happy birthday blog + the california republic + nico, sam & nadia

I'm currently sitting in my hotel here in Brownsburgh, Indiana pissing away a few hours before dinner. Watching hotel room cable makes me feel like I'm not getting anything done so the obvious choice was to get a blog post written (because that's, you know, incredibly productive). In any case, the blog's third birthday has come and gone and, in the interest of my yearly tradition of taking stock, here's how this year shook out:

Month with the most entries:
August 2009

Single entry with the most pictures:
My trip to Montreal

Best meal
Trattoria Stella in Traverse City, Michigan (this one took place in a former insane asylum...so it was obviously pretty memorable)

Most verbose:
i heart smart conductors

Most useless: the Google Alerts appearances of a few doppelgangers
yet another joshua shank
god bless the googles: microwave fight edition

Personal favorites:
a composer divided against himself
cary ratcliff and i are in a fight

Shows atteneded:
Nico Muhly & Sam Amidon @ the Southern
Casanova's Homecoming @ the Ordway
Steely Dan @ Northrop Auditorium
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra w/ Dale Warland
Ben Folds @ The Minnesota Orchestra @ Orchestra Hall
Chris Koza/The Wars of 1812/JoAnna James @ Cedar Cultural Center
The Decemberists @ the State Theater
Premiere of Evensong w/ VocalEssence
Grizzly Bear @ First Avenue
Kevin Smith @ the State Theater
President Obama @ the Target Center
The Dave Karr Quartet @ the Artists' Quarter
The Sunny Era/Laarks/the Small Cities @ the Triple Rock
Steve Miller Band @ Interlochen
Chris Thile & WYSO @ Interlochen
The Ahn Trio & WYSO @ Interlochen
Mason Proper & Ra Ra Riot @ Interlochen
Third Eye Blind @ First Avenue
Nico Muhly & Son Lux @ the Southern
Jenůfa @ Ted Mann Concert Hall

Trips taken:
Los Angeles
Dallas
Interlochen
Spain
Montreal
LA (again)

Pieces premiered:
Trois Méditations
One I can't talk about quite yet
Naalah (Cry of Grief)
Cinque Chansons des la Vigne

Albums reviewed:
I See the Sign (Sam Amidon)
Go (Jónsi)
Halfway Home (Alicia Wiley)
Live in Las Vegas (Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds)
July Flame (Laura Veirs)
Broken Bells (Broken Bells)
Rarefaction (Adam Svec)
Heartland (Owen Palett)
The BQE (Sufjan Stevens)
One Fast Move Or I'm Gone (Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard)
The Fame Monster (Lady Gaga)
Light (Matisyahu)
Path of Miracles (Joby Talbot)
Milwaukee at Last! (Rufus Wainwright)
Ocean Eyes (Owl City)
Live At Sin-é (Jeff Buckley)
Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King (Dave Matthews Band)
Ellipse (Imogen Heap)
In Living Cover (Jay Brannan)
Veckatimest (Grizzly Bear)
The Dan Band Live (The Dan Band)
Lux Aeterna (Polyphony & The Britten Sinfonia)

Not a bad year at all. I'm itching to talk about my secret piece listed there because it got some really good press...but I have to wait on something legal to proceed. Yuck. Music and estates don't mix particularly well.

I went out to California last week to attend the premiere of my piece, Trois Méditations, for soprano, piano and harp. It was performed amazingly by Jessica Hardy on the campus of Chapman University and, although I have absolutely no pictures of she and I (and her gowns were incredible!), I did get a few from my day trip out to Mission San Juan Capistrano. It's the oldest building in California and it's where the swallows return to every year (someone wrote a song about it or something). Getting to walk around historical locations is something I love to do and this one had some really fascinating things.

The main chapel was lit in such a way that your eye is immediately drawn to the high altar. The roof is quite a bit taller over the altar than it is over the nave so a window lets natural light in to illuminate the massive sculptures in the front (thanks, mom, for the architecture lessons over the years). It's a really cool trick that makes a huge difference.
Here are some other cool shots from around the grounds. Take a gander at the Wikipedia entry if you're curious about some more history because the Spanish missions in California are a unique part of the history of the state (and the country, I suppose). We don't have that stuff in Minnesota.

However, the most memorable thing that I did while I was out there was go to Disneyland. The Hardys found out that I had never been there before and, since it's nearby in Anaheim, they decreed that we would spend part of Friday at the Happiest Place on Earth. It was a weird status thing in my little catholic elementary school in Iowa to have been there so I can finally check that one off the list and those little taunting, uniformed kids can stop haunting my dreams.

It is so incredibly fun...like in a ridiculously stupid-grin-on-your-face, I-don't-care-how-long-I-have-to-wait-in-this-line-because-I-will-have-my-Space-Mountain way and, frankly, I freaked out a little bit (over the actors portraying Mary Poppins and Burt, no less) on my first glimpse of the park. Luckily I got my shit together shortly thereafter and was surprised to find out that, during my temporary absence of adult behavior, Chris and Jessica had bought me a gift (that they made sure I got a cel phone shot of...you can see part of Future Land behind me).















They even got it emroidered with "Josh 2010" for me. Thanks, guys!

After the concert there was a huge gathering at Roy's for some incredible Hawaiian fusion food. I went with the butterfish fillet (because what's "butterfish," right?) with this cool wasabi and sesame seed-encrusted rice thing.

Last, but by no means least, was the incredible concert that Nico Muhly and Sam Amidon put on at the Southern last week. Here's composer Daniel Nass in front of the marquee showing how excited he was.





















Dan and I met years ago when we both had pieces on the program with the Young New Yorkers' Chorus. He wrote this intimidating thing in the Anishinabe language and, since he moved to Minneapolis, it's always fun to hang out with him.

I also went with a few other Twin Cities composers and after the concert we all went out to eat with Nico, Sam and the other collaborator on the program, violist Nadia Sirota. We headed to Grumpy's for some after-concert nonsense which included, among other things, the Taking of Pictures to Record that Something Happened.

It was incredibly fun and, during the course of the evening (and Jocelyn and Tim's massive plate of tater tots...like way, way more than anyone could ever eat), I found out a few things.

1. I love Ghostbusters as much as Nico Muhly does.

2. I knew a violist joke that Nadia did not (and I don't know many).

That being said, I hate pictures like those because they pale in comparison to the amount of fun we actually had whilst imbibing and devouring.

This picture, however, does it complete justice. Watch out, ladies.

(I don't have a clear memory of the taking of this picture but I think Nico may have actually been the one behind the camera...getting up for work the next day proved...interesting).

On a final note, if you don't have Nadia's album, First Things First, you should head straight to your internet-music-provider-of-choice and download that thing. How many times are you going to find a full album of brand spankin' new stuff for the viola that is both written well and played impeccably?