Alexandra Gardner | Building Noises

One of the things I adore about the Baltimore Contemporary Museum’s Mobtown Modern concert series is how much thought and creativity directors Brian Sacawa and Erik Spangler put into the themes of the concerts. Of course there is a thread weaving the pieces on the program together, but what makes the concerts extra special are [...]

Okay, whew! Lifting my head up for a quick gulp of air between finishing one musical project and continuing to another in progress….too fried to write much at the moment, but I promise there will be details after This Next Thing and taxes!
First of all, Thank You to those of you who have been commenting! [...]

It’s totally 150% cliche, but… I love New York! Honestly. When I’m there I buy into the frenzy and run around from meeting to meeting to friend visit to concert to meeting to another friend visit to whatever else comes up to….! I always return to DC completely exhausted and oversensitized and inspired and buzzing [...]

Now that evenings are no longer accompanied by the background noise of otherworldy feats of athleticism, can we please talk about the hideous torture that was the commentary throughout the Olympic Games?? Assuming that the commentators were required to be so… active throughout the broadcasts, could they not at least have touched upon some more [...]

The wonderful Steve Smith has written a lovely profile of composer Kaija Saariaho, whose rising success is heartwarming. Her music has been a great inspiration to me for many years; it makes me think of the most finely wrought gold cloth, shimmering in moonlight. As a lefty, I especially like the extra bit Steve included [...]

This is turning into a deliciously summery summer, with plenty of exercise (jogging and tennis are my favorites!), fresh vegetables and fruit, spontaneous friend gatherings, sunsets watched from the roof deck.
I am heading out once more to North Carolina, this time for a little beach romp at Blackbeard’s home. Having spent nearly every summer of [...]

Has anyone read this article in The Atlantic?? I thought I was just becoming really scattered; turns out my brain is being reformatted, and it is totally catching!
Truthfully, since entering into a more “webby” existence, my book reading habit has slowed to a crawl…measures are being put in place to fix that. After all, I [...]

Some tidbits regarding the National Perfoming Arts Convention, in no particular order…

Overall the convention seemed well organized. If there were train wrecks, I missed them.
Because this event was all about the AmericaSpeaks process, many caucus meetings were attended.
The week also involved numerous martinis.
Had the martinis been integrated into the caucus meetings, the process might have [...]

When my friend Nadine sent this video, entitled Freeze Barcelona, I assumed the city had experienced a sudden cold snap. Not so!
I so wish I had been around for this….can you imagine los guiris (tourists) wandering amongst a plaza full of frozen figues, wondering what on earth….???

Happy Spring everyone! How did that happen??
Back home and more or less de-jetlagged from 2 weeks in Spain – er, Catalunya! Bueníssimo as always…. A few days in Castellón, then to Barcelona for a visit with Los Austriacos Guapos, who are up to some most interesting and creative things. The view from their terraza looks [...]