Orange County Juice

I just finished squeezing a good amount of orange juice. The oranges themselves hail from Orange County. Orange County Juice! Ah-yummmmm, lip-smack-smack-smack. Every time I visit my parents in OC, I always drive back to my Salt Lake place with at least one box of oranges picked from their yard. And I hardly dent the trees; they carry so much fruit. After the Christmas holiday, I drove back with three boxes and inundated my friends with orange greetings.

I was in Orange County to play the organ with the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra. The performance was at the same hall where I played in the Halloween Spooktacular with the Pacific Symphony – The Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center (how’s that for a mouthful?). The piece I played with the Youth Orchestra was Albinoni’s “Adagio in G minor,” which, by the way, was not truly written by Albinoni, rather by Remo Giazotto, who claimed to have based it on fragments of an Albinoni trio sonata.

Also at this hall, I had the pleasure to be part of the audience a few days later when the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra performed. It was a Saint Patrick’s Day concert and green lights shone on the organ pipes. It was delightful. And who should introduce this concert, but Fionnula Flanagan! She walked onstage at the beginning of the program and my eyes lit up! I recognized her from the movie “Waking Ned Devine,” where she plays Annie O’Shea. This is one of my favorite movies ever. The first time I saw it, I literally SCREAMED in laughter when the phone booth went flying over the edge of the cliff. Literally. It was so funny to me; I almost couldn’t stand it. My mom and I were watching it together and we both SCREAMED and SCREAMED in disbelief at the humor. I got up on my knees on the couch and clutched and gripped it hard while I wheezed.

And so, to thank Fionnula for her saucy acting in this great movie, I wanted to give my Arachnitect CD to her. After her introduction, I saw her come into the hall and I watched very carefully where she found her seat. When intermission came and I saw a few people getting up, I made a B-line straight for her and said hi, with a good bit of enthusiasm as I think back on it, which might have weirded her out, but then, maybe she’s used to it. We had only walked together a few steps when someone said that it wasn’t intermission yet. Woops! She quickly went back to her seat, but undaunted I followed her and slipped my CD into her lap and whispered, “To thank you for your acting.” I then ducked my way back to my seat in the smack middle of a row, dodging legs and apologizing as I went. Ha ha!

After the lively and lovely concert, I had the pleasure of meeting Frankie Gavin, considered to be the greatest living traditional Irish fiddle player, and Aidan O’Brien, who rocked on the Uilleann Pipes, Irish flute, whistles, banjo, and guitar. Their music, with the orchestra and soloists, was fabulous. The jigs, especially, went straight to my blood. Those sounds produce a very particular type of magical feeling. I can’t explain it, but those who know what I’m saying, KNOW what I’m saying.

I gave my CD to both Frankie and Aidan because I loved the traditional Irish music they played and thought they might like my take on the traditional American tune, “Ghost of John.” And a great deal of Halloween history comes from Ireland, so I’m eager to share my music with the Irish. It all made for a very rewarding night back home in Orange County.

My cat, Molly Macabre the Halloween Cat, is always such a good travel companion. She’s so patient during the drive. And with every drive, she’s getting more and more brave. Lately, when we drive through the Arizona canyons on the I-15, instead of curling up on the floor behind my seat, she has been standing on her hind paws and leaning against the window, looking with great curiosity at all the interesting scenery passing by. When I stop at In-N-Out, I always share a little bit of my hamburger with her. Treats for the kitteh! (And speaking of Molly, she just barely jumped up on my lap so I’m reaching around her right now to type on my laptop. I’m not kidding. A laptop and a cattop!)

During this last drive, among my stack of CDs I went through was the “Coraline” soundtrack. I’ve seen the movie in 3D twice and was so ear-tickled with the use of harp and children’s voices. I find the closing credits music especially tasty (and I love those flying dogs onscreen). A happy work of quirk! How can one leave the movie theater not singing psycho little sounds? Thank you, Bruno Coulais, and thank you, Neil Gaiman.

I also listened to Aaron Copeland while I was driving through the desert, which was such a neat thing, really. I love America. I can see why many Europeans are enamored with the “Old West.” Cowboys, Indians, the desert. See, and I’m fascinated by cities with ancient ruins. Vienna, for example, has ancient Roman ruins protected behind glass right in the subway stations. Blows my mind. So many interesting flavors and pockets of wonder to enjoy in this world.

Well, my Halloween CD for this year is galloping along. I’ve been scoring strings and other lovely sounds like mad. Today I played around with beats for a new vampire song. Beats are fun. I used to be intimidated by them because I was purely classically trained and had fear issues with technology (though I still prefer to write music down with a pencil, not a scoring program). I used to shake when I’d pick up a users manual for programs. My brain wanted to shut down. But I’ve told my brain that it is time to be fearless and just go for it. And why not? Fear is silly. Plus, my alter egos are Catwoman and The Phoenix.