Come Join the Puppet Party

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break! Lessons resume at PMAC tomorrow, though most classes and ensembles are on hiatus until February - except the new art classes! And, speaking of art, check out PMAC's first-ever Saturday workshop (one day only):

PUPPET PARTY!
Saturday, January 16th from 1 to 3 p.m. at PMAC
For Children in Grades 1 & 2 (enrollment is limited!)
Led by PMAC Visual Arts Instructor Anna Nuttall
$30 per student for this workshop plus a $5 materials fee
Enjoy a magical session of puppet-making! Join us for this FUN and unique experience “carving” FOAM to create super hand puppets! We will create your favorite animals or people, or invent your own creatures from your imagination! Dream up parrots with personality, purple polka-dotted beings from outer space, or make yourself a human-like foam friend! When finished, children will develop a personality for their puppet and we’ll let the conversations begin! Art comes to life with puppet-making!

Amanda Palmer with The Boston Pops - New Years Eve 2009-10

Had a great time with Adam at the Boston Pops' New Year's Eve gala bash. Unfortunately, Katie came down with a cold, so her seat was empty. :-(

Here's the setlist from Amanda's portion of the concert:

They opened her half of the concert with the U.S. Premiere of "Statuesque" a short film by Neil Gaiman (Amanda's boyfriend), starring none other than Amanda Palmer. Watch the film on YouTube here.

Then the second half (Amanda's half) of the concert began:

Missed Me

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1

Astronaut

Mein Herr

Runs in the Family

Hurt (Nine Inch Nails cover)

Coin-Operated Boy

countdown to midnight

Auld Lang Syne

We Are The Champions (Queen cover)

encores:

Neil Gaiman read his New Year's Benediction

Poker Face (Lady Gaga cover)

Leeds United

It was a great show, though similar in many ways to her show of June 2008. Read my blog entry about that show here.

Resolutions for the New Year

I start off each year with a list of resolutions, a reminder to myself of how I would live my life in an ideal world. Just the act of writing them down often instigates action. I just read my list from last year and I like it. Read it here. This year I'm going in a different direction, with some specific actions. Though I'll still try to live up to the lofty ideals of last year's list. For 2010 I resolve to:

• Read - Katie gave me a Kindle for Christmas. Add that to the vast quantities of books on my shelves that I've wanted to read for some time, I've come to the decision that I need to read more. This should be an easy resolution to follow through on, since I really do enjoy books. Right now I'm reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, as well as Robin Kelley's new biography of jazzman Thelonious Monk. I think that's a good start.
• Perform - In 2010 I'll be performing quite a bit more than I have in recent years. PMAC has absorbed all aspects of my life for nearly a decade. I think I've come to a point now where I can resume my life as a performing musician and balance it with my PMAC responsibilities. So I hope to see you at a gig soon!
• Compose - I plan on writing more music this year. Ditto to what I said about performing.
• Play - This is the year my disc golf game will come of age. My breakthrough year. Count on it.
• Ride - My bicycle, that is. As often as I can, which is not as much as I'd like in this "challenging" climate.
• Listen - I love music. Can't state that enough. Will continue to listen as much as I can - live, recorded, whatever.
• Live - Enough said.

Happy New Year!