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| Concert Notes |
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| July 11, 2002 |
First day of work. EVER. I felt pretty stupid in my blue Hawaiian shorts and white dress shirt while everyone else was in black pants. Unfortunately, I hadn't picked up my new work pants yet, so I had no choice. Alex and I got assigned to Prom 1; Anthony, this really cool black guy, is our supervisor. Prom 1 consists of the rich seats, all the boxes are the responsibility of Prom 1. We start working the earliest and our job is the hardest because we actually have to walk people up to their boxes and then help them set up their tables and stuff if they need it. An upside is that we're really close (closer than I've ever been before) to the stage, and we can see really well during the concert. I was on Aisle 7 with a not very talkative guy named Alex Hoffman. He explained stuff to me and then spent the rest of the night in silence. Tonight's concert was a Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Beethoven Violin Concerto, and Sibelius Symphony No. 5. The Britten thing was extremely odd. It sounded like a monotone with long, held out dissonant chords changing arbitrarily. The Beethoven was pretty good...that girl had a heck of a nice violin, a Strad to be exact. I get off at 9:00 pm every night because I'm under 16, so I generally get to listen to whatever's after intermission sitting at a pretty good seat. The Sibelius was weird...and I was cold because I didn't think to bring a sweater. |
| July 13, 2002 |
Pierce Brosnan was here tonight. Alex took him to his box and Alex didn�t even notice! The Chieftans, a group of old Irish guys, are pretty cool. They have people who play pipes, a wooden flute, a mini-harp, violin, piano, and drums. The performed Irish jigs, and ballads. There were two tap dancers and two Riverdance type people too. They�re good! It was a good concert with fireworks and everything. I worked with Boris today. He�s this funny old guy who likes to sing opera. I got to sit in Ramp D, the section on the far right of the garden boxes, after 9:00. Anthony had to get special permission from the House Manager to let me wear my sweater after I clocked out (he told Elise that I was cold and I didn�t bring my own sweatshirt) because I�m not supposed to appear in uniform if I�m not working. |
| July 16, 2002 |
Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos today with Emanuel Ax. Dr. Lepley has met him before! It was ok, you know as Mozart goes. LA Phil seems to like Mozart. Next week there are two all Mozart concerts. I feel asleep during the Beethoven symphony, despite the fact that the benches were hard and I was cold (I�d forgotten my sweater again.) But you all know my talent for sleeping during concerts. Alex and I are now called Big Li and Little Li because there is another Alex and another Christina on our prom. Hollywood Bowl people are really good with names. Anthony already knows my name and the lady in the House Manager�s office does, too, after just one meeting. |
| July 18, 2002 |
Pretty short tonight. Got back 11:15-ish, but then of course, Alex drives fast. Bach double sounded pretty good (thought I missed part of it because I was on break) and I really like Mendelssohn�s Italian Symphony. There was a violin and viola Mozart sinfonia concertante after intermission�not a great ending. The guy who plays Josh Lyman on the West Wing, Bradley Whitford, and his wife, the mom on Malcolm in the Middle, were there today. Anthony wasn�t here today� Stephanie had to go solo. She seems a bit clueless, but it�s ok because she�s really good at getting food. Patina has good salads. It�s cool when they can get extra food for us after work. |
| July 20, 2002 |
Moonlight, Mendes, and Martini(s)
The first piece sounded good, Ravel�s �Bolero;� they played it in Blast (or maybe it was Blast II, one of those.) From there on out, it was downhill. Pink Martini was�ok. Oldies, a little bit jazzy, you know, it wasn�t horrible. But Sergio Mendes: Brazil 2000 sucked. They played a lot of Brazilian/ Latin music with really crappy singers�definitely not my kind of music. I worked with Laurie today. She is the most cheerful, model usher that ever was. She says things like, �I�d be happy to take you to your seat. That is a fantastic necklace.� It scares me. Laurie is exactly what Elise imagines when she tells us that we always have to think �customer service.� I sat with Ali after 9:00 because her parents were there too. There were these other people in Section E that kept getting up and dancing. And there was this guy that said �yeah� every fifteen seconds or so. Amusing people to make up for the bad concert I guess. |
| July 23, 2002 |
All Mozart night. Yay! Whatever� who in their right mind could love Mozart? I admit that he was a genius and his music sounds good if you only listen to a couple of pieces, but it gets old pretty fast. All Mozart sounds about the same. They played Eine Kleine, which is so well known that it sounds good. There was also a piano concerto played by a 24 year old black guy who makes up all his cadenzas on the spot. And then I dozed off again during the symphony. I think it�s becoming a habit. |
| July 25, 2002 |
The patrons were really pissy today. I hate it when they get mad at me...it's not like I can do anything about it. First, there were several people who got mad about the one bag per box rule (we�ve been low on plastic bags for two weeks.) Then some lady complained to me about being too tight in a six person box. It was three separate couples and they arrived last so they got stuck with the middle and a pedestal table. But it is made for six people; it�s not my fault her husband is big. She kept saying that she wanted to see my supervisor or get a refund. I ended up sending her to the House Manager�s office. Finally, there was a couple whose seats had already been taken by these old ladies sitting in the wrong box. He refused to take the other people�s box instead (that would have made life so much simpler,) so I had to move these two old ladies. Then in the box the old ladies are actually supposed to be in, there was another couple who was in the wrong place. It got complicated. Urghh� and the old lady was getting really impatient and mad at me. Oh well.... Same concert as Tuesday tonight: Mozart. I didn't bother to go back up when I clocked out. Stayed in Wardrobe and attempted to read my Chinese book. |
