Spending the day in Boston and Cambridge. I’m here for a the retirement concert for Harvard’s John Stewart, who is a major influence in my life — but more on that in a post later today, or late tonight.

It’s a beautiful time of year in New England. Though it’s cold and windy, the trees have turned green and the Yard looks beautiful. Definitely going to grab some pizza and a steak-and-cheese at Pinocchio’s, and have already gotten my ice cream fix at Toscanini’s. These are the musts for me whenever I’m here.

Truth to be told, Boston isn’t a great place for eating (though it has improved since I was in college). It’s somewhat reassuring to note that the tradition of bad dining continues here. For example, I noticed a new restaurant right near the utterly horrendous and inexplicably popular Border Cafe. It has one of the worst names ever: “Fire & Ice: an Improvisational Grill.” Bravissimo!!! So bad for so many reasons! It’s right up there with Reno, Nevada’s very own “Choices: a Dim Sum Cafe.”

I’m saddened that the Columbus Symphony plans to close its doors at the end of this season.  For me, making music with them was one of the highlights of the year.  They are a first rate orchestra, truly engaged with the music.  They stand out from the crowd.  

I hope more support comes forward from the community.  ”Downsizing” the orchestra isn’t a good idea.  Once that decision is made, it’s hard to come back — the orchestra would be a shell of its former self.  I’ve seen it happen.  It’s kind of like tearing a piece out of a painting, or cutting the nose off a statue and saying, “well, at least we still have a statue.” 

Columbus certainly knows how to support certain things — its support for Ohio State football is mind-numbing.  I hope they will find it in their hearts to support this wonderful institution and its musicians and staff.  Truly beautiful things are growing more and more rare in contemporary culture, they need to be loved and cared for.

If you like to read novels, you should check out David Mitchell. Cloud Atlas was one of the best books I’ve read in years, and his most recent novel, Black Swan Green, completely drew me in. He’s a major virtuoso writer, with a lot of heart. Black Swan Green has one of the most wonderful narrators I’ve encountered — a smart, awkward, snarky teenager who grows up in just a few hundred pages. The adolescent stuff was universal but the rest was so English — it was amazing to be there if you’re from somewhere else.

Some readers have let me know that if you google me, you’ll find out about Viagra, anti-depressants, and even a little good ol’ fashioned porn. We’re working on this — and no, it’s not some hot new marketing strategy to attract newbies to classical music. Though if I see a big jump, I shall notify the League of American Orchestras immediately.

The Calgary Philharmonic is another fine Canadian orchestra (there really are so many — it’s fun to conduct in this excellent country). We played a sold-out “light classics” program with them last night. It was all great music related to fairy tales and fantasy: Magic Flute Overture, Dream Pantomime from Hansel and Gretel, Once Upon A Castle (an organ concerto by Michael Daugherty), Ride of the Valkyries, The Swan of Tuonela, and Sleeping Beauty Suite.

I wonder if these are all “light classics” though, and what “light classics” actually is …

Personally, I’d like to do away with the whole “light classics” category altogether. It feeds into the whole “I’m afraid of classical music” thing, and diverts our audience from our core artistic mission as orchestras, which is to play the greatest music possible for as many people as possible.

The thing is, the audience gravitates to light classics for a reason. Many “main series” concerts are so heavy and serious the create aesthetic indigestion for the average concertgoer (the one who doesn’t know the repertoire inside-out). “Main Series” concerts are, in my opinion, too long, too heavy and too self-important. Even I find myself suffering from the Stendhal Syndrome at concerts. So much great art is crushed into a small space that I really take anything in.

Let’s get rid of “light classics” and consolidate our audiences by making main series concerts more digestible and fun. It shouldn’t be difficult. It’s all great music.

After spending so much time in Canada this year, I thought I’d balance it out with a quick trip with Tom to Mexico City. We did the normal tourist stuff during the day: the Museum of Anthropology, the pyramids of Tehotihuacan, the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It’s amazing how much Magic there is in Mexico — from Catholic miracles, to human sacrifices for the plumed serpent. It’s pervasive in the art and culture of the place. I could feel a kind of supernatural hum as I walked around. By night, we went out on the town and saw a different city. Super-sophisticated restaurants (a Mexican-asian-French one that was actually good), and a lot of emphasis on electronica in the club scene. It was only a short trip, so I didn’t have time to check out the Mexican art that I’m into, but hey — I climbed a pyramid!

Yesterday was KWS curling day! Our director of operations is an avid curler, and I’ve always been fascinated by this weird and wacky sport whenever I happen to catch it on TV. Turns out, it’s a lot of fun, very social and easy to learn at the beginning. It takes a little longer to get this good, though …

Hillary Clinton may want to compare herself to Rocky Balboa, but in today’s New York Times, Maureen Dowd compares her to the Marschallin from Der Rosenkavalier. Nice! It always warms my heart to see a classical music reference, especially to a Strauss opera.

Who would Barack Obama be … Lohengrin? John McCain … Wozzeck?

There are a couple of cool Kitchener-Waterloo blogs I want to tell you about:

First, a long-overdue shout out to The Omniscient Mussel, who covers the KW music scene and more in a delightful, hip-yet-retro writing style.  Look for reviews of KW concerts, coverage of the classical music world, weekly drop-the-needle music quizzes, and short interviews with all sorts of musicians.

Then, there’s Colin Hunter, who writes for the KW record and has a new blog titled Within Earshot. Colin rode down to LA with me from San Francisco to write an article about my Sgt. Pepper’s concert.  His features and reviews are consistently interesting and fun to read.  He seems to cover all sorts of things in his blog, including a book signing session with Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket after our concert last Friday.  Which, by the way, was awesome.

A friend of mine turned me on to this blog by a member of the New York Philharmonic about their trip to North Korea.  Worth reading and some interesting photos. Last week I talked to my friend Michele Kim who is also in the NY Phil and she had an extraordinary experience there.  The Bush Administration said. “We consider this concert to be a concert.” I, for one, think music is more powerful than bad diplomacy.