When we first heard about it, we were, of course, very excited. Something about "prime placement on the steps" is what was said. I was proud....but truly - the impact of the honor didn't really hit me until I saw the official schedule:
Festivities will commence at 10 a.m. on the west front of the U.S. Capitol and will include:
the Jetz, she's friends with the guitarest they interview named Allison (who is also in the Jetz), and you may just know her. To read more, you can hit this link to the article from whence the video came. Bottom of the Hill here we come!
Save the date(s)! Ry and Si have been cast in their first musical play. It's called Queenie Pie and it's being staged at the Oakland Metro Operahouse, May 9-25. They are chorus kids and have 6 songs. The whole production is very cool.
American model is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 117 pounds. Most fashion models are thinner than 98 percent of American women. More than 50 percent of high school girls want smaller hips, thighs and/or waists. The media plays a huge role in shaping our standards of beauty. The models that are chosen by companies to sell their products help to frame those standards. Studies of prime-time television indicate that programs are dominated by thin body types and that thinness is consistently associated with the portrayal of favorable personality traits. There is a shift in focus from the pre-teen to teen years for girls; the body becomes an all consuming passion, project, and barometer of worth. Self-esteem becomes too closely paired to physical attributes. Oh, you say....but I live in the bay area.....my kids don't watch t.v. Okay - well do they interact with kids who do? Say, at gymnastics? Or swimming? Or soccer? Or singing class? Etc. etc. etc. Yeah, you can run, but you can't hide. So the faster we figure out how to empower our daughters, the stronger they'll be. And I've only touched on body image. What about brains? Between 5th and 9th grade, gifted girls, perceiving that smarts aren't sexy, hide their accomplishments. I'll make it easy on myself and give you the Julia Morgan link as to why it may be advantageous to go to a school for girls only. Biased, to be sure....but definitely based on a demonstrated, researched need for girls to have an alternative environment in order to help find their voice. 
Oh, oh....I think we might have a little A's fan now. We all had a great time and if I could figure how to upload a video of them singing, I would. So I used my charm (no really, I can be charming) to talk my way down to the front row right over the visitor dugout, and by the time 
the boys had finished, a very nice couple gave us their extra tickets so we could sit down there for the game. So part of the game we got the big picture view from the 2nd level in foul territory past the 1st base line, and part of the game was right over the Mariner's dugout. Who beat the A's by the way. Badly. Which Ry now cares about because the A's have become his 2nd favorite team. Hmmm. 
Ry's first gig with his new Chorus will be Monday night, 9/17, at the A's game. They'll be singing the National Anthem.....so check your local listings for the A's vs. the Seattle Mariners. The game starts at 7:05, I believe, and 
chances are probably pretty slim that they'll televise the National Anthem, but you never know. We have to temporarily set aside our Giants loyalty in order to commit to this. We feel that we can do it for the greater good of musicality in the bay area.....or something like that.
Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano 
Si was absolutely beautiful today in the Aloha Festival in San Francisco. It was a typical summer day in the City....blustery cold, fog, and a light mist throughout the day. If the poor child comes down with pneumonia, we'll know why. I do have to say, though, that I appreciate the fact that the festival was running ON TIME......unheard of in the
hula world! So this officially ends our summer dance season, and we'll begin our focus on fall. October is the ho'ike and November brings a hula competition. In order to gear up for all this, and the beginning of school looming far too closely, we're off for a few days to Tahoe for some R&R. See you when we get back.
It's been a musical few weeks especially for Ry. Sadly I don't have a photo of his June piano recital (all video), but I do have his vocal recital where he was part of a trio singing a beautiful Hungarian song.
We then move on to his Capoeira Batizado, where they began by letting those kids who can really play the instruments do so. Here he plays the berimbau (that's him sitting on the bench with the long stick-looking thing in his hands), and sings - in Portuguese, of course.
of times, but let me tell you, the kid's been wanting to play drums forever and a day, and he sure did prove his case that he should continue. We can highly recommend Bandworks, should your kid have any interest in expanding their musical experiences.
The culmination of the week is a concert where they play about five songs. Since he did the morning and afternoon sessions, we got two concerts and ten songs. I'm not even going to pretend I knew all the songs - I'm not so up on my Nirvana, White Stripes and Jimi Hendrix. But I did know the Led Zeppelin, Beatles and Green Day so I was happy.
New Music Recommendations: Run, don't walk, to get Angélique Kidjo's new CD Djin Djin. Lots of duets with people like Joss Stone, Peter Gabriel, Ziggy Marley and Santana. Listen to this track called Lonlon which is a vocal rendition of Ravel's Bolero. Absolutely beautiful.
must-have. 
Go directly to the San Francisco Symphony website right this minute and purchase your tickets to the July 6 or 7 performance with Pink Martini. I wrote a smidge about them in my September 15 post (my 2nd ever!) and now I'm thrilled they're coming back to SF. Directly from the SF Symphony press release: The sound: 1930’s Cuban dance orchestra, classical chamber ensemble, Brazilian street band, and Japanese film noir. The band: Pink Martini, an eclectic 12-member ensemble heard around the world. Part language lesson, part Hollywood musical, the Portland, Oregon-based “little orchestra” was created in 1994 by Harvard graduate and classically trained pianist Thomas M. Lauderdale to play at political fundraisers for progressive causes. The group made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival and in the years following went on to tour Europe, Turkey, Taiwan, Lebanon, and the United States. Equally at home performing its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and in smoky bars, Pink Martini draws a wildly diverse crowd. Scott and I will be going sans children....but only because of the 8pm start time....the concert is appropriate for all ages.
Also not to be missed as part of the same Summer in the City concert series - the inimitable Patti Lupone on July 28. I was not lucky enough to see her as Evita, but her voice is burned into my brain as the only true diva good enough to play Eva Peron. Don't even get me started on the Madonna debacle - although, truth be told, I'll take looking at Antonio Banderas as Che Guevara over Mandy Patinkin any time.
Mrs. Brady did a great job yesterday at the Peter and the Wolf concert. She didn't actually conduct the piece - she narrated. But the super-cute conductor, Benjamin Shwartz let her take the baton for a brief moment. The San Francisco Youth Orchestra is always fun to watch....even though I did notice that the number of long-haired boys decreased dramatically this year (what's up with that?). The coolest number that they did in addition to Peter and the Wolf was a percussion piece where a huge timpani faced the audience and stayed on stage as 4 drummers came up the aisles playing a half beat behind each other on what looked like snare drums. It was amazing. As you can see, we like to sit over the orchestra so we can see the musicians up close and personal, as well as see the conductor's face. If you've never sat at this angle, I highly recommend it at least once so you can see the passion in the facial expressions and hand and body movements that the conductor puts into each piece.
Have you heard that I love music? And all things music-related? So, for your enjoyment, some of my favorite musical links: KPOO Radio is based in San Francisco, caters to the needs of populations traditionally underrepresented in the mainstream media and broadcasts a wide variety of music not typically heard on commercial stations. KPOO streams, so hit the "Hear Us" button from their link above. Pandora is by the people behind the Music Genome Project which is trying to map as many songs as possible (syncopation, rhythm, instrumentation, etc.). You type in an artist or song that you like, and Pandora matches it in as many musical ways as is possible to build a station of just that kind of sound for you. You can give the thumbs up or thumbs down to what they choose, and come up with a radio station tailored exactly to your taste. Track 50 is a site that tracks concert dates in the bay area for the bands you love. Simply let them know who your favorite artists are, and they'll notify you via e-mail when concert dates are scheduled. I've never been spammed by them or heard anything else from them other than concert dates and venues on bands I submitted. And finally, the goofiest and most oddly addictive site of all - Let Them Sing It For You. Type in any words, sentence or phrase and hit the red arrow. Let me know what you think about that one.
You must, must, must see the San Francisco Youth Symphony Orchestra perform Peter and the Wolf. It is an absolutely delightful performance, and it's great to see more long-haired orchestra dudes. And this year, the narrator is Florence Henderson! That's right - Mrs. Brady will guide you through the classic Prokofiev piece. Seriously, use my link and order your tickets right away. It's Sat., December 16 at 1p and 4p. We like to sit on the side terrace over the orchestra for a really close-up view.
