BRATS, BELLS and BEETHOVEN

A LESSON FOR THE KIDDIES

For all you kiddies out there it really does pay to be the team brat. It really pays to pout and to stomp off the court or field....to sit and wimper on the bench...to tell the coach you don't want to play because you don't like him or because you don't get to play enough. I know that I for one greatly appreciate adults that set a standard for kids to look up to. I promise - it really works - if you start practicing this as a child and perfect your extreme-brat skills through high school and college you can make more money than all your buddies AND you get to be on a better team. So THANK YOU Stephon Marbury. Your utter disdain for your coach and owner, lack of interest in thinking about your teammated and the greater good, and childish behavior has led to you being booted off the New York Knicks and moving on to the world champion Boston Celtics, where you will have a fabulous shot at a world championship ring. So all you little leaguers and mini-hoopsters out there go ahead - the coach is just the coach...he's just a guy...throw a fit...hire a lawyer...get your parents involved...the league will switch you to another team when trouble lurks around the corner. Oh....and thank you New York Knicks for letting the brat out of his contract instead of forcing him to just keep his whining ass on the bench for the rest of the season. Shame on you.

THE DIVING BELL

So my movie reviews will look at both current movies but also those out on DVD. If you are at all interested in artistic film making, a great story and creativity by a film maker rent Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a translation of the French memoir Le scaphandre et le papillon by journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby. It describes what his life is like after suffering a massive stroke that left him with a condition called locked-in syndrome. Again - I don't go to movies simply for entertainment value although I did find this very entertaining. Just pay attention to the way the filmaker shot various scenes especially in relation to the the main character Bauby. You can actually feel what this syndrome must have been like for him. For those of you likely to shed a tear during a movie, this can be a tough one, especially when Bauby is around his kids.

A NEW SYMPHONY BY BEETHOVEN

Mr. Beethoven has presented us with a new symphony. This is his fifth symphony. To the average listner this piece presents us with something truly out of the ordinary - and angst, passion and violent energy not often heard on the concert stage. Only time will tell if this symphony will live long past it's premiere but here is why it probably will. Through a simple 4 note motive Beethoven is able to develop, expand upon, manipulate us with over 30 minutes of emotions as diverse as the personalities of all those musicians on stage. He repeats and repeats and repeats his opening motive as if to say - "You will hear me out...you will hear me out" and then very craftily manipulates us without letting up on his opening proclamation. Few people realize that this motive continues to appear all through the symphony - slightly manipulated, sometimes heroic, often exuberant. How an individual can take 3 short repeated notes and one long note and turn it into what is bound to be a masterpiece for generations to come is a sign of genius that will live on forever. But it is not really the motive that will carry this work on. It is the sound of a man who is often in turmoil but who also sees the good in life. What he feels and sees cannot be expressed in words by him. It must be expressed differently. And we should be thankful for that.

Music - Sports - Movies: Round I. The Introduction

So I'm going to start writing now. Keep in mind this comes from a serious classical musician with the secret fantasy of being a sport journalist and movie critic. We all have to have hobbies, right? So here ya - go - no personal info. Just my daily rant:

MANNY BEING MONEY

OK, we get it. I understand that everyone needs to be paid what they're worth. I also understand that Manny Ramirez brought in milllions to the Dodgers in tickets sales and renewed interest in the team as they made their way toward a pennant last year. But at some point in life isn't there time to say, "OK, I think I can live with that amount - at least for a year or two". I mean, don't get me wrong, if I decided to be under the complete control over my agent and allowed him to do all the bargaining maybe I would let this linger on forever....but really......20 million dollars this year and 25 millions next year......not enough yet, huh? Listen - for all you A-Rod haters - even Alex said enough is enough to his agent....he said "I want to be a Yankee...let's get a deal done". There is a certain point at which the player needs to take control for the sake of his own image.....or maybe he doesn't.....but what happens if the Dodgers don't make another offer? No other team will make an offer at this point......this will be one of the more interesting bargaining moments in baseball history.

SLUMDOG MANIA

OK - the music was excellent.......good story line, interesting music, and the most important and most overlooked fact - no Hollywood Stars!!! Now for all of you out there that won't go see a film unless it has the can't miss star I just ask that you give it a try. Spend one day and go to a theater that shows mainly independent films - if you go with an open mind you will find that there are hundreds...thousand of fine actors, good director and great writers ....possibly some of the most talented in all of film making that write things that are a bit off the mainstream...not filled with the big name gorgeous talent, yet include some of the most thoughtful writing and outstanding acting that you will ever see on the screen. Slumdog did not give us a chance to look at an actor or actress and think "now who is he married to again?". It's because they were real people and not actors and so we could believe that these people were really part of this story. More interestingly it taught us that it might just be interesting to really get to know someone well. We are all generally unaware of all the life experiences of others....what makes a person think and act a certain way, what give the person the intelligence to answer multiple consecutive game show questions.....watching that movie makes me more interested in find out why a person thinks and acts the way they do. It's a great exercise in human understanding.

MUSIC OR NOT TO MUSIC....THAT IS THE QUESTION

So I ranted last week that I was very upset that a local talk radio station went off the air as the format was changed to bubble bum pop top 40. All Britney all the time.......big f&*%ing woop-dee do da day!!!!

So I have to explain this in a bit more detail. I'm in a rather high brow profession - college academia and combine that with serious classical music and you're not exactly looking at a day full of fun and laughter. So I enjoyed listening to a talk station that was mostly comedy all day long. I need to hear funny stuff....I need to here immature bathroom humor.......for the love of humanity I spent Saturday's with dad in his junkyard in the Bronx........do you have any idea what those guys from the Bronx talk like?? I just crave that connection with my past and often miss it. So this bring me to my little blurb - I'm involved in music all day long, every day. So unlike some classical musicians who insist on immersing themselves in the music at all times, even when off of work I just need a break. I don't want to hear it. That doesn't mean I don't read about it, study scores and prepare as well as anyone for rehearsals. I just don't listen to classical music casually - it is my career. I take it seriously. It's high art and I treat it that way. So I liked my comic talk radio in my spare time but I guess I'll have to find it somewhere else.

My introduction - in a nutshell

I thought it would be nice to write little blurbs about things that interest me.    I'm sure you'll find it rather blunt at times, very opinionated, and well, just plain me.   So go ahead and have it.   Rebuttals are fine.   

I'm doing this because I love sports and I have opinions on what goes on.  It's the same with movies.   In addition to all that, I have my classical music career and thought it would be interesting to review music itself...composers and pieces.   There exists reviews of premiers of the great orchestra works and even new works, but I find that often, those reviewers are journalists with limited background in the arts.    So hell...why not have someone that studies the stuff daily...does the research.....and immerses himself in it, to give you impressions, feelings and perhaps even a deeper understanding of the works and the people behind them.

I will write as I speak.   I won't be proper most of the time and all I care about is getting my thoughts out there.   And then, maybe if I'm lucky it will lead to my journalism career.

So get ready................one sports story, one classical work....one movie...coming up soon.