Kiku, Kiku

I saw this white chrysanthemum from the New York Botanical Garden posted on flickR.



When it's all too much this ephemeral creature speaks to me, said Princess Haiku, of ancient legends, poetic beauty.... meditation...

Wrapping the chrysanthemum cloak around her like a shimmering moonlight of possibility, Princess Haiku vanished.

Doesn't she always?

self revelation in the music of Helene Grimaud

Luminous qualities that can be appreciated in the virtuosity of pianist, Helene Grimaud are self reflection and intuition. Grimaud's piano provides an intimate portrayal of her feminine psyche and an intensity of feeling that belongs to the archetypes of dreams and introspection.

These same qualities can be disturbing to some people and would explain the unreasonable criticism that is at times directed towards her. Perhaps her music is too personal, too close to the source for those who are afraid of "the fire within."

I see Grimaud's interpretive music as being in the tradition of Anne Sexton or Sylvia Plath in that she takes the "other" into an interior and purely subjective realm of intense feeling.




The Kiss

My mouth blooms like a cut.
I've been wronged all year, tedious
nights, nothing but rough elbows in them
and delicate boxes of Kleenex calling crybaby
crybaby, you fool!

Before today my body was useless.
Now it's tearing at its square corners.
It's tearing old Mary's garments off, knot by knot
and see - Now it's shot full of these electric bolts.
Zing! A resurrection!

Once it was a boat, quite wooden
and with no business, no salt water under it
and in need of some paint. It was no more
than a group of boards. But you hoisted her, rigged her.
She's been elected.

My nerves are turned on. I hear them like
musical instruments. Where there was silence
the drums, the strings are incurably playing. You did this.
Pure genius at work. Darling, the composer has stepped
into fire.

Anne Sexton

Hélène Grimaud - Rhapsodie n°1 - Brahms
Uploaded by r6boy

Cirque Du Soleil presents Kooza

Cirque Du Soleil is performing Kooza in the San Francisco Bay Area. In my ongoing discussion of SAFE children's gifts, I would like to mention that special outings, with beloved children create memories that last a lifetime. Regardless of whether the outing involves a visit to a local pond to feed wild geese, or hear a story at a local library or a dazzling ticket to the San Francisco Ballet's production of "Sugar Plum Fairy," or perhaps Cirque Du Soleil, outings make superior gifts.

Congratulations to Ron Guidi for bringing the Oakland Ballet to life AGAIN

Oakland Ballet To Reopen This Weekend
Went Belly Up In 2006
KGO By Don Sanchez

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 16, 2007 (KGO) - The Oakland Ballet opens a new season this weekend at the Paramount Theatre.

It's remarkable news since the ballet went belly up in 2006.

The new life comes, ironically, via the man who started it 40 years ago.

Fluid moves as bodies intertwine during a rehearsal for Saturday's inaugural performance of the new Oakland Ballet.

Ronn Guidi has come out of retirement and is now guiding the ballet.

"I felt the repertoire was too brilliant. These masterpieces could be lost," said Ronn Guidi, Oakland Ballet director. "When you go into the artistic world you go into the abyss. You need to know where the next step is going to take you. So I made the decision."

Guidi brought back the ballet for three primary reasons.

"Passion. Madness. Love."

Principal dancers David Bertlin and Denise Roman Scmalle are bringing a work of art to life.

Guidi started the Oakland ballet in 1961, and served as its artistic director for more than 35 years.

When he brought back a production of the Nutcracker last year, he knew he had to resurrect the ballet.

The old Oakland Ballet ran out of money, though Guidi says that isn't going to happen this time.

"The Paramount is very expensive. To do two shows that is about $120,000. So we know what ticket sales will be. It won't be $120,000, right? So what we did ahead of time is we fund raised. To raise the money to pay for what we'd lose. So we'll break even," said Guidi.

Major East Bay corporations and foundations are sponsors. Their logos will be everywhere. and there is motivation.

"When the arts die in the city, the culture dies. It implodes on itself," said Guidi.

The Oakland Ballet has been reborn, and now it's up to the people of Oakland and others to support what is certainly a cultural treasure.

Copyright 2007, ABC7/KGO-TV/DT.
Don Sanchez

ABC7 News Team

Don Sanchez, Arts and Entertainment Reporter

Joni Mitchell Retrospective

Joni Mitchell's finest musical compositions expressed acute loss and pain over the adoption of her daughter. Why does art demand sorrow?