The Dissertation

Examining data...and probably reaching a state of perplexedness at some lame-o sentence I wrote 2 years ago...

I’ve decided to include a relatively small blurb on the research I am undertaking for my PhD.  My blog, as many of you know, began as a purely fun endeavor, a way to talk (and perhaps dialog with people) about things in life about which I am passionate…namely, music, food, & wine, with the occasional nature or holiday-inspired essay.

Now I’ve decided to include some information regarding my dissertation research, perhaps mostly for people close to me who aren’t 100% sure of what I’m doing exactly.  Totally understandable, no doubt.  I wake up each day with the assumption that most people’s eyes will glaze over the second I start talking about said research.

But I am also doing this for the cellists who agreed to be part of this study and were so generous with their time and were so articulate in discussing their experiences with music, school, and improvising.

Please be aware: the following is a synopsis and only begins to touch on the purposes behind my research.  It is actually very helpful to me to be able to summarize this without a tremendous amount of explanation.

My research deals with issues of ideology, hegemony, resistance, and identity construction in the experiences of classically trained cellist-improvisers.  Through interviews with five cellists, I investigate how identity construction is related to performativity (that is, actually performing music, though ‘performativity’ refers to much more than just that) and also to established institutional hegemonies, namely the hegemony of classical music indoctrinated in conservatory training.

To clarify: Certain groups constitute counter-hegemonies,meaning that they resist the established paradigms (“norms”) inherent in the ideology.  (I keep thinking of the Sex Pistols, so those who know them…well, keep that in mind).  Through this “resistance,” their identities evolve and subsequently new paradigms evolve, and the established systems (i.e. music conservatories in this case) are challenged.  By examining the existing ideologies–and also by understanding how and why certain groups choose to challenge certain hegemonies within the ideologies–we can move forward and transform reality through critical ways of being (thinking, reading, listening, performing, acting).  If we can understand our individual realities as directly relating to the intricacies of our history, background, education, etc., we can see ourselves in the broader scope of society.  Through this understanding, change can occur on personal and institutional levels.

Moral of the story: roll with the times…and if you don’t, someone or something is going to push you out of the way, rendering you obsolete.  …I could quote Bob Dylan here, but I’ll refrain…okay, okay, it’s just too perfect:

The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast

The slow one now will later be fast

As the present now will later be past

The order is rapidly fadin’

And the first one now will later be last

For the times they are a-changin’

So I would like to thank the cellists who are involved in this project.  My research wouldn’t be what it is without the experiences of these musicians:

1. Stephanie Winters

2. Will Martina

3. Tomas Ulrich

4. Jody Redhage

5. Daniel Levin

(I will do another blog post, if they’re in favor of my including them, that will give more information on them as individuals, their work, etc.).

Butler's Gender Trouble - key source for exploring issues of identity construction

Gramsci, Freire, & Adult Education: Possibilities for Transformative Action

Paulo Freire...please don't be worried that this has the word "oppressed" in the title...I realize the text is backwards thanks to my computer's 'photo booth.' The book is called Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Afterthought:  All my life I have been fascinated by institutions and people who went against the grain (pardon the cliche).  Kids who talked back to teachers, the “alternative” crowd at Reynolds High School in Asheville, NC, of which my sister was a part (and I would have been a part had I not gone through that rebellion rather early on), the punk movement, any music that sounded innovative to my ears, sex stores geared towards women’s freedom & education,  you name it.  I tend to be attracted to most things considered to be “on the fringes”…with the exception of the hipster “movement”…wait, is it even a movement?  I mean, come on.  And sadly, the impression I get is that hipsters love to think they’re “on the fringes,” but they’re just fooling themselves.  And maybe I’m fooling myself, but I’ve always felt like an outsider.  And as I get a little older, I realize how much I appreciate that about myself.  And even more importantly than that, how much I appreciate that in other people.  And now I’m lucky enough to be writing about people who are literally changing the course of history.

Tori Amos post on the way…

1999, the era of the best "Blood Roses" version EVER

If I start a Tori post now, all it will do is make me passionate & excited & not inclined to finish my dissertation.  So it’s going to have to wait!  :-)

Kate Bush – artist, musician, composer, pianist, poet, dancer, mime, producer, visionary, and total bad ass

Kate looking beautiful, as always

I don’t think this photo needs a caption…

Kate Bush with a fabulous biker jacket

“Consider the options for a glamourous girl singer with an acute sense of melody; consider that she’s taken the riskiest, most uncommercial route; and consider whether this album should be regarded with patience and admiration, even when it occasionally slips right over the top.” ~ Colin Irwin, “Melody Maker,” September 11, 1982 (discussing “the Dreaming”)

Disclaimer: with the exception of the above quote, I am not referring to any outside sources for this…so all of this is what I think, so if any facts are wrong, it’s because I have purposely not looked to outside information.

“Disclaimer” #2: If you’re not really into Kate Bush enough to read all of my text (I went a little crazy with it), I include a couple youtube videos at the bottom…her work really does speak for itself…

I think if there is any artist out there, dead or alive, that I would love to have a nice dinner & some wine with, it would be Kate Bush.  Probably because I have sooooooo many questions for her.  But bottom line — the woman is a bad ass and to me, she has created probably the most unique and ultimately influential career path of any female artist alive today.

What do I appreciate most about Kate Bush? Her willingness to be WEIRD…or, uh, “out,” in the more jazz-oriented terminology.

I think – especially those of us in the arts – so many of us are looking for inspiration in one way or another.  And I truly find artists inspiring when they move beyond norms & stereotypes, when they create new paradigms,  and while steeping themselves in the existing ideology, they ultimately really move beyond it and develop something quite new and beautiful.

From her first record, “the Kick Inside” in 1978, Kate Bush (discovered by the always-fabulous Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd) set herself up  to be a very, very beautiful, very feminine, young, lyrical-sounding, piano-based (generally) “pop” singer-songwriter.  But holy moly, little did the world know that the innocent (and kind of annoying) “Wuthering Heights” would lead to the uber-experimental (and weird as hell) record, “the Dreaming.”  And then, of course, she put out what many consider to be her masterpiece, “Hounds of Love.”

I think Kate Bush is one of those people who can be so many things at once.  Check out the video for “Babooshka” (there are two videos out there, but I’m talking about the sexy one)….I mean, wasn’t every man (and woman) drooling over her in that?  I mean, SEX POT.  The point is, she can be that uber-feminine, sexy, beautiful gal (check out attached photo)…and combine that with a highly skilled composer and visionary who has no problem seeming totally mad (i.e. crazy & weird in the most beautiful way) in some key points in her work.  Stellar and unique and interesting and intriguing combination, no doubt.

I remember the first time I heard “Running Up That Hill.”  I was in Paul Myers’s car (drummer from “Asciento” in Boston), and wonderful & manly but sensitive Paul really liked (loved perhaps) Kate Bush.  That record, “Hounds of Love,” pretty much changed my life in a similar way that Tori’s “Boys for Pele” did.

“The Kick Inside” I bought about a year later, and it accompanied my first year of graduate school in NYC.  ”Lionheart” was literally the soundtrack to Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods,” and “Never For Ever” was my January 2005, freezing-cold-New-York-City-single-gal record…as was “the Dreaming” — I guess both of those last two accompanied Gaiman’s “Neverwhere” and “Smoke & Mirrors.”   I received “the Dreaming” for Christmas in 2004…I believe I put it on my Christmas list, and received it from my parents.  Probably my best gift that year!

I can’t really rate Kate above Tori because Tori’s music has been my best friend since I was 15 years old…but Kate’s music has literally revolutionized the way I think & feel about music, art, and performance in music.  ”The Dreaming” really blew things open for me, especially since she released the record in the very early 80s…basically when I was a baby.  I mean, that record is wicked experimental even by today’s standards.  No doubt.

Kate represents to me the ultimate combination of feminine beauty, vulnerability, and total bad ass-edness…she has no problem being weird, doing crazy things with her voice, utilizing kind of bizarre looking choreography, using unusual instrumentation, moving WAY beyond forms of typical pop songs (while still releasing so many amazing “traditional” pop songs like  ”Symphony in Blue,” “Running up That Hill,” “Cloudbusting,” etc., etc., etc.)  In a way, she really transcends any sort of stereotyping.  Part of the reason I love her sexiness in Babooshka (and elsewhere…I mean, the woman is freakin’ gorgeous) so much is because she is so NOT AT ALL LIKE any of the “sex pot” (I mean the quotes quite literally here) gal-”musicians” out there today.  Ahem, I won’t mention any names, but let’s just all laugh in unison…

I think the important thing with experiencing Kate’s records (up to and including “Hounds of Love”), is seeing her perform live.  She only did one tour (in 1978 when she was only 19, which is effin’ amazing in itself), but she’s done a handfull of TV performances since then, most of which during the 80s and early 90s…I get the impression she sort of dropped off the map since then – not musically, but because she is an extremely private person.  Very respectable, I think, especially when Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode sights you as his first crush!  I swear I saw that on some VH1 special a couple years back…youtube probably.  ;-)  I think she was much, much more in the public eye very early in her career, and my guess is that she got a bad taste in her mouth regarding stardom.

Within her first five albums & the performances, Kate combines very, very, very dramatic performance-art-esque approaches to performing her material, utilizing dance & mime in a very theatrical way.  The costumes, the miming, the dramatic “face dancing,” etc.  She studied dance, btw, with Lindsay Kemp who also worked with David Bowie.

Another thing I LOVE about Kate Bush is her total lack of pretentiousness in interviews and open skepticism of fame and everything that goes with it.  To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered such a genuine artist (except a handful of exceptionally artistic people very close to me).

I also very much appreciate Kate’s subject matter which is hugely influenced by literature.  I recently discovered that her song, “the Sensual World” was actually influenced by the last part of Joyce’s “Ulysses,” which I have unfortunately not read, and I don’t think KB was able to get the rights from the Joyce estate.  Anyway, as someone who has always been vitally interested in personal, introspective songs dealing with immediate emotions, relationships, etc., I think the spectrum of Kate’s subject matter is so incredibly interesting.  In other words, it’s quite a bit more interesting than the things I naturally gravitate towards.

Some of my faves (i.e. tunes and/or videos to check out):

1. Army Dreamers — war protest tune, apparently she sings with an Irish accent in this one, but I can’t detect it

2. Leave it Open — “we let the weirdness in”…need I say more?

3. Sat in Your Lap — rhythmic, powerful, visceral, scary, totally bizarre…and catchy, to boot…uber scary video as well with quasi-KKK & ram’s head/faun costumes.  WEIRD.  Move over, Matthew Barney!!!! (Youtube video below…)

4. Egypt — beautiful, lyrical, sensual tune off “Never for Ever”

5. Delius — quite jarring (in a sedate sort of way) after Babooshka…soundscape sort of feeling. Romantic, dreamy, kind of weird.

6. Get Out of My House — I always wonder if Trent Reznor has checked out this song.  It has that masculine, angry aggressiveness combined with typical Kate Bush theatrics.  Apparently it was inspired by Kubrick’s “the Shining.”  Scary vocals!  LOVE this song.  It almost borders on industrial.

7. Moving — my favorite off “the Kick Inside.”  Love the piano.  Love her live performance & choreography.

8. Kashka from Baghdad – about a gay couple…fabulous tune

9. The Ninth Wave from “Hounds of Love” — that entire side is totally unbelievable, particularly “Waking the Witch.”  ”Hello Earth” and “Morning Fog” are my feeling-totally-emotional-and-dramatic songs.  That’s not to diminish their profundity.  Really, that entire record is a masterpiece and I find it deeply moving.  Also very comforting.

10. Anything else from ‘the dreaming.’ The most experimental pop record I’ve ever heard.

There are a few I love off her more recent records, but I’ve been listening to the first five A LOT.

I almost cringe at the thought of dissertations, I can’t help but be curious as to who out there is including Kate Bush in their dissertation on 20th & 21st Century women & music.  The woman puts almost everyone else to shame, and I say that with total honesty.

Link for “Sat in Your Lap,” probably the most bizarre video I’ve ever seen:

Here’s a video from her 1978 tour (her only tour in fact); this predates Sat in Your Lap by about 3-4 years.  What  a transformation!  She was also apparently one of the very first to use the headset…way before Madonna, ya know?

“Get Out of My House,” from “the Dreaming.” Check out how different her voice is in this.  Crazy.

Happy Kate Bush listening!!!  :-)

Food, Glorious Food! Hedonism, Michael Pollan, and Getting the Best From Eating

Jason outside of Cafe Hans in Cashel -- I think this was one of our very favorite lunch spots in Ireland

Lunch in Port Magee, Ireland: Seafood Chowder, Brown Bread, Hot Whiskey, Guinness

I’m very proud to state the following: I love food.  I love wine & hot whiskeys.  I don’t ‘diet,’ and therefore don’t count calories or fat grams. I don’t do anything fad-oriented such as no-carb eating.  I’m not vegan or even vegetarian.  BUT…I do put a great deal of thought into what I put into my body.  No question about it, health is one of my #1 concerns in life.  I love to eat (and drink!) and I love to feel good physically & mentally.  I eat for pleasure & sensuality, I eat for energy, I eat for life.  And a good wine can help with all of that too.  :-)

In August, 2009, the Riley-Rigby-Rooney clan embarked on a journey to & around Ireland.  A truly momentous trip…one of the best of my life.  At the airport, Jason & I purchased two of Michael Pollan’s well-known bestsellers: the Omnivore’s Dilemma & In Defense of Food (subtitled: Eat Food, Not too Much, Mostly Plants).  Jason read the former, I read the latter.  The irony here is that I spent a good 7-8 days eating my way through a very NON-plant-centric diet in Ireland, which was truly fantastic!   Lots of shepherd’s pie, Guinness stew (with beef or lamb), seafood chowder, brown bread with butter, the occasional fish ‘n’ chips, etc., etc.  Oh!  And porridge with Irish Mist or Jameson in the morning!  Garnished with milk & sugar, of course.  The Irish know how to cook, that’s for sure (quite opposite, I might add, from my & J’s culinary experience in Scotland, which was unfortunately horrid to say the very least).

Anyway, I’m not interested in giving a book report on In Defense of Food, but there are a few poignant morsels of information that I’ve carried with me these last few months.  Basically the main idea presented in the book is that, historically speaking, people who have followed ‘traditional’ diets (for most of us this means our ancestors and/or those who probably grow their own food, and consistently don’t consume processed foods with 500 ingredients, 99% of which have names we can’t pronounce…said foods wouldn’t have been around for our ancestors anyway) are by far the healthiest people on the planet.  (But processed food aside – I mean, really, did our ancestors do the no-carb thing?)

Anyway, I think a lot of this is common sense, but it’s always nice to have guidelines….Some of these are mine, some straight from Pollan’s book, more or less…

1.  Buy local food when possible (i.e. Farmer’s markets & such)

2.  Eat LOTS and LOTS of fruits & veggies, preferably organic.  Especially leafy greens.

3.  (Try to) stay away from refined flour — this was not about to stop me from enjoying the freshly baked baguettes from our December dinner excursion with Bert & Noel (see below for info on their amazing books) at L’Ecole, the restaurant of the French Culinary Institute on Broadway, btw. Broome & Grand.  Such a fabulous dinner!  We went home with FOUR baguettes.  :-)  :-)

4.  (Try to) stay away from refined sugar (This & #3 went out the window over the holidays and I do very occasionally indulge with a sugary treat such as candy corn or gummies).

5.  (This is more my own tip) Cook when possible, i.e. don’t go out so much…this is also economical!  And you know what’s going into your dinner.

6.  Try not to pig out.  This is a biggie for me since I find myself feeling like I have the appetite of a 16-year old boy.  Maybe because I’m so active???  Not sure, but I absolutely hands-down know how to EAT.  Alas, try not to pig out…even if you have run 6 miles that morning.

7.  This is obvious: stay away from processed foods, which for me is no problem since I’ll eat pretty much anything BUT chef-boyardee, cheese whiz, & wonder bread.  I do, however, like marshmallows.

8.  Don’t do fast food (sadly, I really think this includes a great deal of the food at places like Starbucks – even their fruit cups are pitiful.  Thumbs down to that, though I will give them credit for telling people the INSANE number of calories in one of their little muffins or cookies.  Sheesh.  I don’t count calories, but I’m not about to buy a 400+ calorie muffin from said coffee purveyor).

9.  I don’t have an exact number in front of me, but Pollan talks about purchasing foods that have very, very few ingredients, so I’ve been paying more attention to that.

10.  Last but not least, stay away from high fructose corn syrup.  Read the book for an explanation as to why (try not to let your eyes glaze over), but it’s nasty stuff for your body and the production of it has all sorts of seriously negative environmental implications.  I was shocked when I discovered that Special K with berries has corn syrup in it.  I haven’t had cereal in probably 4 months, though apparently Kashi makes a good health-conscious one.  I opt for oatmeal (but no, I don’t put Irish Mist or Jameson in it).

Ps — This isn’t hugely pertinent to New Yorkers, but try to stay in the perimeter (i.e. away from the center) of the grocery store.

Foodies abound in my family, I’m happy to say.  Another book to check out!  My “uncle” Bert Sonnenfeld (really my second cousin’s husband…I think that’s right) wrote the English edition of Food: A Culinary History (Penguin Books, 1999).  And Bert’s wife, Noel Riley Fitch, wrote Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child and also has a gorgeous book with amazing photographs entitled The Grand Literary Cafes of Europe. She another gem entitled the Literary Cafes of Paris.  Thanks to Bert & Noel, I got to sit right across from Julia Child at a dinner in my freshman year of college.  Julia was giving a class at BU, so I think it was a student prepared meal perhaps???  I have a vague recollection of her forgetting to put the lobster in the soup, so I’m sure she was assisting the students.  I believe I also remember her talking about what a lovely person Yo-Yo Ma is.  :-)  What a memory!  Truly special thanks to the Riley-Fitch-Sonnenfeld pair!

I truly feel food should be good for you, yes, and enjoyed to the absolute fullest.  Food should be savored, shared, ritualized into our lives for health…and hedonism!  And I say this mostly for (what I think) are the crazy dieters — the no-carb eaters, the vegans, the macrobiotics — I don’t think some slices of baguette with yummy Saint Andre triple cream (in moderation) is going to kill you, particularly if you’re an active individual and you care about what you put into your body.

Best wishes for health, hedonism, & happy eating in 2010!  Let’s hope it’s a good year for wine as well.  :-)

The Joys of Winter…Beating the Post-Holiday Blues

If there’s any blog post that may arouse my fear of seeming narcissistic, it’s this one…sorry!  This is my going-into-the-new-year reflections, therapeutic perspectives, etc.  But I couldn’t pass the holiday season without a tribute to the many sides of this time of year.

Harkening back to the dog days of summer, I have to say August is my least favorite month of the year.  Way too hot, the city seems to lack its usual hustle-bustle, there’s usually not as much gig work, etc., etc.  BUT…I do often find myself traveling in August, either to my parents’ house in Asheville or to my in-laws’ in beautiful Bath, Ohio.  And the last two summers I was lucky enough to head to Trinidad for two weeks, and for work no less!  I digress…one of the really nice things about August is that fall is right around the corner.  When I get to the end of the month, it’s like, YES!  Thank GOD summer is almost over!  And then there’s September with the same kind of early-fall anticipation, (plus I usually feel like September is really my ‘new year’), then beautiful, golden October, November with the first cold-weather runs, hot cider on the stove & Thanksgiving, and alas, the gloriousness of December and its festive spirit.  So basically from August on, I’m pretty darn happy.  Oct., Nov., Dec. constitute the most beautiful (and fun-filled) months of the year if only from a visual/nature-inspired perspective.

So how does one get his/her head around the months following all of this beauty & anticipation???  Lucky for me, I LOVE winter.  I mean, I LOVE it.  I live for it.  I don’t mind the short days, I don’t mind bundling up, I very, very, very rarely have to deal with any sort of winter driving, and I think we’ve only had to dig our car out a small handful of times…and I don’t remember minding it one bit since I love snow so much.  I think I probably spent a few former incarnations in Scandinavia or Russia…or Canada.  So the winter thing is not an issue.  I suppose it starts to get old when you’re still frigid in March, but leading up to that, I’m totally fine.

But every year — and I mean, every year, I have a bit of post-Christmas doldrums.  I always try to beat it, and I think the last couple years I’ve done a good job.  I was talking to Jason about this, and we agreed that it’s easier now that we have each other.  It used to be that we would respectively spend a good chunk of time at our parents’ house at Christmas, then reluctantly head back to the city…alone.  So it does indeed make a big difference heading back with each other to our cozy apartment and our super super sweet baby kitties.  :-)  This year also I’m lucky enough that my fabulous in-laws, George & Eileen, are coming to NYC for new year’s eve, so that keeps the spice going.  They are truly fabulous!   And we are actually heading to Ohio later in January to formally celebrate Christmas with them…so this may actually be a year when Christmas does indeed go on for quite a while.  I mean, we’re obviously not going to ditch our date with the Polar Express in George & Eileen’s super cozy basement just because it’s January!

But sadly the question remains…how do I get over missing Mom & Dad, Mom & Dad’s house, the festive spirit, the music, the feeling of anticipation, etc., etc., etc.  Here is the answer:

APRIL 8, 2010: DISSERTATION DEADLINE

Which equals: me hunkered down with my computer while it’s windy and frigid outside, a steaming cup of hot chocolate to my right, Pickles on the table standing guard over the library books I’ve had in my possession for at least a year, Burnzee curled up on the couch, Shmoo no where to be found…and maybe some hot apple cider brewing on the stove, fingers typing away furiously.

And really, for me this year, that’s the answer.  And I’m turning 30 in April too, so am hoping to do some serious springtime celebrating!

And my hopes for 2010 and next Christmas?  My number one wish is that my mom’s health continues to improve…which it has – dramatically- these last few months.  Other than that – and that’s BIG – I do indeed hope I am completely 100% finished with anything & everything school-related.  I hope for Jason that his artistic pursuits continue to move in the direction of his ultimate dreams.  I hope to spend lots of time with my beautiful niece who is hands-down the world’s cutest, most gorgeous baby, and I am so incredibly excited to see her grow. As for Asheville/Ohio logistics of next holiday season, my number one wish is that we do what we’ve done in previous years, which is to fit it all in!  I wouldn’t mind doing new year’s in Asheville next year, but we’ll have to see.

So I’m putting my writing hat on, and wishing everyone a happy 2010!  Thanks to everyone for a fabulous holiday season!  Let’s all beat the post-holiday doldrums and embrace the glories of winter.  There are indeed many.  :-)

The taste & sound of Christmas

Cozy den at my parents house: note the holiday cats adorning the mantle

At my parents house: note Chopin & Tori Amos music on the piano

2009 Christmas season will probably be most remembered for the east coast snow storm.  And this post wouldn’t be complete without sending a heartfelt tribute to my sister, her husband, Charly, Captain Nissy, and Little Bird: they got stranded in the Atlanta airport because of snow in Asheville, rented a car the next day to drive to NC, and apparently (I haven’t yet heard the full story) ended up having to HIKE UP THE RILEY HILL in the snow because whatever four-wheel-drive Dad had procured couldn’t make it up.  What an adventure!   I hope they are sleeping soundly right now & making the most of the utter coziness of Mom & Dad’s house.  :-)

I’ve sort of been neglecting my blog lately for a couple reasons: 1) general holiday busy-ness & preoccupation with my dissertation have kept me from recreational writing and 2) I think only about 3 people I know actually read it…and that’s cool, man, that’s cool.  ;-)

But I couldn’t pass this holiday season without writing something about my favorite time of year, so I figured I would gear it around three of my favorite things: food, wine, music.  (Hence ‘foodwinecello’).

So Christmas music: this is probably the only time during the entire year that I listen so consistently to choral music…and I love it!  My faves: York Minster Choir Christmas album (York RULES), anything Christmasy by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and general Christmas choir recordings that I’ve discovered on itunes — Cambridge Singers, Westminster Choir, the Princeton University Chapel Choir, etc., etc.

AND because I’m a cellist, I’m lucky enough to do at least one choral-y concert every Christmas season, and this year I’ve also been fortunate to attend one as an audience member.  My good friend Angie is in the Riverside Choral Society (and she had a stellar solo!), so I attended their holiday concert with the American Brass Quintet on the upper west side.  Total holiday treat AND we went to one of my very favorite wine bars, Barcibo, afterwards with Angie’s very sweet mother-in-law, Cathy.  I love Christmastime.  :-)

Normally I get to play at Union Theological Seminary for their holiday concert – the Barnard/Columbia singers conducted by Gail Archer…sadly, I had to turn down the gig for another one, but I’m hoping to do it next year!

This is also the only time during the year that I listen to what can be described as ‘religious’ music, and despite my lack of label as a “Christian,” I do find myself having profound respect for the themes presented in some of these beautiful Christmas carols – ‘Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree,’ from James Galway’s Christmas album is one of my favorites.  ’Zither Carol’ off the same record is another fave and I love the lyrics, “Hallelujah the angels sing, Hallelujah from everything.”  Beautiful idea and I think it goes beyond anything strictly ‘Christian.’  Here is a verse from ‘Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree,’ which is an 18th Century poem:

For happiness I long have sought,

And pleasure dearly I have bought:

I missed of all; but now I see

‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I like that Christ is really a beautiful symbol of a tree in this poem, and not a person.

So FOOD & DRINK!  I’m not going to give away the famous holiday nugget recipe – 2009 will be remembered as the year the Rileys almost lost the precious recipe.  But suffice it to say, it is THE taste of Christmas — somewhat spherical butter cookies laden with maraschino cherries, lemon peel (KEY ingredient), cocounut, pecans, and well…lots of butter.  Alas, a holiday nugget wouldn’t be quite complete without the equally famous Riley Cranberry Spice Tea!  Here is my recipe — I think we all do it a little differently, but this is my current recipe.  I should add that I believe this came from my Grandma Dorothy as did the holiday nuggets…

Cranberry Juice Cocktail (You can also add a little water, but you don’t have to)

A little orange juice (so roughly 3 parts cranberry, 1 part orange)

Freshly sliced orange, plus the ends squeezed into the tea

Constant Comment tea bags — KEY ingredient

Cinnamon stick

Whole Cloves

Allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, whatever else you want to dump in

Simmer over the stove.  This is the smell of Christmas, I swear!

Am hoping to make a batch of green Spritz christmas tree cookies this year…not sure I’ll get to it, but that’s another Riley favorite, albeit one we don’t do much anymore.

My hope for next Christmas season, 2010 or 2011 — make it to York, England at some point…it is the MOST Christmasy, charming, beautiful, cozy place I’ve ever been to.

Happy holidays, happy eating, drinking, musicking!!!!

My parents house - the ultimate cozy Christmas destination

My favorite NYC food/wine spots: wine bars!!!!

Jason, Aubyn, and my wonderful in-laws, George & Eileen at 8th Street Wine Cellar

People are always quick to say that New York City has amazing food available at every turn.  Part of me agrees, and part of me feels that you really do have to know where to go.  Like any city, NYC certainly has its share of mediocre restaurants/bars/cafes, etc.  So I think trial-and-error, being somewhat adventurous, and (this is the most important thing, I think) get recommendations from people who also love food/wine/beer and read reviews!  I don’t know what I would do without yelp.com!

Hands down, my favorite places to eat & drink in NYC are wine bars, and I have a small list of places I think are stellar on every level.  I have much more detailed reviews on my yelp page: http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=MzkeNPw6OXtPR73UjCHVjg

1. Boqueria: 19th Street, just east of 6th Ave.  Just discovered this thanks to my good friend and fellow food/wine lover, Hannah.  Tapas.  Fabulous food & wine, not too crazy expensive.  I recommend the rose sangria!  Get there early…this place gets packed.

2.  Jadis: Rivington St., LES.  Been there twice, this was also recommended by Hannah.  :-)  Cozy vibe, a little bigger than a lot of wine bars, which is nice.  Get the crabcakes!  Delicious wine.

3.  Bin 71: Amsterdam & 71st.  Two of my good friends have worked here, and it’s one of my all time favorites.  I swear, I’ve never had a less-than-awesome meal here.  The food is sooooo good.  A little small, esp. when I’m coming from a gig and have my gear with me, but otherwise a lovely place to get cozy!  Went there last New year’s eve before J & I headed out to a cocktail party.  Had the famous meatballs in lemon broth.  Fantastic!

4.  Barcibo:  Broadway & 69.  Owned by the same people who own Bin (pretty sure about this).  Only been about 4 times over the last couple years, but it’s utterly fantastic.  Same high quality as Bin.  Romantic vibe (dark, candle lit), and the guy (Mark?) who greets-and-seats is soooo charming.

5.  8th Street Wine Cellar:  Between 5th Ave. & MacDougall.  This might be my number 1 of all-time, maybe tied with Bin.  Absolutely fantastic food, lovely wine list, cozy, romantic vibe, great service, not too terribly small.  LOVE this place.  Their butternut squash bruschetta is one of my favorite things of all time!  It seems the world has discovered it since the last couple times I went it was packed.  But that’s good for them.  They deserve to be popular!

Other places I’ve gone and would recommend, but I don’t know enough about them to review: Riposo 46 (Ninth Ave), the Wine Bar (2nd Ave)…

Also, check out the gorgeous bar at Bocca di Bacco on Ninth Ave. (btw. 54 & 55th).  They have great food as well, and it’s really more of a restaurant.  The bar is so beautiful, though, I would go and just sit there.  Also, check out their front door.  It’s gorgeous!

Happy wine-barring!

Bat for Lashes – my greatest musical discovery of 2009 (and probably the last 5 years)

Natasha Khan (AKA Bat for Lashes)

Thanks to my friend & fellow-musician (and Tori fan, I might add) Jodelle, I discovered Bat For Lashes about 10 days ago, and have been pretty much listening non-stop.  I bought both her (Natasha Khan, AKA Bat for Lashes) records, “Fur and Gold” and “Two Suns,” plus a live recording which includes some tunes off both records.

To me and my taste, BFL is the perfect combination of many influences mixed with Natasha Khan’s general uniqueness.  She probably gets really tired of these comparisons, but a lot of her stuff sounds like a combination of Kate Bush (esp. Hounds of Love), 80s New Wave music (particularly on Two Suns), a tiny bit of Tori here and there, Dead Can Dance, Bjork (although I shudder at how “cool” Bjork has become particularly in artsy-fartsy jazzy scenes…yuck, sorry…yuck…too trendy for my taste…not “yuck” to Bjork herself, but I mean, the Bjorkestra?  Wtf?  It’s just a bunch of jazz musicians who – had they known me in middle school — would have thought I was a total weirdo because I listened to the Sugarcubes not to mention other uh, “alternative” bands.  And now it’s suddenly the super cool thing to do to be into her?  Sorry, maybe this is not fair to say).  I digress.  But really, at the end of the day, BFL is so eclectic and original…just too exciting!  Some of it is danceable, much of it super moody & atmospheric, lyrically filled with mythical imagery (‘a knight in crystal armor’ and ‘we saw the queen in the sky’, etc.)…GORGEOUS, imo.  Her music really takes me on a mental and visceral trip…it’s great to daydream to, it’s great to work out to, it’s great to relax to, get dressed up to go out to, etc., etc.  So many beautiful elements!  And serious tribal percussion going on on Two Suns!  Special thanks to Jodelle (whose music is fabulous, I might add) for introducing me to this incredible music.  http://www.batforlashes.com/

And Natasha Khan has the best fashion of just about anyone I’ve ever seen…maybe since Tori’s 2001 Strange Little Girls tour or 2005 Original Sinsuality tour.  Those were the best fashion-wise.  Natasha rules!  Happy listening…and viewing…

Natasha Khan (AKA Bat for Lashes)

Blogs… narcissistic?

I’m having tremendous fun with my blog, but I’m starting to wonder if it seems narcissistic.  I had a lovely dinner with my good friend Angie the other night at Cafe du Soleil (Broadway & 104) and if I’m remembering the details of the conversation correctly, she said that if she did a blog she would want it to have a specific focus.  My friend/colleague, Joe Phillips, is a composer/conductor, and he has a blog exclusively devoted to his ensemble, Numinous.  It’s very impressive, informative, and quite to-the-point: http://numinousmusic.blogspot.com/

My blog, on the other hand, is really just my ramblings about things I love.  I guess that’s okay.  I’ve been trying to make it somewhat ‘informative’ in a pragmatic sort of way — recipes, restaurant recommendations, wine recommendations, etc.  Who will find it interesting other than those very close to me?  Probably no one except for the rogue Tori Amos fanatic who comes across my Tori-related postings via google searches.  But would that even happen?  Not sure.

Am still wrestling with this question of narcissism online.  In the meantime, way to go to all those brave souls doing the NYC marathon today!  I’m jealous, but my five-miler was just fine.  :-)

Halloween, 2009: reading, writing/dissertation-ing, cooking – what could be better?

I used to view Halloween as one of the key partying high-points of the entire year.  One of my first…uh, illegal experiences, was on Halloween…circa 1999.  Alas, said view has changed.  I love to go out, I love to party (though “party” has taken on a different color as the years have gone by, and I’m happy to say so), I love to see the city in all its vivacious, ‘partying’ glory (minus the excessively drunken NYU undergradutes that permeate both sides of the Village).  But soggy fall nights are often best experienced inside my ever-cozy apartment with my cats, the jack-o-lantern inspired by Martha Stewart, some good food, some good books, my trusty laptop, and hopefully my husband who is in a state of chronically working his you-know-what-off.  I digress…

Today was brilliant!  I’m aiming for the April dissertation deadline so any and all work time is like pure gold…or like the candy corn that I was unable to find yesterday at either Duane Reade or Rite Aid.  Let’s just say it’s profoundly cherished time, particularly when I have enough motivation (i.e. am not too distracted by fall and/or general holiday festiveness).  So I finished the last (I hope the last!) of my interview transcriptions, which was an interview with the wonderful cellist-improviser Daniel Levin…if you’ve ever done transcriptions, you’ll know that it takes hours and hours and hours and hours….

I am currently working on the infamous “Tomas Ulrich chapter,” which is great fun and interesting to say the least.  His interview was/is one of my favorites, particularly because (apart from being insanely witty) he went to BU as well, and though he was there a number of years before I, had an almost identical experience regarding the joys of crack-of-dawn theory classes.  Gotta love walking down Comm Ave. in windy, sub-zero temps at 7:45 in the morning for species counterpoint, harmonic dictations, etc.!  Fun times!

Apart from that, my Halloween has included admiring the gorgeous & charming jack-o-lantern that Jason carved a couple nights ago…we copied my sister whose jack-o-lantern is inspired by the cover of the ever-enjoyable Martha Stewart Living.  I made a Moroccan chicken tagine via a recipe in the November Cooking Light issue — delicious & easy!  Just be sure to simmer MUCH longer than they suggest — you want the chicken to tenderize & that only happens with a long, uber-slow simmer.   And dump on the spices.  I don’t know why recipes are always so stingy with their spice recommendations.  Also made hot cider as I was expecting one of my best friends to stop by.

Wine buying tip for white wines: I recommend the “La Linda” viognier from Argentina.  It is CHEAP – $10 and delicious.  I’ve bought it a number of times, and it’s wonderful.  I’ve also bought the La Linda rose, which is pretty good.  Rose is absolutely not ‘white zinfandel,’ for the record.

Music-wise, I’ve been listening to “Peaceful Pat & Brad.”  I made myself a mix a few weeks ago with said title referring to Pat Metheny & Brad Mehldau.  I chose the ‘peaceful’ tunes of theirs – some together, some not – and made an itunes mix.  I think I’m going to make it into a CD to give my parents at Christmas.

Happy Halloween, happy cooking!  And best wishes for this holiday season…Duane Reade already has their Christmas decorations in stock.  Oh my goodness…time to whip out Vince Guaraldi.  ;-)