latest writings

[calimac]

I finished two small writing projects today. One was brief - and by "brief" I mean "50 to 60 words" - descriptions of nine upcoming concerts as preview fodder for SFCV. The editor sends out a call for these 2-3 times a year. As the only South Bay reviewer on the list, I flip through the websites of the local ensembles (ignoring the ones that haven't posted their 09/10 seasons yet, and yes, there are a few), looking for concerts that, in my finely honed professional judgment, would be interesting to our readers. Or at least to me. I do not entirely prevent myself from being swayed by personal preferences in these choices. Oh look, a symphony based on the episode of Chroma the Great and his sunrise orchestra in The Phantom Tollbooth, one of my favorite books. And here's Anton Reicha's Requiem. ron_drummond wouldn't forgive me if I left that out.

The other piece was for the World Fantasy Convention local guide. I'd enjoyed writing the Potlatch restaurant guide enough that I volunteered to contribute to the WFC's as well. "Already done," said johnnyeponymous. "Did you include Hunan Taste?" queried me. "I did," quoth he. (Hunan Taste is the spiciest Chinese restaurant in San Jose, a title it maintains by dumping a bottleful of the same chili flakes on every dish on its menu.) So I was deputed to write a day visitor's guide to Berkeley instead. What do I know about Berkeley? Only what five years of living there and plenty of subsequent visits have told me. I produced a narrative by-neighborhood guide listing a mere eleven of my favorite restaurants and food vendors, and indicating where you could get fuller information (I admit being pleased with describing yelp.com as "the health care town hall of food websites"), and by dint of severe self-control keeping it down to 13 bookstores and music stores. Also six museums and theatres, a paragraph on historic Sixties Berkeley, and other oddimentia. 2400 words: I hope that's not too many.

I am also buried up to the neck in a list of symphonies by Paul Wranitzky (who? you say; well, that's part of the problem), but more on that later.

Comments

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

Reicha's Requiem has been performed probably not more than half a dozen times, if that, since Reicha's lifetime -- and half of those performances were of a badly mangled score. Can you post the URL of the listing for this new performance?

Speaking of writings ...

[visualweasel.livejournal.com]

How goes the annotated bibliography of source studies you're working on for me? :)