Below is an image of the Pipa virtuoso Min Xiao-Fen on her Ruan (or Moon Guitar). I shot this on my Nikon D5100 at ISO 1600 and I finished it in Photoshop CS5 with Silver EFEX Pro 2. Using a mask on the Silver EFEX layer and a low opacity brush I brought back some of the color from the original image into the face, arm, and instrument body to give the final image the look of a “back in the darkroom days” hand colored image. I’m not typically one for bringing back color into a my finished B&Ws. So, I’d love some comments on how this one worked. I’m very pleased but I’d love to know what other folks think.

This photograph is (c)2013 The Bilow Group / Dandylines Inc. (all rights reserved). Permission to use this image is not granted without prior approval.

Whatever you think of this image, and whatever comments you’d like to share, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave those comments here on WordPress. And, for the record, prints of any of my musician images are for sale with 20% of the proceeds going to the presenting organization. So, for example, 20% of the selling price of a print of this image would go to the Third Angle New Music Ensemble. So email me if interested.

Here is what I really want to say:

With last night’s absolutely magical Asian Music Now concert at the Lan Su Chinese Garden, the Third Angle New Music Ensemble had an unmitigated success. Assuming Thursday night included an equally amazing concert, I’d have to say that this past week should be designated National Third Angle week!

Artistic Director Ron Blessinger designed a magnificent program of 5 modern Chinese performances. Ron divided the audience into 5 groups, each of which attended a different one of the 5 performances; each in a different garden site. So, within the garden, there were 5 simultaneous performances.

I have a feeling that no matter where they started, a  lot of audience members will say that their “order” was perfect. So, I don’t feel like I’m especially unique in feeling like mine was the perfect starting place. That said, I do feel very lucky that my voyage through the garden began and ended with my favorite pieces.

Along the path that Patt and I were assigned we first heard Luanne Warner Katz perform Hu Xiao-ou’s solo vibraphone (and recorded material) piece “Dynamic Daily“; then Huang Ruo performing traditional Chinese folk songs; then Huang’s own composition “Book of the Forgotten” played by Brian Quincey on Viola and Louis DeMartino on clarinet – both traversing the whole “room” because there were “just too many notes” for page turns.

From there we went to hear flutist Sarah Tiedmann and harpist Jennifer Craig in a performance of Zhou Long’s piece “Su“. Sarah gets high marks for simultaneously bending pitches and flutter tonguing; Jennifer taught us of the existence of some pretty cool extended harp techniques (including one sound that “you’re never supposed to make”).

Finally, we ended our little adventure in the “Scholar’s Study”. Here, the extraordinary (that’s such an understatement, though!) pipa virtuoso (understated again) Min Xiao-Fen began with a pipa piece that would give the original pipa players of 200 BCE a massive coronary (but that’s what happens when John Cage – of blessed memory – influences your pipa technique!) Min’s second piece was on the Ruan and her combination of skill and nuance is enough to make anyone who has even half a heart weep in joy.

Now… The music was great. The concept was wonderful. But to really understand the magnitude of this concert you need to take a step back and think about this: It’s friggin’ Portland Oregon in April!!! You know what generally happens in Portland in April? Here’s a hint – “May flower” come next. Right. Get it? It RAINS!!! But OH NOOOOO… Not when Third Angle is planning a show. Nope. SUN and the high 70′s. baby. THAT is how much ol’ Mamma Nature loves THIS ensemble.

Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe just luck. But, that’s my point. The Third Angle Artistic Director, Mr. Blessinger, and his partner, Executive Director Lisa Volle, did what they often do. They brought, to their board, a RISK. And, as THEY often do, the board took it on – again proving that risk taking pays off. They took a risk, like the ones Third Angle should be proud to often take; and they hit a home run. Seriously, who besides Third Angle would have the guts to invite a bunch of people to stroll around an outdoor garden, to hear 5 different performances, on 2 different evenings, in April in Portland Oregon? Seriously.

Like I said, the risk paid off.  Near 80 degree weather like this simply doesn’t happen here in April. Either some God or other really loves Lisa and Ron or their organization is really good at understanding the value of taking and managing risk. Perhaps both. After all, what God wouldn’t love Lisa and Ron? As for me, I’ll side with the rationalists and set the God-love thing aside for a moment. To me, this amazing evening was clearly the result of a profound willingness to take risks, a team that knows how to manage them, and a pervasive nuanced aesthetic that makes the ensemble what it is.

I’m proud to be able to work with Third Angle. More than that, I’m proud of the thing called “Third Angle”.

Anticipating next season already. Xièxiè, Xièxiè, Xièxiè!

A couple of days ago, two devastating bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three people died and many, many more were maimed. My disrespect for the perpetrators is even stronger than my disrespect for other killers. Some people kill by confronting their victims. These are evil, horrible, people. Others kill by planting an explosive, walking away, and not even having the guts to confront the people they are murdering.  These are also evil, horrible people; worse yet, they are cowards. I really don’t have much respect or tolerance for cowards.

At the opposite extreme are heroes. These are the people who, after running for 4 hours, hear an explosion and, instead of retreating, run toward the smoke, toward the blood, toward the horror. These are the kinds of people I most respect. When I think of the words I write, I realize that my work, my speeches, my advocacy, my blogging, and my teaching pale in comparison to the acts of these truly great people.

In Judaism, our Talmud teaches that “to save a single life is to save a whole world“. There are many ways to understand this. My personal way is genealogical. A bright 8-year-old boy, a beautiful young woman, and a Chinese student are now dead. Their lives have vanished – 3 people out of billions. But each of those 3 people had the potential to be great; each of those people were potentially the progenitors of an infinite number of subsequent generations. Three people are gone but, with them, three entire worlds. Every person who was brave enough to have heard a blast and to have found themselves immediately running toward the chaos was doing their part to save the world. Heroes all!

Rebbe Nachman of Braslav is famously quoted as saying: “Life is a very narrow bridge between two eternities. Be not afraid.” However one chooses to interpret these “eternities”, one thing is certain: The “bridge” is finite and the greatest detriment to crossing  it is fear. So to all of you who forsook the fear and ran into the chaos, I hope you take pride in knowing that your willingness to recognize the individual humanity in every person and to put your fear aside to help others, is one reason the world does not collapse into a black hole of evil. So, thank you.

1. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
2. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.
3. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
4. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
5. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska
6. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
7. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.
8. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.
9. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.
10. Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind.
11. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.
12. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.
13. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
14. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas
15. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho
16. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas
17. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.
18. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb.
19. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.
20. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
21. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa
22. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah
23. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.
24. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.
25. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.
26. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.
27. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.
28. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb.
29. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
30. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah
31. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
32. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.
33. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
34. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
35. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio
36. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.
37. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.*
38. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho
39. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
40. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
41. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.
42. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
43. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
44. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
45. Sen. David Vitter, R-La.
46. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

——————–

Our God who dwells in the highest heights and in the souls of our feet:

We find You in the passion of those who delight in testing and celebrating the power of their bodies:

· The runners who push themselves to find new challenges in the rhythm of the road and the camaraderie of the race;

· The doctors, medics, police, fire fighters and bystanders whose dedication to humanity drives them to run into the fray – towards the bruised and bloodied bodies in the streets.

On this day of destruction, we need to remember that the race is not for the swift[i]; there is no finish line for those who seek a better world.

Neither bombs, nor blood, not death, nor destruction can deter us from running, O God.

We run to You.

We run towards a vision of perfection that is always in our sights.

We run determined to never allow hatred to obscure Your presence.

We run to build a better world.

Be with those who have lost loved ones on this tragic day.

Send comfort and healing to the injured and the maimed.

Heal them – heal us all – body and soul – as we strive to find You.

Give us hope.

Help us to use our arms, our legs, our breath, our determination to unite in a common purpose.

In our grief may we find the strength to keep on running.

AMEN

Today’s topic is about their Yom ha Shoah article, questioning whether that commemoration is “obsolete”. In this case, just the title made me cringe. I was prepared to lambaste the piece. Then I read it and realized that the author, Ruth Franklin, has a very well-reasoned argument. Despite my understanding of her position I don’t agree when she proposes that a decrease in participation in Yom ha Shoah events since the 90′s implies that the day may no longer be relevant.

Ms Franklin is correct in acknowledging that a 12+ year period of terror can’t be sufficiently dealt with in a single day. She is also correct to note the nationwide decline in event participation. My conclusion differs from hers, though. I propose that a decline in Yom ha Shoah commemorative events indicated a larger problem. The number of remaining survivors is dwindling at an ever-increasing rate. We are nearing the time when High School students will be assigned to read Eli Wiesel’s “Night” but will no longer have real, living human beings to testify to its veracity. We are reaching a time when even those who were babies at the time of the liberation will no longer be here to speak with the generations to come.

Because of the sorry state of the human race and the even sorrier state of global rationality, there are plenty of people to speak about genocide: Cambodians, Rwandans, Darfuri Sudanese  and more. But I propose that one of the reasons America has refused to take direct action to stop these atrocities is that, even when the Holocaust was freshly concluded, even when we did have night-long Yom ha Shoah vigils in the 70s and 80s, even when we did have a large pool of survivors, even then we did NOT DO ENOUGH to speak out. Perhaps we should have acknowledged earlier that this had orders of magnitude broader implication than simply that of Jewish remembrance. But, if anything, we need commemoration now more than ever.

I agree completely with Ms. Franklin that a single day is insufficient to remember over a decade of irrational nationalistic xenophobic insanity. But I disagree that the day may no longer be relevant. If that question can even be proposed then I have a twofold conclusion:

1. We Jews owe it to our families, ancestors, and cultures to revivify Yom ha Shoah; not to discard it.

2. We citizens of a planet torn by strife owe it to our co-inhabitants to use the experiences of our families, ancestors, and cultures, to use Yom ha Shoah to protect ourselves, and everyone else, from the destruction we have seen can happen and that our species, in a post-Holocaust, post-Cambodia, post-cultural revolution, post-Rwanda, post-Darfur century, perhaps deserves.

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Today on Facebook…

• A whole rack of comic books about philosophers and thinkers, in the Ateneo book store, Buenos Aires. I took a picture of the one on Nietzsche especially for Stephen Hicks.

        

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  • Stephen Hicks and 17 others like this.
  • 

    Marsha Enright Thanks to Luli Coll and Marina Coll for showing me this store.

    7 hours ago · Like · 4
  • 

    Michael AtlasMovie Brown .cc R. Kevin Hill

    7 hours ago · Like · 1
  • 

    Steve Bilow Hey!!! I’ve got a great idea from this! Nietzsche and a bunch of Nazis go to South Park and tell the boys that “Kenny is Dead”. Prof. Stephen Hicks could get WAY more royalties!!! Need an agent?

    7 hours ago · Like · 3
  • 

    Marsha Enright Sounds perfect! And we should make an Ayn Rand comic book (I know there are some already….)

    7 hours ago · Like · 1
  • 

    Kurt Keefner I saw the Schopenhauer comic book. All the pages were black.

    7 hours ago · Like · 3
  • 

    Steve Bilow I saw the Derrida comic book. All the pages just explained that all the pages were not pages.

    7 hours ago · Like · 4
  • 

    Kurt Keefner The Plato comic book was weird, it had another, similar but more perfect “ghost” comic book hovering over it. No extra charge, though.

    7 hours ago · Like · 3
  • 

    Steve Bilow The fragments of the Barthes comic book were hard to read…. but pretty.

    7 hours ago · Like · 3
  • 

    Stephen Hicks They thought about a Descartes edition, but it didn’t exist.

    6 hours ago · Like · 4
  • 

    Charles Dahl I wish Steve Ditko’s Objectivist comics were still in print. Did you see any?

    6 hours ago · Like · 2
  • 

    Steve Bilow I do need to go back to work but not before this: The Sartre comic book went out of print immediately because it didn’t matter.

    6 hours ago · Like · 5
  • 

    Stephen Hicks The Kant comic book was phenomenal.

    6 hours ago · Unlike · 5
  • 

    Virginia Murr See what you started, Marsha!  Hilarious, gentlemen.

    6 hours ago · Like · 1
  • 

The ability for the states to make decisions appropriate to their populations, which may not be universally appropriate to the nation is a foundational concept. The vibrancy of America comes from our many levels of diversity. That diversity is expressed regionally, state-wise, and even locally. It is critical that the electorates at all of those levels have the ability to democratically construct the societies most appropriate to their demographics and cultural desires.

But democracy is dangerous. America is a republic not a democracy for a reason. Pure democracy puts all minorities at a disadvantage. The glory of America is exactly the fact that it oversees local democracy with a (limited) federal structure that insures the fundamental rights to property ownership, contracts and agreements, privacy, and other “nationwide” values are protected and enforced. Left on its own  local, state, and regional “democracy” would insure the loss of human and civil rights. Consider these examples:

1. If you ask the “majority” of Americans whether the US should be a “Christian nation”, MOST would likely say “yes”. This would build discrimination against, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Shinto, Native Americans,  Agnostics, “New Age” believers, Atheists, and many others right into the fabric of our society. American government is built to explicitly prohibit this.

2. If you ask the “majority” of Americans whether the US should be able to take private property, compensate the owner, and use that property for a “higher purpose” that benefits a local economy, they may well agree. That would build very dangerous problems into private property rights.

3. The “majority” of Americans believe that the wealthiest Americans should pay higher taxes because they can “afford” it. Do you know why? Because the majority of Americans are not it that category. Conversely, those with all the money wield enormous power that far offsets the “democracy” of the “little people”. We have to be able to balance democracy and corporate domination and that requires some amount of national oversight.

4. The antebellum south speaks for itself in demonstrating the disastrous consequences of indiscriminate democracy. Slave owners viewed slaves as “assets” and, where they were owned, they could VOTE to keep others captive. Only a national system of civil rights could finally overcome this.

This brings me to the reason that I believe “State’s Rights” is a fallacious political position with respect to California’s proposition 8.

In MOST states with fundamentalist Christian religious majorities, if you ask the “majority” of residents whether their state should allow “Gay Marriage”, they would answer “no”. This would build discrimination against the entire LGBT community right into the fabric of state laws and, as a whole, OUR society.  (This is NOT just a Christian issue; it would be equally true were their US states dominated by Orthodox Jews, conservative Muslims, or other “conservative” religions; only because those groups are minorities does it appear that this is a Christian problem; so, I’m not pointing at Christians, I am pointing and any dogmatic, closed-minded believer).The FEDERALISM that so many of those conservative states claim to so cherish is built to (again) explicitly prohibit this. In other words, where states have to ability to EXCLUDE citizens, the federal government is compelled to oversee the law in such a way as to disallow it. Therefore, the states CAN’T be allowed to VOTE on gay marriage. It is NOT a “states rights” issue. It is PURELY a “human rights” issue and that is not for the states to decide.

That takes care of California. But what about the bigger issue of DOMA?

The “defense of marriage act” (DOMA) is an even more straightforward issue. You can’t construct laws based on religious doctrine. That is why we try to hard to separate church and state. EVERY church – EVERY religious institution – MUST be free to practice their religions without interference from the government. So long as those institutions don’t do anything that is unconstitutional, they can do whatever they want. For better or worse, doing anything else is a very slippery slope. That’s why we are stuck with appalling groups like the Westboro Baptist Church, Neo-Nazi groups, and preachers who want to burn Korans. We can’t stop them from practicing their belief systems. We CANNOT force any religious group to accept gay marriage. But….

…We can also not enact laws whose ONLY foundation is in religious doctrine. There are NO other viable arguments that support DOMA. Therefore it MUST be overturned on constitutional grounds.

Today, as we Jews celebrate the first day of Passover, and we remember the blessings of freedom, I am reminded of the person who taught me to advocate for unequivocally equal human rights. I’m reminded of the Passover Seder I once spent with the Gottfried family. With that image in my mind, in memory of Emily Gottfried, I urge the US Supreme Court to overturn both DOMA and California Prop 8. Love is love and sometimes it seems so rare that we humans need to respect, cherish, and praise it wherever we see it.

Hag Pesach Someach.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln………. Um….HALL

An Israeli ensemble that had rarely come to the US, and never to Portland, had a mission. You see, Alexander Pavlovsky, Sergei Bresler, Ori Kam, and Kyril Zlotnikov and formulated a plan to come to the US with a 4-day cycle of every one of Demitri Shostakovitch’s 15 string quartets. These 4 guys, together, since 1993, known as the Jerusalem String Quartet agreed to bring their cycle to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York. They scheduled their epic performance for 2013.

So why should Portland care? Well, after the Lincoln Center performances were locked and loaded, The Quartet thought it might be a good idea to have one more American “run through” of the complete cycle. Voila! Our opportunity appeared! Friends of Chamber Music was offered the chance to bring the whole event to Oregon.

The Blessing that is Pat and Lori

This opportunity could have simply slipped on by were it not for our visionary executive director, Pat Zagelow and her FOCM partner Lori Fitch. They might have simple taken a pass on it; they might have deemed it to expensive or too risky; they might have made an executive decision that Portland was too small a city for a concert series of this magnitude; they might have looked at our audience demographics and just not believed that the data supported getting people to come to hear 15 20th century chamber works with identical instrumentation; they might have made innumerable decisions that would have stopped the idea before it was ever presented to our artistic committee. But they didn’t. Instead Pat and Lori came to the Artistic Committee with the idea, the estimated financial impact, a clear understanding of the risk, and the preparedness to jump on the offer quickly, should we choose to take it to the full board.

The Three Pillars of Artistic Decision

It’s important to notice that I have twice now used the words “Artistic Committee”. This is a relatively unique concept. Unlike organizations with larger budgets and/or less active boards, we don’t have an Artistic Director. We have an astonishingly well versed ED but artistic decisions are made my a committee of volunteers. There are 3 things that are necessary to make this work. First, you need board members who so deeply love the music that they stay educated and mindful of what makes great performance. Second, you have to have a board that wants to WORK HARD. Third, you need a staff that trusts these volunteers to make practical decisions. Those are the 3 pillars of success if you are going to choose not to have a paid Artistic Director. I’m the first person to admit I’m biased. But to my mind those are also the 3 pillars that fundamentally support our whole organization: Staff/Board teamwork, willingness to engage actively, and TRUST. I think we are unique in having all of those; and, I think that’s why we are going stronger than ever as we enter our SEVENTY-FIFTH YEAR.

Deciding to Say “Yes”

Now, if you have never been part of a performing arts organization, you may not know just how expensive it is to bring a chamber ensemble to town. You may also not know how utterly unpredictable the process of ticket sales can be. It is possible, for example, to pay several tens of thousands of dollars to bring a famous vocalist to town while still having difficulty selling seats at 30 to 50 bucks a pop. Why? Well, if I knew the answer I probably would be consulting for the music world instead of building TV stations. Bottom line, nobody really knows. My point is that, even with perfect execution, perfect advertising, and a perfect performance, you don’t always make lots of money. I don’t think that even Nassim Taleb could tell you how to manage the risk of a big black swan stomping on a perfectly planned concert. So, everything artsy is risky.

This means that, saying “yes”, even when you think you are saying yes to a “slam dunk”, is risky. And, when your ticket sales can’t pay all your expenses, and you rely on donors, that risk transfers to your biggest supporters before anything else. Not only do you need to think of the risk relative to your own finances and your own reputation, but you are putting your best friends’ money at risk too. (By the way, it’s only because some of those “best friends” jumped in and committed financial assistance early that we could do this: THANK YOU).

In our particular case, we have an innovative, forward-looking board (note bias!) who decided to take the risk and do something really BIG. Strategically, it was a fit with our mission statement. We hoped the risk would be manageable And, tactically, we thought our bast chance of success was to turn the 4 concerts into a “festival”; not just performances, but lectures, education, and receptions too. The game was on. The clock was ticking. We formed a committee.

Engaged Leadership

I want to take a second to thank this committee. Under the leadership of board member Alice Hardesty we were able to spend a year-and-a-half planning, fostering a free flow of ideas, selecting participants, building partnerships with other organizations, supporting each other when our grand ideas were not always executable, and generally becoming greater and greater Shostakovitch lovers. Thanks to the Alice we have a pretty fun ride!

T-MINUS 18 Months!

Ideas came and ideas went. Personally, I had a vision of making a big splash in the Jewish community with an Israeli ensemble that had never been to Portland. I don’t want to feel like I failed; let’s just say I couldn’t pull off the reception I’d envisioned. Other ideas had to go too – I REALLY wanted that Vodka tasting party. Ah well… I had to settle for simply doing a couple of shots with my friend Lori. The point is that some things couldn’t happen. But what did happen was still far more wonderful than we could even have anticipated.

“A Shostakovitch Festival” Makes it From Jerusalem to Portland

This event was one of the greatest events in my 24 years watching the Portland classical music scene. This was not one of those things where the ensemble just played a bunch of pieces chronologically. An enormous amount of thought, dare I say emotional-engineering, went into the programming. Here is how it ended up (and, I believe, how New York will also get to experience these quartets):

Concert #1

Quartet No. 1 in C Major, Op. 49 (1938)

Quartet No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 92 (1952)

Quartet No. 6 in G Major, Op. 101 (1956)

Quartet No. 12 in D-flat Major, Op. 133 (1968)

Concert #2

Quartet No. 4 in D Major, Op. 83 (1949)

Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 (1960

Quartet No. 10 in A-flat Major, Op. 118 (1964)

Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 122 (1966)

Concert #3

Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73 (1946)

Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor, Op. 108 (1960)

Quartet No. 13 in B-flat minor, Op. 138 (1970)

Quartet No. 14 in F-sharp Major, Op. 142 (1973)

Concert #4

Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 68 (1944)

Quartet No. 9 in E-flat Major, Op. 117 (1964)

Quartet No. 15 in E-flat minor, Op. 144 (1974)

I can’t explain how all the choices were made. What I can, and will say is that after each of the 4 performances the audience members left both overwhelming excited and emotionally exhausted. My wife tells me that in all her years she’s never hears so much excited chatter in the ladies room after the shows (I’ll take her word for it, thank you very much). Each concert on it’s own, and all the concerts together, were stunning. The Oregonian said it better than I could when they stated: “They’re a resounding triumph, easily among the most memorable musical performances in Portland in recent memory.” And, just to give you a feel for the unprecedented skill of the musicians, here’s another àpropos Oregonian quote: “Individually, they were distinctive and supremely flexible. Few quartets achieve the balance they did, each member rising up and falling back within the ensemble to give a natural sense of fluidity and depth.” Thank you James McQuillen – your Oregonian article NAILED IT!

When a Concert Series Becomes a Festival

I want you to remember what I said earlier about the choice to make this a festival. Not only did the quartet play as well as any I have EVER heard, but the week-long event also included these ancillary events: Lectures by Evgenii V. Bershtein and Peter Kupfer, a round-table discussion with the players, and a really amazing educational outreach event where 4 young musicians were privileged to rehearse sections of the very rarely heard Shostakovitch OCTET. I admit that I had to miss the last 2 events I mentioned because I had an insanely busy work week and simply couldn’t do everything. But rumor has it, they rocked as much as everything else.

Coda

To sum it up I need to simply say that the past week was among the most fulfilling weeks in my music-following life. I have to admit I’ve had a few other peak music experiences: Meeting Messiaen, watching Berio and Boulez conduct, having Earle Brown come to my graduation recital and tell me he liked my music, drinking beer at Mel Powell’s piano with Morty Feldman, hanging out at IRCAM, and being at Dawn Upshaw’s first performance after her breast cancer treatments were all peak experiences in my life. But, this week I added a new peak experience to the list because, this week, I was blessed to spend 4 incredible days with 4 amazing young musicians, listening to 15 astonishing pieces of music, and riding the emotional bullet train that is Demitri Shostakovitch.

I am always proud to have been given the chance to serve Friends of Chamber Music. But, this week I am extra proud to have the blessing of being part of an organization which has, arguably I suppose, created the finest music event in the 24 years I’ve been in Portland; and, I’ll be so bold as to propose the possibility that it’s the most significant event in our 74+ year history.

]]> http://almostrational.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/the-three-year-shostakovitch-journey-from-jerusalem-to-portland/feed/ 2 almostrational http://almostrational.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/why-i-think-kens-artisan-bakery-makes-the-best-baguettes-ive-had-anywhere-outside-of-france/ http://almostrational.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/why-i-think-kens-artisan-bakery-makes-the-best-baguettes-ive-had-anywhere-outside-of-france/#comments Sun, 03 Mar 2013 03:22:38 +0000 almostrational http://almostrational.wordpress.com/?p=723 ]]> I admit it. I am a foodie. I am a wine snob. And…. I am a baguette fanatic.

In 1986 I made my first trip to France. My friend Robin and I went to Paris and spent 3 wonderful weeks with our friend Paul. I came to love Paris and I came to love French food. Three years later, my wife and I spent our own 2 amazing weeks in Paris – visiting a friend at IRCAM, MEETING Olivier Messiaen, visiting every possible museum… and EATING. Almost 2 decades elapsed before I again found cause to  return to France; this time, on several occasions, to Albi – birthplace of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, home to the tallest brick cathedral in the world, appellation of a wide array of un-exported wines, and the city that introduced me to Cassoulet (which, given 2 or 3 days of preparation and someone willing to bring be sausages from Toulouse, I have been known to make as well as a Southern Frenchman). Over all the years between my Paris of the 80′s and my Albi of the 21st century, I have searched for good baguettes. They were there in Paris. They were there in Albi. They were everywhere I went in France. They were NOWHERE ELSE.

Then, one day, I was wondering around Northwest Portland and I decided to stop in at a place that I had heard about for a few years but had never visited. The pastries were amazing, but I love the pastries at La Provence and at St. Honore in Lake Oswego just as well. Ken Forkish has mastered every possible French baked good. Others have too. But Ken Forkish has also mastered something that it seems almost no other Americans have mastered – PERFECT, TRADITIONAL, French breads; especially the baguette.

All of this is just my opinion but here is what I think:

Here is a photo of the top of 2 baguettes. The upper one is from a bakery I like a lot. The lower one is from Ken’s.

The 2 breads are both baked to a relatively dark brown. Ken’s has much higher contrast between the valleys of the crust and it’s peaks. This is because of the high temperature at which he bakes and the care with which he allows his loves to proof. The color difference indicates that the crust is lighter and flakier that the more evenly colored crust. In fact, Ken’s crust is the lightest, crispest crust I’ve had. Just like it is in France.

A cross-sectional view of the loaves is even more telling. Look at the height of the loaves and look, particularly, at the size and relative density of the air pockets. Ken’s baguette is on the right.

These bigger air pockets, and this greater height is, again, due to care and control. I’m honestly not sure whether it’s his long bulk fermentation times, his proofing time, the temperature, or what. If I knew, I’d make my baguettes like he does. All I know is that when you look at these cross sections you  see that Ken’s crust is thinner and his center is lighter, airier, and softer. Um… Just like it is in… you guessed it… FRANCE.

What you can’t tell from these photos, even if you believe me when I say that they indicate crisp crusts and soft centers is this. Because this bread is probably bulk fermented for a longer period of time that most other bakers, it has a richer, more complex flavor. This is where being a wine snob comes in handy. You can taste the complexity. Now, I’m sure that Ken has little tricks he plays with his levains. But, I know (from reading his book not because I know how to bake), that complexity come from the time it takes for a full bulk fermentation. If you don’t believe me, visit the bakery and try for yourself.

Now, here’s the big question of the day. What the heck is so important about finding the perfect baguette, anyway? Well, easy. Crappy bread is cheap. Good bread is expensive. If I’m going to spend $3.00 for a baguette, I want a great one. That’s it. Nothing more. I don’t expect a lot from an inexpensive wine; though I find many of them quite acceptable. But, when I spend good money on a Bordeaux, or a California Cab, or a Oregon Pinot Noir, I want my money’s worth. This may sound like I’m cheap and it may sound like I’m snooty. Maybe there is some of both in me. But here is how I feel.

Good food is an aesthetic experience as much as a well-played string quartet or a great painting. Either it edifies you, or it doesn’t. In my case, much of my enjoyment in life comes from a great cigar, a great bottle of wine, a great string quartet, a great Rothko exhibit, a great Opera, a great sculpture, a great film; in short from sensory mindfulness. Mindful eating is an equally enjoyable experience.

So why a baguette? That too is easy. If a great steak is like a Beethoven Symphony and a great cassoulet can be as epic as Wagner’s “Ring”, then a perfect, simple baguette with an underlying hidden complexity is a Bach cello suite. Sometimes I’m up for an epic but almost nothing is more enjoyable to me, after a long day at work, than a single malt scotch and a Bach cello suite. In that context, I’ll savor a Ken’s Artisan baguette, any day.

Bravissimo Ken Forkish!