being an audience - a lost art...

from a review of a Tchaikovsky Symphony 6 performance in Philadelphia...

LJ Knows Good Music -:

DEAR ESTEEMED MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE --

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TUBERCULOUS COUGHS, YOUR RINGING CELLULAR DEVICES, AND YOUR LOUD BREATHING.

thank you for coughing during the pppppp. thank you for clapping after the third movement. thank you for your cell phone going off during the final (quiet!!) moments of the symphony. thank you for not only ruining my enjoyment, but also for irrevocably blemishing the live recording.

just, thank you.

an ibuprofen monday, but i'm trying to go without...

My ankles are seriously pissed at me for dancing scottish for the first time in over a year (that being scottish weekend LAST year - i don't practice it much anymore).  Garblaundry(tm) starts soon, though I have less than usual since I don't need to wash the kilt-blanket.

faireraven 's upstairs getting a long-overdue sleep-in time, as she had the holiday off.  I'm taking a vacation day that I'd otherwise just be sitting on for no reason.  I'm taking another one on the monday after closing 'cause trying to get our crap outta the site in the dark before post-faire parties is just stupid.

Yesterday was exhausting.  And quite possibly a record-breaker.  Various roads near the site were being closed because of the backups of people trying to get in, some taking more than 2 hours sitting in traffic.

Nobody really "won" the maryland Ratpuck champion of champions, given that all but one of the crimson holders (who was last year's champ for similar reasons - ok, yes, Lister can puck pretty well, and certainly better than *I* can) couldn't get away from our faire jobs long enough to compete.  Such is the business when it comes to dealing with a record-breaker day.  To help out next year's competition, Emrys gave two crimsons last night, both well deserved, to patron puckers.  This may be good, or may be bad as the two patrons might end up cursed by getting jobs at the festival next year ;-).  Maybe next year my schedule won't get in the way of competing.  I've had an idea for "bribery" in my head for years but tournament weekend has always been busy and bad, (oft 'cause it's columbus day weekend and that has me off-site on one of the two days and might again next year depending on when Foggy Bottom's Anniversary Ale is held.

The Sixteen Men of Tain won the scotch tasting party saturday (I wasn't trying to - I just brought one I really really liked).  Specifically, the Glenmorangie Burgundy Finish, 12 years old (their wood line is the normal 10, plus two years finishing in a wine cask of one of Port, Madera, Sherry, and now Burgundy).  I first found it in Seattle in the Foggy Bottom 2004 PNW trip, originally only available in the UK and duty free shops.  Recently, it's finally made its way into distribution in the states, and VABC stores can get it (and many carry it) for about $63.

The Dalmore 12, an extremely reliable scotch given its very low price (VABC has it for $32), came in 3rd.  Thanks to the price, I always have a bottle in the house at any point.

(no subject)

on a survey result that had 26% say that Hastert is doing the right thing and should stay where he is...

it's a tough call for republicans. if hastert stays, it might give the impression they don't care about their image. but if hastert resigns his leadership (not his seat - that's never really been an option except to the voters of his district), it acknowledges the faults of the party and his leadership, practically guarentees his seat will be lost, and definitely hurts the republican image of confidence so necessary to maintaining an election.

its the confidence thing. better to LOOK confident than to look insecure and like a "flip-flopper".

As such, Hastert is simply riding the same party attitude that still has Rumsfeld in the White House. it's the only party line they know...

well, that doesn't start with 976... ;-)

a record from an official source

Our wonderous E.D. has told us in an email that sunday was indeed the new record attendence day, at 24,791 people!

In a word, wow...

closing weekend notes

Cat & The Fiddle have been officially assigned to Revelers Bower at 5pm on closing weekend as our second set.

Saturday will be a dance runthru for the Danse Macabre crew, going through Sellinger's and Maltese, the two dances we're likely to do on the route, then fill in time with other dances for which the tunes will be played by the musicians as part of the parade, so they can get comfortable with them.

Sunday will, of course, be the parade itself.  Gathering at 4:45 would be good so we can start off as close to 5 as possible.

This coming weekend, we're scheduled 3pm boardwalk (dragon inn if it rains), and 4:30 by the info booth.

clarifying some confusion...

...about the MacAllan scotch distillery.

It is, indeed, a "Speyside" scotch, just like GlenDronach and Balvenie and many others.  It is first labeled a "highland" scotch to distinguish it from the lowlands, not because it's a highland in the sense of a scotch from the Inverness area or from Oban.

Update: brain had farted - too much GlenMorangie - GlenMorangie's not a speyside, but is from Ross-shire, the region in the middle of the highlands joining east and west and going west to the coastline and including Inverness. Specifically, Tain is a village in the north on the way up into Caithness, and dammit I should have known that 'cause faireraven & I ate lunch there back in '00.

realization...

...between our general "lateness" and the whole amount of crap we have to do each morning just to be ready for the opening dances, we have yet to see the opening gate this year.  Usually I can catch it on pyrate invasion, but this year (afaik), we didn't have an M.I.T. ("tell it to the hook") extension to the show.

oh well.  4 chances left.  we'll see what happens...