Today was amazing. So many things happened today that I almost don't know what to say. So I'll start with the beginning. A & I woke up early 'cause I had a 10am call at Carnegie. I'm sorry. I just had to write that. Self indulgent I know, but c'mon! How many times will I be able to say that? Don Kelly told me he was making calls from the green room before the show for the same reason. "Hi there, just calling from Carnegie waiting to go on. What's up with you?" I can understand.
Where was I? Oh yeah. We're in a nice place in the Village and got a chance to walk around a bit in the morning before things got cooking. Had one of those famous NY Bagels. Me: Honda (Bagel/Cream Cheese) Alyson: Ferrari! (Bagel/Lox/CC/Capers). And boy did the deli man let me know it! Anyway. Nice calm before the storm.
The show was freakin' awesome. We went on first so we got to sit back and relax and enjoy the rest. That was nice. Meredeth is so sweet to us. Every time we saw her she went out of her way to tell us how happy she was to see us. After hours and hours of prep she still had a little sugar for little old pme. It truly warmed the cockles of my heart.
Frankly, I think we nailed it. Everything was actually fun. After our Berlin experience I was a little nervous about pulling it off. But then right from the very beginning it was simply joyous. I think part of it was that we finally figured out our motivation. (that and lots and lots of practice). I have to say that Hocket was a particularly high point for me. It's a tune with just 6 of us on stage (scary: my heart was beating a mile a minute) that starts very fragile but grows to a big climax. Hearing the climactic chord ring though the house was exhilarating! The audience was caught a little off guard and started to clap before we were done. Oh well. It was awesome to get a reaction.
With our singing done it was time to enjoy the rest of the day. I finally got to hook up with A and we walked around a little. We tried to head for the park but there were all these people running around and we couldn't cross the street. I mean I heard NYC was crowded but this is ridiculous.
Anyway, we got back in time to hear the Bang on a Can Allstars, Alarm Will Sound and Bjork. All awesome. Did I mention Bjork? So moving. She sang a song called Gotham Lullaby with her harpist. I was unprepared for how moving it was. It's one thing to listen to her sing on a record in my living room. It's altogether another to be 10ft away while she pours it out. By the end I was in tears. Really. I was a wreck. For the next 15min I was crying at everything. It just suddenly seamed like everything everyone was saying was so emotionally charged.
The whole evening was simply insipring. I left with an even greater appreciaction of Monk and a gaggle of new ideas. I hope PME gets the opportunity to try some of her orchestrated stuff. We'll see what happens.
After that it was Dinner at Carmine's with the gang. Suffice it to say a good time was had by all. If you don't believe me, check out the pix. I think that's enough for tonight.
Still Riding High!
-E
Technorati : Carnegie Hall, Meredith Monk, New York, Pacific Mozart Ensemble
Here we are listening to get some insight into our performance before trying it on the big stage. I have to say, it was hard listening to the tape of the show. No matter how good a show is, the recording is always a bit of a let down. It's really almost too easy to pick apart the faults. Dick gave us a few pointers and in typical PME fashion we all gave our opinions, sometimes to excess. Ok, almost always to excess. But then that's what we do. I think in the end we still feel like we're ready (warts and all). A former member of Meredeth's ensemble was in attendance at the Sunday show and had lots of nice things to say. That's certainly encouraging.
