catching up with myself

After the initial flurry of travelling, rehearsing, meeting up with friends I haven't seen for years, and of course performing, I'm now entering a few days of down-time. I'm currently in Austin, Texas, staying with my sister Ruth, my nephew Joshua and my little niece Madeleina. It's a city I've visited frequently since my sister moved here, so there's a calming sense of familiarity about it.

Backtracking a little before I move on: I need to tell you about the SF and Austin performances! San Francisco had a disappointing turn-out, but was an otherwise awesome gig. Beautiful space, fantastic staff (thanks Adria!), and Tara and I felt like we really nailed all the pieces... especially the Caprices! It was again a very friendly and informal vibe, and I'm really enjoying the experience of developing my spiels and my overall performance (ie not just the playing) from one gig to the next. It's an adrenalin rush, keeps the creative juices flowing, and inspires me to do more of this kind of thing.

On now to Austin, where I performed last night. It was a bit of a rockstar moment, with my name up in big letters on the front of the Arts Center (see photo above). Once again, an exciting and intimate space to perform in, brilliantly colourful artworks, and fantastic staff who were ready, willing and able to do pretty much anything for me to get the performance to happen. Minor technical hitch #1 occurred in the rehearsal, when we just couldn't get the delay pedal to work for the final piece. agh! Finally, about 20 minutes before the performance, Russell (awesome tech/venue manager) got it working! yeah! A quick test and we were ready to roll.

A nice healthy crowd of about 40 came for the show. Excellent. My flutist friend Seetha joined me for the Caprices this time - we'd performed together a few years ago in Austin, and it was fun to work on a new piece with her. I was really impressed with how well the Caprices came together in just one full rehearsal and a second short top-and-tail run. Amazing. Thanks Seetha! Hermes (composer of the Caprices) was there, he's doing his PhD here in Austin at the moment, so it was wonderful to finally meet him. Thanks for writing such cool pieces!

I had a lot of audience members approach me after the concert, saying how much they'd enjoyed the evening. That's always great to hear, and gives me a boost of confidence that maybe I am on the right track after all...

Now I have some downtime before heading to Chicago on Saturday. Today I went for a massage (thanks Emily!!) and she went deeeeeeep into some seriously messed-up bits of my poor ol' body. Those muscles under the shoulder blades - owwieeeeeeee! and my right QL.... eeeeeek! I've since had a soothing bath in epsom salts and feel much better. Currently supplementing that with a heat-pad as I type this, so fingers crossed that tomorrow all shall be well.

Tomorrow is a designated "home day" for me. Not gonna go anywhere. I need to have some ME time, catch up on some work and plan ahead for Chicago and NYC. Ruth and I might go see a movie tomorrow night, as the kids' dad will be here to look after them.

Wednesday I get to go to Joshua's 1st grade class to perform for them and talk about Australia and flutes and whatever else they want to know. Then I do the same at Leina's preschool, fun!! I was thinking of making that one interactive, with tuned bottles for them to blow, and I'll improvise over the top. Hmm, still thinking about that. Anyone have any experience with getting 3 year olds to blow across a bottle top???

Still enjoying the great food, definitely soaking up the beautiful warm Austin weather (just like home!), and excited to continue the tour. Can't believe I'm almost half-way through my time here.

j*

a day off

Another slow start to today - greeted by a tasty big bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, oh yeahhhhhh. Jen and I had decided to do something hideously touristy, but by the time we got going we'd missed a big chunk of the day. No problem, I was just happy to potter around and soak it all in. We took a lovely stroll down to the waterfront near where Jen lives, and I was amazed at how many eucalyptus trees there were. Just like home.

We'd decided to head towards Golden Gate Park to check out the California Academy of Sciences: http://www.calacademy.org/ which was amaaaaaaaaaazing! By the time we got there we only had about an hour and a half but boy did we make the most of that time! Mostly hung out in the underwater section, where I discovered the Alligator Gar and the Spiny Lumpsucker (I kid you not). After much oohing and ahhing we moseyed up to the "Living Roof" which was very cool and reminded me of Teletubby Land. We just managed to get downstairs again in time for the last Planetarium show of the day - thank goodness, it was incredible! High tech digital 3D stuff from earth to the solar system, galaxy, universe, etc etc. Brilliant.

Departing the show and feeling utterly insignificant, we battled the cold wind and decided to have a look at the oceanfront. It was so close, we just couldn't pass it up! But brrrrrrr it was chilly. Lasted all of about 5 minutes before turning right back around and discovered a lovely pond in the midst of the park (the park itself stretches for dozens of city blocks - huge!), so we sat in the remnants of sunshine, chatted to the beautiful ducks and chuckled at their waddly backsides.

Next stop was dinner - a little Chinese dumpling place that Jen had never been to, but had seen great reviews online. Fingers crossed! At least it was warm in there. Thankfully it was DELICIOUS!! Wow! O Great Internet Phenomenon, shall ye never fail us?? The dumplings were amazing, as was everything else on the table (there was A LOT of food ordered. ahem. lots of leftovers for lunch tomorrow!). Sean drove us back over the Golden Gate bridge which was a gorgeous way to end an awesome day.

Now I'm kicking back, waiting for my laundry to dry, and listening to the new Indigo Girls CD that was just released yesterday :-)

Next report will be post-concert, probably day after tomorrow...

next stop...

...San Francisco! Had a lovely short flight in to Oakland yesterday, was nice to be in small airports instead of the scary big confusing ones. Flew in over soft green hills and sprawling farmlands, some hills even had a bit of snow still clinging to the slopes. From Oakland I was collected by my gorgeous composer friend Jen, and her husband Sean, and we travelled in to Berkeley where they both work. Jen treated me to a delicious lunch at a little French style bistro - I tried her gingerbread pancakes and was jealous ;-)

While Jen went back to work, I braved the public transport system and successfully got myself in to the centre of San Fran to visit the Meridian Gallery. It's a beautiful space, spread over 3 levels, and right in the heart of the city. Thankfully it's also just at the base of one particularly steep hill :-) Once again the staff were brilliant, really going out of their way to make sure everything was as it needed to be. Unfortunately one artwork has to be removed from the space as it's using the DVD screen that I'll need for one of my performance pieces (Jen says hi) but other than that all the groovy artworks are staying put. yay.

Back to Berkeley for some more pottering (including a wonderful bookshop, and a soul-warming mocha with whipped creammmmmmmmmmmm... and then dinner at a cajun/creole restaurant. I couldn't see a single thing on the menu that didn't sound absolutely mouthwatering. I went for the fried chicken with ginger-vanilla-mashed sweet potato and beans (drool), and shared some sides of hush puppies and baby back ribs (smothered with bourbon-BBQ-sauce). we drank beer from jars (I kid you not - I even have photographic proof) and finished with bread and butter pudding with brown sugar syrupy buttery sauce stuff. good lord. i could barely fit anything else in (but monsieur, it is only wafffffer thiiiiin....), but made a special effort for the sauce.

Today we're having a slow start, but plan to head in to the city and do something terribly touristy - maybe a ferry ride on the bay, maybe go to alcatraz, perhaps some wanderings around golden gate park. Jen has promised some amazing chinese food for lunch, and by the sound of it we're going to have a laundry party tonight as i'm down to my last pair of (holey) socks.

ciao!

sunday

chilly cloudy small bursts of sunshine but not enough to feel warmth overslept mild panic eased after rehearsal lunch finally finished the burrito from yesterday managed to stretch it out to encompass 3 meals and they say that portion sizes here are the same as in australia uh i don't think so adventures at officemax to print programs should have taken 5 minutes ended up taking about 30 arrived at wulf much vacuuming had been achieved great space so friendly guests arrive music begins all well received one in particular deeply touched by the performance that kind of response always gives me hope some light mingling followed by mr ramen huge bowls there's that portion size issue again great comfort food and excellent company celebrating tara's birthday our concert erin's visit emily's departure off to find a bar to hang out stumbled upon shoji's birthday is this a private party yes but you can come in karaoke cake japanese beer hilarious fun what a birthday dancing queen stand by your man rock'n'roll suicide made a gracious exit before our welcome was worn out home to bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

LA in the daylight

Of all my trips to the US, this is the first time I've really spent any time in the LA suburbs. We're really close to downtown here, but it's been great to drive through different areas and see a bit of the reality of the city. Away from the typical hustle of the airport, or the glitzy touristy areas.

Today I spent some time at home practising, which felt good. I was a touch woozy from the long arduous flight (I forgot to mention that, as comfortable as the plane was, there was a *lot* of turbulence on the way here!) but wanted to force myself to adjust as quickly as possible. After hitting "snooze" a few times I finally made it into the day.

Practise was followed by lunch - my request for mexican food was granted at a little restaurant up the road. yum. HUGE portions (I had a another serving for dinner and there's still enough left for lunch tomorrow!) but so so so good. I always try to get my fill of great mexican food when I come to the states. that and cinnabons ;-)

Tara and I did some rehearsing in the afternoon, then I met with local LA composer Cat Lamb, who has written a new piece for me to perform tomorrow night (bass flute and viola). We drove over to the venue to rehearse and meet the venue owners. It's essentially the living room of a 'warehouse' type apartment, in which live 2 really great ex-CalArts students (one is a composer, the other plays violin and also composes I think). It was a lovely relaxed and welcoming vibe there, and I'm excited to perform in the space tomorrow. The rehearsal went a lot better than any of us were expecting (!!!!) though by the end of it my chops were totally blown out. pluhhh! the piece involves a lot of unusual microtones (based on just intonation), and it's hard work with the brain and the embouchure working overtime to figure it all out on the fly. We were all pretty happy with the results though, and are looking forward to putting it all together at the gig.

Coming home we got stuck in some traffic and got called at by some guys on the side of the street walking along the lines of traffic selling baseball t-shirts. We thought this was a bit odd until it dawned on us that this was the reason for the traffic jam - the 'world series' starts today at the Dodger Stadium, which is really close to home!! There's been a large blimps circling in the sky most of the day. Tonight we watched it float behind some low clouds and it all seemed very UFO.

I just now got home from a concert by the California E.A.R. Unit, at the new(-ish) Redcat hall - it's the latest contemporary performance space in LA, and is housed in the back corner (of course) of the amazingly impressive Frank Gehry-designed Disney concert hall. Stunning. Breathtaking, in fact. It's the same architect who designed the Guggenheim in Bilbao, which I was lucky enough to visit way back in 1997 or so. he is truly a unique architectural voice, and I wonder what the world would be like if ALL buildings were as beautiful and interesting and inspiring as his. Would we still see them that way if we had nothing bland and boring to compare them to???

The concert itself was - well - interesting. It was a series of works by young American composers. Lots of different styles represented, but I particularly enjoyed the last work, by Oscar Bettinson. Was really nice to get out and see a little glimpse of the LA new music crowd, and it was encouraging (in a strange sort of way) that the crowd wasn't really that different in size than a lot of Aussie new music concerts.

First concert of the tour tomorrow, so it's time for my beauty rest. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon (haven't actually taken very many yet). And of course stay tuned for the next instalment!

j*

back in the USS......A!

Greetings to all from an unexpectedly chilly City of Angels. I checked the weather forecast before I left and I could have sworn it said LA would be a delightful 24 degrees. hmm. In any case, I've arrived and am still in that slightly surreal, vaguely dream-like state that exists when you step off a plan on the other side of the planet.

I'm staying with my good friend Tara - we studied together in Sydney for our Masters a couple of years ago. I've really missed having her around, being another flutey soul drawn to the weird and wonderful world of new music. And she's also a whole lotta fun. I'm really looking forward to doing a few gigs with her here - she's joining me here in LA as well as San Francisco and Chicago!

Not much else to report, other than the usual stories of barely making it to the flight on time (NOT my fault!), having things taken away from me at customs (my toothpaste! gahh!), and long, long immigration queues at LAX.

Oh, on the bus from the airport to downtown LA I was looking out the window and noticed all the palm trees. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Sometimes in large clumps, more often standing alone or in long, spaced out rows. They're not the lush tropical sort of palm trees though, they're reeeeeeeeally tall, with just a little clump of leaves right at the top. I wondered how they even stay upright, it just seems so off balance. I couldn't see any buildings at all, just the tops of these weird alien-like palms, so it really did feel like another world for a while.

Have to wake myself up now for a pretty full day of practise and rehearsing. I'm off to see the venue a bit later today, and to rehearse a new piece with the composer (Cat Lamb - bass flute and viola). Stay tuned for more travel tales!

j*

on tour

I'm about to head off to the USA for my first solo tour, bringing a whole slew of brand new works for flute by awesome Australian and American composers, including Julian Day, Stephen Adams, Katia Beaugeais, Kathryn O'Halloran, Dominik Karski, Jen Wang, Jenny Olivia Johnson, Nomi Epstein, Hermes Camacho and Cat Lamb.






Here are the details:

LOS ANGELES: March 22 @ the wulf.
http://www.thewulf.org/

SAN FRANCISCO: March 26 @ Meridian Gallery
http://www.meridiangallery.org/index.html

AUSTIN: March 29 @ Dougherty Arts Center
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/dougherty/

CHICAGO: April 5 @ Heaven Gallery
http://www.heavengallery.com/

NEW YORK CITY: April 8 @ The Tank
http://www.thetanknyc.org/


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Stay tuned for regular updates from the road!

(the awesome artwork is by Julian Day: www.lightinanemptyspace.blogspot )