MaNah, MaNaht

yawn, stretch

2009-07-02T14:03:51Z

96 weeks since my last entry - not coincidentally, my last post came right around the time my wife and I found out we were expecting a baby. Marie Colette Dauphinais was born 4/13/08. The last 14 months have been a blur of sorts. She's amazing and has changed our lives for the better. Maybe I'll start blogging again, maybe I won't.

Pavarotti

2007-09-06T16:26:29Z

I humbly offer both an anecdote and a tribute:

In my 20 years of driving cars, I have blown two sets of speakers. Both times I was listening to Pavarotti.

Requiescat in pacem

The Face of The Earth, and My Fall From It

2007-09-05T07:07:40Z

So much for my pledge to post more often...

The nutshell: I now work part time at the University of Arizona, as a adjunct piano instructor/accompanist/coach. As a friend of mine put it, I'm the "Swiss Army Knife" of the UA piano department. I'm OK with that title, and I'm having a ball so far. I have a handful of piano students, including a grad student accompanying type with whom I'm working on standard aria repertoire. I'm also playing a number of faculty recitals this year, and will be playing recitals for at least one faculty search this year. I am also the coach for the Opera Theater, currently undertaking Mascagni's "L'amico Fritz". An old friend of mine phoned his congratulations thus: "Congratulations on getting a job that pays you for being who you are." Grazie, Stephan.

In the meantime, I'm having a ball thus far with my first "Lucia di Lammermoor" with Arizona Opera, and that's just with the chorus music rehearsals so far. It's always enlightening to play for Cal Stewart Kellogg, and I'm looking forward to doing my first official Donizetti with him.

On the domestic front, I bit the bullet and finally did a brisket yesterday on the backyard smoker. I fired the beast up at 2:15am, had the brisket on at precisely 3am and pulled it off when the 10-pound hunk of meat reached an internal temp of 185F at 7pm, 16 hours later. It was tiring, but worth every hour of fire monitoring/adjustment. The first serving was heavenly, and the leftovers at lunch today were even more rewarding.

Bis später,
M

dohfoh @ 2007-07-02T11:03:00

2007-07-02T18:03:52Z

Poll: 73 Percent Of Americans Unable To Believe This Shit

current obsessions

2007-06-27T08:08:05Z

The Swedish Chef on YouTube

Counterstreamradio.org

Yo La Tengo – “I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass”

“Top Chef” on Bravo

Evan Ziporyn – “Pondok”, played by the incomparable Sarah Cahill

Various tapas dishes we’ve been preparing

The New Yorker’s “Summer Fiction Issue”

Intelligentsia’s “Anjilanaka”, direct trade organic coffee from Bolivia

My wife’s homemade Ginger Brew

schadenfreude

2007-06-05T06:44:29Z

I love being able to write/utter the following:

The Yankees are tied for last place.

serendipity

2007-06-01T07:06:57Z

Happiness is stumbling across "Enter the Dragon" just beginning on late-nite TV.

Hot damn...

"you have offended my family....and the Shaolin temple..."

kleptomeme

2007-05-26T06:49:27Z

shamelessly lifted from konstanze1:

Favorite Color: deep blue
Favorite Food: yes
Favorite Month: November
Favorite Song: hardly a "song", but my latest musical obsession is Lou Harrison's "Main Bersama-Sama"
Favorite Movie: The Blues Brothers
Favorite Sport: baseball
Favorite Season: autumn
Favorite Day of the week: they're all pretty much the same, but Sunday mornings were made for coffee and newspapers
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Baskin Robbins peanut butter/chocolate
Favorite Time of Day: evening

9 CURRENTS

Current Mood: content
Current Taste: relaxed
Current Clothes: comfy
Current Desktop: my wife, looking coquettish at a Prague subway stop
Current Toenail Color: same color they've been since birth
Current Time: 11:35pm (Tucson, AZ)
Current Surroundings: living room, sleeping Schnauzer withing spitting distance, Tanqueray gimlet at the ready
Current Thoughts:

8 FIRSTS

First Best Friend: Ian, still hanging on after 20 years
First Kiss: Michelle, now a professional dog groomer from what I hear
First Screen Name: flipper9
First Pet: Jenny, the dachshund that died on my 7th birthday
First Piercing: none
First Crush: Amy Irving in "The Competition"
First CD: The Beach Boys, "Endless Summer"

7 LASTS

Last Cigarette: A Nat Sherman
Last Drink: besides the gimlet I'm drinking as I write?
Last Car Ride: tonight, driving home from Gianni Schicchi rehearsal
Last Kiss: wife kissed me goodnight about 20 minutes ago
Last Movie Seen: "A Good Year" starring Russell Crowe
Last Phone Call: Ian, the aforementioned friend
Last CD Played: Radiohead, "OK Computer"

6 HAVE YOU EVERS

Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Guy/Girl Friends: no
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Yes.
Have You Ever Been Arrested: No.
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: Yes
Have You Ever Been on TV: yes, cheesy morning program for which I accompanied an opera singer singing Gershwin
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: nope

5 THINGS

Thing You're Wearing: my trusty jeans and an untucked clearance rack shirt that gets compliments EVERY time I wear it
Thing You've Done Today: Practiced, coached three singers, played a dress rehearsal with my duo partner (violin), played two hours of Gianni Schicchi rehearsal
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: Lou Harrison through my headphones
Thing You Can't Live Without: music
Thing You Do When You're Bored: I haven't had time for boredom in a really long time

4 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TODAY

1. home
2. Casas Adobes Congregational Church, Tucson, for a dress rehearsal
3. University of Arizona School of Music
4. gas station

3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO

1. my wife
2. Ian
3. n/a

2 CHOICES

1. Black or White: black
2. Hot or Cold: hot

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:

play in a Gamelan ensemble

And Now For Something Completely Different...

2007-05-23T06:42:31Z

I had a riot playing a John Cage piece this past weekend with my old friend Stephan and a couple of new friends, John and Willie. The gig itself was a great deal of fun, with perhaps my personal highlight of the weekend being a spur-of-the-moment performance of Steve Reich's "Clapping Music" with Willie inside a gigantic Richard Serra sculpture. True to form, Stephan was on hand with a hi-tech recording device to capture the sounds (there was a 1/4 sec. delay inside the sculpture), and Willie's girlfriend had a camera at the ready. Sounds and/or photos will be posted soon.

Epilogue: Apparently the L.A. Times thinks I'm a violinist!

For the four of you that read this...

2007-05-16T05:51:07Z

...you probably won't be able to make it, since you're either out of state or out of the country. BUT, if you happen to be in the area, you are most cordially invited to attend a recital about which I am most excited.

"Classical Elegance for Violin"

Carla Ecker, violin (Associate Concertmaster, Tucson Symphony)
Michael Dauphinais, piano

Music for violin and piano by Corelli, Mozart, Sarasate ("Zigeunerweisen") and Beethoven ("Kreutzer" Sonata)

Sunday, May 27th @2pm

Casas Adobes Congregational Church

6801 N. Oracle Road, Tucson (between Ina and Orange Grove)

Tickets available at the door:
$12 general admission
$10 seniors/students

Because it's still pretty funny...

2007-05-10T07:13:47Z

...here ya go.

dohfoh @ 2007-05-06T00:45:00

2007-05-06T07:58:59Z

Same ol' story this time of year- WAY too many student juries and recitals to play lo these past several days, yea, weeks....however, I don't complain because I'm making a living playing the piano. (I think I set a record, at least on a personal level, by accompanying TEN tuba juries in one afternoon.) I'm in the home stretch....one tuba recital and one clarinet jury remain, and then I can really devote myself to much loftier music.

My wife sang De Falla's "El Amor Brujo" tonight with a local orchestra. Good stuff. Conductor is a bit of a stooge, but the balance was OK. She sings one more tomorrow, and then later this week sings the title role in Vivaldi's "Ottone in Villa", up in Phoenix.

Lots of good stuff happening...a gig in Mississippi next weekend with my friends Lisa and Nathan, followed by a gig the following weekend in Orange County playing John Cage's Four3 with people from/associated with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. A good month, a busy month, and hopefully a month I will look back upon with fondness and satisfaction.

I hereby declare...

2007-04-24T06:12:01Z

...that the best espresso I've had in Arizona may be experienced at Crave, right here in Tucson.

One of the reasons I love baseball...

2007-04-22T06:24:59Z

...is that you just never know what can happen.

If I hadn't watched ESPN tonight, I would've missed the triple play that the Phillies turned today.

Sweet...

Simple Pleasures (a.k.a., too tired and lazy for complete sentences)

2007-04-21T05:58:29Z

"The Magnificent Seven" on late night TV

A Schnauzer cuddled up close, snoring

A gin/tonic close at hand

The satisfaction of another week of work gone by

Bellavoix's rose pictures

The gig offer I received earlier today on the phone...details to follow

looking up "The Magnificent Seven" on IMDB and learning that John Williams actually played in the orchestra for Elmer Bernstein's score

The Ides of April

2007-04-16T07:20:56Z

I'm just now winding down after a long but satisfying week of activity. Today I played the third and final performance of Orff's "Carmina Burana" with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra - I love the piece and look forward to my next opportunity to play it. I also played several tuba and euphonium accompaniments as a part of this conference. It was fun, but I'm also very glad to have a lot of that music out of my life so I can move on to the many student recitals and juries for which I've agreed to play.

Up to Phoenix tomorrow for a few coachings and a dress rehearsal for Arizona Opera's production of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah. Tuesday, it's back to the grindstone of rehearsing for juries and recitals. Gotta pay the bills, but I'm not complaining: I'm sitting on my ass playing the piano. In the meantime, I look forward to reserving an entire day to spend playing with the backyard smoker (brisket, anyone?) and reading a non-music-related book.

I love The Onion

2007-03-31T20:48:49Z

Christ Announces Hiring Of Associate Christ

JERUSALEM-Jesus announced Monday the hiring of Tacoma, WA customer-service supervisor Dean Smoler as Associate Christ.

Lunchtime bliss

2007-03-30T21:02:44Z

Q: How can one make leftover Mac and Cheese even better?

I'm not talking about boxed kit supermarket garbage here, I'm talking about the real deal homemade hotdish Mac and Cheese.

A: Add bacon and Louisiana hot sauce.

Holy crap, it's really good.

Beisbol y radio

2007-03-26T20:28:31Z

Opening day is in 6 days! I'm especially excited this year because my wife gave me an XM radio for Christmas, so I'll be able to listen to play-by-play of any game that I wish. They've been doing a lot of the spring training games, but exhibition games on the radio sound a lot like college baseball - it's just not the same as listening to the regular season. I've always loved good radio play-by-play calling (in any sport), and now I'll be able to enjoy some of the voices that I normally only get to hear when I'm traveling. Baseball on the radio - the soundtrack of summer. Cheesy, but true for me.

The longtime radio guy in me felt a slight twinge of guilt when I first started listening to satellite radio; the geek in me can't stop listening. Three classical music channels (2 of them are exceptionally good), the BBC, XMPR (Bob Edwards) and countless music channels have all made the drive between Tucson and Phoenix much more enjoyable.

Back to the piano,
M

too easy to be true

2007-03-20T19:35:09Z

I found a super easy carnitas recipe - it's cooking right now, and I can't wait to taste it tonight.

2-3 lb. pork butt, trim the excess fat
8 cloves of garlic
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
12 oz. lager beer (I had a Red Stripe on hand)

Cut some slits into the pork, insert the garlic. Place in crock pot. Cover the meat with the cilantro and jalapeno. Pour the beer over, cover and cook on high for 5-6 hours.

It's only been cooking for 2 hours, and the aroma is already amazing! I just ran out and bought fresh tortillas from La Mesa Tortilleria... it's all I can do to resist eating them now, straight from the bag, warm from being made this morning. YUM...

Rumors of my cryogenic freezing have been greatly exaggerated

2007-03-20T18:42:00Z

I have been far too busy to blog for far too long now, and after having received several observations that I haven't done so in months, it's time for an update.

November and December were spent preparing and accompanying many student recitals. I also had a load of music to prepare for Sarasota Opera, where I worked as an assistant conductor for the 2007 season. I had a fantastic working experience - David Neely is now one of my favorite conductors ever, and Victor De Renzi has cultivated an amazing atmosphere at Sarasota. I got back to Tucson a couple of weeks ago and am now involved in Arizona Opera once again, playing chorus music rehearsals and a few staging rehearsals for Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah". I'm also preparing for a very tuba-centric spring - I'm one of two official accompanists for the 2007 Southwest Region Tuba Euphonium Conference, and will also have several UA tuba/euphonium student recitals to play between now and the end of the semester. The Tucson Symphony is performing "Carmina Burana" next month, and it will be a privilege to play Piano II next to the orchestra's longtime principal keyboardist Paula Fan. May and June will be heavily consumed by coaching and music preparation for UA's summer operatic production, a double bill of Mozart's "The Impresario" (in English) and Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" (in Italian).

I hope to get back in the habit of blogging more regularly....twice a month would be an earth-shattering rate, methinks.

October once more -

2006-10-30T14:25:30Z

- make that seven recitals down, one to go.

Never again.

good ol' Dave

2006-10-30T14:21:31Z

Even though he doesn't jump onto walls of Velcro any more, Letterman remains one of my heroes.

October...

2006-10-26T14:52:22Z

...Five recitals down, three to go.

November 1st can't come soon enough.

Things that rule

2006-10-16T04:11:21Z

Bool Kogi

Miles Davis Quintet, 1965-1968

Rusty Nails

giving my home a technology makeover

NOT getting up at 3:30 am to work a weekend radio shift

Carl Maria von Weber, even though he's a monkeybitch

de-stressing more through housecleaning than through practicing

knowing that the most Herculean month of my life is half over (seven full recitals plus one audition)

My dog, putting up with incessant repetition of some very difficult phrases (composed by Carl Maria "monkeybitch" von Weber)

My ever-faithful Palm IIIxe, still going strong after 5 years