linguitar.com Blog

Thursday, November 22, 2007 – Friday, November 23, 2007

Thursday evening’s concert was by Manuel Espinas whose playing was very refined and controlled. He was also a very kind person and we had a nice conversation after the concert.

That evening we went to a different restaurant to celebrate. Yohualli and I decided to sip on some tequila and we ordered Horraduras Reposado. The flavor was wonderful. Manuel asked me if I knew what a “muppet” was. I had no clue. So he ordered one for me. Before it came, he also asked me if I wanted a “yellow submarine.” Then the “muppet” came — it was a shot glass filled with some substance, with a piece of paper towel on top. The server put it down in front of me, slammed it on the table twice, pulled the towel off to reveal a foaming shot, and I did my part. Very sweet and interesting. Then came the “yellow submarine.” Apparently, an amber beer with an inverted shot of tequila at the bottom. It tasted quite good actually.

Horraduras, yellow submarine, and a beer.

The phone rang at 5:00 am. My wake up call. I moped around in the dark, gathering my junk. At 5:15 my cab came and I was off to the airport. Both flights back to Boston were relatively empty. Thank goodness the rest of the country was doing the black Friday shopping. Of course, this was going to be a long day for me, because as soon as I got off the plane I’d be running off to another rehearsal. It’s nice that things keep moving though, and I enjoy being on my toes.

This was my first time in Mexico and it was all too memorable. I’ll cherish the memories of the warm November nights as this year’s Bostonian winter begins to unfold.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

To the beach: Progreso. Traveling in the mighty “Vochito” — the little VW bug that looks like it came out of a movie. Juan Miguel was very kind to drive us to the beach.

There were many reasons to go to the beach. Let’s see… This was our day off. I was flying out tomorrow at 7:00 am. The beach was now or never. The weather was on our side. And really, who needs a reason to go to the beach?

The water was warm, though slightly murky. I also started picking up some seashells. It was always something I did, though I’m not sure why, since for sure I don’t collect them. I guess it’s just something to do.

We decided to have ourselves a nice big lunch, which included all sorts of seafood: ceviche, baby shark, stuffed shrimp, and stuffed fish. Again, we washed everything down with some beers.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Evening concert. Cristina’s first half was incredible. She’s a wonderful player with a beautiful touch. It’s really an honor to share the stage with her.

I was reasonably happy with my own performance and I even managed to say a few words to the audience in my broken Spanish. I have to learn Spanish. It was a very successful evening overall.

After the concert we all went out to the same bar again. Again I was intoxicated by the atmosphere. What a way to live.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The day of my concert, which I would split with Cristina Perez.

During the day, I went out to an “hacienda”, located in Uman. A gorgeous place with history written all over it. Cristina was using the chapel to record her album with VGo Recordings — the CD prize that she won at the Boston GuitarFest 2007 Competition. I decided to tag along and enjoy the place and take advantage of the serene setting to practice for my evening concert.

The hacienda:

The entrance:

Again, this weather is unbelievable. I really wasn’t missing Boston’s cold winds and angry traffic.

Inside the hacienda.

I even found a nice place to take pictures.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007.

Master classes began at 10:00; I arrived just before that. Manuel did inform me that some of the students tended to be on the late side. It worked out well though, since shortly after 10:00, a young girl from the university came over to interview us about the master class event.

It was an honor to teach a class at this university. The students were very eager and very open and my experience was very positive. At the end of the master class, I held short technique session in a group format.

Afterwards (at almost 2 pm), we headed over for lunch. In this group was Manuel, Yohualli Rosas (Manuel’s duo partner), Omar Lopez (a fellow guitarist), and three Italians. Two of the Italians were Stefano Raponi and Antonio Salvi, who were another guitar duo and were guest artists of the festival; the third was Giuseppe: “Peppino”, a dear man who loved the guitar and was tagging along to enjoy the Yucatan. During the course of the festival, I ended up speaking tons of Italian.
My lunch was a Yucatan specialty, “cochinita pipil” — a pork dish that’s traditionally baked in the earth. (Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera to get more pictures of my food.) I washed my meal down with the Mexian beer, Leon, a light flavored, dark-brown beer.

After lunch, we headed back to the university, where we were interviewed at the radio station, which served the Yucatan peninsula. Our host, Cecilia, was extremely interested in my doctoral work and my views on classical guitar and music, especially since I was coming from the US.

I wish I had taken more pictures. Here’s me and Cristina, just before the Manuel and Yohualli’s evening concert. Behind us is the beautiful university courtyard.

After the concert we headed to an outdoor bar. Did I mention that the weather there was fantastic? My t-shirt says it all. It was magical. Sitting outside, having a beer with great company, laughing, the moon shining, music in the background… It even made me a bit nostalgic. When the senses all came together, it really felt like Merida was a wonderful place to fall in love. At least in November. Yohualli tells me that in the summer, temperatures can get up to 42 Celsius. (Taipei only got up to 39 C, as I remember.) In any case, that evening I was bitten by the bug to learn Spanish. Vince said to me that night, “This is living.”

This November I was invited to participate in the 7th annual Festival Universitario de Guitarra (Nov. 20-23), which took place in Merida, Mexico, on the Yucatan peninsula. The festival was directed by the wonderful Manuel Rubio who displayed incredible hospitality and collegiality throughout my entire stay.

The flight, Boston – Houston – Merida, was relatively smooth. Immigration was a bit slow, and I made my pickup party wait for an hour. Vince Go and Cristina Perez surprised me at the airport and I was overjoyed to see them. By the time I we got back to the hotel, it was past 10:30 pm. Vince and I went out to a local bar and got a margarita each. We then watched the local youth make a lot of noise while doing tequila shots and taking digital photos of one another. The sound of the bar was intoxicating. Seeing people walking around on the streets so late at night brought back fond memories of Taipei and Siena.

I had to teach a master class next morning, so after our margaritas, we went back to the hotel. The next morning I took a picture of the hotel area. It was humble but beautiful, and the people who ran it were extremely nice.

My first breakfast in Merida consisted of simple scrambled eggs with some vegetables, some hearty rolls and some tea (I know, it looks like dark amber beer). Again, not much, but very homey.

Finally, the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan was lovely. The inside of the main building was square-shaped with an open-air courtyard that I would relish practicing in every day.

On November 12 I headed up to Lewiston, Maine. I was to play a noon concert at Bates College the following day. My friend from high school, Joseph Wea, was visiting Boston and accompanied me on this trip. The traffic was light and bits of this year’s foliage remained, but now we have so few hours of daylight, and it made the drive seem like an endless journey. By the time I arrived, the sky was pitch black and it felt as though it were 11 pm, yet it was only around 6:30.

For dinner, I located Gritty’s, a local joint that also brews its own beers. This is where the journey began — as I pulled into a parking spot, something felt strange. When Joseph got out of the car, he said, “Hey, you have a flat tire.” After dinner and beers, roadside assistance came, so all was well.

We were put up at the beautiful Dunn Guest House. After settling in, I practiced a bit in the dining room.

The next day, after a light breakfast, we made our way over to Olin Arts Center. The concert hall was beautiful and I got out my guitar.

About 25 minutes before the concert was supposed to start, there was a campus-wide power outage. Groovy. After a few more minutes, Seth Warner, who was coordinating the concert, came to tell me about Plan B — to play in the hallway. Hallways and I go way back, so I was all for it. I think the most incredible part of the concert was that there were a ton of kids. Apparently, there’s a school across the street and they always attend the noon concerts at Bates. Not only that–they also write reviews! I should be getting mine in a week or so. Look at all these young happy faces! Incredible! I wish I had that kind of exposure when I was young!

Special thanks to Joseph Wea for all the beautiful pictures!

Prior to this month, my only experience with the Ocean State was Providence, but thanks to John Dennewitz, a great friend and guitarist, we played a concert at the Kingston Congregational Church yesterday afternoon to a wonderfully receptive and enthusiastic audience. Not only that, two weeks prior to the concert, John also set up a radio interview for the two of us at University of Rhode Island Radio Station with host of the classical program, Bob Kinzel. During the interview I was also able to perform 2 pieces live and an encore.

The interview is available for streaming:

http://www.linguitar.com/music.