essays.

five good ones:

christening naze.net: i am naze

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December 27, 2007

that's *professor* naze to you
07:24 PM

It's official: I'm an instructor at Antioch University's Heritage Institute.

Actually, my former teacher and friend, Peter Chausse, does all of the work. I just tack on my evaluation and feedback to 500 level course assignments.

and the crowd goes wild
07:09 PM

Guitar Hero III for the Wii, to quote Steve, is an insanely good game, finally usurping Wii Sports as my favorite game for the platform.

Do my long dormant viola skills help? Yes, I'd say a little. Mainly in hard mode when you have to think about shifting into and out of second and third positions. I've conquered 16 of the Hard tracks which is not too shabby for an old man.

Do you really learn how to play guitar? No. Is it a genuine musical experience? Yes. Rhythm, melody, and ensemble are all elements of a what it means to make music. On songs like Mississippi Queen, The Killers "When You Were Young", and The Who's "The Seeker", it can be a deeply immersive and rewarding experience.

And there's nothing like Casey Lynch unleashing power chords on her Scratch 1000 in the Heroes Del Silencio's "Avalancha".

December 25, 2007

i *heart* margie
11:41 PM

"I know these windows, I know the light that hits this house. I know where to sit to read a good book on a winter afternoon. I love the way sunlight skips across the stairwell on summer mornings."

Margie Boule wrote a beautiful piece in the Oregonian on leaving her SW Portland home of 16 years for a new place.

I shot her a quick e-mail to give her credit for sharing the experience and some of the other work she has recently written. I was sincerely shocked and pleased to find this reply in my in box a few hours afterwards:

"Your e-mail made a wonderful Christmas present. Thank-you so much for your kind comments and for taking the time to let me know you like my columns. Ian's songs were fun, weren't they? :-)

Merry Christmas!"

two tastes that go great together
09:49 PM

(You got your Disney in my Sondheim!

No, you got your Sondheim in my Disney!

Wait! Mmmm!)

I caught two flicks today and enjoyed both immensely.

I've been a fan of Stephen Sondheim's since playing in the pit orchestra for A Little Night Music about a million years ago. I came this (imagine close finger and thumb) close to going to the new production of Sweeney Todd when I was in New York last year. So when I saw the reviews come in for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, I locked in.

Sondheim rocks. He doesn't do vanilla. He doesn't do right angles. It was gleeful and gruesome and then horrific. I didn't know the ending, so the revelation in the end was a shocker.

Johnny Depp sings well and owned the part. Why don't they ever give the beautiful and talented Helena Bonham Carter good make up? It seems like whatever she's cast in, they insist on leaving her eyes shadowed and cavernous. Helena rocks.

Enchanted was a pure Metacritic play. It's a delightful movie that transitions from a satirically saccharine animated fairy tale beginning to a banishment to present day NYC. Amy Adams as Giselle, the princess cast out of her fairy tale world to NYC on her wedding day, is marvelous. The subtle changes she undergoes come as a shock to her and to us as well. Enchanted starts slow but it gains momentum and packs a wallop.

In an odd footnote, Timothy Spall is featured in both films. In Sweeney he plays the greasy henchman Beadle Bamford and in Enchanted he plays the greasy henchman Nathaniel, although he is granted a fairy tale transformation at the end.

December 22, 2007

merry christmas, peace on earth
11:19 PM

December 21, 2007

check it out now
12:06 AM

baby,

you gots

to

swing.

December 18, 2007

have a taste
11:47 PM

Being single as a 43 year old man is different than it was for me at 24.

It's much better.

I know myself better. I know the things I love. My priorities are set. I know what I'm willing to let slide and what I won't tolerate anymore. I have a good life right now on my own with my kids.

If something comes along that fits into that, excellent. If not, I'm good.

That is liberating.

As life is wont to do, I wasn't looking but stumbled into someone that caught my heart in her skein of words and gestures. On the watch for an opening, an entrez, it came as an open hand of admiration and praise.

Taking it, we began a dance of words that flowed and pulsated. The shadowed contours illuminated with each passing measure. The Shakespeare reference fielded and lobbed back in a John Merrick quote. Fingers skipping across the keys late into the night. The coincidental passion for Portland's Park Blocks and the Japanese Gardens.

The giddiness, the sheer delight. Lifting and rising on the champagne bubbles within.

The moment arrives for the next step. I take it, right into the unknown, confidently and smoothly. I don't wait and I don't mince.

What needed to be uncovered is done so honestly and with grace. The pull lingers and is real. No "another guy misreads the signs" doubts. We've both been around long enough to know the dance and what it means.

Kissing the hand with a clear declaration of the heart, I step out grateful for the dance, recognizing it's end.

A bow, namaste. It was good.

Delicious.

December 16, 2007

what i've learned
11:18 PM

Back in 1997, I was enthralled with the avant garde of personal narrative: Derek Powazek, Maggie Donea, Lance Arthur, and a slew of others. I figured I needed something there before I launched. I sketched out several pages of ideas and developed the ones that you see now.

One idea that didn't quite make the cut was something I imagined as an ongoing piece that I titled Some of What I've Learned. Twelve days before my launch on July 14, 1998, Mike Sager interviewed Rod Steiger for Esquire. He looked at what Rod said and pitched my idea to the magazine.

Here we are in 2007 and the January 2008 issue of Esquire is essentially the long string of What I've Learned since its inception. It's a damn good idea and I'm glad I thought of it.

Here are a few of my favorites:

"I can tell a young person where the mines are, but he's probably going to have to step on them anyway." -Burt Reynolds

"Singing with Emmylou Harris: If there is heaven, that's what it's like." -Elvis Costello

"People said, 'Does it bother you that girls want to sleep with you because you're famous?' 'That's a tough one. Lemme think about that. No.'" -Michael J. Fox

"Normal is a cycle on a washing machine." -Emmylou Harris

"I loved radio drama. Each audience member had his own picture. When you heard the creaking door, everybody had his own door." -Robert Altman

"One of the most beneficial things I've ever learned is how to keep my mouth shut." -Eric Clapton

"I'm awfully sorry for people who are taken in by all of today's dietary mumbo jumbo. They are not getting any enjoyment out of their food." -Julia Child

"I've grown out of talking like I know something when I don't." -Jack Nicholson

December 10, 2007

brush with ballroom greatness
11:43 PM

The Ballroom Dance Company recently hosted World Champion Finalists Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed. Knowing a little about an art opens a doorway to a different world. My experience at an orchestral performance is deepened sevenfold by my 20 years as a string player.

Over the last six months, I've achieved what I'd call a good ballroom beginner status.

Watching Victor and Anna dance just feet away from where I sat was definitely akin to my brush with Itzhak Perlman. Their movement was otherworldly in its unity and form. This video of their appearance on Dancing with the Stars doesn't quite do them justice.

They make a particularly handsome couple.

Anna has a different gown for each dance, each more spectacular than the last. The change times require Victor to perform a bit of public speaking. He was charming and delightfully disarming at times.

Victor and Anna danced a searing tango to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony! The music caught us all off guard but my surprise was quickly overtaken by delight. I fell in love with this archetypal work in 1984 when I first performed it and found it to be an intoxicating combination with tango.

Towards the end of the evening, I happened to be near the exit as the couple made their way out. Victor stopped for a moment to chat. I thanked him for the inspiration and he gave me several sincere comments of support and encouragement.

A night to remember.

December 01, 2007

on a walk to the video store
10:42 PM

raindrop in the eye.
tiny shock of blur dissolves
to pleasant surprise

christopher at naze.net

-Cato

They may forget

what you said,

but they will never forget

how you made them

feel. 

-Carl W. Buehner