sacramento - last day

My third-and-last day in Sacramento I spent mostly by myself. I woke up nice and late (see last entry) and walked around downtown. I stopped for coffee, switched on the iPod and just walked. According to a native Saramentoan(?) I met, the only major city with more trees is Paris. If that's true it's pretty cool.
















I happened by the Robert T. Matsui United States Courthouse. There is a really cool sculpture "garden" in the plaza.
















There were characters scattered all over the place. The entire sculpture itself is called Gold Rush and is by artist Tom Otterness. Did you know that over 300,000 people came to California during the 1848-1849 gold rush. That sounds like small potatoes but at that time (before the Intercontinental Railroad) that was huge. Below are some highlights from the sculpture.
















Irony, anyone? (The character in the foreground is taking a picture, by the way.)





















How about a weird representation of a Native American woman offering a speared fish (with a hat on?) to an anthropomorphic bear?
















Of course the gold rush was about 1 thing, right? I bet sculpting this was a surreal experience.
















Walking back to my apartment I stumbled across this equine sculpture. Made from duct tape?
















Das Capitol. The governor hangs out here. I was going to go in but, since it was Saturday, there wasn't much to see.
















I stopped at Tapa The World for supper. It's a tapas bar with amazing Spanish and world cuisine.
















I had the pesto sea bass with asparagus and red potatoes.
















The pre-concert lecture went really well and the audience had some amazing questions which were (amazingly!) totally different from the previous night's interrogations.
















One audience member approached me to sign her "composer shirt." I joined the likes of Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre...and I couldn't resist being just a bit over the top (click the picture to see just what I creatively signed).
















After the concert, one of Vox's Advisory Committee members took us out to dinner at the aforementioned Il Fornaio. I had the bleu cheese steak with spinach and smashed potatoes...holy effing hell it was good.
















Halfway through the dinner (and after a long conversation about good Scotch and great wine), Jeff ordered us a flight of amazing single malt whiskeys. I wish I could remember the names of each of these things. The first one was 18 years old and very easy to palate, but the younger ones were much more smokey and distinct. It was absolutely amazing. I wish I could have had them all.
















We finished with the traditional Passing Around of The Desserts. Here's the tiramisu.
















An aerial view of my departure.















Once I boarded the plane a lady asked me if she could switch window seats so she could sit by her co-worker. She promised to buy me a drink (which never materialized) if we moved. It was just an end cap on an amazingly unique experience that, even if I'm lucky, won't be repeated for at least 30 years.

I slept most of the way home. However, I woke up at one point and glanced out the window to see what looked like dozens of lakes under the wing. It turns out (after a second or two of inspection) that they were just cloud shadows. Despite that, it still moved me to take a picture.















My time in Sacramento was absolutely amazing. Vox Musica is a sleeping giant and their audience just gets it. I would be satisfied if they had only done one of my pieces and I can't wait to go back. I hope it's sooner rather than later!