SOUND of the day

Birds tweeting. Straight up, the sweetest sound you can hear coming from a long and frigid winter. That mixed with giggles and laughter and street music. I don't even like birds much. It all stems from sighting a pack of turkey vultures (???) in the bare trees, 6 to 8 of them, directly after watching Hitchcock's The Birds. The movie came back into my life senior year of college when Professor Fogel, for a demographics in literature class, had us watch it and let us in on the secret that Tippi Hedren totally got pelted from all angles with real birds because Alfred Hitchcock was a demonic asshole who promised his leading lady that there would only be mechanical birds used in the shot where she gets swarmed and picked at and bloodied, and I think her fainting turned out to be a real reaction when she realized the birds were not all fake.

My dislike of birds also has a proportionate relationship with the amount of times I've been pooped on by them. I shudder to think of all those times - the beach, the steps of the Met, open-air market in Hawaii, before eating at Summer Shack...

Onward. A great sight for the day:

The dogwoods and cherry blossoms and magnolias are coming out to party for awhile (a short while for those magnolias - they're total party poopers, the biggest tease of all) and they make the world a happier place.

Speaking of happy places, Symphony Hall is a good one to add to the list.Last night, I had a date with Ravel, Stravinsky and Debussy and they were most excellent! On the program: Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite, Debussy's Petite Suite and Stravinsky's Symphony in C. For the record, I am hardly a classical music buff, so don't believe me when I say I remembered all these titles off the top of my head (*ahem* bso.org*ahem*)

A guest conductor from Sweden (IKEA!), Susanna Mälkki, was lovely and graceful and very smiley. The Ravel piece, which came first in the program, was the most enjoyable, followed by Stravinsky's Symphony in C. There was a lot of fun use of plucking on the strings in all the pieces, which never occurred to me (as I have rarely seen a symphonic orchestra play before - maybe twice in my life - and clearly don't pay attention enough when just listening to the stuff) as an element of sound diversity.

But, as we all very well know, most good things have some sort of catch, and last night's pleasantness was interrupted 92398402 times by my illness. I made sure to be well stocked on medicine, tissues and cough drops (Cepacol mouth-numbing candies are bomb) but nothing could be done. Whatever it is that's caught in my chest and refuses to be set free played all sorts of nonsense games, consistently teasing me with an "I'm ready to come out now!" COUGH "Ha ha! Got ya!" every minute/minute and a half. I managed to quell the urges to cough until there came a swell in the music, aka more than just the violins plucking, or in those lulls between movements, but the self-consciousness and total shame kicked in when my first cough caused Ladies 1 and 2 to the front and Ladies and Gents 3-10 on all sides to pull this VERY snide half-glance -- it was like an instinctive twitch, as if their ears were tuned ONLY to my cough, so that Lady 1's half-eye was visible, and Lady 2's 1/4 profile flashed before falling back into place. Every single cough was met with half-eyes and pursed lips. Okay. I know, cough cough is sooo annoying. I know it totally sucks that I am in the second row and really close to the real music-makers. I AM SO STINKIN' SORRY! Jiminy Cricket! I bought these tickets a month ago, not exactly having thoughts of "Hmm... I will be all coughy and snorty and runny on the evening of April 23, let's go then."

It's not as if I don't know a thing or two about Concert Hall Etiquette. Here are your basics:

• Get up from your seat to let those inward from the aisle get to their seats - unless going around is more convenient. In that case, tell them, "You have legs. Walk around."
  
• Don't yell "You suck!" in the middle of a performance. That is just plain rude. If it really does suck, stand up, "PSH!" and walk out, making sure to slam the door behind you if it is a slammable door.
  
• If you are late and the performance has started, wait in the back. Unless you paid a fortune for your tickets and you think you deserve to see the show from the seats you paid for (case in point: the A.R.T. people being buttwipes and making us sit in the very back row of the Loeb Drama Center - frankly, no seats are bad in there - for Endgame with only the hope of going to our sweet seats down in front at intermission kept my dreams from being completely shattered... The play was one act.)

Nobody told me Rule #1 is stay home if you are going to cough throughout the performance. I was like that bratty teen mom who brings her 1/2-second old infant to the movie theaters to see an 11pm pyrotechnic-happy movie. The fire-eyes and steam-emitting-ears... Perhaps not quite as frightening as vultures sitting in trees/birds pooping on you, but really uncomfortable.

But I exaggerate. The silent curses were bad, yes, but the BSO experience was still an amazing one. Next up, Tanglewood. Who would like to chauffeur me the two hours out to Lenox this summer?

EXPENSIVE PURCHASE of the day (two days ago): my sweet new "mature" glasses. Glasses that actually fit my face, not squeeze on it from both sides.

SONG of the day: "Taper Jean Girl" by Kings of Leon

LONG-TERM PROMISE made today: Figure out if blogspot can accomodate an audio player that I don't have to pay for and that I'm not too web-illiterate to figure out so I can provide you with sound to go along with my ramblings!

COLOR of the day: YELLOW

PHOTOS of the day: All were taken by me. See how close we were to the stage in Symphony Hall?