Steve Reich @ 70

Steve Reich

Steve Reich [b.3 October 1936, New York]was recently called '...America's greatest living composer.' (The Village VOICE), '...the most original musical thinker of our time' (The New Yorker) and '...among the great composers of the century' (The New York Times). From his early taped speech pieces It's Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966) to his and video artist Beryl Korot's digital video opera Three Tales (2002), Mr. Reich's path has embraced not only aspects of Western Classical music, but the structures, harmonies, and rhythms of non-Western and American vernacular music, particularly jazz. 'There's just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history and Steve Reich is one of them,' states The Guardian (London).

Born in New York and raised there and in California, Mr. Reich graduated with honors in philosophy from Cornell University in 1957. For the next two years, he studied composition with Hall Overton, and from 1958 to 1961 he studied at the Juilliard School of Music with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti. Mr. Reich received his M.A. in Music from Mills College in 1963, where he worked with Luciano Berio and Darius Milhaud.

I think I'm pretty far out of the loop ... This world-famous composer is one I've never heard of. But he sounds interesting! Philosophy, ethics, history all rolled into a video-opera. Hmmmm

Natureworks

Yesterday we made a field trip to a little garden center, Naturework, which is a little northeast of New Haven, for a free workshop on houseplants given by Nancy DuBrule-Clemente, who is also known as "the Garden Lady" on "Open Air New England," among other things.

It's interesting visiting garden places out of season - you get to see the bones of a place and some behind-the-scenes work.

After the talk, I bought three plant food items, including an $8 jug of fish emulsion organic plant food. You mix one Tbsp to a gallon of water, so it goes quite a ways. But listen...

Last night I discovered that our cat Gavia, in jumping from where she's not allowed to be where she is allowed(or vice-versa -- I wasn't there when it happened ) kicked my new bottle of fish emulsion fertilizer onto the floor. The plastic cap broke and a gooey tan liquid rolled out on the floor.

That stuff was about $8 a bottle! Eek! I began laboriously scooping it up into a blue plastic mushroom container I had lying around. I got about a cup of it before I quit, and poured it into a small pasta sauce jar I had saved.

What remained on the floor I wiped up with newspapers, then put the newspaper in the compost pile.

The stuff is quite thick, and some remained in the blue plastic container after I poured it out. So I added water, rinsed and poured it into a half-gallon milk jug -- see, I knew these saved items cluttering my ktchen things would find a use! -- and watered all my houseplants with it. (There turned out to be enough for a full gallon.)

I wonder if lichen or mold will grown on the floor, even though I washed it after wiping.

Garden for Sale: Here's looking at happiness

Garden for Sale: Here's looking at happiness

Here's a garden that is so easily envisioned right in Rivermantic!

OAEC Programs | Occidental Arts & Ecology Center

OAEC Programs | Occidental Arts & Ecology Center: "OAEC Site-Based Programs:

1. Permaculture Program
2. Intentional Communities Program
3. Arts Program
4. Mother Garden Biodiversity Program
5. Wildlands Biodiversity Program

OAEC Community-Centered Programs:

1. Ecological Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems Program
2. WATER Institute (Watershed Advocacy, Training, Education and Research)
3. School Garden Program"

The East Coast Greenway

The East Coast Greenway
A piece of the "urban appalachian trail" was recently completed in Willimantic, and is ready for hiking and biking.