo Aguilar---musicians, composer, and one member of our 'crew,' celebrating after our final performance of Sucktion. We're hoping that it will be picked up by non-risk-averse presenters so that we can refine the piece and have a chance to share it beyond LA.

The ideas I plan to explore in upcoming posts will mostly relate to the life of a composer in Los Angeles. After spending one-third of 2008 in Vienna, a mecca for composers and musicians, where the stars engraved in the sidewalks, pavements, and U-bahn stations are for composers (and a few conductors)---not for film personalities---I was wondering whether the culture shock of re-entry into a city at the opposite extreme (cars instead of superb public transportation; an hour's drive and parking expense for downtown concerts instead of a five minute walk to the Musikverein; the Danube instead of the desert) would send me right back to Vienna. (Rather impossible, but one can dream on.) My friend Jane Brockman, accomplished LA composer who I spoke with after the performance on Sat. night, remarked that transitioning back here must be less difficult with the all-consuming production of my opera at REDCAT this weekend. She's right, and now that we're in post-production---constructing the requisite video and press kit---all that raw energy invested in seeing the production through will be redirected into other projects---like taking a few minutes tomorrow to bask in the sun!

LA Times Review of SUCKTION

Link to the review:
Cyber opera with a vacuum: Three women explore their existence in wild performance art pieces for the conclusion of REDCAT's New Original Works Festival. My thanks to Mark Swed for an insightful review of Sucktion in today's LA Times (with my name twice misspelled---evidently a result of all the firings of editors and others): Congratulations to Kristina Wong and to Rosanna Gamson for their excellent works on the program. Tonight's will be the final performance of the festival.

Photos: Nina Eidsheim as "Irona" in Sucktion; soNu backstage: Nina Eidsheim, Phil Curtis, and Gustavo Aguilar; during rehearal, Elizabeth Brooks, our costume designer, introduces the 50's-style girdle to Nina while Nataki Garrett, director, looks on.

SUCKTION opens in Los Angeles

Last night we had a full house at REDCAT, with the first performance of Sucktion sharing the evening with Kristina Wong's hilarious Cat Lady and Rosanna Gamsons's wrenchingly beautiful Tov. soNu, the band for Sucktion, performed 40 minutes of music with difficult electronic changes and a demanding part for the vibes, with a scant five days of rehearsal. They are a phenomenal ensemble. Look for the review in the Saturday edition of the LA Times!

This note about the first performance of Sucktion is the last entry in the 'Vienna' blog, as I'm transitioning back from the composer's mecca to Los Angeles. A new, more long-term blog will take its place, same URL.