The Origin of Love

Mad World!

Yellowstone, Fort Collins and other side trips

jerome at yellowstone lake

I should have written this blog earlier. The trip has almost been a month ago but the adventure element of my trip to Yellowstone and the mountain regions of the US with my good friend Joao still lingers. Joao is now back in Portugal and I miss having him around. I am sure he is having a fun time eating pasties and drinking port (Lucky you!).
Anyway, it was early October when Joao and I flew to West Yellowstone. Having limited time for vacation, it was the fastest way we could get to the country’s first ever national park. The first thing I remember about Yellowstone is that it’s where Yogi bear lives (Later on, I’ll realize that Yogi bear’s cousins are not so jolly as he is). I also visited my close friends at Fort Collins, Co – Daniel and Noriko. I had a blast at Fort Collins.

Click on the photo and it will take you to flickr.com where you can see other photos from my trips around…

The Russians came, I listened and they conquered.

I always try to go to the symphonic concerts at the Mondavi Center. Perhaps, it’s a vestige of my grand mother’s influence on me. You see, as a young boy, my grandmother would take me to watch symphonies. It was actually my grandmother and to a certain extent my mother who introduced me to the arts- mom would take me to Disney on Ice. So you must imagine that there is always a child-like excitement whenever I get the chance to see orchestral performance. Last night, I was particularly excited since the Russians were playing.

With blazing sounds from oboes, brass and cellos the Russians have announced their arrival! Oh boy! The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra knew how to get everyone’s attention with Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave. The brass was loud, the clarinets and violas amazing! This reminded me of the reason I love watching orchestras. Listening to them on my ipod just isn’t the same as hearing them perform live. I literally feel the music come to life with live performances. The subtle vibrations of the string instruments, the soaring clarinets and brass add up to the experience.

I was treated to see Alisa Weilerstein perform for the first time. She was the cellist in the challenging second piece the orchestra played (Variations on a Rococo Theme by Tchaikovsky). I love cellos- it’s my favorite instrument! It has a light and triumphant side but it also has the ability to invoke pathos. Alisa’s performance was able to showcase versatility of the cello’s sounds. More than this, I thought Alisa has a stage presence that commands attention. There’s duality in her much like the cello. I find that she has an angelic face but she can sure rock the cello! Being on a red gown makes her performance even hotter!

I thought that the Moscow State Symphony’s performance for the evening was pretty memorable. They gave a very generous encore performance –they played 3 additional pieces. My favorite was the second one when there was this guy rocking the cymbals! Honestly, I’ve never seen anyone play cymbals like that!

Needless to say, I got a kick out of the evening’s performance. I was like a kid in a candy store only much better!