Backstage at the Met

On our recent visit to Lucas at college, the Martin Guitar Factory, and New York City, we were fortunate enough to get a backstage tour of the Metropolitan Opera House, where friend Rochelle is a scenic artist. After a regular ole visit to the MOMA, we made our way uptown to Lincoln Center. Rochelle met us at the backstage door outside, which began our trip through the maze that is behind the scenes of the opera house.

It was very exciting for me since I had spent a significant amount of time at the Opera Company of Boston both on stage in various capacities from electrical to gridrat to stage-sweeper (and even master carpenter) and in the shop building sets. The Met is a much bigger operation than OCB ever was, plus it's a union house. They also run in repertory, which means they run 5-6 operas on a rotating schedule. On Saturdays, they run 2 different operas! The only way to pull this off is to have all the sets around and handy, to put up and pull down almost at will. Add in rehearsal schedules, and you have a very full schedule.

If you want to skip straight to the pictures I took follow this link.

We arrived at 4:30, when they had just finished a rehearsal of Die Walkure and were in the midst of changing over to Il Capriccio for that night's performance. Die Walkure set is a big unwieldy sloped apron in white that moves around during the show. It's not like it folds up to be put away. The upstage part actually needed to be put on electronic carts and hauled stage left for storage. The downstage apron gets stored below the stage.

Rochelle gave us a very thorough 2 hour tour around the place. We watched from the side until they move the set off the stage, then got to walk around. The backstage area is huge and there is stuff everywhere! By stuff, I mean sets, wires, instruments, monitors, people, props, and who knows what else. We went up an elevator to galleries 1 and 4, high above the stage; we went below stage to see the trapdoors, not mention more storage of sets. Costumes and the scene shop were also part of the tour. Oh yeah, we also visited the pit, where I got to leave James Levine a note on his podium. Not really, but I wanted to tell him to come back to Boston!!

Here are a few pictures from the collection that give you an idea of what it's like.

Here's one part of a set backstage, way upstage.

This is below the stage, where you can store sets and the trapdoors end up on a catwalk here.

View of the stage below. That big white apron, part of Die Walkure, will end up below the stage.

The main stage literally rises so they can wheel the apron onto it, then lower it into the depths.

Putting down the raked floor for Il Capriccio. It was like a choreographed dance.

Rochelle shows how to make that tiny model into the "real" fake set. I think this set is not due out until next season or the year after.

Tools of the trade in the scenic shop.

Always gotta have fabric handy. This was in the costume shop.

The set almost ready for the show! What a transformation!

That was a fun time. It's really hard work; there was a quiet professionalism that happened in the changeover - no yelling, no confusion over what to do - it just happened and no one in the audience really understands what goes on backstage. I suppose they shouldn't be aware of it - after all, they are there to suspend reality for a bit and enjoy a show.

Finally, the soprano took the stage - :-) - Chris

Martin Guitar Factory Tour

After we visited Lucas at college for his award ceremony, I fulfilled a life-long dream to visit C.F. Martin, and Co., purveyors of fine guitars for since 1833 in Nazareth, PA. I've only been on the east coast since 1981, but I've owned a Martin D-35 since I bought one in 1977(?) in Flagstaff, AZ. I had been going to the local music store for months, playing it in the store, until I finally came up with the money - $750 at the time was a lot for a poor college student. I'm still not sure how I came up with the funds, but it was through legitimate means, I assure you.

For about 25 years, this was my only acoustic guitar - my thought was, "I have the best guitar, why would I need anything else?" Well, 5 more guitars later....my new favorite is a 2000 Martin D-18GE I found on craigslist for $1800. The intonation on this one is a bit wonky but I recently replaced the bridge saddle and that made it better, but not perfect. Other than that, it's wicked loud! :) I've been using it on the recent fiddle tune jag J and I have been on.

Back to the tour....(if you want to skip all these pesky words and go straight to the 100+ pictures I posted, then follow this link.)

Nazareth, PA is a small town about 20 miles south of I-80, so not too much out of our way to the big city - NYC. I had the Google navigation going on my droid, so made it to the Martin Guitar Factory without a problem. It's located right in the middle of a residential section of the town; I was not expecting this guitar mecca to be so unassuming, although they did have a nice big visitor's parking lot right across the street.

The building looks pretty new and clean. They even made a replica of the old guitar factory (located on North St.) on the outside of this one. Otherwise, you might actually miss it. There is a nice visitor center so at some point, they decided to embrace all the pilgrims rather than turn them away. Good strategy, as there are many loyal Martin people out there and the competition these days is stiff. There is an awesome museum with mostly old guitars, but also a history of the company.

The tour is one hour long and the first one starts at 11 am. We got there about 10:45 and got the last 3 slots out of 15 in the group. You get headsets that transmit the tour guide's voice to you so you don't miss anything. Good idea because some parts of the factory have machines going and people kind of spread out as you're walking through (like me - I was always playing catch-up there was so much to look at and take pics of).

The factory is a modern facility and in some ways an odd mix of old tech and new tech. There was a lot of machines to help cut and drill and so forth, but there was also a lot of handwork I saw. Check out these photos:

This is what you see when you first start the tour - a giant guitar replica that you can even walk into. Includes lots of detail, like the bracing etc. Pretty cool.

The custom shop is the first thing you see on the right. This guy was polishing up this nice little number and proudly showed off his work.

This photo gives you an idea of the size of the place.

Lots of good wood everywhere. I'm not sure how they keep track of it all!

The famous x-bracing.

Clothes pins are an ancient luthier trick of the trade.

This looks to be binding-land.

Necks looking for a body.

This is in the finishing part of the factory. Bodies looking for a neck?

Everywhere you turned there were stacks of guitars, or at least parts of them!

Neck. Meet Body.

Machines do a lot of the polishing, but the final inspections are done by real people.

There's a repair shop, too. This 1967 guitar was getting a new top.

Look at the fru fru on that guitar. This is the millionth guitar, now in the museum. I suppose someone must go in there late at night and give it a strum.

After the extensive tour, I made everyone go over to the old factory to have a look. Right now it's a couple of rooms that store guitar parts and you can go in there to pick out parts to build your own. You can grab all the pieces right off the shelf. I thought that the woman there said these were 'seconds' from the factory, or rejects. I didn't look closely enough but probably nothing a little sandpaper couldn't take care of.

All in all, if you are even close to Nazareth, PA (about 1.5 hrs from NYC) go the Martin Guitar Factory for a couple of hours. Luckily there wasn't a retail guitar store there, or it could be dangerous. There is a store and a "pickin' parlor" but some kid was in there playing Justin Beiber or something, so I didn't go in.

Then it was on to New York to drop Zach off at the train station back to Boston.

Chris

Lucas Gets an Award

One day a mysterious letter arrived from Lycoming College, where Lucas goes to school, informing us of an award that would be bestowed upon himself at the annual honors convocation. And would we like to attend? Why, yes, we would!

Thus began the trip to Williamsport during the MA spring vacation. Zach decided to hop on the bus too.

After a lovely 7 hour drive across MA, CT, NY, and PA, with one stop at Alexis Diner in Newburgh, NY, we arrived on the scene. Went to dinner at the Bullfrog Brewery, the most happening place in Williamsport besides the mall. Zach stayed with Lucas in the dorm and reportedly there were about 500 jello shots also in attendance that night. We were at the Holiday Inn Express, which is supposed to be nicer than the regular Holiday Inn attached to it - not sure how that works, but there was a bed, a TV, and a bathroom, so it worked out.

The Lycoming Honors Convocation hands out a bunch of awards at the end of the year for academic achievement. It was held in the gym, which kind of gave it a high school feel. Lucas is in the band, and the band played some warm-up numbers as well as the closing piece. Lucas plays first chair in the band and they sound pretty good. (He also got to attend the PA Intercollegiate band festival again this year.) So, I guess it wasn't a huge surprise that he got an award for music. :) Officially, it was the Richard Mix Prize in honor of Dr. Will George Butler. In fact, Mr. Mix was there and congratulated LR after the ceremony. He also got some cash out of it.

This week, Lucas goes on band tour somewhere unbeknownst to me, then he's back in Brookline before going off to Israel for a dig.

That's it for now! Way to go, Lucas!!!

Chris

Next post coming up on the next phase of the trip - to the Martin Guitar Factory!

Julian Lage at Club Passim

I was browsing through the Boston Phoenix paper yesterday and saw that Julian Lage was playing at Club Passim. How did I miss this? Anyway, I went to the Passim website and there was only 1 ticket left for the 7 pm show, so I snagged it. (I didn't realize until later that he was playing a 10 pm show as well as Sunday night at 8 - the front page of the site only listed the 7 pm show!)

Anyhoooo...on with the show. I arrived at 6:40, having secured my usual secret free-parking space near Harvard Square. Club Passim, or as most people call it, Passims, is a basement venue in Harvard Square. Mostly they have folkie acts, so having a jazzer appear was a bit unusual. It's a great place to hear music because 1) it is quite, um, 'intimate', meaning that you are practically sitting not only on the person next to you, but also on top of the performers; adn 2) the sound is really good - not too loud and a mix where you can actually hear everything. Add to that, the aforementioned intimacy, where you can hear the acoustic nature of the instruments blending with the sound system, and it makes for a good room.

The Julian Lage Group this time is a quintet, adding a cello and tenor sax to the usual guitar, bass, drums trio that I saw at the Beantown Jazz Festival in Sept. You can see how crammed they are on the tiny stage. This was the CD Release party for Gladwell, available on April 26, although they had them at the show. They played a lot from that album, as far as I could tell. The show was excellent and ran from about 7:10, aka "jazztime" to 9 pm.

I'm pretty sure the opening number was "Listening Walk" from Gladwell, due out on April 26. Talk about a workout on the left hand! No wonder at the end of the night Julian said that he's been having to take care of his left hand due to overuse (I can relate, but he's only in his 20s!). For the most part the cello and sax were a calming counterpoint to the frenetic picking and percussion of that tune; they seemed to play that background role quite a bit throughout the concert - more like texture backing the trio rather than being on equal footing as soloists on every song. They did get some extended solo turns later in the set. I liked the way it worked. The band was tight, able to shift on a moment's notice from loud to soft, from quiet introspection to frenetic jam - this is the stuff that makes for a great night of music making.

Other tunes they played from Gladwell included However, Cocoon, Telegram, and probably more, but I'm just judging by the clips on amazon.com and what I remember. :) I can hear in his playing a ton of influences as well as his own unique voice. Sometimes, I hear the Pat Metheny lick or harmony, but he doesn't stay there long. Like Metheny, it sounds modern and rooted in tradition at the same time - whether that tradition is jazz, rock, folk, country, or something else...I think it's all of those. Just watch some of the videos on his site or youtube and you can also see that he is really having a good time. Having complete command of your instrument doesn't hurt, either.

Speaking of tradition, the trio did one of their trademark tunes, the standard Lil Darlin'. This was not your typical Berklee practice room jam session! Go listen to Joe Pass play it first (or this big band arrangement is good and unctious). Then come back and listen to this version (coincidentally recorded at Passims last Aug). Hear the difference? That's how you modernize a classic and make it your own. At one point, Julian played a new song he was working on where he said he wanted to make something like a traditional jazz tune, but also make fun of it. Making fun of it isn't exactly what he meant; I think it was more about being ironic. Maybe it was just taking a traditional form and extending it for the 21st century - yeah, I'm going with that last one. :)

That video of Lil Darlin' kinda sums up the group aesthetic. The tune is a jumping off point for an extended improvisation. The interplay among the musicians is awesome, as they almost go into a free jazz section for an extended period before bringing it back home. You can do that if you 1)know the tune inside out; 2) have chops for days; and 3) listen closely to what is going on in the moment.

You can also see in that last video the unusual technique of the percussionist, Tupac Mantilla - using mostly his hands to play. Last night when they played Lil Darlin, he stood up and mostly played by clapping, snapping fingers, hitting himself in various places (knees, face, chest, etc) and even reached over the drum set to bang on the bass for a bit (and on the bass player too, for that matter).

The encore number was, in his words, "well, you'll know what it is" - i.e. Freight Train. The first part was the way I learned it, but not after that!! His right-hand technique is something to behold on this one, as he played with a pick and was all over the strings with ease.

A great ending to a spectacular night of music.

P.S. That guitar he plays is a Linda Manzer "Blue Note" that he's had since he was 11 yrs. old. There was an article in the Fretboard Journal about him I read again last night. It can sound really acoustic or really electric depending on how he plays it. He does set up with both a Fender Twin amp (I believe) and a mic in front to get the acoustic sound.

Little Bluebird Song

J and I backed Johnny Blazes the other night at The Midway in Jamaica Plain. The night was called Hypothesis and is a series that Johnny puts on exploring various themes. The theme for the night was Predator/Prey. Each artist explored the first theme in the first half....and, you guessed it, the second theme in the second half.

Little Bluebird is a song by Teresa Tudury. Basically, the raven is trying to steal the bluebirds eggs. I think there's a metaphor in there somewhere. :)

J and I played Omie Wise in the second half, which is a good ole murder ballad.

UPDATE: Here's the recording of Omie Wise I did using the Zoom H4N recorder.

Omie Wise

Enjoy.

Chris

Stowe 2011

After a several year hiatus from the annual ski trip to Stowe, VT, Lucas and I made the it again. I hadn't realized that the last time we were here was in 2008! Between the recession and kids going off to college, our schedules just did not line up. (I did go skiing in the meantime, just not to Stowe, where the Feb vacation prices are outrageous.) Going in March has it's advantages - first, the price of the hotel for 3 days was about the same as one night during Feb. vacation; second, it was warm, with temps in the 20's mostly during the day at the top of the mountain (33 at the bottom), which brings on the sweat, as well as the slush.

We went with the Jonas' clan again. I'm not sure when we started this ritual, first at Bolton Valley for a couple of years, then Stowe when we outgrew that mountain. I do know I'm wearing the same ski-pants that I bought at Bolton the first night we were there because it was about 8 below zero! I'm guessing we were there in about 2001.

Here's a video I took on my little Canon point and shoot camera. It's Lucas skiing down Gondolier in front of me and me trying to keep up.

We had excellent weather and even some fresh snow on the first day. We mostly skied on the Gondola side, but took a few runs on the 'front four' off the Quad lift, including Haystack, National, Centerline, and Nosedive. Those are definitely hard on the thighs....steep, but not too mogul-y. Lucas and ZJ, David went down Chin Clip, which is the most mogul-ridden run on the mountain. He said it wasn't too bad this year. When I did it before, the moguls were steep and hard. :(

Here's Lucas (yellow coat) going down the top of Nosedive to get to the steep part. Over yonder are the trails from the gondola lift, including our favorite, Perry Merrill. Gorgeous day out there!

That's it for now! Until next year....no more snow!

Chris

Kathy, Zach, Fred, Lucas, David up top of Mt. Mansfield.

Lowell Folk Festival 2010

On Saturday, July 24, we met our friends Dave and Lisa at the Lowell Folk Festival, a free 2 day event in the old mill town of Lowell, MA. The setting is very nice, in the middle of the oldest part of the city surrounded by the long-gone manufacturing buildings of the industrial age and the workers' dormitories. They spun a lot of cotton in Lowell back in the day....it's surrounded by canals that were built to harness the Merrimack River.

From Lowell Folk Festival 2010

It was an extremely hot and humid day, about 92 F. Our first stop of the day, conveniently located right outside the Market St. garage, was the Quebecois band, De Temps Antan. Just 3 guys, but what a big sound. The picture below shows them cranking out a tune on fiddle, harmonica (chromatic style), and guitar. The harmonic player also played accordion. I think they could play the same tune for hours, getting to a fever pitch before stopping on a dime. You'll notice in the picture that the fiddle and guitar player are sitting down. That's so they could tap with their feet the rhythm of the tune as they played. It really added some depth and drive to the music, which I find to be a weird blend of Cajun, French, and Irish, but which they would probably just call Quebecois. The guys are native French (Canadian) speakers, but also spoke English to the crowd and were quite engaging. We caught them on the big stage later in the day, too.

(you can see more pics in my picasa web album)
The great thing about Lowell is that the crowds are pretty manageable. You can get right up close to the stage, the sound is great, and it is very relaxed. I never felt like I was overwhelmed with people, partially because the 5-6 stages are spread out and partially because I think a lot of people are on vacation....also, did I mention it was hot??!!
After this show, we met up with Dave and Lisa and headed over to JFK Plaza to see Steep Canyon Rangers (who backed up Steve Martin and did so at the Newport Fest just last weekend). The only problem with JFK is that there is absolutely no shade and it's all concrete/brick, which makes for extra baking. There are a lot of food stands here, so we grabbed some food (Greek, Laotian) while we were at it. The band was in suits and I really don't know who anyone could play in that weather, but they were awesome. It was too hot, so we moved on after a few tunes (they usually play 45 min sets anyway).(Guitar note: I do believe that was a Collings that guy was playing....:) )

Next up, we went to the amphitheater at Boarding House Park (so named because that's where the workers stayed, I guess). We listened to Bua, a young Irish group who were good, but didn't seem as dynamic as De Temps Antan. It's somewhat challenging to get a seat in this venue, so you have to wait for the changeover to go nab a seat, which we did. We listened to De Temps Antan again cuz our friends missed them the first time. I didn't mind. :)
Somewhere in there we checked out the Kings of Harmony shout band. The cool thing about Lowell is that the music is not just "folk", but also gospel, soul, reggae, bluegrass, armenian, egyptian, korean, and so on. We've always discovered new music here that is worth going home and buying for the collection (Kekele comes to mind...). This band was like gospel, New Orleans brass bands, and funk, all wrapped up in one! You had to get your feet moving (but I was tooooo hot to move much besides my hands). It was mostly trombones, with a couple of sousaphones and drums thrown in. They worked the crowd up big time. It was very joyous music.

The highlight of the festival was The Hot Club of Cowtown, an Austin, TX based trio doing a blend of Bob Wills and Django Reinhardt in their own style. I knew I wanted to see them after seeing their videos on Youtube. I couldn't believe what I was hearing!! Go check 'em out. They've made a bunch of records, too and I snagged their first and last ones from Amazon when I got back home. We saw them in the so-called Dance Pavilion, which is a tent with a dance floor. While some people were actually dancing, we just bulled our way to the front and sorta stood-danced (remember, it was hot and humid). It appeared to us that they didn't have a set list, but were just calling out tunes based on their mood and the crowd. I like that - it shows confidence in what you can do. Again, I don't see how they could play as well as they did with the heat/humidity. I got some good photos, too.
All three of the musicians were excellent and got ample solo time. The fiddle player, Elana, also sang...she always seemed to have a smile on her face. The bass player was slapping like crazy and driving it all forward. The guitar player was ripping off solos left and right!! It was spectacular, really. They even traded 4's at one point and seemed to really enjoy it. (Guitar note: looks like a Gibson 175 from the late 40s to me).

Hot Club of Cowtown

Slap that bass!

Play that fiddle!

Shred that guitar!
In between all this, there are food stands, crafts, and kids games throughout the venue. For example, there was a one-man-band dude, who made his own instruments.

Eric Royer, one man band dude.
And a guitar maker, William Cumpiano, showing off his Puerto Rican Cuatros. This is the same guy who wrote the guitar making bible!!

We finished off our day with dinner at a vegetarian restaurant, called Life Alive, which was quite good. I felt so healthy!!
All in all a fine day!
Chris