My Birthday

Last Saturday was my birthday. My 40th birthday. Unfortunately, I managed to catch a cold a few days before my birthday. We had been planning a housewarming/birthday party, and we came close to canceling the whole thing, but I decided to persevere and do this no matter what it took.

Well, perhaps we should have canceled it. The problem is that we just don't really know enough people around here yet to throw a party. If everyone, or even close to everyone, that we invited actually showed up, it would have been a good party. But apparently I wasn't the only person in town dealing with a cold. Of the 30-35 people we invited, only 8 showed up, with no more than 5 people here at one time. We managed to have fun anyway, but I can't help but think it would have been better to get a babysitter for Jeffrey and go out somewhere with Stella.

The highlight of the evening was a photo/video card that Stella made for me. She had contacted many old friends and my parents and asked them to send her old photos of me, the more embarrassing, the better. She posted her creation on her blog here, or you can just view the video here. She did a great job with this and I was very touched. At least there was hardly anyone at the party to see the embarrassing photos of me in my youth.

You would think that after 40 years on this planet, I would have learned my limit with tequila. Sadly, no. I spent the first half of Sunday in bed recovering from the excesses of the night before. But once I did get up, we headed out to Fort Funston on the coast in the southern part of San Francisco. A quiet walk along the striking dunes & cliffs was just what I needed.

Unfortunately, the excesses of the party may be responsible for setting back my recovery from this cold. It's now been a week and I am still in the throes of it. I'm hoping I will have recovered by this weekend.

The view from the sand dunes of Fort Funston


Me at 40 and only slightly hungover


I love the diagrams of the dog and person falling

those dutch cellists

Years ago, when I first started playing cello, I heard about a dutch cellist who had developed a technique of playing with two bows - one played conventionally, on top of the strings, the other under neath the strings. Both bows are held in the right hand and the "underneath" bow can only play the outside strings - C and A. This opens up all sorts of possibilities of the cello as a chordal instrument. Periodically I heard more about this cellist and her fascinating technique, but never actually heard her play.

Fast forward to last Wednesday. My friend and pianist-extraordinaire, Myra Melford, was doing a gig at CNMAT (Center for New Music and Audio Technologies), a UC Berkeley performance space conveniently located 5 houses up the street from my old house in Berkeley. The two times I went there while living in Berkeley (once to hear Myra with Frank Gratkowski, the other to hear pianist Georg Graewe), I reveled in the ability to walk up the street 5 houses to see such great musicians. On Wednesday, however, it was about a 50 minute drive from the Outer Richmond in San Francisco. 35 minutes in light traffic.

This particular gig paired Myra with Frances-Marie Uitti, a dutch cellist visiting the area for a new music festival. About 10 minutes into their captivating set, the cellist picked up a second bow and started playing with both, one underneath, the other on top. I suddenly realized that I was watching that dutch cellist i had heard about for years. It was a rather thrilling realization. Their set was wonderful, if a bit too short. Very much worth the drive across the bay.

Tonight I'm headed back to Berkeley again see Myra play a double bill at Freight & Salvage - the Myra Melford/Ben Goldberg Quartet, followed by (or preceded by) Wayne Horvitz's Sweeter than the Day.