Area51 debuts, unexplained phenomena abound.

Last night at SUNY Purchase Recital Hall the Area51 Trombone Quartet presented their first programme. The evening was peppered (much like Harry Whittington) with rarely seen events.

1. Roughly 30 people turned out, refusing to believe governmental reports refuting the enjoyability of a trombone quartet recital.

2. These 30 people apparently passed up the chance to watch Olympic Curling on TV to be at said recital.

3. This audience professed afterward to enjoy even the most contemporary literature presented.

4. The trombone was demonstrably able to back up it's well-deserved reputation as "one big tuning slide".

5. Jim Pugh performed on a half-assembled slide (STILL sounding better than everyone else).

6. A late-programme costume change made some of us look even LESS geeky.

7. After (or, possibly during) a speech "perhaps" poking fun at our current national leaders, Mark Patterson's mutes were inexplicably locked in the "green" (this designation does not refer to the "alert" level) room.

8. Mike Christianson missed his high "D". (In curling, there are 2 basic shots: the "draw"{sneak up gracefully to another rock} and the "takeout"{send that baby to the moon}. Jim Pugh, for instance could "draw" up to a high D. I could only attempt a "takeout", but I misread the ice, my embouchure started to curl, I failed to sweep and completely missed it. In curling, sometimes an apparently colossal mistake can turn out well, as in the German men's last-rock boo-bbo against the US that enabled them to score 3 points! This "happy accident" concept sadly doesn't apply in concertized written-out music, however.)

Hollywood Curling!

Yes, indeed! Here's the requested list of major-release motion pictures that I know to feature curling.

1. Her Majestys Secret Service

James Bond does really curl in this rare one (the single Bond performance by George Lazenby, love theme sung by Louis Armstrong!).

2. Men With Brooms

This Canadian-produced comedy is quite enjoyable, with actual strategy and rules worked into the plot. Leslie Nielsen guest
stars.

(other movies that appear on imdb.com under a "curling" search include "Help!" {yes, that one}, "Little Women" , "My Life So Far", and "Gone Curling". That last is certainly destined to be the name of a tune I write)

OK. That's it.

John Hollenbeck at The Kitchen

John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble
Inspirations and Aspirations

February 17th and 18th (Fri and Sat)
8pm

Tickets $10

Leading an eighteen-piece ensemble, the versatile percussionist and composer
John Hollenbeck presents new, surprisingly intimate, orchestral works that interweave diverse musical influences, ranging from minimalist composition to jazz-influenced free improvisation to ethereal ambient chants. The evening includes works inspired alternately by a monastic meditation guidebook, a Michael McClure poem, and Mahatma Gandhi.

Ben Kono
Charles Pillow
Dan Willis
Chris Speed
Bohdan Hilash

Tony Kadleck
Dave Ballou
Shane Endsley
Colin Brigstocke

Rob Hudson
Kurtis Pivert
Jacob Garchik
me

Matt Moran
Kris Davis
Kermit Driscoll

Theo Bleckmann
John Hollenbeck

JC Sanford


Music programs at The Kitchen are made possible with generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

The Kitchen is located at 512 W 19th St (betw. 10th & 11th Ave), NYC.

www.thekitchen.org

AREA51 'Bone Quartet Recital

AREA51 a new Trombone Quartet will present their inaugural recital!

Monday, 2/20 7:30 PM
SUNY Purchase Recital Hall
in the Performing Arts Center.

http://www.artscenter.org/directions.html

Free.

Jim Pugh
Mark Patterson
me
Matt Ingman

play the music of:

Charles Wourinen
Joey Sellers
Derek Bourgeois
Alfred Hornoff
J.S. Bach
Claude Debussy

MC Quartet: Jazz Vespers

photo by John Meyers


The Mike Christianson Quartet
Jazz Vespers
Sunday 2/12, 5PM
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
233 S Highwood Ave
Glen Rock, NJ 07452
Free

featuring:
(the aforementioned)- Trombone, Tuba, Didgeridoo
Scott Robinson- Tenor Sax, Contrabass Sarrusophone
Bill Moring- Bass
John Meyers- Drums

http://good-shepherd-lutheran-church.org/

First things first; Curling!

That's right, curling. The sport invented on a frozen Scottish loch which features a pub built in to every curling facility. Why, you may ask, does he or anyone care about curling? Because I am a trophy-owning experienced curler (presently in geographically forced retirement).

Growing up in ND it was relatively easy to get bored, so one day when 3 friends and I had completely run out of ideas, we spied the lighted, flashing "Try Curling" sign at the local curling club. That's right, I said "curling club". A facility that exists ONLY for curling, and is fully equipped with a bar and an old tack piano. We discovered, as would anyone, that you just can't appreciate how much fun it is to thrust a 44lb. rock down a sheet of ice, trying to guide it around or into your opponents rocks, wielding a broom while trying not to fall down.

Our "rink" (that's curling-speak for "4-person team") with average age of 19 was, by 20 years the youngest of the 32 rinks in the club. So, we stunk. But, they loved us. They were so happy to have some new blood in their club (as well as to have someone to regularly pummel) that they allowed our fledgling rock cover band "Young Caucasians" (in which I was the keyboard operator) to rehearse there. When we found out we could be in the club alone (they gave us a key!) we not only rehearsed, but would actually practice curling. So we got better, but not enough to actually win, just enough to lose less spectacularly.

At the end of the regular league season (during which we went 0-16) the club had a "bonspiel", a 32-team double-elimination tournament. After your first 2 games you would be grouped with teams with like records. We, no surprise, ended up in the 0-2 group (or"event"). ....where we inexplicably won our next 4 games to take the "1st Place in the 4th Event" trophy, pictured here!

Here's a link to USA Curling

http://www.usacurl.org/

where you'll notice that Minnesota and North Dakota are 1&2 in the standings. New Jersey nowhere to be found!

Curling coverage starts Monday 2/13.
Go Team Johnson! Go Team Fenson!