supernatural sounds

this weekend, i attended a wonderful musical event. it was the "Animals and the Arts" benefit for Pets Unlimited (http://www.petsunlimited.com/). they're a no-kill animal shelter and special needs veternary center. they'll patch up cats and dogs that many other shelters would euthanize, and they'll keep the critters until they find good homes. our first kitty, Missie, was there for a year and a half before we adopted her, and our second kitty, Dennis, had a horrible leg injury. they had to take the leg, but he's happy and healthy now, and full of plenty of mischief. please check out their website, and if you can and feel so inclined, support them in any way you can. they're good people.

so. i'm at this show. and there were 30 odd classical musicians, a few operatic soloists, and quite an empresario showman conductor. i mean, these guys were world class.

and so was the clarinet soloist. holy *&%^. i can't remember the last time i've heard tones that sweet. which isn't strictly true. i was, until recently, working with a superb jazz clarinetist, and he's got some hellaciously sweet tones. but this was classical, and it is different. also, it was in the Herbst Theater on Van Ness, and the acoustics are crazy good there.

but i could tell that the operatic singing was coming from the bodies of the singers. the clarinet...it was like the sound came from the entire stage area, from the floor to the ceiling. it was amazing. it gave me shivvers and brought tears to my eyes. i loved it. and it gave me a new way to look at the instrument i've recently picked up.

although i'm not playing at all right now. focusing primarily on my video business (http://www.foolishtreefilms.com/) and secondarily on my writing (i'm way behind on my "story a month" thing). clarinet will, for now, have to wait.

and on the video note, something to look forward to: watch this space in the next week or so. i will embed my new documentary short film, "goats." it's about how the city of San Francisco hires goatherders and goats to trim the verge, as it were, in certain places. wow!