La Scala

We've been in Europe for an entire week now, and still have about a week left. So far, it has been five nights in Paris, one night in Lyon, two nights in Geneva (with a day trip to Fribourg), and now Milan for two nights. We are planning on doing Florence for one night, and finally Rome for 3 nights. Lots of knowledge gained from this trip, and I especially enjoy the relatively diminutiveness of the cities.

Upon getting into Milan tonight, it was already past 6 pm and we didn't have very solid plans. We decided to go walk to La Scala since that was arguably the reason for us coming to Milan in the first place.

When we got there, we started noticing that people were still going in for a performance that night. We inquired about tickets, and were told that Massenet's Manon was playing. It would be 98 euro for each person to sit in a box. That was definitely more than we were willing to spend, and as we discussed whether to purchase, the ticket guy said, actually, we can have the tickets at 78 euro apiece. We were confused by the sudden drop, but still thought the price was high. Without even giving us much time to think about it, he lowered the price again, this time to 43 euro for both of us combined. We jumped at that price, and he told us that we would have to hurry, since the performance was already starting (it was 7:32 and the performance started at 7:30).

We ran to the entrance area, but the usher would not let us in. Specifically they would not let me in. Since Milan was very hot (consistently in the 90's) and we knew we would mostly be walking, both of us wore t-shirts and shorts. Their dress code required men to wear long slacks. After a few minutes of arguing with the head manager, the younger ushers urged us to just go to H&M and buy some cheap pants. Since we had box seats, they could seat us at any time.

We went back outside and actually were about to give up and return our tickets. Then we saw a side entrance with only younger ushers. They had no problem with our clothes, and we made it in! We literally ran through La Scala's staircases to make it to our box - we only missed about 10 minutes total.

These are probably the best seats I've ever had for any musical performance. We had a private box on the right side, 2nd floor from the ground and 8th box from the stage. Great view and the acoustics were fantastic as well. The seating at La Scala is interesting - there were very few seats on the ground floor (or their "Galleria"), and most of the seats are in box seats surrounding the sides and the back of the theater.

Manon the opera was great, although the story was not my favorite. Interestingly, the tenor that played the lead role, Matthew Polenzani, was also the lead in La Traviata at the Met, which we had seen just a few months ago as part of the Met at the Movies series.

Because we were both still in our tourist clothes, we felt very out of place within the theater. We didn't go out much, and Celia went out to buy some food and wine to bring back (I feared being seen by the manager and getting thrown out).

I think given the circumstances (a famous opera house, the incredible seats, the challenging situation to get in), this will end up being our most memorable highlight of the trip.

Engagement

Mahler 2 and the New York Philharmonic

I've been working in New York for 14 months now, and I have amazingly managed to dodge the New York Philharmonic during this time. I've seen the Met a couple times, countless chamber music performances, and even the Ballet, but not the Philharmonic until last night.

It turns out this may have been the perfect time to see them as they were playing Mahler's Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection", a program they originally played as part of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Conductor Alan Gilbert was quite active on stage

My reactions to this orchestra are that overall it's not as strong as the CSO, and they particularly have trouble following Alan Gilbert at times. The string sound is very good and reminded me of the Karajan-era Berliner strings. It was a polished and "professional" sound. However, I didn't hear the same warmth and feeling that the CSO plays with. This is especially true of the cellos - I continue to think the CSO cello section is unmatched. The brass are a slightly different story. It was hard to judge the quality here because there were always so many brass players playing at the same time (Mahler tends to have that effect). I think the sound was very good and definitely very loud.

The curious thing is that, at times, they either had trouble following Gilbert or were unwilling to follow Gilbert. This is especially true when Gilbert looked to change tempos or when they were entering a change in mood coming from Mahler. In addition, there was some confusion at times when various parts were played off-stage - the orchestra generally had trouble staying in sync during these parts.

Gilbert himself didn't exactly shine. He took wildly schizophrenic tempo swings and generally played the slow sections slower and the fast sections faster. I think this is unnecessary with Mahler - his music is already dramatic enough without taking further liberties with the tempos. This was particularly agonizing at the beginning of the second movement. Gilbert would over-emphasize the pickup note and slow down tempo, only to accelerate once the downbeat was reached. I had always interpreted this second movement (at least the first theme) as a simple one, meant to be a break from the marching first movement and the bitterly sarcastic third movement.

When the piece first started, I noticed that Gilbert was a lot more active with his movements and gestures on stage. I quickly realized that this was only because of my recent context with CSO conductors. Haitink and Muti don't exactly move much on the podium. In general, I though Gilbert's gestures were appropriate for the piece.

However, all of these slight criticisms do not obscure the fact that the star of the show is Mahler. The 2nd symphony is one of the few symphonies to end in triumph, and the NYP do a great job at the climax. The pure level of noise as well as the energy in the hall was really an experience. I noticed that this symphony might be one of the few that have multiple "chill" moments, those times when you get goosebumps and a chill throughout your body.

I very much enjoyed my first NYP concert. I worry about the relationship between orchestra and conductor - very rarely do I hear disagreements in tempo at the CSO. However, I am looking forward to my next concert, whenever I get a chance to come back to New York.

Fantasy Basketball

Thanks to freedarko, I found the Tablet's wonderful challenge to pick the all-time Jewish starting five basketball team. As I discussed this with some friends, the challenge was posed to me to pick the all-time Chinese starting five. This was my response.

PG
me: seriously, have you noticed how every Chinese PG ever literally craps his shorts whenever Dwyane Wade sets up a half-court press? Do we teach dribbling in China? at the very least, I have a killer nickname, right?

PG, Backup
Woo Woo Wong: "Wong was known as one of the finest Chinese-American basketball players in his time" has to go down as one of the great backhanded compliments of our time, along with "Chewbacca was known as one of the finest Wookie orators in his time".

SG
Jeremy Lin: doubles as the smartest player on the team, and only the 3rd biggest douche (after Xing and Yi, and yes, damn straight that Xing just referred to himself in the 3rd person...it's just Xing being Xing)..

SF
Yi Jianlian: has the best nickname on the team (verbatim from Bill Simmons: There hasn't been a more effective nickname in years. Not only does it sound like the right nickname for him ("Chairman Yi"), but the joke-trapped-inside-the-joke (during ESPN's lottery show, there was video of Yi posting up actual chairs and spinning around them for layups) will never stop being funny. And when you think about it, we haven't been able to call anyone "The Chairman" since Sinatra died. So it's done -- we're calling Yi "The Chairman." This meeting is adjourned).

PF
Wang ZhiZhi: would allow everyone to make Wang jokes, though they probably would even without him on the team.

C
Mengke Bateer: the greatest thespian on the team, and it's not even close.

DNP-HAS NO FEET
Yao Ming: on the plus side, his first child (with his 6'3" wife) will become the greatest basketball player of all time. Too bad she'll have to toil in the WNBA. Although I seem to remember a certain someone that was able to make it big for the men's squad...
(side note: the girl from Hang Time, Daniella Deutscher, is 35 years old (!!!). This makes me feel three times as old as the day I found out Ken Griffey Jr retired and runs like an old Harrison Ford now).

Random NYC Observations

Apropos of nothing, here are a few of my observations so far about New York City.

The restaurant waiters are comically bad

• Some of them stare at you the entire time you eat. 
• Some of them never actually answer your question.
  me: "can you recommend a good white wine?"
  waiter: "would you like to hear about our specials tonight?"
• Some of them make up rules.
  me: "we would like two orders of the lobster special, please"
  waiter: "actually, as of 12 minutes ago, you can only order one lobster special for the table"
• Some of them say "that's amore!" roughly 26 times during your visit (sigh...I still enjoy Little Italy). 

Walking into a cab is a little like playing Russian roulette...only instead of one bullet out of six chambers, there are five bullets out of six chambers.

• Many of them pretend not to be able to hear you. 
• One of them bitched to me for the entirety of a 10-minute ride about how terrible the previous customer was. 
• One of them has been a cab driver in the US for 33 years but can't say much more than "you say airport, right? to fly?".
• One cab driver completely brightened my day, told me where all the good Argentine restaurants in NYC are, where all the good dance spots are, and how lucky I am to be living in the West Village.
• One of them nearly ran into a pedestrian while going 55 mph on a 15 mph street, then threatened to get out of the cab and "shut (the pedestrian's) face". 
• Many of them argue with you about the amount of tip you leave. Well, maybe if you weren't such a terrible cab driver in a SERVICE industry, I'd have given you a bigger tip.

The street vendors are a little slice of Christmas

• Maybe I don't always buy, but it's just nice knowing I COULD get a Rolex for $15.
• The smell of the grilled food draws you in, the people watching keeps you there (honestly, I will never cease to be fascinated to just watch people figure out how to eat a giant chunk of grilled chicken off a stick).
• I bought a pink tie on the street for $5, and proceeded to get about 12 compliments the next day on how awesome my tie is.

 How can you lose with this skyline?

Times Square is the 10th Circle of Hell

• Unless you enjoy walking around with people regularly bumping into you and being asked every 30 seconds if you want to go to a comedy show.
• My friend and I met in Times Square and decided to find a place for a quick drink. After passing TGI Fridays, ESPN Zone, Hard Rock Cafe, Olive Garden, and then TGI Fridays AGAIN, we finally settled on a small sushi place off Broadway that made us crappy cocktails for $15 a piece. For being such a unique part of NYC, there is absolutely nothing uniquely "New York" about Times Square, other than the fact that every billboard/restaurant supports something you've heard of in the mainstream.

You sometimes forget that there is trash right in front of you on the street

• I understand that Manhattan is a small strip of land and oftentimes there aren't any back alleys to leave your trash. But seriously, THERE IS TRASH JUST LYING ON THE SIDEWALKS. It's almost gotten to the point where it's like "hey, this place doesn't smell ridiculously terrible, maybe I should take a short break here".
• I am completely aware now when I'm back in Chicago just how clean Chicago is.

Central Park is not just a great idea...in the history of urban planning...but maybe...maybe a great idea...in the history of humans

• I love everything about Central Park. 

Nobody will ever accuse Chinatown restaurants of passing health and safety regulations

• I thought the trash and smell was bad in Financial District, Midtown, etc. Then I went to Chinatown.
• The thing I don't understand is that Little Italy and Chinatown are literally right next to each other. The street vendors sell the same items. They are both restaurant-heavy. And yet, Little Italy doesn't smell like Big Foot's dick or a used diaper filled with Indian food.
• I sometimes wonder how anyone could actually eat in Chinatown. I mean, I think that smell would be a pretty effective de-appetizer.

The subway system actually makes sense...except when it doesn't

• A novel idea - the seats are not covered with the fabric padding that all the CTA trains have. Consequently, the NYC trains don't smell like urine.
• M-F, the subway system is awesome. It's quick, clean, effective.
• On weekends, it's a different story. Schedules change on a whim ("just an FYI, this train will not be making the next 6 stops"). Construction means many stops/stations are completely inaccessible. 
• Still, it's roughly 42 times better than the CTA.

There is nothing quite like walking around Midtown while listening to Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind

• Self explanatory.

West Side Story on Broadway

I lost my NYC Broadway virginity in style last week, going to the revival of West Side Story. It exceeded all expectations, changed how I view an entire scene from the movie, and caused me to have a few "Holy Crap!" moments.

First some context on the situation. I've been traveling to New York since the beginning of August for Diamond client work. New York is definitely a unique city and different from anywhere else I've ever been, but we'll save that for another time. Last weekend, I had a friend visit me, and seeing a Broadway musical was pretty high on our priority list.

Now some context on West Side Story and me. My first year in the Minnesota All-State Orchestra (I was a sophomore), we played a West Side Story medley. I hadn't yet seen the movie, but the music was intoxicating. I vividly remember actually REHEARSING the shouting of "MAMBO!" (our conductor was very careful in pointing out that we should shout "MAM-bo", not "mam-BO"). The concertmaster for that concert only had one solo, a completely saccharine addition to "Somewhere", but naturally, I was insanely jealous of her. I also loved the fact that Lenny composed all the music. I think looking back, we will remember Bernstein for two things - being the colorful conductor of the New York Phil and composing the music for West Side Story.

Of course, it went to a whole other level when I finally saw the movie and understood just what all the music signified. There was a time when I knew most of Tony's lyrics by heart and desperately hoped the high school would choose to do West Side Story (instead of the usual drab random Shakespeare production we seemed to do every year). Never mind that I couldn't (and can't) sing, but I never doubted that I wouldn't get that part. That part was written for me. Since that was around the time that I decided I love music and love playing music, West Side Story has always held a special place for me.

I just met a girl...

In terms of actually seeing it live, there were two immediate realizations that I made. First, wow, EVERYONE that gets to sing has an amazing voice. I might have some qualms with the delivery (I thought Tony used way too much vibrato), but the actual sound quality is amazing, especially when I feel like sometimes they should be winded from all the dancing.

The second is on the dancing and choreography. I remember seeing the group dance scene (when they do "Mambo") and thinking "there are people in this world that can dance like THAT?". The dancing is very violent in its movements but so well coordinated. I think when I watch the movie, I tend to discount how impressive everything is because I just assumed they took a few takes or maybe edited some stuff. Seeing all the dancing live and realizing that they really are this good? That turned out to be my personal highlight.

In terms of the actors and roles, as I mentioned, I didn't particularly care for Tony (too much vibrato and not very musical). Anita was great and very sultry (my friend mentioned that she looked like Penelope Cruz, just perfect). I enjoyed Riff although I never realized how little singing he actually does. Bernardo looked like he should've been running a Colombian drug cartel (very colorful suit and gangster hair). Maria (Josefina Scaglione) was off the charts - very beautiful and great soprano voice.

I will definitely make it back for another musical. There is the completely absurd American Idiot playing right now that I might see (I love Green Day and love the album, but I don't see how that makes it a musical, which requires, you know, acting). I also want to see Lion King at some point. But for now, I am completely satisfied with my Broadway musical experience.

Diamond...and Improv

I started my first day at Diamond today. The official name is Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, but that is just way too long for me to keep writing. It's my first experience in consulting, and I was really impressed with all the members of my training class. We have people from all over, esp. many from NYC. Everyone seems really sharp and outgoing, even compared with typical MBA students.

The entire day was fairly predictable. We learned about how awesome Diamond is various consulting things (the official policy for determining what is reimbursable rivals only the user manual for IBM's Deep Blue). However, the last training event of the day was a refreshing change of pace and I think will be fairly useful. Diamond brought in an Improv instructor to go over basic improv techniques and how to apply them in business settings.

We had two major activities that I will remember well. In the first, we were in pairs, and we had to start each sentence with the same word that the last sentence ended in. The consequence of this is you have to focus on what the other person is saying until the very end. All too often I find myself eager to reply to a statement before the statement has even been finished. I want to work on that and focus on listening to the entirety of the conversation.

The second major activity revolved around starting conversations with "no, but", "yes, but", and finally "yes, and". The key here is to demonstrate that we can signal acceptance without also signaling agreement. I love psychological stuff like this. The idea is that people are more willing to listen to what you say if they feel like you initially accept what they say. Even if you disagree with a statement, it's better to reply with "Yes, and..." and finish by expressing your opinion.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of training. I also found out today that I will be staffed with a major global wealth management firm out of NYC. More on that later.