Sunday’s chamberpot music program at T’wood was as unusual as it was wonderful. Six separate groups with, among them all, only one violinist in only one of the groups. How could that be?
It opened with a sextet of percussionists. Can you beat that? All young men. Brilliant. And it closed with a 16-piece brass ensemble that blew the roof off the Ozawa, with three works by Gabrieli from around the turn of the 16th century, you know, the late 1500’s, early 1600’s, right?
My favorite may have been a septet (seven, right?) of double basses (bassi?). You heard me: seven. First bass, second bass, third bass, shortstop, home plate, left field, and seventh bass. They performed a piece by Liane J. Kang, 33, called Viriditas, commissioned by the T’wood Music Center. For much of it, the seven of them were doing their own things, but always for a unified effect. Here’s how the piece is described in the program:
Viriditas is a sonic depiction of life and vitality, a shimmering, luminous green. The work weaves threads of sound exploring the unique, tactile, spectral, and spacious sonic qualities of the double bass, with gestures expanding, slipping away, and then at times aligning as harmonies. Melodic lines emerge among multiple instruments, sometimes faintly, sometimes clearly. The continuous movement, endlessly evolving while preserving its essence, gives rise to an organic evolution within its complex inner structure, evoking rich gradients of brilliant color, from which splashes of green spring forth.
Yeah, whatever.
The night before, we took in a New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Joe Wolfe Field in North Adams, MA. “Cats Claw Bats,” the headline could have been. The North Adams SteepleCats took on the Keene (NH) Swamp Bats. Could we have been expecting much? The Cats were cellared at 4-18, while the Bats were in second place at 12-7. But there we were, up 2-0 after one. The Bats quickly tied it in the second. D’oh! But, wow, the Cats were up again by two after 3! Awfully early, could we hold on? My favorite kind of game, clinging to a slim lead as the innings grind on. A big double play helped, and then a little insurance in the fifth put us up by three. The lead stretched to five in the seventh and the heavens showed their approval with a lovely rainbow! How neat is that! We hadn’t seen one in ages.
In the end, the Cats held on for a great 7-3 win and were jubilant. Hugs all around and leaping high fives. Then something unusual happened that I’ve never seen before at a game. As the team moved to exit the field towards the first base dugout, several players looked up and applauded the fans. I had seen that at some World Cup matches and thought it was nice that it carried over in this way. But that wasn’t it. As the team reached the dugout, they didn’t leave for the clubhouse. They climbed into the stands and paraded through among us! Big smiles, more hugs, high fives — the joy was infectious. It was beautiful to behold. I couldn’t capture it with this shot, but it was impossible not to be moved, as silly as it may sound.
Nice job, North Adams! Good game, boys.
Several items of note from The Onion:
Mom Packs Son’s Lunch Box With Leftover Fireworks
And, on the big wedding:
Travis Kelce Wins Coin Flip To Kick Off Vows
Credit-Where-Due Dept. Having lambasted the New Yorker cartoons in the past, it’s only fair that I praise some recents that I liked:
“Hamlet! I am thy father’s ghost. Avenge me!”
“Wait . . . what did you want again?”
The following are snippets from a larger grouping of verses by Marilyn Chin called “Two Goats,” The Poetry Foundation’s Poem of the Day today.
Two goats ascending
Mt. Fuji
Wearing flip flops
Woman Warrior
4 ft 9 inches tall
Teetering on kitten heels
Brave Orchid walks into a bar
He says: we don’t serve cymbidiums here
Moon Orchid walks into a bar
How can you pay? You are scentless
I had two things to say on the puzzle today. First, for the clue “Vanish into thin air” (Hi Joe!), the answer was GO POOF. And for “Like a feeling of tender happiness,” the answer was WARM AND FUZZY. So I got:
GOP. OOF.
and
“WARMAN D. FUZZY, Car Talk Sec’y of Defense
At 4D today, “Fruit from a tree that can self-pollinate,” was AVOCADO. Commenter Seth shared the following:
“As a Californian with several fruit trees (including two AVOCADOs) in my yard and dozens more in my neighborhood, the cluing on AVOCADO is a really odd choice. Lots of fruit trees are self-pollinating, citrus and stonefruit being two obvious examples.
“But while it’s technically true that AVOCADO trees can self-pollinate, they have a much harder time doing it. Some varietals of AVOCADO either release their pollen in the morning and open their flowers in the afternoon. Other varietals do the opposite. One is called type A and the other is type B, though I can never remember which is which. But the point is you’ll have a much easier time pollinating your AVOCADO trees if you have at least one of each. Otherwise you’re relying on pollinators to gather pollen in the morning and still stick around to drop it in the flowers in the afternoon. Which does happen especially with bigger trees.
“But the point is that while AVOCADO trees can self-pollinate, they are very fussy about it, and are absolutely not a good example of a self-pollinating tree. Literally I read the clue and had AVO and thought ‘it wouldn’t be AVOCADO, it must be some scientific term I don’t know.’
“I should add that some varietals of AVOCADO have been selectively bred to be better at self-pollination, but they aren’t (to my knowledge) common commercially. Hass AVOCADOs, by far the most common AVOCADO in the US, is a type A, for example.”
Phil — those are very pretty eyes, but she’s creeping me out a little.
On Sunday, for the clue “Kind of costume that includes a round hat and kerchief,” the answer was SAILOR. Commenter Gary: They forgot the miniskirt on the SAILOR costume.
Well, Trump stuck his fat ass into the World Cup, to no surprise. Did his boorish act taint the souls of the USA players? Something waylaid them. Belgium sliced them up like a ripe avocado, see above.
Here’s a happy Belgian fan who caught Phil’s eye.
Yesterday, “Nuthatch or nightingale” was the clue for SONGBIRD. We’ll let Emmylou close for us. Thanks for popping by! See you tomorrow.
The Wellington Files 