Ciao, Tutti!

I am soon to be on my way to an amazing weekend in Barcelona with my friend Kat from school who is currently studying in Madrid, so I figured I should write what I can now so I devote most of the next post to the trip. I am getting very excited and I will have another batch of great stories and colorful pictures when I return, and hopefully a tan, too, if the weather's nice enough to permit swimming.

I would like to say that this was a relaxing week for me, with the return of internet and not much activities outside of class, but it was actually a pretty rough week in terms of schoolwork and sleep. Monday is always a tough day for me, and it was even tougher this week because we had a double session of ensemble to make up for next Monday when we have to cancel. That meant I had class from 10:30 until 10:00 pm with a short break from 4:00-6:00, half of which is used to walk from class to ensemble, half of which is used to grab a quick dinner, and half is used to do whatever homework I may have.

The point is there's just not enough time, and Monday was therefore quite exhausting. But on the plus side, we met our new music theory teacher who seems to have an incredible reputation in his field, speaks fluent English, and has an unlimited grasp of the information, an unbelievable improvement on our previous professor who got fired. For once I can say, "Bravo, NYU." The other plus was that in jazz ensemble there was a guest who spoke up on behalf of playing the music more interestingly. As in, not just head, solos, head, out, and not playing all the solos the same for every tune. We finally started playing as a group and the pieces sounded more like pieces rather than a chance for each of the members to show off. It was a great improvement and the first time I really enjoyed myself in that band, even though we're playing Filling the Gap. The other members felt insulted by the way the guest was talking, which I could see maybe if I really concentrated, but I'm glad he said what was on my mind but couldn't quite phrase right, and we're starting to sound better. I hope things stay this way next time we meet. After the ensemble we exchanged contact information and he said he would send me an email if he wanted to have me play with him and his band up in Genoa sometime before I depart, which is very exciting because I'm quite interested in visiting Genoa, and playing there would be another amazing thing to do.

Monday is followed by Tuesday, during which I have class and a reserved practice time that keep me working from when I rise until 4:00 or so. Between Monday and Tuesday, I'm usually pretty exhausted, but there was no chance to break. I have a lot of work for composition lesson and I won't have any weekend to do it in. Plus I'm breaking through with Guest Artist and I don't want to loose too much momentum. Sigh... so much work!

Wednesday is a good day because I get to teach the kids English. I brought a small pot from home and had them all draw vegetables so we could all "make a soup" together. Afterward we took out everything they all drew and made the recipe so they could take it home and make it there if they wanted. I ended a little earlier than I had intended originally because they already seemed to know all the words I thought I was going to have to teach them. It turns out the teacher wanted me to do a food activity because that's what they were studying in their English class, not just regular class, so they already knew everything! Next week when we do sports and abilities, I'll be better prepared.

After teaching I only have one class, which makes it my shortest day. This gave me time to get some of the work done that I needed to get done, but I still have a lot to do after I'm done with the blog. But this Wednesday night I had a special ticket to see a concert in Teatro Verdi by the Toscana Orchestra, featuring violin soloist Uto Ughi. They played some works of Bach and of one of his son's, and the man's solo technique was simply incredible, possibly the best individual playing I have ever seen. I read the pamphlet about him (even though I was in Italian, I could understand most of it!) which said he was already performing when he was 7 years old and a full-fledged concert violinist when he was 12. The warm sound he got from the instrument was partly because the thing was a 1744 model that had been restored for him. Anyway, he conducted the orchestra as he played so clearly and sweetly and sometimes more impressively than I could imagine, and the Bach pieces fit his playing (and his ancient instrument) just about perfectly. He came out to play three encores, the crowd was so wowed by him, though the most impressive were his solo violin improvisations, one that was totally improvised, though you wouldn't know if he didn't say beforehand, and another that was another Bach piece. He could play things that were not only impossible to describe but impossible to play, and yet it was still musical and within the style, making up pieces with shape and form. I had to ask myself what do Jazz and other modern music have that set it apart from such virtuosity? What can we do that this violinist can't do?

If it wasn't so late, I was ready to go back to the apartment and practice for hours.

Today was fairly relaxed, which was nice. My Italian class met at a gelateria where we had a short scavenger hunt and then some NYU-funded gelato, which was actually quite good. Then a trip to L'Acedemia with my music history class to see the ancient musical instruments, then to campus to audition for the talent show fund raiser. All in all a pretty stress-free day, but it took up a lot of time and now I have no idea how I will have the energy or will-power to do all the work I have for music, let alone the usual heavy load of reading for my history class. Perhaps I will do most of the reading on the bus to the Pisa airport and the plane to Barcelona, and back, too, but I want to pack light. Oh, well, I'll figure it out later.

I apologize for the lack of pictures this week, but I'll be sure to make up for it with the Barcelona pictures. I've been giving my camera a break since it pulled a muscle with all the pictures I've been taking lately. It's almost fully recovered now, so no worries.

Music Announcements

Spread the word! Sam goldsmith and the Inspiration Sextet will present Guest Artist live at the Bowery Poetry Club-the sequel, on Thursday, September 25 from 6:00-7:30, in my best birthday concert ever. Make them have to sell standing room seats!

I am starting to procure gigs here in Italy. I will be playing with Il Trillo's Grupo Facile on April 8 in "una chiesa vecchia" (an old church). Il Trillo is the music school that lends NYU rooms for ensembles and practicing, and the owner invited me to play with one of their regular bands. They offer classes to all ages, so I bet this will be like me sitting in on a school band concert. It should be a lot of fun.

The NYU jazz ensemble I am in currently is scheduled to play at least twice in the week after spring break in March. I'm not sure of the dates because I don't think anyone is, but I think one day is at Pinocchio on March 21, though we're trying to change it to a week later, and the other is on March 26. Those are not exact dates! I don't want you to buy a ticket to come out and see me play in Florence just to find out I got the date wrong! I'll let you know when the dates are more accurate, and I'll include some cheap airfare quotes so you can make it out easily ;-)

Until next week,

-Sg

First Week Of Teaching

Ciao, Tutti!

I’m sorry I haven’t been able to write in a while. The internet situation here is out of control, and with everyone gone for the weekend, I have no one else to mooch it off. I could make the 45 minute trek to campus to do it… but even then I wouldn’t be able to put pictures on because I wouldn’t be able to use my computer. It should be fixed three days ago, so we’ll see. Anyway, it was just fixed this morning, so here I am, hastily trying to catch up when I should probably be in the Bargelo or the Uffizi or something.

The most important thing that happened so far this week was the start of me teaching English every Wednesday morning, something I have looked forward to since I heard about the option back in New York orientation. I had wanted to work with 5 and 6 year-olds like I had back home in summer camp, but apparently everyone else did, too, so I was forced to choose middle school or high school (scuola media o liceo). I chose middle school.

I was told to show up on Wednesday morning without any particular plan, to show up ten minutes early to meet the teacher, and she would tell me about the class, and then they’d question me for an hour to show off their English skills and get to know me. No such thing happened. The teacher told me they were first year middle schoolers, about 11 years old, and they didn’t know much English yet. Did I have a plan? she asked. Lucky for me, I had been thinking one up since I got the position, for the walk over, and for the 40 minutes early I somehow ended up arriving. I told you I was excited. She also told me to speak no Italian if I can help it. That part is pretty easy. Another lucky thing: the teacher said the students play music after school, so if I wanted to do something with music, they would like that very much. I told her the vibraphone would not be able to make it to class, but the melodica probably will.

It really was “Off you go!” I enter the classroom ahead of the teacher to a bustling class of preteens and immediately I have to know exactly what to do and what to say. Lucky me again, I’m quite over stage fright at this point in my life, and the kids were not only extremely well behaved but excited to meet me. Before I could say a word they greeted me with a big “Good Morning!” to which I answered the same, using my loud teaching voice I developed at summer camp. I asked them how they were, and they said they were good. I told them about myself, making sure to talk slowly and clearly without any contractions (No “I’m” or “Don’t” but “I am” and “Do not”). I tried to draw a map of the United States so I could show them where New York and San Francisco are, and they said it looked like a fish. The teacher brought me a global map, which worked better because I could show them how far Florence was from both New York and San Francisco.

I introduced myself to each of them so I could get them to speak. What is your name? Nice to meet you! How old are you? Do you like Florence? Me too! Do you play an instrument? What instrument do you play? Can you play us a short piece? Exuberance was key. If I didn’t do hand motions and acting, they would have had a much harder time understanding what I was saying. But they got it pretty quickly, and I met all of them and most got a chance to play a short children’s song. Everyone wanted to play, and I felt bad we couldn’t hear from all of them. After the performances, we had just enough time for everyone to stand up and for me to teach them the parts of the body, leading to “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” I gave a couple of the students a chance to lead the song and the game, which they liked a lot. Unfortunately, the bell rang before they had the chance to ask me many questions about myself at the end, so I’ll try to leave some time next Wednesday. The teacher and I talked about next week’s lesson plan as the kids ate, a little about New York, a little about each of our country’s elections. If you don’t already know, Italy’s government recently collapsed, which seems to happen a lot, and the teacher said that makes teaching hard because she always has to be researching the new laws.

Anyway, that was a very long way to say I had a lot of fun, and I bet next week will be great. At the end of class, one of the kids who was particularly good at understanding English gave me a little valentine’s day card with my name on the front and a heart with “Very Fantastic! Thanks!” written on the inside. I was floating on air for the rest of the day.

The other cool thing I did (and I have pictures for this one!) was to make paper at Il Papiro. That’s one of those crazy stores with all the hand-made paper that costs way more than you can afford but you want anyway because it’s so nice. NYU had a small event – only 7 people went – to witness and take part in the tradition of papermaking. First the man gave a demonstration and then we each took turns with the apron and strange tools to make our own, which we were to pick up the next day. This story I will tell through pictures:




There is a pool of strange purple glue that is the papermaking canvas. You choose a color and hit the paintbrush to make splatter paint on the “canvas”. Yes, like Jackson Pollack.




After that, there are a few tools you can use to make the paint do more than just make blobs. You can draw with the other end of a paintbrush, which is used to make the flowers and hearts, but I liked this rake the most. It makes streaks through the design, and that’s what I was feeling.




Then you carefully put the paper on the glue-paint-thing, then remove it by dragging it along a pole that wipes off the glue, leaving only the paint.




Then you smile for the camera with your paper!




I also decided that while I was there, I might as well get a really nice pen because I’ve always really wanted one. I’m not sure why. They’re really cool, but I need more of a reason than that to buy something so expensive. So I went even more expensive and bought a set with ink and a holder and everything. I have a blank notebook to record ideas I need to draw and can’t write, a souvenir from Venice, but the pencil is already smudging, so I figured it’s time to learn calligraphy. I actually have no desire to write in calligraphy, especially since I sort of have to teach myself, but it’s been working out fine for me so far.



If you don’t know what the drawing is, that’s fine. It probably won’t come into existence for another half-decade at the very least.

In other news, my terrible Music Theory II teacher has been replaced, and we get to meet the new guy on Monday. He was recommended by the Aural Comprehension teacher who has enjoyed universally great reviews from his students. Things are looking up in that respect. Not only that, the Music History II class is trying to arrange a trip to Prague to study, which would be quite amazing because I won’t be able to go to Prague otherwise. NYU has another campus there, so it shouldn’t be too hard if we can all come up with the money.

Music Announcements

The Bowery Poetry Club gig looks to be set for September 25, 2008, from 6:00-7:30, and will probably be the New York premier of Guest Artist and another piece I have been working on, Sense of Urgency. It’s almost time to start reserving tickets, but because internet has been down, I haven’t yet received the final confirmation. The same goes for the Jazz at Pearls gig, who may or may not have written me back yet.

The film I’m scoring in private composition class is a 1929 silent German film called “Panora’s Box.” I’ll probably perform it with my teacher’s other composition students on the NYU in Florence campus at the end of April.

Guest Artist is really starting to shape up in a full-fledged piece. At the pace I’m working, it should be finished shortly after Mom visits for spring break, so in a month or so.

Jam Session and Boboli Gardens

Buongiorno, Tutti!

Lately I have been robbed of my internet, so I'm at some other NYU students' place to steal theirs for a while. It might explain why I haven't been in contact via email or iChat lately, and I'm sorry but I won't be able to review a CD for this week because I have precious little time to write this post before my computer runs out of batteries.

As things are here in Florence, I couldn't go a whole week without doing something worth reporting, so even though my last post was just four days ago, I'm already blogging again. First off, I had that gig on Thursday night I didn't know whether I had or not. I did have it, and I rode in the back of the tiny Italian Smart Car, clinging to my tightly packed instrument for my life. The drummer who drove me, Simone, thought that I was the funniest looking thing and took pictures of me hunched over in the back. I'm still waiting for him to send them to me, so keep your eyes peeled. I'll be posting them when they arrive. Anyway, that's how the night started.

The venue was at this place that was beyond the law, in a way. It was an old abandoned high school that some people just took over and hope the police don't find out. Don't worry, I won't say where it is, especially because I don't think I could find it again. I couldn't see where the car was going because my head was bent over in that cramped car. Anyway, because the building has no legal owners and is basically illegal anyway, people are allowed to do things there that they wouldn't otherwise, like smoke, do drugs, talk liberal politics, etc. It felt like what a 1930's jazz club must have been like. Normally I wouldn't like that kind of thing, and the smoke did get to me pretty quickly (my great leather jacket seems to be forever possessed by smoke smell), making my eyes sting, but I had a lot of fun. It was so intimate and people were just hanging out and having fun. Perhaps the weed in the air was getting in my system, or the three glasses of wine I had, more than I have ever had in one sitting. But I loosened up and really enjoyed playing and seeing everyone have fun listening and getting together. The person who "owns" the place made dinner or the 40-50 people there at 8:30 or so, a wonderful 2-course dish first of pasta, then of a strange egg thing in tomato sauce with onions, which was out of this world good. We started playing at 11:00, and I didn't stop until 2:30. The original band took cigarette breaks here and there to let other musicians get the chance to jam, but there were no other vibraphonists, so I just stayed on stage. People kept showing up, and everyone had a good time, even if it was just playing standards. After the gig I got a few phone numbers and possible chances to play more in Florence, and Simone and I took the vibes to his studio for the night. He drove me home and we talked about Italian "womens." Oh, what I night out. Maybe I should try it more often. I went to bed at 4:30 in the morning.

That was really fun. I wish I had pictures to show off.



The lack of internet has made me surprisingly productive, and I got all my 75 pages of reading, major work for Guest Artist, and all my other homework done, so this afternoon I decided to go to the Boboli Gardens like I had always wanted to so I could see La Grotta Grande again. I like gardens in the winter because with the sun in the sky where it is you get shadows you won't get in the summer. I was most interested in the Grotta anyway, and I'm sure I'll be back in the spring when flowers are blooming because I have free unlimited access! Woo Hoo!



It was a great idea to go. The Grotta was amazing like I remembered, though I didn't remember the paintings I saw on the ceiling. I can't imagine how it was made. It's this little cave built into the wall with hand-crafted stalactites and stalagmites as well as two casts of Michaelangelo sculptures. The more you look at it in the inside, the more faces and sheep and other strange things that used to look just like rocks you can see. I wish photos could do it justice, but the same light that made it look so cool and jagged made picture taking hard to work out.

Oh, and my camera was on low battery the whole time, and I ran out before I got all the pictures I wanted. Next time I go back I'll get more pictures.

I loved wandering up and down the paths of the garden without any real plan. There are a lot of small side-streets people don't use and I would just take them and see where I end up. I knew a little about the gardens from my guide book, but I'm glad I didn't try to smash all the big "important" sights and instead ended up where fate wanted me to go, which was the best place of all (or so I know. It's not like I saw the other places to compare it to.).

I ended up high on the hill at Fort Belvedere, where there happens to be a 360 panoramic view of the entire city of Florence. It was incredible. I could see everything, the full Duomo, the Palazo Vecchio, the major churches, the Jewish Temple with the big green dome, San Miniato, and even NYU's campus, if I looked from the right angle. There were hills all around, there was the Arno river, everything on this perfectly crisp day. Now I think photos would be the best to explain this whole thing. It was breathtaking. Fort Belvedere... by far my best unexpected find in Florence.



I didn't plan on staying in the gardens until they closed, but I did. My legs are getting pretty strong from walking up the hill every day to campus, so the three hours of uphill climbing was not so hard on me.

I promise once I have more time and more pictures that there will be more amazing images of this amazing city up on the internet!!!



Music Announcements

I wrote the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City and they said they would be glad to have me back, just to pick a date. I asked them for the last Thursday of September, the 25 of the month, because I thought that having a concert on an early Thursday of the year would be better for having a big student audience, and we'll be rehearsed because the band is based in Berkeley, so we'll have already been practicing a lot. Oh, and a birthday concert might be good for publicity. It will also probably be the New York premier of Guest Artist, which is shaping up to be a wonderful and ambitious piece. I know you'll like it.

I'm also writing Jazz at Pearls to try and get a gig there. They haven't written back yet, but that would be for sometime in July back home in Berkeley.

Then, of course, there will be some gigs here in Italy. I'll let you know about those when the dates become final.

Buongiorno, Tutti!

I am still not recovered to the point of coherently speaking, but since when have I ever been coherent before? Besides, fond memories of Venice and fond promises of exciting future keep me energetic despite the lack of sleep. That and a late day tomorrow and the absence of my until now ever-present cold.

It will be very hard to say everything I want to say in this entry because there was so much that happened it will be terribly difficult to put it all into a single blog. Google might run out of room. I'll try my best, though. First, the logistics. I was in Venice over the weekend, leaving early Saturday morning and returning late Sunday night, even later because I got lost in the city and barely missed my train, prompting a trip on the local track to Bologna to transfer, which was so crowded it reminded me of the time I rode the New York Metro during rush hour. The sun never showed up one day, on vacation just as I was. The poor guy deserves a break every once in a while anyway. I went this weekend because it was the last weekend of Carnevale, which turned out to be a mistake because a lot of other tourists had the same idea and I had no intention of buying a mask, dressing up, or painting my face. I thought late January-early February would be good for avoiding tourists, but I guess I should have waited until next weekend. The main Plaza San Marco was so crowded that it was impossible to get close to the Duomo, Palazo Ducale, or the Campanile, and thus the main attractions of Venice are not the ones that burn brightly in my mind.

I still loved it.

Here are my three favorite things about this fantasy land of a city:

1) I loved the whole idea of a city based on water. There were little canals and bridges everywhere. I actually had no idea going into this that Venice was an island, which makes it even more bizarre. Who would ever think to settle on this small island carved up by various canals and then make it one of Italy's most important art capitals? It seems like something a fantasy writer would write about, a city with no cars but only boats, the buses being boats, everything being in walking distance, bridges a thing of everyday life, the smell of salt water permanently imprinted on one's tongue. Venice was a maze of canals that no one would know how to navigate without a map, signs, or the knowledge of locals. It was almost otherworldly.




2) The streets were fantastic. As I said before, there were no cars, and the streets were built with that in mind. They were very narrow, narrow enough to make me long for the sidewalks of Florence, which, if you don't know, are impossible (there's no point to even making some of the sidewalks here in Florence). The "main roads" were too narrow to fit a car in even if everyone was cleared out, even if the car was one of those tiny electric ones. Then there were all sorts of small side streets that were so narrow that some of those football players who played in Sunday's super bowl would not be able to fit through them, so they shouldn't celebrate in Venice. It was a city built for walking. I love walking, and I love mazes, and I could spend hours wandering up and down little streets no one knew about that led to who knows where, and eventually I got lost and didn't care about finding anything in particular, just trying to find out where this side street went and where the next one after that went. There was this one side street where I had to duck through a tunnel to go all the way through, and somehow ended up at a main tourist turnpike. Everything was so interconnected, though not in any recognizable way to non-Venetian eyes.



3) The stairs that went to nowhere. This seems to be a very small thing, but for me it really underscored how much the society was really primed for water. There were stairs and doors everywhere that opened onto canals with nowhere to tie a boat to be seen and with no sign of recent use. And yet they were deliberately built into the ground, probably for some ship to be parked there long ago, but from what I could judge by the water levels the boat would have risen to ground level anyway and there was no need to build steps down that no one would use. There were paintings in the Academia that showed Venetians of the Renaissance getting into their boats from the street, but not by way of stairs but simply by stepping in, and there were also in the paintings stairs that went nowhere, usually by posts to tie boats up with. Still, it tickled me to think of a city state that had built in a way for mermaids to visit frequently, or maybe Poseidon. It was such a water-based culture! Just the feel of the city... there's nothing else like it in the world.



So those are my favorite things about the city itself, and as I've mentioned my best experience in Venice did not have to do with the main landmarks we usually know as being Venetian. I didn't even spend much time on the Grand Canal, opting for the smaller ones. But I didn't spend much time at the monuments. There were too many people around and I get claustrophobic, or just uncomfortable. I even saw the Bridge of Sighs, which was okay.



There are three things I want to talk about at length that I enjoyed greatly that I did in Venice. Three is not my favorite number, but it is right now until I can find a replacement.

1) This was a complete accident. I was taking my time passing through the city on my way to the main plaza, taking my pictures, going into stores and buying playing cards (my collection of weakness), into a paper store and buying a hand-made address book, etc. I walked past a church, but I noticed it was playing music and had its doors open. Odd, because most churches were having mass. There was something on the door about Antonio Vivaldi, and I figured I might as well go in and find out how much it costs. I was blown away, actually close to the point of tears. There in front of me was a church filled with musical instruments, an exhibit of the history of instrument craftsmanship. There were violins and their precursors dating back to the 800's, Oboes from the same time, a 1400 year old harp and lute, a myriad of Renaissance-time instruments including the ancestors to the piano and guitar, instruments I remembered from Renaissance paintings. I could go on an on about this part of the trip alone. I took so many pictures, practicing my indoor picture taking without the use of a flash. My mind was blown. I can't quite explain it, looking at these beautiful instruments from the days in which all instruments had personal craftsmanship was involved. These instruments were works of art, much different than any instruments I had ever seen before. The museum, "Antonio Vivaldi e il suo tempo," gave note to each outstanding instrument craftsman like the painters attributed in the Academia. I was particularly fond of the "Viol D'amor," a 16-string 1785 violin that had the engraving of a woman's head above the tuning pegs. There were somewhere between 50 and 75 instruments of history, and I really had a perspective jolt to see physical evidence of the long and great history I am involving myself in.






2) The Venetian specialty in terms of food is gnocchi. Some people might say it's fish, but don't listen. I had gnocchi twice, the first time at a cute cafe, and it was so creamy and warm and cheesy and nothing like any of the gnocchi I ever remembered, even the amazing gnocchi I had at Santa Margarita 3 years ago (at a restaurant aptly nicknamed "F***ing Delicious"). On Sunday I went to a restaurant from the guide book that said it was a local favorite, and, what do you know, there is no menu after all, like the Cheeseboard Pizza, and the cute old woman (Melia, according to the pictures on the wall), simply asked whether I wanted gnocchi with ragu or pomodoro (meat sauce or tomato sauce). This was a meal to remember, and I certainly will remember it next time I'm in Venice. Called "Cucina Da Mario," the place was indeed quite local, with everyone inside speaking no English, even to me, the obvious tourist. This is where the gondola boaters had lunch, and they were very loud at the table to the left. As far as the gnocchi goes, it even topped the gnocchi from the day before, impossibly. It was so good I even liked the tomato, and I don't like tomatoes. It was made from scratch, obviously, and they obviously knew exactly how to cook it. They even had homemade bread, or so it seemed, because the bread in Italy is usually tasteless, but this didn't even need olive oil. It took me half the meal to remember what I was in the middle of thinking about when it made it to the table. I'm serious. It was actually that good. Go to 2614 San Marco to find out for yourself. It is in between the Vivaldi museum, which I don't know how to find again, and San Marco, I think a block away from the Vivaldi museum, maybe 1/3 of the way from the train station to the main plaza. I'm dead serious. Go there.

3) I saw a couple art museums and a few churches as well. Of course I went to the Academia, the main art museum of Venice, where there were a ton of different Renaissance paintings, kind of like the Uffizi but not quite as cool. The cool dude of the show was this guy Bellini, who decorated nearly every wall with prime examples of goodness. My favorite room, though, was the one that had huge wall-sized paintings of everyday life in Venice, two of which I had seen in my history class this year. There was a picture from when the Duomo was built but before the Campanile was started, which was cool, and lots of cramped streets and stairs going... to nowhere. It was a pretty good organization of a museum, except one room was in restoration and the rooms around it suffered the temporary guest paintings. Not much stood out to me the same way with Botticelli in the Uffizi. Maybe I'm still on a little bit of an art overload, but I had a great time and there were a lot of great pieces, though no one stood out to me individually. I also took a brief trip to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and it was a shock to see the modern art collection after all the Renaissance art of the Academia and the Uffizi. I didn't want to spend too much time there, but there were Picasso, Pollack, and Miro paintings, so I had to stay. I don't think I had ever seen a Miro painting before. I usually like Jackson Pollack the best of all modern painters, but it was the Picasso painting "The Poet" that really got to me in that museum. The way he used cubes not just for the sake of using cubes but to attain a totally new perspective you can't get without the use of cubes. That was very good for me to see.

After the Guggenheim museum I went to catch my 5:00 train, but the city turned me around and I missed it by just a hair. It wasn't such a big deal, but I missed my connection on the mainland and I had to take a local train to Bologna, which I talked about later. Hence my excuse for being so tired, but it was a nice trip, and now I know the train system better. It's not such a long train ride on express, but on the local track it's about an hour and a half longer or so, and I made it back late just in time to learn my gig at the Jazz School for the summer fell through. This means now I have a lot of communicating to go through to the states in the next few days, so I hope things get better.

I stayed in a little town just outside, about 20 minutes by train, and it was pretty cheap and a lot of bang for the buck. I don't really know what else to say about it because I spent close to zero time there. Oh, they did have a pretty good free breakfast.

Music Announcements

So, as I briefly mentioned before, the Jazz School gig will not be happening this summer. The hard thing about living here in Florence, other than nothing whatsoever, is that it's hard to get in contact with people back home, 9 hours behind me, and by the time I made contact it was too late. I should have fixed up the gig over the winter break, but there's nothing I can do about it now. So I need all the help I can get finding new venues and contacting them to make sure I have a place to play my big new project, Guest Artist, with the Inspiration Sextet. I'm disappointed I won't be playing at the Jazz school this summer, which is one of my favorite venues, but I'll still make sure to be playing this summer, hopefully at least one gig in the East Bay and one in San Francisco, maybe Jazz At Pearls or something along those lines. If anyone has any suggestions that would help, I would be very thankful. Just write me at samgoldsmithvibes@gmail.com. You won't regret it.

In Italy, however, the gigs are not an issue. I will be playing with the drummer from my NYU jazz ensemble, a local Florentine, on Thursday. I'm not sure if it's a gig or if it's a jam session, but it seems like it's going to be fun. Plus he's going to help me move the vibes. Also there is a gig opportunity in Terni for March 26 or 27, Antonio Vanni's hometown. It seems pretty exciting, and if anyone happens to be in town for that day, you should come by. I'm going to try and bring in Filling the Gap, but you won't hear anything as cool as Rite of Passage, unfortunately. The group is really into standards and not challenging the style of music at all, which makes me unhappy but I could use the practice.

One last announcement: my composition project for the semester is to collaborate with my teacher's other two students and write the film score for an old Italian silent film, and there is a chance that over the summer I'll have a multimedia venue to perform the piece at. It's a long shot, but if it happens you will get a chance to see a different Sam goldsmith than you've ever seen.

CD Review of the Week

Civilians: Joe Henry

I am most familiar with Joe Henry's work starting with "Scar," the breakthrough combination of styles from the singer-songwriter from Texas. "Scar" is a combination of Jazz, Blues, Rock, Pop, and many other styles, nothing like the blatantly bluegrass tendencies of his other projects beforehand. Four years ago, the sequel to "Scar" came out, "Tiny Voices," which was a little tuned down version of the intense wall of fusion mixture that was "Scar," and I could hear the influence of gospel, blues, and country starting to take over, even though the songs are still impossible to characterize.

I waited impatiently for four years for "Civilians" to come out, and I had nearly given up hope that he was still recording, possibly becoming a full-time producer. After the four-year hiatus, what's it going to sound like? Will it sound like the new sound generated by "Scar" and "Tiny Voices," or will it be more like the older "Short Man's Room" or "Trampoline," back in the country/bluegrass days?

It turns out four years gave way to something completely new - again. "Civilians" is a subdued CD compared to the last two CD's, focusing on the lyrics (and Henry is an unreal songwriter) rather than the harmony, instrumentation, and orchestration that gave "Scar" and "Tiny Voices" their unique diversity. Despite Bill Frisell's presence, the jazz element is downplayed, and the CD is certainly under the category of songwriting. And yet it still challenges, partially due to the conviction in Henry's voice. In his other CD's Henry's voice takes the back burner to the amazing musicians (Ornette Coleman stars in "Scar"), while Henry's voice is in the forefront of "Civilians." This is certainly Joe Henry's project, while his other projects have been more focussed on group dynamic. And Henry is certainly deserving of the spotlight, his voice carrying a newfound passion and lyrics that flow effortlessly and evocatively. It's not like nothing you've ever heard before in terms of the simple musical content, but the calm of the CD is only to keep Henry's lyrics foremost in your mind. It is a great CD, but not a CD that hit you over the head with greatness. It is subtly great.

Listen for "Time is a Lion," the single and my personal favorite from the project, also the one that has the most presence. Also, with "God Only Knows," depending on the speakers you listen with, you can hear a tone made by the drums that changes one of the chord qualities during the chorus. Both ways sound great, but I can't help but wonder if that's an intentional effect.

Innovation: B+
Musicianship: B
Entire CD: A
Individual Songs: B
Overall: B+

Venice - Yes, I Was There

So there is some proof I was there above where you are currently reading. I was there over the weekend, and I know I have been away from human contact. I didn't even know Pau Gasol was traded to the Lakers. Anyway, there is a lot a lot a lot to write about for the Venice entry, and part of it is why I will not be writing it now. You see, I am entirely worn out from not sleeping, aching shoulders from a backpack I'll remember to pack more lightly next time, and missing the train back and having to stand the whole way, only to find everything closed when I got back so there was no dinner and nowhere to buy milk for breakfast the next morning, which also happened to be Monday, my heaviest day of classes (class from 10:30-8:00, baby! Thank goodness for the light break for lunch which is nearly negated by the commute). Suffice to say I am very tired right now, and I have nearly reached my limit for writing right now. But everyone keep their eyes open. I'll be writing about Venice as soon as I can, which may be tomorrow after class or Wednesday or both. For now, here are some pictures to hold you over or whet your appetite, whichever works for you. The reason they're all so gray is because it rained the entire time I was there. It was still beautiful. I took 270 pictures. Click on them to make them bigger.

-Sam g