The audition process for music graduate schools is nothing to be trifled with. The work is hard and supremely time-consuming, but, like most things, revelations and joys can be found in between. At the end of it all, I was so grateful that the auditions gave me a chance to travel and meet and/or get to know some people better. Meeting the teachers was tremendously intimidating and frightening, but observing how they interacted with me was very interesting.
For Los Angeles, for the first time ever, I was completely on my own, with no guides or friends in the city. The experience turned out to be rather exhilarating in the end, though very nerve-wracking with the fear that I would oversleep my alarm in the ridiculously comfortable hotel bed or miss the bus to my audition. L.A. was also the first place that I could feel the pulse of the city so clearly after touching down. Like Seattle, I only had one weekend there so I can’t say I’m any expert on the city, but there was no questioning that the air practically buzzed with life. I’m sure nothing actually happened faster than normal, but it certainly felt that way as if in any moment, the city could just burst into sunshine particles - and it would do it again if you dared it. The pace of Los Angeles felt like a composition of millions of moments and memories in time that play in your mind for just a second, before it is swept away by the next moment; and you would have to be very lucky to find that moment again. Also, perhaps because the people in L.A. are undeniably gorgeous, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being judged with every step I took.
L.A. is so fast-paced and crammed to the brim with craziness that there isn’t just one thing that can completely sum the city up (as proven by how long it took for me to decide on one photo from my collection to represent my thoughts.) And as I killed time waiting for my red-eye home, reading newspaper house listings (barely any of which were under a million dollars) I could not deny that California life is really something else.
During the flight, I was greatly amused to discover that the thick layer of smog above L.A. is no joke, and had a good time imagining how incredible the interiors of some of the houses on the hills and mountains were. I suppose my assumption isn’t entirely off considering that the University of California, Los Angeles is one of the most beautiful collections of buildings I have ever seen. I actually didn’t realize until after I returned just how prestigious the music school was, but the people were quite nice, possibly except the students who gave me strange looks when I got there the first night. I suppose I could pin this on my outstandingly touristy appearance - on the phone with my friend/guide/Oracle and wibbling to her about how amazing everything was (She’s hoping to attend UCLA for graduate school herself. The night I got into the town, I went to the campus to make sure that I could find the building in the morning, but didn’t have a map. So my friend found a map online and proceeded to guide me step-by-step where to go. After finding the music school, I got distracted by the gorgeousness of some of the other buildings so I let her off the phone while I took photos, and consequently got lost from thereon in.) Sometimes, the niceness felt a little forced, but maybe that was just another part of the nature of L.A.
However, Westiwood Village, the little shopping plaza (or very outdoor mall?) right beside the campus, was incredibly charming, and I don’t think that area could have lied at all. There were so many sushi and noodle shops that for a few brief moments, I thought I was back in Taiwan. The shops, though small, were literally open and inviting. I was particularly impressed by this little fashion boutique called [Ai-Wish] which featured quirky cute teeshirts, fun interiors, and adorable import accessories right from Japan and Korea. I couldn’t help picking up a very sparkly and pink cell phone charm there for my oracle friend.
The first night in L.A., I hoped to have a small dinner at a little cafe on a corner of Westiwood that I wholly regret forgetting the name of. My regret stands particularly because when I finally did accomplish a meal there (The previous night’s attempt was foiled by the fear of missing my alarm in the morning and given that L.A. is a few hours behind my “normal” circadian clock, I was getting paranoid.) I enjoyed the turkey burger and goat-cheese spring salad quite a bit. The coffee was not too bad either, but much of the enjoyment was truly compliments of the Bohemian vibe of this little cafe and perfect outdoor meal weather. For a small and probably misleading moment, I felt like I could actually get used to the city, even with all its reputation and schizophrenia.
That next day, I returned to Florida at around 9 a.m. EST, and at 2p.m. EST, joined my university orchestra for the second run of our Polish avant-garde concert. I was visibly tired so when my colleagues found out I had just come back from L.A. that morning, some were visibly impressed. One pointed out how cool it must be to say to another musician, “I just got back from L.A. this morning.”
I didn’t disagree.
June 05 2008 | fashion and films and food and music and travels | 1 Comment »
Bossman has certainly made this blogging window very spiffy since I last came here. I’m way behind. But given that I travel yet again tomorrow, I figured I’d better catch up before another grand adventure.
This year has been the year that staying in one place has been a luxury.
I suspect I will end up writing about three or four posts today heheh…
Anyways…continuing in this giant recap of life and cities (which will be kept far less detailed now): I had been to Seattle many years ago with family en route to Canada. All I could recall of it was the airport. Unfortunately, Seattle will still be lacking in my mind because this time I only got to spend two days there, most of which was concentrated on the second day’s audition. Nonetheless, there were still many amazing moments to cherish.
The weather was surprisingly warmer than I expected while all the jokes about overcasts and rain are true. [norg] (aka George aka our sound engineer from [MAGfest]) picked me up from the airport and upon returning to his place, I met Matilda (who I inevitably ended up calling “Miss Matilda” the entirety of my time there), a 145-lb. St. Bernard who thought she was still a puppy. The sound of her running across the floor resembled that of thunder, but she was truly special and sweet. Naturally, George and I spent a grand amount of time that weekend discussing music, the nature of the video game music community, and discussing several hack collaboration plans. In many ways, I felt like I was visiting the OneUps again, except just one of them…living in the mountains…
After the audition the next morning at the University of Washington, we took a necessary, but very nice drive through the cool and laid-back streets of Seattle to the ridiculously gorgeous [Benaroya Hall] to catch the [Seattle Symphony Orchestra] performing for [Play!]. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this performance was that I had been playing for and watching [Video GamesLive] just a day and a half before (see previous post.) The [rivalry] between these two video game orchestras is not entirely unfounded, but more than anything else, I found it to be unnecessary. Both orchestras aim for the same goal of promoting video game music, but they both approach it in very different manners; Video Games Live in a more interactive, youth-oriented fashion and Play! in a very classical, formal concert setting. Neither approach is more right or wrong than the other as they both have upper hands in some elements and shortfalls in others and can cater the same message to two very different audiences. If anything, Play! can be considered more “educational” while Video Games Live would be the class field trip to a science museum.
While congratulating him and orchestrator Larry Kenton after the concert for a fantastic Guild Wars suite, I got a chance to speak to [Jeremy Soule] himself ([Marty O'Donnell] of Halo fame was standing just a few feet behind us.) and he asked about, then agreed with most of my views and comparisons. We discussed the concerts and he professed nothing but love and respect for VGL and [Tommy Tallarico]. Both he and his brother (and occasional partner in crime, I understand) Jason seemed rather interested that someone had been able catch both Video Games Live and Play! in the same weekend. I couldn’t help feeling like a diplomat. Mr. Kenton gave me some lovely insights into the studio recording world and name-dropped a whole bunch of people I really hope my subconscious absorbed. I also became reacquainted with [Shnabubula] (who I had heard play at MAGfest), but my favourite meeting of the weekend was his father, who truly embodied my friend Russell’s claim that Seattle is such a hip city that even the “older people” are hip. I’m not sure I’ve ever met another person of his age with such a simultaneous air of amusement and wisdom about the world around him.
In terms of the actual concert itself, it was most definitely the most expensive concert I had ever attended. My wallet cried a little, but my heart rejoiced (aided by the fact that the teller was quite cute and charming) after hearing the spectacular opening rendition of “Liberi Fatali” that left me gripping my chair for fear of running onstage and just joining them. There were many program parallels between Play! and Video Games Live, but I was very glad to be introduced to some new compositions, such as the aforementioned Guild Wars suite (with a gorgeous violin solo that I really want to try out) and Battlefield 1942. Somewhat sadly, the SSO’s interpretation of a Kingdom Hearts suite (God bless you, Yoko Shimomura…) did not bring me to tears as the VGL orchestra’s had (and I blame proximity, really), but principal oboist [Ben Hausmann] (if he indeed was the one playing that day. If not, then whoever was playing principal oboe that day…) tore out my heart and soul with his amazing solo. The music may have been from a video game, but the solo was performed as emotionally and beautifully as if it had been from Ravel’s “Tombeau de Couperin.”
With not enough time left to carry out plans to visit the original Starbucks at Pike Place, the day was capped off by relaxing at George’s place (or as much relaxing as can be done when a giant bear of a dog is trying sit in your lap) reading Atonement (which I had started in Orlando) before my red-eye flight back home. En route to the airport, we stopped at this little restaurant with an extremely valid claim of “the best clam chowder in the world”, and then participated in the only tourist action of my entire trip: a loop on the road to look at the breathtaking Seattle night skyline.
When I arrived back in Florida, I noticed that in my huge weekend of meeting some of the most significant names in the American video game music industry, I didn’t take a single autograph or buy any merchandise - but had given out almost all of my cards and gotten lots in return. Oops?
Also, how on earth does Firefox think that “Starbucks” is a misspelled word? Silliness.
June 04 2008 | films and food and games and music and semi-facts and travels | 1 Comment »
