LET ME BE BRIEF

WHY WE SUCK AT BASEBALL

Got lots to do today people so I'll be brief and to the point. I'm talking about the USA Baseball team....that's right....USA. They just step up to the plate and hack away. They did beat Puerto Rico in the bottom of the 9th to advance but just watch the Koreans and Japanese. They know how to sacrifice players around the bases, and they play it more as an intellectual chess match....just as baseball was played in the good old days. We on the other hand, products of the steroid pumping, burly man, "knock the fucking cover off the baseball" era just step into the batter's box and try to hit it as far as we can. We don't care who is on base or what the hell the score is. Even my man Derek Jeter proved my point last night. Jeter is a great hitter. But with no outs in the 9th and runners on 1st and 2nd you bunt Derek. That puts runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out and great hitters coming up. Luckily it did not backfire too badly as Jeter hit a line drive to right that moved one runner over but still left us in a potential game ending double play situation. Does anyone know how to coach baseball anymore? Help me out here people.

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

Are you kidding me - 1942: "The Pride of the Yankees" with Gary Cooper playing Lou Gehrig. It's good to know about Gehrig's disease in a bit more detail before watching the film and it is truly one of the more crushing moments in all of sports or in life when someone is stricken with something so suddenly and unexpectedly and is facing death with no warning and no hope. Sorry to be depressing, but it's a good film with outstanding acting.

ORCHESTRAL AEROBICS

I won't give too much away as I may be on par with Tae-Bo or whatever the hell that kickboxing fad was a few years ago. I was working on conducting with my entire class yesterday....we were doing all body movement. I quickly realized that some of the things we were doing were really using different muscles and at times it became quite tiring. I also realized I should put on some classical music and move to the music. Then I realized I should write this all out in outline form, take some of my students to LA Fitness and demonstrate for the staff there and start and Orchestral Aerobics class. What do you think? Can I get some feedback here?

GRIPE OF THE DAY

People that are entirely NON SELF MOTIVATING. Students and people that need to be kicked in the ass and have someone tell them what to do instead of taking initiative. Listen.....if you want to choose music performance as your career, then practice longer hours than anyone else. Seek out extra lessons. Try to one up the next person at every corner. Don't make me tell you how to do it. Don't force me as your teacher to have to excite you about music every single time I see you. Yes, it is part of my job to keep you interested and give you constructive comments and to guide you. But the drive needs to be inside your body and inside your brain. If it's not there, you can find a profession working on an assembly line somewhere. No motivation needed. Just show up and do the same damn thing every day and take instructions from your boss.

OK - so I wasn't so brief.