Elvis Lives!

I'm just wrapping up what is probably the happiest day of the year for me. My best friend came to town and we squished enough fun for an entire week into one day. The crowning event was attending "Elvis On Tour" on the Imax, two hours and five minutes of footage of The King. We took our beautiful daughters (Alexis is also a huge Elvis fan; she was Priscilla Presley for Halloween a couple of years ago) with us. It was exhilarating to see him in action at the prime of his career. He was a tremendous band leader, and a fantastic entertainer, but it was great to see his interaction with his band. There is a reason he is called "The King of Rock 'n' Roll," and it's not necessarily because of his rock 'n' roll. In fact, most of what we heard tonight was blues and gospel. He's The King because he was so skilled as a musician and a performer. He knew that for most of his audience members, it would be the first and only time they would ever see him perform, and he wanted to give them a great show, as if it were the first time his band had played those tunes together. He had a huge band! A dozen or so horns, a set of timpani, flute, bass, drums (oh my! an AWESOME drummer!), piano (YES, a REAL piano; one pianist played boogie-woogie pretty impressively), and about 8 back-up singers. At the end of his career, he was singing mostly gospel music, and he sang with great sincerity. After seeing that show, I'm as big of a fan as ever. Now if only I could get me a bedazzled-grommet-studded cape, maybe I would have what it takes to really entertain my audience for my graduate recital. And go-go boots. But I digress.

So anyway, Kim came into town for just the one day, and we had so much to do! We went to the library and checked out new CD's (I'm stocking up on my Chopin Ballade recordings) followed by lunch on the patio at the Cottonwood Grille, which is in my opinion, the best table in the Treasure Valley, with the breeze coming through the Cottonwoods off of the Boise River, butterflies, dragonflies, flowers, birdies, and a view of their waterfall. What could be better? I'll tell you: Gaspacho and the Cottonwood Platter (their cheese plate with smoked trout, pork, salami, 4 kinds of cheese, apples, grapes and strawberries). Talk about heaven in my mouth.

After lunch we went back to the Morrison Center where we chatted with my teacher and then Kim and I got to play together for a few short minutes. She recently acquired a phenomenal new violin which I hadn't heard before today. I've always loved her playing, but now she is a force to be reckoned with. We got to sight-read through some Albert Spalding compositions together for the first time (we're both huge fans) and she played a composition of hers for me that she's had in progress for some months now. What a treat. Also, I ran into my best BSU girlfriend, Maggie. Haven't seen her all summer. Yay, Maggie! Go Broncos!

Then of course we had to go to the music store so I could drop my name in the drawing for the digital piano they are giving away this week. You can enter once a day all week, so you can bet I will. Can you imagine how my family life would improve if I could practice with headphones in the middle of the night? So we stopped by to pick up some sheet music, and what do you know, but I won a prize! I'm the proud new owner of a black coffee mug with golden piano keys on it. Woot! But don't worry, I'm still in the running for the digital piano. We met a great guy at the music store (Weinberg? I forget his name). He was playing Le Tambeau de Couperin by Ravel. Nice. Didn't realize there were still pianists - good ones - in Boise that I haven't met yet! Whadayaknow?

After the music store we were off to get fresh eggs from my girlfriend Dani at the Farmer's Market, and then to Lee's Candies (incidentally, Kimberlee's namesake), home to pick up the girls, and then off to see Elvis on Tour.

Since we hadn't had quite enough fun yet, we had to go to Pengilly's to see if we could soak in just a couple of more tunes before the night was over. We were expecting to hear our favorite band, the Frim Fram 4, but they weren't playing. Instead, we got to hear Rob Walker, trumpet; Camden Hughes, piano; and Tom Jensen, bass with a female singer whose name I don't know. I love hearing Rob! He really can swing. I'd never heard Camden or Tom play before, but they were great. I'd been wanting to hear them play for some time, so it was really a great surprise to hear them play.

The whole day was too much fun, but the best part was sharing it all with my best music friend, Kim. I only get to see her once a year, so we try to make the most of it when I see her. It really was my lucky day. I can't believe that my life is so full of beautiful people and the gorgeous music that they make. And at the end of it all, I get to come home to a house full of people who I love just as dearly for different reasons altogether. Today I'm chalk full of love.

Haydn

It's done! I got through my entire Haydn "Great" E Flat Sonata today, quite well, actually. All three movements with repeats. We're having a little dinner party tomorrow night and I'm going to give it a complete run-through in front of people. I'm bracing myself! I think it'll go well, though.

Next up: The Granados Nightingale piece, my Chopin Butterfly Etude (both about half finished currently), and my encore, Autumn Moon Over a Calm Lake. I have been wanting to do one more Granados piece, but have still not come to an agreement with my teacher over which one. If I can get these things learned before school starts, I'll be on track for a great recital in March.