I recently discovered the Bucket List blog and was inspired by the story of a woman who decided that a “good enough” life really wasn’t. Instead, she wrote her bucket list and devoted herself full-time to achieving it. Since her bucket list seemed to include an awful lot of stamps in her passport, I immediately subscribed and began to study the blog for clues to answering the primary question in my life: how to pay for airplane tickets.
ByGD
All That and a Bucket List (no chicken)
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La fille du régiment at Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera kicked off its 50th season with Donizetti’s La fille du régiment. It seemed like a strange choice to me, because, well, it is not the best opera. In fact, it almost doesn’t seem like opera. It reminded me more of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance than a comedic bel canto like Così fan tutte. Read More
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What I Felt
I was listening to Nils Frahm’s album Felt while washing dishes when I was overcome by the most powerful sadness.
It was a good day. The whole family was together, shopping for ski season and checking out books from the library; I picked up Outside magazine’s special life-hacking issue “127 Strategies for Living Bravely.” We ate prawns, seasonal vegetables, and locally made pasta with our favorite cheap red wine, Protocolo.
But Nils Frahm always sends my thoughts down a rabbit hole, and the music was so achingly beautiful it set me to yearning, once again, that I too could make something exquisite to add to the collection of extraordinary things that brighten this world. Frahm conjured all my dreams of a life of art and ideas; images of traveling the world, not just to see what I could see, but with something precious to share as I discovered each wondrous new place. I had to fight not to be a clichéd housewife crying over the dinner dishes.
Then I remembered the phone conversation with my mom earlier in the day. Read More
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Twyla Tharp, A I R at PNB
The seasons changed this weekend. Friday night was my last summer music festival. Saturday afternoon Pacific Northwest Ballet kicked off the fall arts season with a mixed program choreographed by Twyla Tharp. Like Vin Diesel says in xXx, “I live for this shit.” It is no accident that my house is exactly 3 miles from Seattle Center. Google Maps claims it takes 11 minutes from my driveway to the McCaw Hall parking garage. So when I left my house an hour before AIR Twyla, it was only because my date for the performance – my 9-year-old daughter – was getting antsy. It was a good thing we left early, because it took us over an hour to get there.
We slipped into the empty back row to see the PNB premiere of artist-in-residence Twyla Tharp’s “Brief Fling,” already in progress. I find it disconcerting to miss even the first few seconds of a performance. Not so my kid. Moments after we sat down, she stage-whispered, “I love this one already!”
ByGD
Optical 2: Erased Tapes Showcase at Decibel Festival
Subtitle: Who the hell is Nils Frahm and why haven’t I heard of him before?
Nils Frahm (obviously a press photo and not one of mine)
Seattle’s Decibel Festival turns 10 this year, which means it was born just about the same time I quit following electronic music. While I wasn’t paying attention, Decibel grew into a world class celebration of underground and experimental electronic music. The only reason I went this year was to see Ólafur Arnalds. But what I will remember most is Nils Frahm.