Emerson College Lady Gaga LipDub

This is where my youngest son Matt goes to college. What a lot of creative energy at Emerson! Enjoy!

Ólafur Arnalds - Ljósið (Official Music Video)

Concerning the last video...

Someone in town excitedly asked, Alice! how do we make this happen in Trumansburg?!

My reply.

Import professional singers.

Opera Company of Philadelphia "Hallelujah!" Random Act of Culture

Rhiannon is coming to Ithaca

I'm going to be hanging out and singing with Rhiannon, an acclaimed vocal artist and master of improv the weekend of November 19-21. Click on the link below to find out more about this musical mayhem. What a cool opportunity for lil' ol' me, and my gal pals in Ephemera.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Sing-from-your-soul-with-Rhiannon.html?soid=1103023679572&aid=Zn7Mvi0pXDs

Obama! A Modern U.S. President (musical spoof)

Welcome to the Tea Party

Only in Ithaca

Fall 2010 and Parents weekend at Emerson 020
Originally uploaded by Alice Ploss

In September this year, I attended PORCHFEST, a uniquely Ithaca kind of event. I had heard about it for years, but had never had the energy on a Sunday afternoon to actually go downtown and experience it.

No, those people in the photo are not ooohing and aaaaahing over the porch, it's the musicians on the porch they are excited about. My vocal improv group, Ephemera, sang on the steps of one of the porches. People wandered by, some stopped to listen, others kept walking. There was a map and schedule showing who was playing where, and the streets were closed and busy with families, older folks, strollers and dogs, wandering from porch to porch in search of music.





Chris' band played. There were goofy acts, bad acts, funky, folk, and jazz bands. People who fancied themselves performers who really should never, and some of the more well known and fabulous local musicians.

Ithaca can at the same time be wonderfully and maddeningly earthy, filled with more crunch than a case of granola. Porchfest is just one more crunchy manifestation of my artsy-fartsy hometown. I'll be back next year, as probably both performer and spectator.

Taiko in Trumansburg!

Last year I was awarded a grant to purchase Taiko Drums for my middle school music program. Here you see a large drum stand that was designed and built by my father-in-law. I was getting ready to stain the wood in August.



Wood stained.



We are only in the third week of drumming. These pictures don't really show what the kids are capable of. They just look like they are flailing. I am spending a lot of time on how to move, how to stand, how to hold their sticks, arms and torsos. I suspect these kids have never been involved with something so precisely physical. But we are having a ball. We make a lot of decibels and have great focus. Friday's class and Monday's class were able to play two rhythms together, while I played a part called the base note. I was having so much fun I was grinning the whole time.

We have a long way to go for them to be looking good as well as sounding good, but hey- they are just beginners. And so am I. I wish I could channel Moko's spirit and energy and just a teensey bit of her many years of Taiko teaching experience.





Thank you Ujeni Foundation, Ed Dawson, Gary Buchner, Robert Ploss and Denny Millspaugh for making this dream happen! These guys are a bunch of woodworkers who donated their time and talent to make the drum stands and sticks for us!
Domo Arigato Gozaimasu!

Good Luck Chiba International Singers

This Saturday is the major concert of my friends the Chiba Singers. It hardly seems possible that 2 years ago- in the Fall of 2008, at their last big event, I was lucky enough to conduct a piece with this very proficient group in Japan. They came to visit me this summer and met our local Trumansburg Community Chorus. We performed with and for each other. It was truly a wonderful cultural and musical exchange.

Tonight was TCC rehearsal night, and at the end of our rehearsal, I announced that our friends in Japan were preparing for their performance this Saturday night. Everyone cheerfully wanted to send greetings and best wishes. This is the picture of us sending our wishes across the globe.

Dear Jeff, I am hoping you are still checking my blog for interesting information. I am counting on you to please pass along our good wishes to all of you. Gambatte!

Cheers,
Alice

"Bitter When I'm Old" - Fathead

Everyone I know in Japan has a banking story...here's Robin's.

Just received this from my husband who is getting ready to return home this week from Japan.

I have a funny banking story, sort of. I went to close my account at Shinsei today, at the Shinjuku branch, where I opened my account. I was successful, so if you don't want to wade through this story, no worries, you can stop here. I arrived at the bank, and was asked by the bank guard to stand in a queue of one (me) at the reception counter. A teller/receptionist behind the counter welcomed me and asked how she could help. I told her that I was repatriating to the US on Thursday, and told her I wanted to close my account.

Now here's a little side-story for context. I took the train up to Shinjuku on Saturday, thinking that if the bank was open, I'd pop in and close my account, and then hop over to Tokyu Hands to get the wall dope for the picture holes. Shinsei bank was, indeed, open on Saturday, and I was greeted by the guard, and asked to stand in a queue (of one), while a teller/receptionist was located. The teller greeted me, and I told her I wanted to close my account. No problem, she said, what is the name and branch of your other bank in Japan? I told her I didn't have one, that I was moving back to the US, and things went South in a hurry. She couldn't close the account on Saturday, because she couldn't dispense cash on Saturday. Apparently there isn't a manager on duty to check her work on Saturday, so could I please come back during the week? Sure, I said. Then I asked if I could exchange some coins or deposit them in the account, and I produced a container of about 4kg of yen coins of different value. She said sorry, that branch couldn't do cash transactions on Saturday, so I needed to come back during the week. I thanked her and left, lugging the coins on the subsequent errands, back to the house in Yoyogi-uehara while I patched the wall holes, then back to the hotel in Akasaka.

So I showed up today (Tuesday) at the bank, ready to deposit my coins and close my account. When I told the receptionist today what I wanted to do, and showed her the coins, her face screwed up in that "oh, it will be very difficult" expression, and she told me that they could only deposit 20 coins into my account, and that I should please have a seat while she consulted with her manager. She gave me a slip of paper with a number on it ("Now Serving. . ."), and I took a chair; she disappeared into the back. A few minutes later she came out and told me that I could deposit 50 coins into my account, but that they couldn't take the whole container - they had no way to count that many coins! Gomennasai! I said, ok, how about we just close the account, and I'll figure out how to take care of the coins on my own? You would have thought I just saved her from the firing squad! Her face lit up, she gave me a form to fill out with my name, account number, and how I wanted the funds in my account disbursed. A few seconds after I was done filling out the form, my "Now Serving. . ." number came up on a screen near the teller desk, and I went over and handed her my form. She also asked for my cash card and my alien registration card, and confirmed that I wanted to close my account. This happened to be the same teller I met on Saturday. She confirmed that I wanted the funds disbursed to cash (7784 yen), took my number slip, and gave me a plastic chit with a different number on it. She asked me to have a seat, then she did all the data entry on the computer, checked and double checked, then had her manager come and look at the transaction. So far, other than being tedious (and not knowing what to do with the coins), no big deal. When she and her manager finishing checking things over, she calls out my number (I'm sitting right in front of her), and I approach her teller desk, she presented me with 784 yen (yay, more coins!) in a tray, and shows me that she has mutilated my cash card for security (just cut a slice part way through it, destroying the mag strip on the back). She asks me to follow her over to an ATM, with the coins, and a piece of paper that looks like a receipt for the money being withdrawn from my account. She then puts her special teller's card in the ATM, asks me to verify that it now has exactly 7000 yen in the account, then proceeds to punch in a withdrawal for 7000 yen at the ATM. When the ATM presents the money, she asks me to take it, count it, and sign the receipt. Whew! Account closed! But I've still got 4kg of coins, plus the 784 yen that she just gave me. No problem, express contrite appreciation, bow a couple of times, and leave.

I walk immediately to my left outside the bank, and next door is a Mitsubishi UFJ bank, so I decide, what the heck, I wonder if they have a coin counting machine? I walk in, show the first guy in a bank jacket my container of coins, and he asks if I have a cash card with their bank. I tell him no, I don't have any bank accounts in Japan. He says I'll have to pay a fee, and I say "OK!" He leads me down an escalator to the basement floor, explains to another guy that I want to turn in some coins, but that I don't have a cash card, and they lead me to a normal-looking forms desk, like you'd see at a bank in the US. He shows me the right form, tells me where to put my name and phone number, then explains that they're going to charge me a fee, depending on how much change there is. I tell him fine, I just want to get rid of the coins. Both of these guys speak pretty good English (better than anybody as Shinsei I've ever met), and are really helpful. I take the form and the coins up to a teller window, the second guy asks the teller to get a basket out, and he has me dump the coins into the basket. The teller gives me another chit with a number on it, and asks me to have a seat. I watch as she goes back to the coin counting machine, dumps the coins in, the machine does its thing, and she comes back and calls my number and motions me back to the teller window. She's got bills, and just a couple of coins, has me sign a receipt, and I'm out of there in something like 7 minutes. Something tells me we were using the wrong bank for 2+ years. Oh, well.

Tomorrow, I close my SoftBank account. I'm sure that will be another adventure, because Kirby dropped his iPhone in the ocean in Hawaii and fried it - I'm going to give him mine, and see if SoftBank will switch his SIM card and put it into my phone, which I was going to discard. It's almost a game - messing with the processes over here is really disruptive, and usually quite humorous (for the gaijin, anyway).

Women Swimmin' 2010

Our "Pod" of swimmers


Sunrise over Cayuga Lake

We did it! And it was easier than ever this year. These are some pictures of our "pod."
I luxuriated in the warm thoughts, prayers and good kharma flowing my way. I could feel it! All the way from Japan, even. The sky turned blue, the birds were free wheeling on the wind and the sun came out over the Eastern shore. The water was 77 degrees F. A fabulous morning!

The sky cleared while the first wave of swimmers started. But this year was a little different. Due to the high wind and waves moving South-North, we actually swam parallel to the shore from almost the end of the lake, North toward the Yacht Club. As we continued Northward, the wind continued to build, until white capped waves were breaking over our heads, and we were all taking water unexpectedly into the nose and mouth. Consequently, they CANCELED the second wave of swimmers. That means that half the women who prepared for this swim didn't get to go. Or so we thought. Some of the women decided to swim anyway, and swam from the docks at the North end of the Yacht Club up about a quarter mile and back.

Hospicare exceeded their goal of raising $250,000! There will still be more coming in. Anyone who reads this and still wants to donate can send a check directly to:

Hospicare and Palliative Services of Tompkins County.
172 E. King Road
Ithaca, NY
14850 USA

It was a great event. Thanks to all my supporters! (I received an award for being in the top 25 fund raisers!) Thanks for supporting Hospicare.

An amazing experience and wonderful new friends.

I've been sitting here for a few minutes, watching my cursor blink on and off...it invites me to write about the visit of my Japanese friends, The Chiba International Singers. I think I am finding it difficult to put into words just how spectacular the weekend was. More specifically how spectacularly the women in the Trumansburg Community Chorus coordinated our efforts. We had a brain trust that was out of this world! We shopped, designed, cooked, baked, sang, rehearsed, practiced, drove, planned, set up, tore down, cleaned up and showed up. The Japanese chorus members kept trying to express how they could NEVER express their gratitude to our group. I have the feeling it was mutual, for I have been told by almost every TCC member that they feel deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the weekend's activities.

There were a few glitches involving map-less bus drivers and border crossings, but other than that, it was a perfect weekend. The temps dropped and the air cooled off just in time for their arrival late Thursday evening. Friday morning found us at the overlook at Taughannock State Park. My Favorite picture from the weekend is this one:




The group then hiked the gorge trail to the base of the falls. After the hike and the taking of more pictures, we made it just in time to the Columbia, for a lunch cruise up and around a short distance of Cayuga Lake for 2 hours. The afternoon was capped off by a drive through Cornell's campus and a visit to the Ithaca commons for some shopping. After a brief rest, we all met up again at the church at 5:00 for a rehearsal of the Sunday worship service and concert program. This is where the choruses all met each other. We enjoyed singing for and with each other. For a bunch of jet-lagged travelers they sounded great! Then when THAT was done, everyone hopped into a host of vehicles and we bopped over to my backyard for grilled chicken (Cornell sauce of course), dishes to pass and libations. This is where the real getting to know each other began. It was a party. I haven't seen so much smiling in one place in a long time.

Our visitors stayed in a variety of accommodations. The men and one couple were hosted by the Reunion House B&B locally, and a group of 6 women stayed at a Neil and Maureen Shallish's beautiful home. Yoko and Steffen stayed with me.
I had known for a long time that I was going to be singing on Saturday at a wedding of a couple of friends. (who, coincidentally met while singing in the TCC!)CIS headed off to Niagara Falls for the day. They say it was worth the trip, but it was a long day of being stuck in traffic at the border and a late arrival back in the 'burg. I have seen smiling wet faces in pictures from their Maid of the Mist voyage, so I know that some of their day was well enjoyed!

Sunday morning dawned a little warmer and muggier, as we prepared to sing in Presbyterian church for worship. Amazing Grace, Joyful, Joyful (from Sister Act 2) and Shenandoah were in the line-up.



Worship was followed by a light lunch in the Fellowship hall across the street. Our concert was at 4:00. We enjoyed a full house and enthusiastic crowd that gave us 2 standing ovations. TCC preformed first, followed by a group I sing in called songsisters. Then the CIS sang a variety of English and Japanese music to everyone's delight. They sing with such heart and soul. They are passionate performers.




The weekend ended at a wonderful dinner (in everyone's favorite barn) at the home of Scott Sutcliffe. We had a catered meal that was delicious, the libations (again!) flowed freely and by now, we were all becoming well acquainted and very fond of each other. TCC presented the CIS with gift bags designed by Kathy W and filled with all things local by Delores H. CIS presented me with 2 beautiful silk furoshiki, as well as rice crackers for the chorus! By the end of the evening, I think everyone's hearts were as full as their stomachs.

I truly wish these lovely new friends could have stayed longer...there is so much to experience here in the summer. I feel that they only really just skimmed the surface of the Ithaca area.
There is a new murmur circulating now amongst the TCC- in two years: DESTINATION CHIBA!

Gardening tip

When growing cucumbers, lift the leaves once in a while to check on progress!

The Calm after the Storm

We had a wild and windy storm yesterday that took a bunch of local trees down. We desperately needed the rain, but not so much the wind. My young friend Madeleine and I were mulching as the storm approached. We heard the thunder and saw the blackness of the sky as it ominously approached. I was doing my rain dance for all I was worth!
After the last wheelbarrow of mulch was hastily dumped and spread, we put tools away, and without cleaning ourselves up, jumped in the car to get Madeleine home before it really hit. We just made it, but on the way home all hell broke loose. I was driving up the road to my house and suddenly couldn't see the road. The wind and rain were flying horizontally in a wind blast that frightened me. I was sure a tree was going to come down on top of my car! Thankfully, I made it home. The boys were closing windows when I got there and we enjoyed the rain- from inside the house! Some folks lost power, some folks lost trees, and my friend Dennis had an old maple tree fall on top of his Mini Cooper. Now THAT'S a bummer.

Later in the day, while meeting a friend at her house to show me where stuff is for our Japanese guests, Nathan called and told me the contractor wanted to ask me some questions, so home I went (instead of swimming) to find the painters were here, as was the electrician who is hooking up our barn, and the new stove was being installed. The trench in the driveway had been filled in, thankfully. I was fielding questions about the up-coming concert program, and playing phone tag with the catering department at Wegmans. I was having a serious "Calgon, take me away!" afternoon. Ran to Ithaca for my haircut. was late, as usual.

In the evening,I cooked on my new gas range which was fun. However, I didn't really look very carefully at the manual. I was unsuccessfully trying to boil water for sweet corn on the "precise simmer" burner. Duh. Once I switched to the hi output burner, things improved vastly.

Then after supper- this stunning rainbow. Right over the top of our house. I think it's a sign that my husband will be home soon. That all this summer frenzied activity will end eventually. That everything will be okay. At least that's how I'm reading it.

There is always a calm after a storm.

How does your garden grow?

Heat waves and hot water

It was in the 90's this morning around 10:00. So we are sequestered inside with the doors and windows closed. Thankfully, it's keeping the scorching heat at bay. This gives me the opportunity to sit still and blog.

Matthew, my youngest son just graduated from high school amid a flurry of controversy. It seems he made some underclassmen angry with what he left them in his senior "will."
These guys, (3 of them) are the kind of students who verbally abuse almost everyone they come in contact with. It is my understanding that their favorite abuse is in the form of homophobic slurs and they dish them out generously. According to one eye witness, they also threaten physical violence. Matt and his friends have been on the receiving end of these abuses for a year. My son and friends are good students, athletes, musicians, thespians and all-around good kids. Matt never really felt threatened by these 3 unpleasant underclassmen, he just saw them for what they were, and decided to address it by sending these 3 guys a message in the year book, so last October when they submitted their "Last Will and Testament," he named them, and left them, "fabulous sleepovers and shirtless pillow fights." Uh oh.

When the yearbook came out in June, two things immediately happened. Students were laughing at what Matt wrote, and the 3 guys went ballistic. They wanted to hurt Matt, and I was warned by administrators that there was a real threat to Matt. He was kept home by us on the last day of school. (Consequently missing out on an opportunity to perform with his band for the entire school) There was also some question about whether or not Matt would be allowed to speak at graduation. My initial reaction was to not let him speak- for his own safety, but then changed my mind, after speaking to my family about it. When the community got wind of this situation- the threats, the opportunity to speak, and the incorrect perception that he had been suspended on the last day of school- a poopy storm of epic proportions rained down on the school board and administration. Kids created a Face book page called "Charles O Dickerson in support of Matthew Ploss," people I know called school board members, students and adults alike wrote them notes, called me, sent me notes of support and expressed their outrage. We were trying to keep a low profile throughout all this and I was fascinated to watch this community band together to support my son. I was impressed with the eloquent letters our young people wrote, and their sense of justice, and their passion. I was immensely proud of them! I think they impressed a lot of people, actually.

Here's the happy ending to this story...there were no protests at school. Matt's band played NEAR the school after dismissal on that last day. (It was such a celebration!) He DID get to speak at graduation (and it was terrific) and so far, no harm has come to him. There has been a renewed interest in issues surrounding bullying in our schools, and that is a very good thing.

It was a little more stress than I had planned for, right before graduation, but by now I should just know that nothing is ever easy.

Takes me back to my drum line days...

May.

Sunday...day of rest.

Look what I did today!
I got the beds weeded in front of the house. It took several hours and I was ready to be done and relax, when Brian M. called and said that he was coming over to dig the raised beds. Brian is a great young guy who happens to be a friend of the family and who has a new John Deere backhoe. So all figured in, I weeded, pulled, shoveled, hoed, dug, lifted, carted and raked for 6 hours today. I have taken ibuprofin and am now waiting for my body to seize up.

Sumo story

Robin went to the Tokyo Sumo Tournament on Saturday. He went with 2 of his buddies- his college roommate who now lives there working for Merrill Lynch, and another guy who works with Robin at Corning. The College roommate, Chris, stands about 6 foot 6, and Kirby is about Robin's height and build. So there they were: three humongous gaijins watching Sumo. This time though they managed to get a box on the floor near the ring, so they were very close. They paid a little more for these "seats," which are actually boxes on the floor without seats. These boxes are designed for tiny Japanese men and women who are completely comfortable in small quarters and being seated on the floor. So now you can imagine these three middle aged GIANT men trying to get comfortable in their tiny box on the floor. With their box seats came drinks, food and gifts, all stuffed into 3 big shopping bags. The stuff from the bags did not fit into their box (that was filled with squirming, restless and uncomfortable legs) and so in Robin's words, "The stuff rolled around all over the place." They stuck their bums in 3 corners of the box and tried to stretch their legs out but their legs completely filled the space.
When being told this story this morning, I nearly cried, I was laughing so hard. For you see, I married the most inflexible man on the planet. He really can't sit on the floor at all. And he informed me he did better than the other 2 guys. When Robin and I went to watch Sumo before, we stayed until the end of the day's matches, and all the people on the floor stood and threw their red cushions in the air. It was quite a sight to behold. Well, at the end of yesterday's match, Robin and Chris stood, grabbed their cushions, were psyched to throw and then...no one threw their cushion.

Robin loves going to Sumo, and managed to purchase a yukata robe that fits! No surprise there, as he is shaped in a slightly smaller than average Sumo size, and the shops around the arena cater to large men. But as far as box seats go, Robin says, "Never again!"

Mother's Day

SNOOPY!

Trumansburg High just produced SNOOPY! A musical about Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Linus and Sally. It was a highly entertaining production, filled with great singing, dancing and Charles Schultz' witty repartee. I am particularly proud, as my son played Snoopy. He will always be a super star in my book. All the kids were strong, there was a chorus added and the whole show was very enjoyable. Especially enjoyable for me, as I had these kids all through Middle School, and it is so satisfying to see how wonderfully these young people have grown. Here are a few highlights from the show.