Mel Tales. Part 1.

I woke up in the middle of the night to a loud "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaGGGGGGGGGGGGGUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" I jumped out of my sleeping bag and grabbed Mel, who was sitting up right waving her hands wildly around in front of her. Looking for a bear or drunk canadian out side of our tent, I asked her, "What happened?" Mel has been suffering from a little head cold the last couple of days and had been up blowing her nose every couple hours. She was on her way out of the tent when a GINORMOUS HUGEMOUNGOUS tiny little bug with wings flew into the tent. I went out to find this midnight intruder who was trapped inbetween the tent and the rain canopy. I came face to face with a long legged large moth type creature. Letting him go into the dark canada night, Mel appeared out of the tent and pointed down the the picnic table and "GASP!!!", there was a racoon prowling the perimiter of our campsite. This has been tales from the Mel.

SOAP, Concert #1 and some Sea Kayaking

On Satruday night, we played two concerts of the same material. Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, and Tchiakovisky's 6th Symphony. A huge undertaking, and I played principle bass with Dr. Mark Morton in the Section along with three other fine bass players from Boulder, Colorado. It was amazing to play Beethoven, I have never had so much fun playing a symphony before. The entire night was introduced by the Mayor of Powell River, a rather Fairy Tale Political type, speaking in three languages and wearing a gold sash. Melissa and I retired to the tent after the concert and woke up early the next morning to catch a bus to Lund, BC (maybe 20min North of Powell River). We rented Kayaks there and happened to meet the conductor of our symphony, Aurthor Arnold. He took us out on the bay for a nice three hour tour. We saw Bald Eagles, ducks, crabs, lots of beautiful inlets and rock formations. This place is worthy of some more exploring. Then we returned to our instruments and practiced for our auditons this morning. All for now.

Powell River Peak Front Page: Taking a Bow

Robin Abeles [left] from New Mexico is joining the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific (SOAP) for his second year, while Thomas Mayes from Seattle is returning to Powell River for his third time at the festival. Both musicians play the double bass and are participating in rehearsals throughout the next two weeks, while learning about playing in a symphonic orchestra plus putting on classical music performances.


I can't keep my face out of the news. This is from the Powell River News Paper for the week.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.asp?brd=1998

Thursday

Well, we have survived four days of our Canada adventures thus far. Tonight was a mock audition (a staged "fake" orchestra audition) planned to give us experience in the most grueling part of our profession. To me, auditions are like trying to portray your entire life story in just a few words. And those words must be completely articulated, with exact execution and intention, with no stumbling or restating, while standing on one foot in the rain with someone yelling at you the whole time: "Hey YOU, OVER HERE! NO HERE!!!!!!" And then you have to play. (Mel's audition was accompanied a band rehearsing "Oh Canada" in another room). Both of our auditions went well and comments were positive. My big strength seems to be my enourmous sound. Now if I could only play the right notes with the right dynamic at the right tempo with the right bow stroke and the right style and INTUNE, maybe I could win an orchestra job. Sounds easy no?

So, things to look forward to: Sea Kayaking on sunday, two concerts on Saturday. Its raining right now and we are sleeping in a tent. Our walk home consists of a trail thru the woods and a couple of blocks along the beach. And mel asks, "are you done?" good night.

Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific, Powell River, BC

Hey all, we have finally arrived in Canada. After being turned down at the airport because the bass was too big to fit on the plane, fighting our way onto another plane(with the bass of course), riding a ferry and a bus, we are here. Many thanks to Tanya who helped us out with our crazy airport drama! We are camping on the beach and playing everyday in an orchestra. I auditioned into the principle bass position for the first concert (Beethoven 5, Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, and Tchaikovsky's 6th). Quite a move up for me since I was dead last chair last year at the same festival.(not that seating has anything to do with how much fun I have!) It is a breath of fresh air to be back here again, loving the humidity and beautiful surroundings. Not mention the un-distracted hours of playing. Now that we have an Internet connection, I will post more about the concerts as they happen. Melissa seems to love the place and says here oboe teacher is not bad, yet can hardly stand up the the "coolness" of one Kevin V. Well gotta go practice. Will write more soon.

AND THEY'RE OFF!!!!

"Music is enough for a lifetime; but a lifetime is not enough for music." --Rachmaninov

Christain McBride, a moment of Inspiration

"Nobody's ever going to groove harder playing straight ahead than Ray Brown, no one's going to groove any funkier ever than Bootsy Collins or Larry Graham (Sly & the Family Stone). You start thinking,' Man, what's left?' But if I'm going to make some kind of contribution to the world of music, I have a feeling it's going to be rooted in the groove underneath, from the bottom." -CM

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5328890

Sesame Goes to Jail

In keeping in form with his counterpart blond celebrities, my dog Sesame has landed himself in jail for 10 days. As we all know, Ses has a little biting problem, which got away from him on Saturday as he went after a neighborhood kid and put a nice gash in his leg. Being the responsible dog owner I am, I had let his rabbies vaccination expire by a couple of months. After much consultation with his doggy lawyers, Ses turned himself in to the Eldorado Animal Clinic. He will spend the next ten days smoking and lifting weights and promised to tattoo Melissa's name on his front leg. Upon his release a nice new muzzle will be waiting for him along with a stint at doggy rehab. Live from santa fe, this is robin abeles.

Dad Has Heart Attack

On Memorial day my father checked himself into a hospital in Kearny, Nebraska. He had been feeling chest pains for a couple weeks, and while he was driving his moving truck across the country to his new home in Moline, Il, he couldn't take it any more. The tests confirmed that 2 arteries were 99.9% clogged while a 3rd was 80% clogged. Luckily, he stopped at one of Two hospitals on 1-80 that has a heart surgeon. A few hour later he was in surgery and mom and I were on the road to him. He had a successful quadruple by-pass and now gets to spend a week in the hospital flirting with the nurses. I am very happy that he is OK and alive. I have returned home after a week of driving across the country to finish his drive for him and unloading his truck. My mom is returning to take care of him and my brother and sister will share the chores in Moline. This week has brought our family closer to each other and reminded me of how things can change in a second. The thoughts of losing my father have challenged my sense of permanence and have made me desire the love of my family even more. NO MORE GREASY SPOON FOR YOU DAD!!!!!!!!

Chile News

So, for those of you who can read spanish, check out the article published in the Universidad Mayor's online news paper about Carmelo's Trio and My plans to attend!

http://www.diariomayor.cl/001home_488.htm