Gene was our man on the scene, using his camera phone to take some pics that he then im’d to me on my phone so I could then email them to the group. It was all good fun:

“doot doot doot … doot doot doot…
Dateline Burbank. Our intrepid reporter Dr Gene is on the scene for the 2006 Grammys Award Show! No cameras allowed inside but that doesn’t stop this resourceful fellow! In an early morning communique we see a bleary-eyed Hern tanking up for a hard day’s work of partying and basking. How will we get those images without a camera? Why he’s got one of those new-fangled contraptions on his phone! Welcome to the aughts dear reader. As the info and images pour in we’ll keep this conduit open for all the latest breaking news! Good morning and Good Luck!”

Ok, so I got a little dorky on the day, but dude it’s the Grammys! I remember once when I was at Cal (you know, back in the dusty old 80s). The Cal Chamber Chorus was nominated for a grammy. I don’t remember if they won but boy was I jealous! I was singing in the totally fun, but pretty fringe Perfect Fifth. I say fringe ’cause it was not an official Music Dept group, just a bunch of people who liked singing. Our director Tony Pasqua is one of the most influential people in my musical life. He probably doesn’t even remember me, but I learned a ton singing for him in that group. He didn’t know it at the time, but he was basically teaching me how to run a rehearsal. I took that training and put it to use in a ton of a cappella groups over the years. I heard recently that Tony’s still banging around the bay area directing choirs. I hope we cross paths again.

Wow what a digression! Did I mention I met Gene at a P5 Audition? That’s a great story for another time. Back to the freaking Grammys! There’s more good stuff! For example, here’s one of Gene’s dipatches. Don’t they look pretty? Ok that’s a totally rhetorical question. Yes. Yes they do look pretty. Hell if I saw them coming down the street I’d invent some kind of award just so’s I could give it to them!

A big bonus was some free publicity on local TV. The week before the show. KPIX filmed a rehearsal and followed a few Peemers around for a new piece. The piece aired the night of the grammys and is hopefully still on-line here. You have to wait about 5min but then there we are in all our glory. Super cool. You even get a brief shot of yours truly singing in our fabled pre-Berlin concert. (If I’ve related this story to you, you’ll know that concert was full of false hubris that was summarily dispatched upon arrival in the German capitol.)

Ok I think that’s it for this round of PME glorification. I hope there is round after round after round! Here’s the rest of the pics. (be aware, there’s none too many and they’re mostly camera pics)

-E

Technorati : , Grammy, KPIX, Kent Nagano, Leonard Bernstein

Technorati : Grammy, KPIX, Kent Nagano, Leonard Berstein

Grammy Nod: 2 years ago PME went to Berlin to sing the Bernstein Mass for Kent Nagano with the DSO in the Berlin Philharmonie. It was an unbelievable experience, one that had profound affects on my singing and my general attitudes about performing. It’s a long story, but that’s what Blogs are for, right? Well, maybe some other time I’ll go off about it. Anyway! The performance was recorded and released on Harmonia Mundi. We had joked about Grammy possibilities at the time, but frankly I just forgot about it. Today I get this in my email from our director, Lynne Morrow:
http://www.grammy.com/awards/grammy/48Awards.aspx (sadly, this link is now dead)
Follow the link and scroll waaay down to Category 99 and there we are! I can’t believe I get to say this but here goes . . . It’s really an honor just to be nominated. Wow that felt gooooooooooood!

Radio Broadcast: As if that wasn’t enough, on Wednesday PME was part of a radio broadcast on WNYC in New York. John Scheafer recorded our Wintergarden concert and played it on his December 7 broadcast of the program “New Sounds.” The audio from the broadcast is available at the WNYC site. It’s worth a listen for the amazing piece “Facing North” that Meredith performed with Theo Bleckmann. I was totally blown away.
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/episodes/12072005

On the the next thing: Last gig of the year is tomorrow night with Clockwork at the Cayuga Vault in Santa Cruz. We had a great show there last Spring (with the Idea of North). This time we’re appearing with Ute Bonn. I’m really looking forward to heading back there. We even have a handful of new tunes!

Whew that’s a lotta links! Gotta go.
-E

Technorati : Bernstein Mass, Grammy, Kent Nagano, Meredith Monk, New Sounds, WNYC