violinist & educator

It’s wonderful to spend a holiday on the east coast.  There are many places to go, and so much to see.  This Fourth of July, Randy got a gig with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Pops, so that was a great excuse to hit Providence and see the fireworks.  Milton, my brother, was off-call that weekend, so it was great to hang out too.

Sunday started off with Randy and I playing in two church services where our good friend Greg works as the music director.  Both services were as different as night and day.  The first one featured a country/rock praise ensemble, which was hilarious in itself because the semi-serious congregational was punctuated by rambunctious, lively jamming from these guys.  The alternating contrasts was so absurdly shocking that I had trouble holding in some giggles.   The second service was more conservative; there was more classical music and a feeling of meditation over the congregation.  Both services ended with a national anthem of some sort to get everyone in the holiday spirit.  Chee-hoo!

We arrived in Providence around 1pm.  For lunch we stumbled upon Not Just Snacks, an Indian restaurant that received pretty good ratings on Yelp.   The food was yummy and cheap, though I think it’s a different style of Indian food.  I had my usual Palak Paneer, which was unusually creamy with stringy spinach, but tasty.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur: shopped at Providence Place, took a nap, watched Star Wars III…. Finally, we set foot to India Point Park for the concert and fireworks.  It was really nice out and not too many people on the lawn yet, so it was good soak up the scenery and chat with some friends in the orchestra.  The orchestra did a nice job and the fireworks were better than I expected.  It was a good day indeed!

This past week was full of entertaining activities.  Randy’s good friend and bassist Alex Tarbert is finally saying goodbye to Boston and starting a new life chapter in Germany.  I’m so excited for him!  A bunch of friends gathered at Wally’s, a venue famous for Latin jazz sounds, to celebrate and bid farewell to Alex.

On another note, the Luna Duo, I mean, TRIO made its debut at the Bradford School of Music Faculty concert.  I’m never big on performing alone on stage, so I thought it would be nice to have a chamber group perform—so why not perform as the Luna Trio, which is basically Leewen, Randy and myself?  It was a great chance for us to play together and also expand our repertoire with Mark O’Connor’s Appalachia Waltz written for violin, viola (or cello), and double bass.  The more I play this piece, the more I enjoy the subtleties of harmonic textures and the meditative lyrical melodies that soar above the blanket of open strings.  Here we are making our grand opening gesture:

I also debuted as an 80′s rock band violinist playing “Peg” by Steely Dan.  My band was made up of other Bradford faculty members.  Man, this song is constantly stuck in my head…… Anyways, looking forward to the next hang with my music buddies next time.  Bon voyage, Alex!