The Next Big Thing

Hello everyone!

This is Chase writing. I've been gone for a minute, but now I'm back. And isn't that last sentence a lyric from some sort of song? God, I'm already almost sorry that I wrote it because I know it's going to turn out to be from something that I either hate, or I'm too embarrassed to admit I enjoy. Anyhow, it's been a little while since I've written on this thing, and in the off chance that any Citywater fanatics-- future ones or otherwise-- love to read these things, well, then I'm all too happy to oblige.

Things have settled down for us a little bit just in time for the holiday season. We're off visiting family, catching up to loved ones, shopping for friends and family, and enjoy each other's company socially, outside of rehearsal. It's a nice time, but none of us are fooled. We all know that the busy times are just weeks around the corner, so it's nice to use the holiday season to send e-mails back and forth to composers whose works we'll be performing and to kind of get into a mental space that's ripe for good reheasing early in the year. We like to spend that time practicing, making sure we understand our part, and figuring out how we're going to make things happen. (NOTE: For any pianists out there, know that this is especially true for Jen Reason, our pianist. Most of our pieces involve her doing some sort of crazy-ass extended technique that the rest of us have never even heard of, so she spends a lot of her time face-down into the piano, scratching her head and occassionally, cursing out the composers.) Also, we listen to as many recordings (if any) as possible so we can get an idea of how somebody might've done things before us.

I know that Cathie was on here not too long ago, writing about our upcoming concert at UC Berkeley: The Music of Steven Mackey. That's incredibly exciting for all of us, and we just now set our program for the concert. Once again, Ben Prima will be taking on the mighty Micro-Concerto, which is quickly becoming a staple for us. And there'll be three other pieces on the program, one of which is called "Heavy Light." The rest of the gang will be performing that with our special guest, none other than the man himself, Steven Mackey. Unfortunately, that piece doesn't involve yours truly. A tragedy, I know. Be sure to write your local Congressman. But it's going to be an incredible concert, and I certainly hope that a lot of you will be able to make it. They'll have to correct me if I'm wrong, but if any of you are "Marimolin" fans, there may even be a special surprise sometime during the performance. I don't know, we'll have to wait and see. Or should I say I'll have to wait and see if I can work it out somehow.

So we're on to the next big thing. The group will be taking some new publicity photos at the end of this year and startin' up the rehearsal grind once again. There'll be a couple of outreach concerts, and maybe something at the Mondavi Center. It's going to be great. We're having the time of our lives. We think you'll have the time of yours, too!

All the best,

Chase