I can’t think of a better way to spend a lunch hour than photographing a beautiful woman. Meet Tiffany Paleo, make-up artist, actress, singer, wife and mother. She’s as sweet as she is beautiful, and delightful to work with. For you women who like to be pampered, Tiffany is available at Katharoz Boutique to help you with all your skin care needs — 505-227-1224.
Laurie and I attended the annual holiday party for the Friends of Medieval Studies at UNM tonight, which featured a concert by Música Antigua de Albuquerque — they were wonderful. Música Antigua de Albuquerque will be performing “Stella Nuova” on Saturday, December 22th at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, 601 Montaño NW in Albuquerque.
Mark April 15-18, 2013 on your calendars. The 2013 Medieval Spring Lecture series is “Medieval Myths and Monsters”. This promises to be a superb lecture series not to be missed.
The second coming of the Messiah was as wonderful as the first. The soloists were fantastic, the orchestra was superb and the Chancel Choir was marvelous. Janet, one of the Choir members and soon to be minister, and I were talking about how many great musicians and artists we have in New Mexico, especially given a population of only 2 million. I was telling her that it’s the “enchantment factor” — the beautiful environment and great climate that draw people to New Mexico — we are truly blessed to have so many exceptional performers to share their talents with us and truly enrich our lives.
If you missed Handel’s Messiah tonight, performed by the Central United Methodist Church’s Chancel Choir with the NM Philharmonic Orchestra, David Felberg, Conductor, and soloists Cammy Cook, Soprano, Jacqueline Zander-Wal, Mezzo-soprano, Javier Gonzalez, Tenor and Ivan Conrad, Bass — not to worry, there is a second coming of the Messiah tomorrow afternoon, Sunday, December 9th, 3:00 pm at Central United Methodist Church, 201 University NE. If you live in the Albuquerque area, you really shouldn’t miss it — there will be tickets available at the door.
Before the concert began, members of the Albuquerque Girl’s Choir were singing in the hallway as people came in. Most of the girls were very young, and they didn’t have a director. They were all very cute, but as they tried to sing, especially with recorded music, they were so rhythmically challenged that they were difficult to listen to. After the Chancel Choir had warmed up, Jerrilyn Foster, the director of the Chancel Choir, came out and started directing the girls choir, which completely transformed them — they all of a sudden sounded good and were “in compás”. I think Jerri has a magic touch, because she takes all comers into the Chancel Choir and gets the best out of all the singers. She is really amazing.
Tonight’s performance was wonderful. Even though I’ve been listening to the choir practice every Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon, and to Laurie sing with her CD daily for months; and even though I sat through the rehearsal with the soloists Wednesday night and the dress rehearsal with the orchestra and soloists last night, tonight’s performance still sent chills up and down my spine and brought tears to my eyes — it also brought back memories of listening to the Messiah in a 15th Century Cathedral in Madrid, Spain in 1996. The cathedral was packed and we had to stand through the whole concert, but the sound and the atmosphere was so beautiful and mesmerizing, you felt like you where in the 18th century, and there wasn’t a dry eye in that old cathedral when the Hallelujah Chorus was sung. I had much of the same feeling listening to the Messiah this evening and I believe, like Handel, that we see Heaven before us and “the great God Himself” when we listen to great performances of the Messiah.
Jerrilyn Foster takes a minute before the concert to direct the Albuquerque Girl’s ChoirLeft to right: Ivan Conrad, Cammy Cook, David Felberg, Jacqueline Zander-Wall and Javier Gonzalez
Where else in the world, besides Albuquerque, can you attend a performance of Mozart’s Grand Mass in C Minor K. 427, then go to the Frontier, sit under the eye of The King, look at a collection of Indian rugs on the ceiling, and get a photograph of the guard in a gunfight with The Duke? The Grand Mass in C Minor was performed by the UNM Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Jorge Pérez-Gómez, and the UNM University Chorus, Professor Bradley Ellingboe, director, with guest Conductor Jena Reis. The soloists where soprano Leslie Umphrey, Associate Professor of Voice, UNM, mezzo soprano Drea Pressley, Sam Shepperson, co-director of the Opera Theater at UNM and baritone Michael Hix, Assistant Professor of Vocal Studies at UNM. The concert was excellent, although one woman at the end of the row in front of us brought her baby. I don’t know what she was thinking bringing a baby to a classical concert. About half way through the concert the baby got fussy, and the woman took her sweet time taking the noisy kid out of the theater. The people around her were nervously laughing at its squawks and cries, while the soprano gave her “mad dogs” for the little brat competing with her solo. She finally took leave, allowing us to enjoy the concert and the soprano to relax a little before her next solo.
First of all, if you didn’t make it to the performance of “A Winter’s Journey” by Quintessence Choral Artists of the Southwest tonight, they are performing tomorrow, December 2nd at 3:00 pm at St. John’s United Methodist Church, 2626 Arizona NE. The concert was fantastic and the “Jingle Bells/Hallelujah Chorus” medley is not to be missed.
On the way home from helping Tristan get ready for Goth Night, Laurie are I were wondering how we fit so much into the day. Laurie made two chocolate, chocolate chip angel food cakes first thing this morning, then we did a photo shoot of her outfit before she ran off to choir practice for the Messiah. I hung the photo backdrop from the ceiling, extending the width by 3 feet and allowing me to take down the stands. Then I gathered up parts from different water filters and put together a new water filter to replace the one that broke from a hard freeze a few weeks so I could run drip systems when the hoses thawed out. I cleaned out vines and scraggly growth from what we call the “north house” garden, worked on the bathroom remodel, went to the post office and Lowe’s, and herded cats. After Laurie got home from the rehearsal, she cut up the cakes and I bagged the pieces so we could freeze them, then we got ready to go into town. We did another photo shoot of Laurie’s outfit, and went to pick up Tristan. Tristan had to try on some new clothes we ordered that came in yesterday before we headed to the photo show. We finally got to the ANMPAS show, but we missed Susan (one of her entries is the triptych on the left side of the B&W photo below). We went to the concert after the photo show, which was great, as I already mentioned, then we went by Target so Laurie and Tristan could get some clothes and makeup. I was one of a couple dozen men pushing shopping carts behind their women in the clothing and makeup isles — all of us men looked rather bored and longingly glanced toward the tool department. Three hats, exercise tights, a pair of shoes, various shades of lipstick and an eye shadow kit later, we headed to Tristan’s to help her get ready for Goth Night. Tristan had sworn off make after the years she performed Flamenco with Laurie and I, but makeup is a necessary part of Goth Night along with high heeled footwear and corsets.
In the first photo, Rosencrantz was playing on the backdrop, jumping around and attacking the folds. Meanwhile, Guildenstern was hanging out on the couch with Cthulhu — both of them look like they could use corsets. The third photo in the series is of Susan’s triptych of the demolition of the houses on our property. The rest of the photos include Tristan and Cat getting ready for Goth Night, and then both of them all made up, dressed in proper Goth black, corseted, high heeled, and ready to have a great time.
For Fashion Friday, Laurie wore her new purple dress, chunky sweater and riding boots. After we got home this evening she put on her new exercise clothes and warmed up with a stretch and cooled down under a black, fuzzy jacket.
If you are fortunate enough to live in the Albuquerque area, or if you are visiting during the month of December here are a few things you can do:
On December 1st at 5:00 pm, Quintessence Choral Artists of the Southwest will be performing “A Winter’s Journey” at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1100 Indian School Rd., NE, and at 3:00 pm on December 2nd at St. John’s United Methodist Church, 2626 Arizona NE.
Also starting Sunday, December 2nd and running through December 28th from 10-5 daily is the Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show in the Fine Arts Building at New Mexico Expo (enter the San Pedro and Copper Gate). Our good friend and fellow photographer Susan Graham got a couple of photos of the demolition of the houses on our property in August in the show.
On December 4th at 7:30 pm, the UNM Symphony Orchestra is performing Mozart’s Grand Mass in C, K. 427 at Popjoy Hall at the University of New Mexico. Suzette, one of the lovely women in Wild Women Wednesday, is singing with the University Chorus.
On December 8th at 7:30 pm, the Central United Methodist Church’s Chancel Choir will be performing Handel’s Messiah with the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, and on Sunday December 9th at 3:00 pm at Central United Methodist Church, 201 University Blvd, NE. My blog The Messiah is Coming has all the details. Laurie, Suzette, and Nicole Larson (all of whom have appeared in Photo of the Day, Etc. this month) are singing the Messiah with the Chancel Choir.
Suzette came late to the Messiah practice tonight, sang and few bars and left. Then she called me and asked if I wanted to photograph some sexy girls. They were rehearsing for a Cabaret show in January, and wanted photos in costume. I certainly couldn’t pass up the opportunity of photographing sexy girls, so after the Messiah rehearsal, we stopped by and got some photos. The lovely ladies were wonderful models, and I ended up with so many nice photos, I had a really hard time deciding which ones to post — I started with the images that seemed to fit their Cabaret characters best.
Laurie got a whole new set of really cute clothes. I had been pestering her to let me do a photo shoot of her in her new clothes, but we had colds, and with Messiah practice and all the other stuff we have going on, time for a fashion shoot wasn’t available. We finally decided to set up the back-drop and flashes and do a fashion shoot of whatever Laurie’s wearing right before we leave each morning. That way she doesn’t get worn out changing clothes and posing over and over again for one fashion shoot, and we’ll get all the different fashionable combinations she can put together. As you can see in the first photo, Rosencrantz loves getting in on photo shoots.
This was also “Car Crash Monday!” There were two crashes on I-25 on the way in this morning that had traffic all backed up. But that wasn’t enough for people who where hungover from excess of turkey, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals — there was another, apparently major, crash on the way home that had two lanes on I-25 closed at Paseo Del Norte. Fortunately, the “nanny state” electronic billboards NMDOT has been installing on the freeways warned us about the two lanes closed ahead of us on I-25 in time for me to exit at Jefferson and drive over to Alameda, which had almost zero traffic because all the rush hour traffic was still backed up on I-25.
Only seventeen days left until the Central United Methodist Chancel Choir with the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra present Handel’s Messiah. I am listening to the choir rehearse as I write, and they sound wonderful. Besides singing, the choir director has the choir do choral calisthenics and stretches so they will be in ship shape to deliver outstanding performances. The performances will be on Saturday, December 8th at 7:00 pm and Sunday, December 9th at 3:00 pm. If you live in the greater Albuquerque area, I highly recommend getting tickets to this concert. Tickets can be purchased on-line at http://holdmyticket.com/event/119812.
Handel composed the Messiah in 1741, a 100 years before the term photography was attributed to the process of recording images on a medium using a camera. Since the daguerreotype was one of the earliest photographic processes that resulted in a direct positive, I used a hand-colored daguerreotype effect on the photos of the choir doing their calisthenics, stretches and singing to represent an early time. It doesn’t take us back to the time when Handel lived, but it does give a sense of rehearsing the Messiah in the earliest days of photography.
Off Center & Not Even 