Former Member

So, I was working and listening to this and utterly blown away by the Scherzo, then amazed once the soloist came in. This is a truly great performance. The amazing piano pianissimo such a city-sized chorus can achieve is breathtaking! I have recently made a performance translation of one of Mahler's Ruckert songs, and the lyrics of this symphony are closely related thematically to it. I feel motivated to launch into another Mahler translation exercise. Thank you for exposing me to some new and great music. btw, my translation can be found here: https://www.gayauthors.org/story/ac-benus/translation-trashbin/5

Happy Birthday Lit!

Dead-Composers Society proudly presents 12 Days of Christmas 2017 Music to keep you merry and bright Please enjoy and happy holidays! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John Eliot Gardiner, Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespro Della Beata Vergine, 1990

I wonder what stories will be discovered in all those boxes! There have to be interesting things that have been forgotten all these years. And many painful things. I don’t think I’d be interested in getting all slobbered on, so no bulldoggie for me! ;-)

@Canuk, I doubt that Sanskrit has a word for cowboy (or bulldog) and being written in India, the Kama Sutra probably never referenced Asia in that way… ;-) Vanilla, like chocolate, originated in Mesoamerica, so the Ancient Hindus would not have known about it. ;-) ‘Bulldog’ suggests there must be drooling involved. ;-)

For a while, I was thinking that Charlie would start dating Jayson! ;-)

National Parks are incredibly valuable. Beautiful places are important to preserve, but special habitats (which might not be as visually stunning) should be saved too. Since Makarovia is not as developed as many of its neighbors, there are probably many locations that can and should be protected. ;-)

I’m not at all surprised. But Washington State and Oregon are more popular destinations – and have been for decades (there used to be a greeting card that said something to the effect of The Governor of Oregon invites you to move… [and then inside the card]…to Washington, Idaho, Montana, or Nevada! due to the anger over the perceived overwhelming numbers of Californians moving to their state. ;-) Chevron, the major petroleum company based in the Bay Area, has moved thousands of jobs to Houston. Around the turn of the century, Chevron bought Texas-based Texaco. Other businesses have moved to Texas because of their lax regulations, especially environmental laws. Newer, cleaner industries have created more jobs to replace those that left. ;-) Texas is also one of the largest sources for migrating Californians. Two of my friends moved here from Texas (although one was born in California before his family moved to Texas when he was a child). It should surprise no one that, along with residents of other high-population states like New York and Illinois, Texans move to where the jobs are. ;-) Californians tend to be more mobile than residents of New England or the Midwest where a much larger percentage of families have been living in the same place for hundreds of years. ;-) McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Jack in the Box are just a few of the national chains that started in California and spread nationally, or in some cases, internationally. ;-)

That's nice to hear. Thank you

A beautiful and subtle performance. It's awful to think this ensemble has succumb due to political uncertainty. The arts should be above temporary things. Thanks for posting this.

Dead-Composers Society proudly presents 12 Days of Christmas 2017 Music to keep you merry and bright Please enjoy and happy holidays! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vince Guaraldi et al perform his Theme to Grace at the Episcopal cathedral, San Francisco, 1965

Nope, just tired of all the California bashing from people jealous of our weather, economy, and stance against the retrogressive politics of DC. ;-) And I know @BlindAmbition just loves to tease me! ;-)

There are a bunch of out of work news personalities, actors, and entertainment executives looking for the next stage in their shattered careers… ;-)

I live a couple miles away from the Bay. There are several reservoirs nearby too. They usually use helicopters and planes to drop water or fire retardant on fires. California has the largest fleet of firefighting aircraft in the US. We’ve had lots of practice fighting fires. There are teams from the Bay Area fighting the fires 400+ miles away in Southern California, they sent teams north to fight our huge fires. We also have agreements with many other states for Mutual Aid. (We send teams of our fire fighters to help out with floods and hurricanes out east too. We also sent rescue/recovery teams to Mexico after their recent earthquakes.) FEMA has patterned its response system (in the last couple years) on the California system because it was so much better than what they had been doing in the past. Fires are a natural part of the Western environment. It’s shaped how we’ve grown and built. We are as accustomed to fires as much of the rest of the country is familiar with blizzards, hurricanes, and tornadoes. The entire Pacific Coast is also prepared for earthquakes. The St Louis area and the East Coast are not at all ready for the earthquakes that will hit them again! I’m not sure about the Rocky Mountain region – the Yellowstone area will be shaken by a huge earthquake and/or catastrophic volcanic activity again eventually.

A mouth full of ginger nuts sounds… interesting! ;-)

Why would I want to move away from the state I was born in, the state that everyone else seems to want to move to? ;-) California has one of the most diverse populations in the world. No matter where you’re from, there’s almost certainly someone else from where you were already here! We have restaurants that serve food from almost any cuisine you might crave. And as one of the biggest food exporters in the world, our produce is often locally sourced. California Roll, ‘Chinese’ Fortune Cookies, and Rocky Road Ice Cream were all invented in California! ;-) Our geography and climate is very diverse too. I would never do either one, but it’s possible to ski down the slopes in the morning and surf later that afternoon some parts of the year. We have some of the largest cities in the world, but some of the wildest natural areas less than a day’s drive away. We have forests and deserts. We have rocky shores and we have wide sandy beaches. Our agricultural products range from lumber to cannabis, apples to avocados, world-class wine grapes to world-class cheese, almonds to apricots, dairy to lettuce, plus many other specialty products. ;-) We are the eighth largest economy in the world – a bigger economy than most European countries. We produce computer hardware and software, biotech, electric vehicles, movies and music enjoyed around the world, and California still has the largest manufacturing sector in the US. Everyone knows the names of California based companies and almost all of us use products designed in California every day! ;-) We are also a world-class education and tourism destination. ;-) Speaking of tourism, please come visit California. The recent wildfires were very localized. Nearly all of the Napa and Sonoma County wineries remain open and the fire-damaged areas are not visible from Napa Valley Wine Train. Spend lots of money while you’re visiting and go home to tell all your friends about how wonderful California is! ;-)

"...and even a poinsettia, a traditional red one....." Some people plant them here in their gardens after Christmas. You can be walking by a house and see a poinsettia 'tree' 10 feet high. Since they grow so slowly, those were probably planted way back in the 1940s. You and Mike have a merry one, Tim.

"You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" - no vocals

I know you'll love it

That's quite a coincidence! I hope it was good

Well Tim is much too young to pair up with Anders! ;-) I’ve been on the waiting list for a Swede like @Puppilull's Joel of my own for quite a while! I’m also on waiting lists for one of @Timothy M.'s Danes like Peter, Jacob, or Tor (even though Tor has the misfortune of identifying as straight!) too. But since I cannot deal with ice and snow, they’d have to move to the extremely expensive Bay Area for me! ;-)

@Timothy M. I thought I’d like a few of your responses to remind you how much we loved this story from the beginning! ;-)

This chapter shows us two manifestations of societal homophobia. The coach who thinks it’s appropriate to encourage his students to abuse their classmates because of their sexual orientation and the young son of a Gay man who is still afraid his father will reject him if he’s Gay. Both are very common, but societal imperatives against LGBTQs has lessened remarkably in just a few years with even a conservative US Supreme Court pushing back against at least some attempts to roll things back legally. ;-) But every time the Civil Rights Movement gains even a little bit, there are forces out there floating trial balloons with new ideas on how to suppress or minimize progress. Pitting one group against another is a common tactic. Our opponents like to pit LGBTQs against African-Americans just as they’ve done with other pairings. Blacks vs Latinos, Blacks & Latinos vs Asian-Americans, African-Americans vs Asian-Americans, and their favorite: ethnic minorities vs economically disadvantaged whites. The current line-up is LGBTQs vs religious fundamentalists (of all denominations and faiths). They want us to forget how all of our communities intersect and overlap. They want us to forget that our families often contain several of those groups simultaneously. They want us to forget that many of us belong to several of those groups all on our own! ;-) But more and more people are seeing through their attempts to divert and subvert our progress! ;-)

Starting a new feature over on Dead-Composers - the 12 Days of Christmas. Music to get you in and help you stay in the holiday spirit. Please check it out https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/topic/41927-dead-composers-society/?do=findComment&comment=803968

Dead-Composers Society proudly presents 12 Days of Christmas 2017 Music to keep you merry and bright Please enjoy and happy holidays! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ David Oistrakh plays Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto E-minor, December 24th, 1955 First go to min. 21:10 and listen to the miracle that is the playing of the third movement, Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace. Then start at the beginning and listen to the whole concerto