My First Top 5

I caught the last few minutes of the film adaptation of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity the other day, and I was struck with a sudden realization – I have never made a Top 5 list. For anyone that hasn’t seen the film/read the book, the Top 5 list plays a crucial role. Lists such as “Top 5 Monday morning work songs”, “Top 5 breakup songs”, “Top 5 songs about death”, “Top 5 musical crimes perpetrated by Stevie Wonder in the 80’s and 90’s” – the plot revolves around three record store employees so they’re mostly music related, but you get the idea. At any rate, I was inspired and realized that with the closing of my first season here I finally had a worthy subject matter for my very first Top 5.

So without further adieu, I proudly present…

Top 5 Moments in My First Season at MCA

1. Diavolo
This was the third show of the 2007-2008 season, and easily my favorite “dance” show. I put dance in quotes because the focus wasn’t so much on dance in the traditional “plie and arabesque” manner. I don't even know how to begin to explain it ... giant boat rocking back and forth launching people high in to the air, big metal wheel swallowing dancers between its crossbars, black fiberglass prisms on wheels forming variety of geometric shapes (while being danced on), Arvo Part ... I think the best thing to do is buy tickets next time it comes around.

As a side note I recently saw* Diavolo founder/artistic director Jacques Heim as a guest judge and instructor on an episode of Bravo's Step it Up and Dance hosted by Jesse Spano (Elizabeth Berkley). He is quite a character, as anyone that stayed for the post-show talk back could attest to.

*I don’t actually watch this show, it was just a preview I swear…

2. 3P07
I am a huge fan of the new music scene and I’m very grateful to our fearless leader (Ms. Kathy Panoff) for her relentless commitment to bringing in new music composers/performers to our venues. For those of you that don't know about it, Third Practice is an electroacoustic music festival founded in 2001 by Benjamin Broening (music department faculty here at UR). Here again text isn't the appropriate medium to convey meaning, but if I had to sum it up in one ugly run-on sentence-- Two days of mixed media, multi-channel, thought provoking compositions that blur the lines between music, sound and noise with a unique marriage of acoustic sound and modern technology. This was my second year as Assistant Technical Director for the festival, and it just keeps getting better. 3P07 featured So Percussion, a premier by composer Francis White, and a collaboration between UR faculty Andy McGraw, ensemble-in-residence eighth blackbird and Balinese puppeteer Gusti Putu Sudarta. For more information, check out the festivals web site here.

3. Steve Reich Double Sextet Recordings/Premier
In January I had the privilege and honor of sitting beside Grammy-award winning producer Judith Sherman, directing Grammy-award winning ensemble eighth blackbird in the recording of a new commission by Grammy-award winning composer Steve Reich. That’s a lot of Grammys! I acted as recording engineer, setting up the equipment and running the recording software for two frigid winter days in a heater-less room. If that wasn’t enough, I was also active as stagehand and assistant to the audio engineer for the world premier of the same piece in March, for which Mr. Reich was in attendance. Needless to say, that was a highlight of much more than just this year for me…

4. Ira Glass
Radio has a special place in my heart – I have vivid memories of Sunday morning car rides listening to Prairie Home Companion with my parents, and late night road trips full of old time radio shows like Dragnet and Have Gun Will Travel. I had actually never listened to Ira Glass until he graced our stage, but his opening monologue, a good five minutes in complete black with nothing but the sound of his voice and a well-told story, really took me back. It was truly a great night of entertainment, and it was so simple – one man, a chair, a table and two CD players sitting bare downstage center. No fancy lights, no pyrotechnics, no sets or backdrops, just a regular guy with a microphone and some funny stories. It was one of the very few times I sat in the booth upstairs and listened from start to finish, thinking to myself “This is work? People pay for this…”

5. Regina Carter
I won’t lie … a big factor in this making the list is the fact that it was the last show of the season. But not like that, not in the “Thank God it’s over!” sense (OK maybe a little bit…), but more in the summation of an entire seasons worth of hard work. It was a great show, her band was incredible and she’s an amazingly talented performer – I enjoyed every second of it. But it was more than that; they were genuinely good people that were a pleasure to work with and a joy to talk to. They hit the perfect (high) note to end my first season on. It’s people like them that make me glad to be in this field.

Can’t wait for next season!