Weekend stuff
Mar. 3rd, 2003 10:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
julietFriday night, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wintrmute came round & we got "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" out. Which was very pretty indeed, with all the floating fighting & so forth. Though it's kind of a shame to see it on a normal-sized TV; it must have been much prettier on a cinema screen. Enjoyed it, though. And it was nice to spend the evening lazing on the sofa with Toby :-)
Saturday was spent rehearsing for my concert & then playing in it (I play viola in the South Bank Symphony). Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet Overture, Haydn Trumpet Concerto, & Vaughn Williams London Symphony, this term - all good stuff. Sadly, the guest conductor wasn't imo great. He was pretty abrasive throughout rehearsals, & had a tendency to change his mind about what he was doing (e.g. beating in 4, or 2, or 1) at the last minute & expect us all just to *know* what was going on. Which, y'know, might be more feasible if he had any form of belief in visible down-beats. It wasn't so bad with the Tchaikovsky or Haydn, both being fairly static in terms of time signature. But the Vaughn Williams changes all over the place, so knowing where the bars were would have been kind of helpful... *Anyway*. It went pretty well, regardless of irritating conductor, so there we go. And everyone else (as in, my friends who came to be audience) liked the symphony more than I did, so I have concluded that it's likely better to listen to than to play, & I should get a CD from somewhere.
It's nice to be playing again; I didn't hardly at all at university, after my first year - too much other stuff going on. Which I don't regret, cos the other stuff was all good. But I did kind of miss it. Won't be able to play next term, sadly, as the concert clashes with a friend's wedding.
beingjdc. Was a bit unenthusiastic (read: tired & lazy-feeling) on the way up, but it turned out to be a really good evening. Was good to see the lads, especially as I've not seen Rich since my birthday. The first support were the Stills, who were pretty good, but *way* too loud. Painfully so. They nicked at least one bassline from the Cure, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, & they did quite good things with it so we can forgive them. And then they did other good things with songs not nicked from the Cure. Top stuff. Then we had Har Mar Superstar, who was a bloke with a one-joke set. The joke wore a little thin about 30 seconds in. Broadly, he did shite dance/rap stuff, with most of it provided by a Minidisc or whatever backing thing. And he had a *really* bad mullet (I mean *really* bad) & kept taking his clothes off. Those were emphatically not pants that needed in any way to be in the public arena *shudder*.
Thankfully, he went away in due course. And the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were ace. I'm not sure it's stuff I'd necessarily want to buy & listen to just sitting around; but live they were *great*. Lots of energy & general madness. Good stuff.
Stopped off at John's for a quick drink before heading back. And then was on my way to the bus-stop when Nick Mason (ex-Pembroke, used to have tutes with him, massive political disagreements, including the fact that he's pro-hunt, but we get on OK if we stay off danger areas) pulled up next to me in his car, & offered me a lift back to Paddington. So I got home in an hour, rather than hr & a half plus, direct to my front door, & had a nice chat to Nick en route. So that was quite fortunate, really. John - he's a neighbour of yours now, living at no. 45.
*very* achey back now. Had a Very Hot Bath after watching the Simpsons & Fresh Prince this evening, in an attempt to relax the muscles. It worked, at the cost of leaving me feeling like I'd been boiled, but I've been sitting up & standing around cooking & stuff since, & they're all achey again now. Bah. On the upside, made good aubergine/pepper/potato/lentil bake for dinner, for which I might post the recipe later, if I have time before Frasier.
wintrmute came round & we got "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" out. Which was very pretty indeed, with all the floating fighting & so forth. Though it's kind of a shame to see it on a normal-sized TV; it must have been much prettier on a cinema screen. Enjoyed it, though. And it was nice to spend the evening lazing on the sofa with Toby :-)Saturday was spent rehearsing for my concert & then playing in it (I play viola in the South Bank Symphony). Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet Overture, Haydn Trumpet Concerto, & Vaughn Williams London Symphony, this term - all good stuff. Sadly, the guest conductor wasn't imo great. He was pretty abrasive throughout rehearsals, & had a tendency to change his mind about what he was doing (e.g. beating in 4, or 2, or 1) at the last minute & expect us all just to *know* what was going on. Which, y'know, might be more feasible if he had any form of belief in visible down-beats. It wasn't so bad with the Tchaikovsky or Haydn, both being fairly static in terms of time signature. But the Vaughn Williams changes all over the place, so knowing where the bars were would have been kind of helpful... *Anyway*. It went pretty well, regardless of irritating conductor, so there we go. And everyone else (as in, my friends who came to be audience) liked the symphony more than I did, so I have concluded that it's likely better to listen to than to play, & I should get a CD from somewhere.
It's nice to be playing again; I didn't hardly at all at university, after my first year - too much other stuff going on. Which I don't regret, cos the other stuff was all good. But I did kind of miss it. Won't be able to play next term, sadly, as the concert clashes with a friend's wedding.
beingjdc. Was a bit unenthusiastic (read: tired & lazy-feeling) on the way up, but it turned out to be a really good evening. Was good to see the lads, especially as I've not seen Rich since my birthday. The first support were the Stills, who were pretty good, but *way* too loud. Painfully so. They nicked at least one bassline from the Cure, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, & they did quite good things with it so we can forgive them. And then they did other good things with songs not nicked from the Cure. Top stuff. Then we had Har Mar Superstar, who was a bloke with a one-joke set. The joke wore a little thin about 30 seconds in. Broadly, he did shite dance/rap stuff, with most of it provided by a Minidisc or whatever backing thing. And he had a *really* bad mullet (I mean *really* bad) & kept taking his clothes off. Those were emphatically not pants that needed in any way to be in the public arena *shudder*. Thankfully, he went away in due course. And the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were ace. I'm not sure it's stuff I'd necessarily want to buy & listen to just sitting around; but live they were *great*. Lots of energy & general madness. Good stuff.
Stopped off at John's for a quick drink before heading back. And then was on my way to the bus-stop when Nick Mason (ex-Pembroke, used to have tutes with him, massive political disagreements, including the fact that he's pro-hunt, but we get on OK if we stay off danger areas) pulled up next to me in his car, & offered me a lift back to Paddington. So I got home in an hour, rather than hr & a half plus, direct to my front door, & had a nice chat to Nick en route. So that was quite fortunate, really. John - he's a neighbour of yours now, living at no. 45.
*very* achey back now. Had a Very Hot Bath after watching the Simpsons & Fresh Prince this evening, in an attempt to relax the muscles. It worked, at the cost of leaving me feeling like I'd been boiled, but I've been sitting up & standing around cooking & stuff since, & they're all achey again now. Bah. On the upside, made good aubergine/pepper/potato/lentil bake for dinner, for which I might post the recipe later, if I have time before Frasier.
