Category: Arts & Music

On a cold and dreary day…

Posted on by Suki

OK, here’s what I want to know: Who stole my summer and when are they going to give it back?

As I mentioned in my last post, we go to the Cabrillo Festival every single year. And I remember many festivals, many afternoons of trying to stay out of the sun, getting to wear a new summer dress, needing my hat not only because I know that UV comes through clouds, too.

And I must preface this by saying that I’m no fog wimp. I actually like fog. I prefer living here on the coast where “God gave us air conditioning.” I like chilly evenings and walking on the beach on a cold, foggy morning.

But what gives this year? I read recently someone who said, the problem now is that you can’t even talk about the one traditionally safe topic — the weather — without getting into a political argument. But heck, I could do with a little coastal warming right now to go along with our global warming.

But despite the gloom, the cheer was out in force today at the festival downtown. I was a little dismayed yesterday to see that the street fair part of the festival was sparsely attended. Geez, I thought, you can’t get better than free music and some pretty good street food. But cancel that, today had the turnout of the century. The family concert was packed, every last seat. A few people sat in the aisles, and a few people brought their own seats (in the form of wheelchairs).

Fun was had by all, I’d say. The instrument petting zoo is always amusing, but the main attraction varies according to which composer is brought in each year. This year it was composer Nathaniel Stookey with a story by Lemony Snicket. My kids are actually not big Snicket fans, but I have to say that this was probably the best composed-for-children piece I’ve heard in a while. The composer not only composed bits to introduce the functions of the various sections of the orchestra without boring us, but he also theatrically read the story and got some really good belly laughs from the audience. (Perhaps more from the adults, who got some of the jokes, the best of which was a play on composer and decompose.)

(Watch The Composer is Dead on YouTube.)

Not bad for free.

And then the audience was once more disgorged into the gloom. Briefly, while I stood talking to another homeschooling mom while my daughter did free art in the children’s art area, the sun came out. We both looked up with the awe of an Alaskan who opens his curtains one morning in January to find the sun pouring down. Sun! we exclaimed. Then away it went, but the good cheer stayed.

I guess I may have to save my sun dress for Sacramento this year, darn it. But at least I got that charge of our community once again turning out in full glory to hear orchestral music, be wowed by Watsonville Taiko (including kids playing taiko this year, a real treat), do free art, and relax in the su- –I mean– gloom of yet another foggy day in Santa Cruz.

Cabrillo Festival offers more than just the avant garde

Posted on by Suki

I was inspired to write more on a topic from last week’s Santa Cruz Parent newsletter (if you’re in Santa Cruz, you’re a parent, and you don’t get it, you should — sign up here). It was a small feature about the Cabrillo Music Festival, which is a great local gem. I am a big fan, not only because I am actually into New Music (What’s that??) year-round, but because it’s such a great event for families.

Free family concert
Free family concert

As the article said, the Festival is an unusual event: All orchestral music, all by composers of our time, most of it never heard before, much of it by really truly young composers.

But that’s not why my kids care about it. They just think it’s fun!

There are three reasons why I think families — whether in Santa Cruz or within drivable distance — should make this festival part of their children’s lives.

First of all, there’s the street fair. This is an easy part of the festival to enjoy. You come to downtown Santa Cruz on a Saturday or Sunday, enjoy the open air music, the variety of food, the crafts, and the kids’ art area. The music, the crafts, and the art are free; the rest will empty your pocketbook if you don’t watch out. If you’re on a budget, bring a picnic! We always try to make sure we see Zunzun and Watsonville Taiko, and there are always other great musicians on the schedule.

Second, families are invited to the free family performance on Sunday, which is a real treat. (To go, you need to have a ticket, which is free. Either you can order tickets to paid performances and get tickets for the family concert sent as well, or you can walk up to the box office at the Civic Auditorium and get them free of charge. But do it before the day of the concert, because it pretty much always “sells out”!) This concert is truly geared toward kids, with a “petting zoo” of instruments (don’t think you’re just going to be sitting there — this is an interactive event), exciting musical selections that are short and dazzling, and usually a young conductor or composer in residence to make sure your kids know that classical music isn’t only fit for grey-hairs. Director Marin Alsop, a mom herself, makes this a really special event.

Third, and probably least well-known, are the open rehearsals. I take my kids every year. If you have a child who can refrain from screaming, you’re probably OK to go to the rehearsals. They’re pretty busy, with people going in and out, musicians playing, arriving, and leaving. The orchestra and Alsop are amazingly focused, running through bits of music and also entire pieces without much of a nod toward the audience. It’s a great learning experience for kids, whether they are studying an instrument or not. It’s such a revelation that huge groups of people can all work really hard on their own, then come together for a few weeks a year to do something amazingly complex and exciting.

If you have a teen, there’s another free event I’d recommend: The free “In the Works” concert on August 4 features music by young composers with young conductors leading the music. My almost-teen is interested in music composition, so of course we’ll be there, but even if your teen isn’t interested in composition, per se, it’s a great lesson in what can be done by young people who set their mind to something.

My blog’s name was influenced by my love of avant garde music, and I am thrilled to be in one of the centers of it, even though at the moment I am too busy with parenting to even think about writing music. (OK, I do still think about it, but composing requires long periods of silence, which I never get!) But even if you aren’t into New Music at all, this festival offers so much to entertain, dazzle, and excite the neurons in those little growing brains in your household.

Violent trailers at kids' movies have got to stop!

Posted on by Suki

Yesterday we went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox at the 41st Avenue Theater. The movie was great, probably a bit much for the younger set (in my opinion), but perfect for the kids I went with, aged 7 to 10. The only thing that made me cringe was their use of “cuss” for the obvious word missing in sentences such as,”What the cuss are you doing?” The kids probably didn’t notice, though.

There was something else, however, that made me more than cringe: There were 4 movie previews before the movie started. Two of them were totally appropriate, though I would not be likely to bring my kids to see them — a Chipmunks movie and a movie about the tooth fairy.

The first two trailers, however….

One was for Avatar, rated R. The trailer showed a man’s body growing in a tank, lots of shooting, enormous dinosaur-like monsters jumping at the viewer with their mouths open, a machine gun shooting at the viewer, and a woman crying, all set to scary music and sound effects.

The other trailer was for an upcoming movie called Wolfman. The trailer showed dark, ugly images of a man’s hands distorting, flashed a picture of a man tied up and in agony, and a person being electrocuted, all set to scary music and flashing scary words about how the wolfman is coming to get you.

As the second trailer started, my 7-year-old buried her face in my arm and asked me to tell her when it was over. Sitting next to her were two young boys, preschoolers, watching with placid faces.

Both trailers were approved for “APPROPRIATE” audiences — all cap’s, in large bold type. Both were shown before a 2:15 matinee for a kids movie. What’s going on here?

This has happened now at two out of the last three films we saw in the theater. We are extremely choosy about the films we go to, and we’d hope that theaters would understand that. My kids are not going to see either Avatar or Wolfman. Those short trailers were definitely enough to scare them, considering that they’ve never seen anything like that and unlike the two little boys sitting near us, haven’t been desensitized.

If you are interested in joining me to complain about these sorts of trailers being shown at kids’ movies, you can visit Cinelux Theaters’ website contact page at http://www.cineluxtheatres.com/contact.asp. I have already called (no, they don’t answer their customer service phone number!) and left a message. If they get back to me (unlikely), I’ll let you know what they have to say.

You can also complain to your congressman. Mine, Sam Farr, has a contact link on his website. The government allows the movie industry to be self-regulating, but if they continue to market violence to kids, that should change.

Open Studios this weekend – dig in!

Posted on by Suki

Open Studios is starting this weekend, and it’s a wonderful event to take your kids to.

Many areas have Open Studios, but I doubt that so many have such a huge amount of high quality in one concentrated location. I once went to hear the late Spalding Gray speak at UCSC. He said that he had this sense that people come to Santa Cruz for healing. I think this is true, but I also think that people generally come here for the examined life.

For an area that, in total, has one-sixth the population of San Francisco (a very small city), we’re amazing. We have symphony, opera, too many theater troupes to mention, jazz, poetry, and art. And we have all this for kids, as well. Because when you’re not doing it, what do you do? You teach it.

Many of our Open Studios artists are regulars on the kids’ teaching circuit, but even if they aren’t, they are teachers just by what they do. A small percentage of our local artists make their money from art; the others make it some other way and practice art for the love of it. This is a lesson that is so important in our very money-focused time.

Artists also teach us persistence. The ones in Open Studios are generally not new at their craft. Often they started somewhere else, and came to their art through experimentation and curiosity.

One of the great innovations of this year’s Open Studios calendar is that it notes which artists plan to be doing demonstrations of their work. Demonstrations are key to helping kids enjoy Open Studios. Some things my kids have seen over the years are: glass blowing and fused glass, metal cut right in front of us so that it was still almost burning hot when the artist passed it to our preschooler son (oops!), encaustic created on the spot as we chatted with the artist, seeing a photographer’s set-up where he took the photograph we were buying, and then his photos (still on his computer) from the bizarre spider he’d had on his deck the day before, lithograph prints made on the spot by my children on the artist’s press… I could go on.

Some of our favorite artists are not in Open Studios this year, but I’ll mention a few that are. They are our favorites for a variety of reasons: They have great demos, they are friends of ours, we think their art is really cool, we think their studios are really cool. I mention them less than to say “go see them” than to show you what a wide variety is out there.

Daniella Woolf is an old friend I met when I was in the graphic design business. She and I went our separate paths, and when I resurfaced as Mommy she resurfaced as an encaustic artist. She does a demonstration of her art (gluing stuff to canvas with melted wax, basically speaking), and she always puts out a great spread of snacks. (With kids, this is an important note!!)

Andrea Rich is someone we return to year after year simply because of the amazing nature of her craft. She does woodcut prints of animals and nature scenes, and they are fantastic. She’s usually out back in her studio, and she’s happy to explain her craft to you. One of the cool things is that her art is an ephemeral one: as she cuts from the same block for each successive color, she destroys the block and is thus creating a limited set of prints that can never be recreated. (She often also has some birds from Native Animal Rescue in her enormous birdcage. Bonus for the kids!)

Susan Vaughan is a relative newcomer to Open Studios, and I have to admit that we haven’t visited her in Open Studios before. But we got to know her last year when our sons became friends, and she has recently moved into the new artist lofts at the Tannery. There are lots of artists there — when you’re toting kids around, more bang for the buck is a big consideration. We like to do as little driving as possible, so that the kids don’t get too fussy. Susan says she’s planning on doing demonstrations, so ask her!

(About this point, you’d better go get a snack at a great bakery or taqueria. We have so many. I won’t try to influence your decision!)

Talking about bang for your buck, you have to go to the Seventeenth Avenue Studios. One of the reasons is that the location is fabulous. It’s a bunch of dilapidated old commercial buildings, including an original Quanset hut. There are lots of dead cars and weird stuff to see. And then there is the largest bunch of artists, all of whom are doing such completely radically different stuff, you’re bound to find something you like. We particularly like the wonderfully named Jane Harlow. She’s not one of the artists who really interacts with her visitors, but the quality of the work is great.

Daniel S. Friedman is a buddy of my husband’s (Oh, OK, Danny, I sorta like you too) and he does something pretty unique in Santa Cruz’s Open Studios: abstract painting. Danny really gets into the canvas: he displays his large collection of paint-splattered shoes on the driveway, plus the tools he uses to dig in. Say I sent you so he gives us some free art!

We love our friend Donna Vandijk’s incredible inventiveness — she not only is the only practitioner of her artform that I know of, she’s its inventor.

Oh, I know I’ve missed some of our friends, and our favorites, who are all wondering, why not me, ME!! The fact is, that practicing an art is a great achievement. It’s especially great in these times, when so many people are consumers, but not practitioners of anything. When we take our kids to Open Studios, we hope they see, think, and enjoy.

Even when they want to go and see the work of the watercolorist who does portraits of her cute dog over and over, it’s a worthwhile trip. Because that’s her art, and she’s doing it, and that’s a lesson we want our kids to learn.

Click here for more tips on going to Open Studios with kids.

Click here for local artists’ advice on visiting Open Studios with kids.

Musical Inspiration

Posted on by Suki

It’s at this time of year every year that I look at my August calendar and say, Why, oh why am I so busy? I should just set aside the first couple of weeks of August for my personal passions, but every year I am so busy. Last year I had big family events. This year I have family visiting and I just had to go to the Homeschool Conference in Sacramento, which a friend encouraged me to go to and also to apply to be a contributor to. (I get to lead a workshop on writing fiction, returning to my past as a teacher of fiction writing, which seems so distant now…)

But why is it that I want to keep the beginning of August free? Quite simply, it’s one of the most exciting times of the year to be a classical music audience member, when scores of world-class classical musicians descend upon Santa Cruz to be led on a musical journey by the amazing Marin Alsop — in other words, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

I don’t expect many readers to be wowed by this. I realize that my taste in music is a bit esoteric, though the CFM usually does include a nod toward more popular tastes, like this year’s concert of Grateful Dead music.

But all of you who care about your children’s education should know about an adjunct part of the CFM that is not only fabulous, and not only not about esoteric music, but is also FREE! The Free Family Concert attached to the CFM is just fabulous. First of all, you get the instrument “petting zoo.” The crowd (and it is a crowd) is broken into groups, each with a charming musical name, and led around the Civic and the City Hall to meet with musicians from the orchestra. The musicians talk about their instruments, and then play a demonstration. They answer questions. They show your children how they enjoy what they’re doing. They open up a new world of ideas and possibilities.

Then the orchestra comes back together to perform some music. Usually they have a contemporary composer compose something for this performance, or they perform something recently composed for children. That’s pretty cool. They also usually choose a piece that’s in the repertoire for the adult concerts that will appeal to children. Short, often containing funny sounds, lively and interesting.

Our kids are growing up in a world where the people who get the most fame and the most money seem to be people who have done little to deserve it or who got it through being blessed with something (physical abilities, family money) that the rest of us can’t have. Our kids so seldom get to see and interact with people who are doing something really cool and rather different purely for the love of it. The musicians they will meet are not highly paid. They don’t get much glory. They play music that most people don’t know even exists. But they love what they do, and their enthusiasm is something you can actually feel.

It’s so heartening in this world where there’s a line around the block for the latest blockbuster movie that the Free Family Concert still even exists, and that so many families in Santa Cruz love it and wouldn’t miss it for anything. Starting today, you can walk up to the Civic Box Office and get tickets… for free. Just ask, really! But not for long. The Free Family Concert always “sells out.”

I just ordered our tickets. As usual, my August is way too busy, with the Homeschool Conference added on top of the visit from family members and all the other “oh no summer’s ending and we still haven’t done that” stuff that’s going to come up. So unfortunately, I won’t be attending the Family Concert this year; it’s my first year of not attending since my son was small. But my family will be going. In the face of everything they’ll face as they go out into the world, I want my kids to remember what really matters: passion, love, intensity, community, achievement.

Our popular culture is hell-bent on teaching them that the most important thing they could do would be to win on a reality TV show. My kids don’t even know what reality TV is yet, but they do know what a viola is, and why a certain viola player loves playing the viola, and why it’s worth working on something — whatever it is — that they love. Whether or not anyone else thinks it’s cool or important or worth giving government funding for. It’s worth doing something you love simply because you love it — that’s the message I hope they get.

Oh, and I guess they’ll have fun as well.

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