Run for the border

A few weeks ago a friend told me about a "secret menu item" at Taco Bell and, being the Taco Bell afficionado that I am, I went and tried it. It's called the Cheesy Gordita Crunch and, if you have the chance, I highly suggest you try it. It just may be my Taco Bell item-of-choice from now on. For some reason it's not actually on the menu but you can order it with no problem at all. Look at this beauty:













It's basically a hard shell taco wrapped in a Gordita and you might be thinking to yourself, "Hey, it's just a Double Decker Taco with a Gordita instead of a flour tortilla on the outside." But, guess what? You'd be wrong. The Cheesy Gordita Crunch has a secret. You can see it peeking out a little over the Gordita in the picture. Whereas the Double Decker Taco uses refried beans to bind the two tortillas together, the CGC uses delicious, melted cheese. As an extra bonus they put some Baja Sauce inside to make it even tastier. So good...words cannot express.

This got me wondering what other "secret menu items" there might be that I'm completely unaware of and missing out on every time I make a run for the border. You know, when you think about it, the people at Taco Bell are geniuses: they take the same 7 ingredients and spread them out over a whole menu of insanely-good-but-probably-not-so-healthy food. Their overhead must be nothing. They've got to be cleaning up at the bank (when they don't have E. coli or rats, that is) and, with all the possible combinations, there must be other secret menu things.

nookyooler

It's a slow blog day: One of my major pet peeves is when people can't pronounce words correctly. I don't know where I picked this little tick up but when people say some of the following words wrong it makes me want to strangle them sometimes. I understand why you might mess up less-common words (i.e. Worcester, insouciant, tiramisu, etc.) but there are a few words out there that are, for some reason or another, acceptable to mispronounce. Wikipedia even has a list of "disputed pronunciations" that addresses this problem. So, just to set the record straight:

et cetera: et-set-er-a, not ek-set-er-a

February: feb-roo-air-y, not feb-yoo-air-y

chipotle: chi-pot-lay, not chi-pole-tay
It's even worse when a waiter/waitress shows you the new "chipolte" item on the menu...just look at the word!

nuclear: noo-klee-ur, not noo-kyoo-ler
Irreparable damage has been done to this one because our President, the "Leader of the Free World", has stood firm for many years and spoken it incorrectly. I think he does it on purpose...

Realtor: reel-ter, not ree-la-ter

espresso: eh-spreh-so, not ex-prehs-o

new music

I finished Color Madrigals, Vol. 2 the other day! My commissions for this season are done and I'll probably take a much-needed hiatus for a month or two. It was commissioned by The Summer Singers and, since they're a "seasonal ensemble", it will be my first July premiere.

Every time I finish a commission I'm blown away by the enterprising nature of an ensemble that would take such a risk. Even with established composers (where you essentially know what you're getting) it's still a gamble because, given that choir directors like to know exactly how they're going to rehearse things, they sort of don't know how much time they'll need for this new piece. Forget the fact that most times they have to go through an insane process to get there:
-Decide to commission a piece.
-Which composer? (I've heard of conductors having a committee appointed to do this.)
-How much does he/she charge? Sometimes there are negotiations for price.
-Add at least 4 months if grant-writing is involved.

In any case, the major investment of time they obviously undertook got me thinking about how many new works I've premiered over the years as part of a choir. Once I put a list together it turns out it's actually quite a lot. I've premiered at least 1 new work per year since my freshman year in college and, if you apply the aforementioned process to them all, it's a colossal amount of time and effort on the part of the conductors, composers, singers and anyone involved in the production. Check this out:

Sanctus (Gyorgy Orban)
This monster was for triple choir and triple organ and performed in a giant cathedral. It was completely done on manuscript paper...and really hard to read if I remember
By the Waters of Bablyon (Matthew Culloton)
Prayer (Neil Flory)
Rejoice! (Gwyneth Walker)
A Future With Hope (Daniel Kallman)
Near the Snow, Near the Sun (Kevin Dobbe)
To the Evening Star (Abbie Betinis)
Some Glad Morning (Abbie Betinis)
Sanctus (Jocelyn Hagen)
Benedictus (Jocelyn Hagen)
Afternoon on a Hill (Stephen Paulus)
Sonnet 104 (J. David Moore)

That's not to mention the 16 arrangements that I've sang the world premieres of as well (some of them were very extended and extremely hard).

Abbie Betinis:
The Babe of Bethlehem
Long Time Trav'ling
Remember O Thou Man

Drew Collins
People, Look East
Angels We Have Heard on High

Matthew Culloton
Away in a Manger
Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
Norge, mitt Norge
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Per Spelman
Sussex Carol

Jocelyn Hagen
I Saw Three Ships
O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Nicholas Lemme
Merton's Woods
Wayfarin' Stranger

Robert Sieving
Carol of the Birds

Timothy C. Takach
Twas in the Moon of Wintertime

And then, on top of that, I've been in the ensemble for the nerve-wracking premieres of my own works.
Autumn
Go, Tell It on the Mountain
Gabriel's Message
Nell Flaherty's Drake

So, if you count everything, the grand total is 33 and that's impressive any way you write it. The directors that had the courage to commission these things should be commended for advancing their art because it's not an easy thing to do. Thanks to Vicki Peters and the Summer Singers for asking me to write Color Madrigals, Vol. 2. I can't wait to hear them sing the works.

You can't go home again...

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go back to Faribault High School (that's pronounced "FAIR-bo" for some weird reason, by the way) to talk about being a composer in front of a bunch of journalism students. Let the nerdiness begin...

Back in high school, I was co-editor-in-chief of the school newspaper along with 2 other students and, since that program is getting hacked to ribbons by all the usual reasons (you guessed it...budget cuts), Ms. Zwagerman called in some reinforcements in the form of editors from years gone by.

You have to understand that, at FHS, "Zwag" (as her students affectionately call her) has created something of a dynasty. The FHS Echo has been in the top 10 in the nation for years and years (nerdy fact: we got 7th the year I worked on it...and 2nd the year after) and more MN Student Journalists of the Year have come from FHS than any other school in the state. It's a TOTALLY worthwhile, award-winning, inspiring program that has come under fire in these days of budget shortfalls and I'm more than happy to do my bit for proverbial king and country to see that it stays. I know it's cliche to say this but Kelly Zwagerman is one of those teachers who will absolutely change your life. During the time I worked on that paper I met amazing people (one of them went on to join this band), learned a lot about what you might think and even more about what you wouldn't.

Here's a pic of the whole lot (there's about 2 on either side of the picture that got inadvertently cut out). The choice of professions ran the gamut from sports writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, former Fox TV news anchor, an English as a Second Language Teacher, composer, financial planner, golf course manager, public relations for Valleyfair as well as a correspondent for the Twin Cities NBC affiliate.

First we were all asked to answer the question "How did knowing how to write help you in your career?" Here's Karen Burkhartzmeyer giving the answer we were all thinking about (it had something to do with how important email was nowadays). Karen had the distinction of being one of Kelly's first students. She currently writes for Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Since Karen essentially spoke for all of us it forced me to be creative. I decided to give the first half of my answer in Instant Messenger Speak to underscore the fact that you have to know how to write in a cogent manner. This is me apparently complimenting Laura LeVake on her previous answer using some of that jargin. To my left is uber-public-relations-guru McKenzie Kelley. I also vaguely remember asking some kid in the audience what his dream job was and getting the answer "pyrotechnics expert" in return. I think he was completely serious. $100 says that I'll never get that answer again if I ask that question as long as I live.

After a great forum with some really, really great people we all went and had the obligatory dinner and adult beverage at The Depot Bar & Grill. Since it's the old Faribault train station you get one rumbling by every now and then. It shakes the whole building! This is the lot of us and, unfortunately, the only picture I actually have of Zwagerman (she's on my right). I am really thankful to have had this opportunity to go back and take a look around at the old stomping grounds. It was weird...definitely weird...but a ton of fun in the end. Go Faribault Falcons!

Color Madrigals, Vol. 1

Last Saturday I attended the premiere of Color Madrigals, Vol. 1 at a joint concert between the Choral Arts Ensemble (of Rochester, MN) and The Singers: Minnesota Choral Artists (of the Twin Cities). As if it weren't cool enough to hear 2 choirs for the price of 1, they are conducted by identical twin brothers Michael and Matthew Culloton.

The concert took place in beautiful downtown Rochester (home of the world-famous Mayo Clinic) on an even more beautiful afternoon. My friend, Steve, made the trip with me and, on the search for an ATM, we found these tulips right by the side of the road.













Since choral concerts are often held in churches, you sometimes get really lucky and walk into one that has some pretty cool things to look at. This one had a great 1-2 punch in the narthex. Here's the chandelier that greets the parishioners as they walk in.













Here are the little candle-thingies that were hanging from it.













Here's the baptismal vat underneath it. It's usually overflowing with water that drains into the elaborate copper grating underneath but, due to the noise, they turned it off for the concert. This thing must weigh a ton.

















Also in the sanctuary is a slightly-larger-than-life statue of one of the Mayo brothers beckoning you to his lap. Creepy?

















During the pre-concert talk the "Cullotwins" asked me to come down and say a few words about the 2 pieces The Singers would be doing. I didn't know about this until about 5 minutes beforehand so I hope I wasn't too incoherent. My time up in front of the audience was kind of a blur but I'm told I did alright even with a lack of preparation.













Here I apparently say something vaguely interesting.













Singing with the Choral Arts Ensemble was soprano Mindy Stephens. Since we graduated from Luther College together "Cindy Mevens" and I go way back and, through a stroke of luck, she ended up right behind me during the portions of the concert not sung by the CAE. I'll never forget the time I heard her sing Come Unto Him from Handel's Messiah with the full Luther Symphony behind her...just beautiful. It's still my favorite movement to this day.

















In any concert where there is more than 1 ensemble participating, there was the obligatory "Wonder Twins moment." They did a piece arranged by Matt that was conducted by Mike. Seriously, folks...I challenge anyone out there to find another pair of identical twins in the field of choral music (or any other field, for that matter). I've seen non-Twin brothers conducting the same choir at the Los Angeles ACDA convention...but never twins. Funny it should be in the same state as the professional baseball team of the same name. Weird...













The post-concert "out to eat" dinner. I had this tremendous burrito (and a few adult beverages that understandably did not make the photographical cut). You can thank John Mackey for all the food pics that will end up on this blog. It's one of my favorite parts about his and all the different dishes he snaps photos of always look interesting and really good.













It was a great concert (with the CAE offering up another world premiere, The New Moon, by New Zealand composer David N. Childs) and The Singers pulled off Color Madrigals, Vol. 1 with the usual grace, precision and beauty. I'm so lucky to be involved with that group and to know these 2 fine conductors. Between their 2 organizations, they have commissioned a full 7(!) pieces from me over the years. (That's Michael on the left and Matthew on the right.) The CAE even released a new CD that night with my arrangement of Where is Love? on it as well so it was an embarassment of riches all around and I am totally thankful to be even a small part of it.

Ben Gibbard

I went to a show by Ben Gibbard last night at First Avenue in Minneapolis and totally friggin’ enjoyed it. He is the lead singer/songwriter of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service (both of which I’ve been thoroughly enjoying thanks to some friends who gave me the “you have to listen to this” speech) and kicked off a solo acoustic tour of the country with last night's show.

But my enjoyment of said show is just the symptom of a larger phase I’m going through. I’d like to call it my “non-classical music Renaissance” but then I’d sound really, really lame. That name, unfortunately, seems to fit as I’ve had my head in the proverbial sand for so long and I’m finally venturing out to find that the musical pendulum is swinging back towards stuff that has some real integrity. My students tell me that I'm locked firmly into the "Indie" scene (whatever that means). Currently on the listening list are:

(the aforementioned) Death Cab for Cutie—their last album, Plans, contains this great song called What Sarah Said. It’s about watching a loved one die in a hospital bed and, through the course of the song, ramps up to the phrase “Love is watching someone die.” After Gibbard drops that bombshell, he simply repeats “So who’s gonna watch you die?” over and over again like an accusation. In other words, “Who loves you?” and “Who do you love?”…really powerful, but simple, stuff. Gibbard also did a side project called The Postal Service that is just as good and totally worth checking out. He went solo acoustic last night.





















The Shins—I know everyone else jumped on the bandwagon when Garden State came out but I just found these guys. Amazing…just amazing. I love their last album, Wincing the Night Away, and especially the final song. After an entire album of tight songwriting accompanied by electronic beeps and buzzes it ends with a voice and an acoustic guitar in a song (A Comet Appears) that will firmly occupy my “Desert Island List” forever.





















Ben Folds—I got hooked on Folds when a poet I collaborated with a while ago insisted on playing it for me. I’m a much better piano player now that I sat down and plowed my way through his music. The Luckiest will be sung at weddings from here until the cows come home (and not in a corny way like a lot of perennial matrimonial favorites).





















The Decemberists—thanks to my little sister, Caitlin, I’m totally hooked. For their last album they took Russian and Chinese folk tales and wrote songs from the perspective of the characters in them. Intellectually interesting and super-catchy at the same time. They also engaged in a guitar duel with Stephen Colbert on an episode of The Colbert Report (he was only saved when Peter Frampton stepped in to slay us all!).





















Imogen Heap—like most people I heard her Hide and Seek (not on The O.C.) and completely freaked out. The rest of the album (and her side project Frou Frou) are just as amazing. I have a bunch of her stuff on my iPod…good to run to because it’s got some kickin’ beats paired with really beautiful lyrics. She's currently writing her third-album-which-I-will-buy-the-day-it-comes-out.





















So…for those of you who cared, that’s what I’m listening to. I’ll have to write about some “classical” artists that are on the rotations as well but, for now, I’m off to Rochester this weekend to hear the premiere of Color Madrigals, Vol. 1 with The Singers—Minnesota Choral Artists. They’re going to be great and I’ll definitely have some good pics of the event.

p.s. Spider-Man 3 is in my immediate future and this fanboy can’t wait.

Crossing paths

I was at the American Composers Forum in downtown St. Paul yesterday afternoon to take care of some business and, without warning, Pulitzer Prize-winner Aaron Jay Kernis walked out of the back room. It seems he was there to look at some scores for the Minnesota Orchestra's Composer Institute. I was so star-struck I didn't know what to say.

If you haven't heard Musica Celestis before you really need to check it out. I'd put it right up there with Barber's Adagio for Strings (which I know is a sacred cow to most of the Western world...but I just love Kernis's work that much).

The website's official

My web designer, Tim, got the rest of the web content up and ready last night and, as of this morning, www.joshuashank.com is live and in color. My first official act as a website owner was to send out a mass email letting friends, colleagues, conductors, etc. know about it.

Of course, not contained in this first email to eleventy-billion people was the actual address of my site. So...yeah, that's emabarassing. To top it off I had to send out a second email to the eleventy-billion to clear that little issue up and, because of this, Lycos promptly labeled me as a spammer and gave me a 24-hour timeout.

It could be worse, though. I could be one of these people.