June 30 - Stepping Out

Finish editing and posting on YouTube The Pied Piper of Hamelin from VIII. You Should Have Heard and XII. Once More (above) through



XIII. The Wonderful Music and XV. In Transylvania, all via a slightly different process of uploading in HandBrake and then trimming with Wondershare. Call Harriet and the SFCCO brass; John Browning calls to assure that all is in place re the quick Southern California visit this weekend; name and put away numerous files; meld the ninth movement of Magnificat into Vespers; do a bike-and-pool circuit.



Also find Maria Mikheynko's posting of the first scene of Mice Suites (Mice and Men: Act I, Finale), so incorporate that into the DrMarkAlburger channel, too, along with all of John Bilotta's Quantum Mechanic.

June 29 - A Guilder for One's Thoughts

Turned out to be 103 yesterday, only in the 90's today, but in either case, a pleasure to be taking care of this and that, including editing and posting on Youtube selections II. (including IV-V. Trio - For a Guilder / Come In above, also on Facebook) through



VII. Into the Street -- which Bianca Showalter particularly likes (as well she should, as she sounds so great in the excerpts). Wondershare continues to work nicely (save or a puzzling speed increase re VIII. and beyond); it additionally yields a product that looks better on blogs -- as standard, rather than wide-screen images. Also do more filing, 21st-Century Music work, bring Magnificat: VIII. into the Vespers, make a bike/pool run, and have pleasant phone conversations with Harriet, Tom Heasley, John Browning (looks like it'll be south for July 4), and the woodwinds of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra (yes, it's already time to think about the September show).



Finally start using, what with all the video to be stored, the WD Passport external hard drive -- easy to get up and running, just plug and play, as they say -- with a clever usb cable that, like the iPod/iPhone, provides its own power. Continuing the notion that any sufficiently sophisticated technology seems like magic, this baby has seemingly almost twice the storage capacity of the old (all of four years) Lacie model, and is approximately 8 times smaller -- so compact, in fact, that it can be fit into a pocket and carted around, for semi-peace of mind.

June 28 - Handbrake Down

Awake to distant strains of Sesame Street, then more work on 21st-Century Music, seventh movement of Magnificat (Fecit Potentiam) incorporated into Vespers, another stack of files stowed away (with file boxes temporarilly taking over the house), and a bike blitz to the pool (Harriet checking in enroute).

Experiment with video editing and posting in the free version of Wondershare. As it displays a "watermark" (their trademark in big white letters, top left) when using it gratis, there's nothing to do but use their "white black" effect (besides, SF Community Music Center is hardly a black box) when dealing with Sex and Delilah: I. Death, et al, and, at times, the visuals looks pretty amazing, anyway. The above file is tempo and me-voiced challenged, but there it is.

Then take the plunge and buy the real version, using it to refine above and do the first two items of



The Pied Piper of Hamelin, beginning with the Overture "Rats!".

June 27 - Away and Up

Finish the posting of Antigone on YouTube (the last movement takes a while to stick), attack another pile of files in the adjunct library, meld Magnificat: VI. Et Misercordia into Vespers, do some 21st-Century Music work, learn how to use the Wondershare program to copy and edit video, and head east in the late afternoon toward Sacramento, up into the



Auburn Recreation Area, towards the



Sierra on



Mosquito Ridge Road,



descending



and



ascending



the



North Fork



Middle Fork



American



River



Canyon and into the forest to video



A Walk Through California: Placer (Cows and Cars).



Beyond Duncan



Creek and



Ridge and



French Meadows (totally drowned, evidently, by the)



Reservoir



Overlook,



it's the final roadwalk in the upper reaches of Middle Fork



American River,



from Talbot



Junction



northeast



to



the



Campground



Trailhead



of the



Granite Chief



Wilderness. With the exception of the greater Petaluma and Foresthill areas, have now walked from the California Coast to this point.


What next?

June 26 - Departures and Arrivals

Harriet is off to Washington State for the next few weeks. After helping her get on the road, edit and post Antigone from XVI. DUET - "Antigone / You, Too" through



XVII. SEPTET - "Take Her Away to the concluding XXI. CHORUS - "There we are". Deal with another stack of files in the adjunct library (mostly back issues of 20th- and 21st-Century Music), work on the August 2010 issue of the Journal, meld in the sixth movement of Magnificat into Vespers, continue a general cleanup which Harriet began, and take a bike/pool/spa jaunt in the 75-degree dusk.

June 25 - Stages

After the ordeal of finishing the taxes, printing out copies (grateful to have replaced the cartridge 5 minutes before the office supply store closed the day previously), and sending off (turns out the local UPS doubles as a postoffice -- yes! -- thanks to Harriet's advice) -- H and I deliver to Fairfield's Missouri Street Theatre the



errant cemetary pices for those not responsible enough to do it themselves.



Following



this,



we



zip back through that burg to our town,




putting the next Magnificat item (the fifth) into place in the Vespers, and editing and beginning to post



Antigone: XI. TRIO - "What Is This" through



XV. ARIA - "You Think You Knew".




Oh yes, also in the midst of this, take a break (H staying home to pack) and drive to Marin (with financial greetings at the postbox) and San Francisco (totally fogged in, cold) for the third



Sex and the Bible cast party at David Garner and Crystal Philippi's, with



Kim Anderman,



Maria Mikheyenko, Vicki Holder, and Nanette McGuinness, and Steve Mobia, viewing the latter's video of the last night's misbehaving performance, then



returning to Harriet's arms, etc, in this her last night before the big Washington State trip.

June 24 - Hey!

Edit and post more Antigone (the November 8 revival), from VI. Haemon through



X. Come On, Now. Put away stacks of SFCCO, DVC, and 21st-Century Music items in the library annex and do the 2009 taxes (again, the governments don't seem to mind late filings when they owe... which hopefully is the case). Harriet out mid-day, and my big outdoor adventure goes only as far as the office supply store. Also transfer many items from the old to new computers and meld the fourth movement of Magnificat into Vespers.

June 23 - Doggin Around

Some of the posting re Waiting for Godot proves feisty, but it is now indeed up and completely running (same proviso as yesterday, however) from XXXV. A Dog through



LX. What's Wrong with You?

Nothing's wrong on a fine day (high of 91, again), and Erling talks me through installing HandBrake and the VSL Player so the 2008 Letitia video of Antigone can be edited and posted on YouTube from



Overture (Abreviated) through



V. Duet - Where Is Your Pain for now. Rendezvous with Harriet at local Mexican al fresco spot in early evening, then return to do the text underlay for both Ave Maris Stella and its melding into Vespers. Also favorite some Ralph Vaughan Williams (Job: A Masque for Dancing, and the Symphonies 5 and 6), Nam June Paik / Charlotte Moorman, Terry Riley, and Steve Reich for the DrMarkAlburger channel, post a bit more Waiting on Facebook, set what one hopes will be a pattern vis a vis organizing the boxful garage, and take a



bicycle/



pool/



spa break, marking the first time so of the summer season.

June 22 - Nowhere to Gogo

Home all day (Harriet still doesn't get a rest, as she tools down to the city to meet with Meghan [Dibble, as opposed to yesterday's Megan Aldinger]), finishing the edits and postings of Waiting for Godot (other than the problematic You Again, which seems to have been recorded differently in the studio than performed live), including XXXIII. Mister and



XXXV. At Last, plus meld the third movement of Magnificat into Vespers.

June 21 - Higher

Over the Sierra with Harriet via



Emigrant and



Yuba



Gaps, down the



Truckee River Canyon to



Megan's



for a



visit, including a run to



Jimboy's (a small chain, franchise of which has been passed many times near Auburn -- sort of slow-food Mexican take-out) and meeting her new beau



Harold. Long welcome call from John Browning in Southern California, wondering why I'm not there (the trip is planned for next week -- but various circumstances may alter plans), then time to


depart,



past a



petrol stop,



then out of the Reno basin



to



the semi-operatic



Verdi



(Vur-dye,



in local parlance),



up



the



Truckee River



Canyon to



Donner Pass and beyond, with the second movement of the Magnificat incorporated into the Vespers and new Waiting for Godot videos posted on YouTube including



XXX. Recitative - Now! and



XXXI. Arioso - Thank You, Gentlemen.