Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Disney at Disney


As an early birthday present, Mr. Insom bought tickets at the Walt Disney Concert Hall to watch "The Disney Symphonic Legacy", performance featuring works from Nightmare Before Christmas, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White.

One year we saw Joshua Bell (if you haven't read the Pultizer prize-winning story in the Washington Post of him playing undercover-style to commuters, you really should).
This year it was all about Disney - which was apropos and actually the first time an all Disney program had been played in the Disney Concert Hall (go figure). I'm not a Disney affectionado, but I thought I'd give it a shot.




But before I get into the details of the performance, I've got to talk about this extraordinary venue.

Designed by Frank Gehry and acoustically designed by Yasuhisa Toyota, the Walt Disney Concert Hall has been lauded as one of the most premiere concert venues in the world. The entire complex is on 4 acres and consists of the 2 outdoor amphitheaters, garden, smaller recital hall where pre-concert talks are given.

I loved how he went from this


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It serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale and is the perfect blend of form and function. Gehry originally intended the building to be covered in stone, but changed his mind, partly because he felt that the shiny surface would work well in the changing and reflecting light of the Los Angeles sun.

Speaking of reflecting sun, here's an interesting little tidbit I learned on wikipedia...

Parts of the concert hall were initially made with highly polished reflective panels which were amplified by the structure's concave walls. Nearby residents of neighboring condominiums suffered from a reflected sunlight glare that was concentrated in a manner similar to a parabolic mirror. The resulting heat made some rooms of nearby condominiums unbearably warm, caused the air-conditioning costs of these residents to skyrocket, and created hot spots on adjacent sidewalks of as much as 140 ºF!

After complaints from neighboring buildings and residents, Gehry Partners conducted a computer analysis of the building's surfaces identifying the offending panels. In 2005 these were dulled by lightly sanding the panels to eliminate unwanted glare and prevent people from being fried.

I find this sort of hilarious.







These tree columns in the lobby are wrapped in douglas fir and provide structural stability as well as a graceful entry.




Douglas fir panels create the soaring overhead canopy in the auditorium. That particular wood is used throughout the venue because of its aesthetic similarity to the wood used in musical instruments. It creates a warm and cozy atmosphere. It sort of feels as though you're sitting in a great big barge or ark.



Every corner you turn in this place offers an interesting view.



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This is how it looks at night.





This is how it looks at night with a crappy iphone camera.






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The hall seats 2,265 people and honestly, there are few bad seats in the house. The seat you select should depend on the particular performance. The musicians are on slight risers and the back of the theater isn't very far away from the stage at all.



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For our performance, we were on the front left side of the front orchestra which gave us great views of the singers during the Snow White piece.


However, I would have preferred to be further back and higher up (like maybe the East and West sections or the upper orchestra and terrace) because there were lots of cool percussion elements in the Nightmare and Pirates pieces that I could barely see. These orchestra west seats would have been cool, for example.



Sitting behind the orchestra and the choir would have been awesome too for the first half of this concert. One of my favorite things about participating in music performances was the communication that goes on between the conductor and the musicians. As an audience member, you aren't privy to that, but if I were to sit in the orchestra view seats, I can get that experience.

I just bought tickets to see Elgar's cello concerto (squee!) in March (since it's a concerto, I got direct center seats at the back of the orchestra section so the cellist will be facing me), but the next orchestral concert I go to, I'm totally doing the orchestra view.

My seats:



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On the program was



The Nightmare Before Christmas - Concert Oveture* (Danny Elfman)
Sleeping Beauty - Suite (Peter Tchaikovsky)
Pirates of the Caribbean - A Symphonic Portrait* (Hans Zimmer)
The Lion King - Suite (Elton John/Hans Zimmer)

~~Intermission~~

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - A Symphonic Retelling* (Frank Churchill & Larry Morey)

*World symphonic premiere


Conducting the orchestra was longtime Hollywood Bowl Orchestra conductor John Mauceri making his Disney Concert Hall Debut. When he approached the podium and turned to the audience, thunderous applause drowned out his introduction. He marveled at the concert hall, especially how the audience has a visible view of the stage from all vantage points, and served as a thoughtful host for the evening by providing plenty of detail about each of the performed pieces. He also arranged and prepared all of the works for performance.


I love love love Nightmare Before Christmas. It's right up there in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas territory for me. I would love to see it on Broadway. And I thought Danny Elfman did a marvelous job with composing the score and songs. This was the premiere of the orchestral version of the overture, and Elfman was in attendance. I would have walked by him as I have no idea what he looks like, but since Mr. Insom was an Oingo Boingo fan, he pointed him out to me.




As much as I enjoyed Nightmare, I thought Pirates was the highlight of the first half. It's amazing how much of the character of those movies is directly derived from the music. From the jolly "a pirate's life for me" to plaintive "heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die," that movie had many memorable music moments. With the help of a full choir from a local university, Mauceri managed to capture all three films in a three movement piece. Really well done.


The first movement, "The Living and the Dead," featured etheral and ominous sounds from a wordless choir of the hereafter. The second movement, "Jack Sparrow," was a rousing tribute to the bad boy pirate. "Hoist the Colors and Drink Up, Me Hearties," opened with a melancholic boy soprano singing the song from the third film complete with clanging tubular bells which shifted into a triumphal march. And of course it wouldn't have been a Pirates musical moment without a lusty choral rendition of the original song ("drink up me hearties, yo ho!") from the ride that still runs at Disneyland.


The final selection (and what most of the audience was waiting for) was Snow White.



No, not slutty Snow White... pure and virginal Snow White who liked to sing with furry woodland creatures.



Yep, that's the one. Mauceri adapted the original Snow White script and score into a semi-staged reading for 10 singer-actors, orchestra, and choir and the result was a resounding success. As he described pouring through the "yellowing manuscripts" of 1937 in his attempts to create this abridged version, the audience listened in palatable rapture.

The dwarfs were seated on right hand of the stage, the other three characters on the left. It must be have been challenging to do these roles - unlike a typical stage performance, you're not looking at your fellow actors, but instead facing the audience. There were no elaborate costumes, no props at the actors' disposal. All they had were their bodies and voices to convey the characters.

Many of the songs were familiar - "Whistle While You Work", "Someday My Prince Will Come", "Heigh Ho" - but were experienced in a richer way during this piece.

Snow White was appropriately saccharine sweet, and Ashley Brown was pitch perfect in her role.

The evil Queen brought the homicidal crazy in spades and made a nearby little girl cower next to her mother. I knew the actress Ruth Williamson from Nip/Tuck, and she was amazing in this performance. Pretty scary! I remember my little brother hated Snow White when he was a kid because he found it terrifying. After watching this, I can easily see why.

The dwarfs inhabited their namesakes well and provided many hilarious moments. Doc did a great job blustering and Grumpy had a scowl on his face for most of the performance. Great job with the acting - I enjoyed them very much.

I was most impressed by the duet with Snow White and her little whistling bird friend (a couple of the sopranos in the choir), especially since I can't whistle. Those women were like whistling sixteenth notes! lol

When the performance ended, it was as though a spell had broken and the audience lept to their feet to give an extended ovation for several minutes. I can't remember the last time I've witnessed such excitement in a concert hall.

As an encore, the performers did "True Love's Kiss" from Enchanted which pokes good-natured fun at Snow White and the assorted Disney canon.



I left with a smile on my face. Disney's not all bad after all. :)

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Death by Chocolate: LA Chocolate Salon

LA Chocolate Salon.

From my past experiences at these food things, I was expecting the worst. Throngs of people, overwhelmed vendors, pushing, outstretched hands reaching for a bit of semi-sweet morsels, screaming kids, depleting inventory, and the lines, lines, lines.

But it wasn't that bad. It was, in fact, marvelous.

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The absolute best thing about the Chocolate Salon was the opportunity to sample items from local chocolatiers. Some are working less than a mile away from me, but I never knew they existed. In the past, if I wanted exceptional artisan chocolate, I would order some from a boutique that I was familiar with in New York. But now my eyes are opened to a wide array of local choices that are as good as anything I've had. I heartily recommend any of the folks mentioned in this post - a box of some dark chocolate truffles would make a great holiday present.

As soon as I saw this door, I knew I had to go inside.

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You down with VIC?
Yeah you know me!

Inside this wonderful room were a variety of chocolate liquers, dessert wines, aperitifs, and fortified wines. Yes, please.

I sampled some of the Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream liquor...

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Creamy sweet goodness. Add some vodka and you got yourself a perfect chocolate martini.

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Next up was a glass of Non Vintage Starboard Batch 88 port from the Quady Winery. Not as good as I've had, but it definitely was appreciated. Hell, who am I kidding? I had two samples and returned for a third. (It was useful at clearing away the chocolate buildup in my mouth. Besides, like I told the woman doing the pouring, there was a loooong line at the water cooler but a much shorter line for wine. I went the way of convenience.)

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Then it was time for a taste of Electra, a beverage described as "a light, delicate, and very refreshing sweet wine. Made from Orange Muscat. It is a great picnic wine. Pairs well with apples, melons, and peaches." This was delightful - "like wine juice", the representative helpfully added. With an alcohol content of 4.5% it's like Orangina with a slight kick and immensely drinkable. I'm not sure what a "picnic wine" is, but you could drink this at any time you would like a nice glass of orange juice - breakfast, after a nice long bike ride, brunch, served to the kids when they come home from school, etc. ;)

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Also inside the VIC room was a chocolate carving contest held by the California School of the Culinary Arts featuring Tcho Chocolate.

Entry 1.

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Entry 2.

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Entry 3.

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I voted for Entry 3 and so did the woman next to me. I hope they win.

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Now I was feeling fine and ready for my first meal of the day.

Portland was represented by a charming mustachioed fellow showcasing items from the Neapolitan Printing & Company. This was my first chocolate stop and one of my favorites of the day.

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They had chocolate mustaches on stick and a heavenly sea salt lavender chocolate.

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They even had a chocolate Obama. Yes, we nom!

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And of course this event wouldn't have been complete without a cupcake entry - Swirls Desserts. They were okay...

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Xocai, the "heathy chocolate". These people were taking a perfectly good thing like chocolate and turning it in to a probiotic vegan beverage with antioxidants, no sugar, and blueberries that is equivalent to eating two pounds of spinach. Hmm. Way to turn chocolate into a drag.

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Republica del Cacao is a single source chocolate company, all their chocolate hails from farms and collection centers that they own in Ecuador. Incredibly rich taste here. I struck up a conversation with the gentleman behind the table and he let me sample some of the real good stuff from a small bag. I could smell the heady aroma as he opened the package and it was exquisite.

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Amella caramels create a cocoa butter caramel. I tried carrot cake caramel which consisted of carrots, roasted pecans, and cocoa butter caramel, and white chocolate. A little sweet for me, but still good. I think this just confirmed that I just really like dark chocolate.

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One of my favorite stops was at Happy Chocolates headed by owner/chocolatier Susie Norris. She handed me a large piece of dark chocolate the size of a Snickers fun size bar with embedded Almonds. So deliciously creamy and smooth with a clean lingering finish...

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The representative from AF2 (Auntie Fruf's Awesome Fudge) won for most creative hair. It didn't photograph well, but it was a leopard print.

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The fudge was pretty tasty as well - not your typical cloyingly sweet stuff... it had a nice rich taste of dark chocolate.

The M collection from Mignon Chocolate of 60% Venezelan chocolate and dark chocolate ganaches had some beautiful pieces that were also very tasty. My favorite was the lavender with the pretty purple and lavender flowers.

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They also had ginger with lime sea salt, blueberry, pomegranate, chili pepper, and cuban mojito for sampling. I was pleased to see that they have a shop right in Pasadena... nice!

Next up - breakfast chocolate, or chocolate and tea mashups from Tea Room Chocolate. Nothing to say except wonderful!

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Of course I immediately thought of Wan-a-be when I saw this table and cued up for my chance to try the bacon sizzling bar from Christopher Michael, a chocolatier based in Newport, CA.

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I'm a big fan of the salty sweet combo, but I didn't quite appreciate the pop rocks. Maybe it had to do with that childhood urban legend of eating pop rocks and drinking soda and having your stomach explode, but I just wasn't a fan of the sizzle. Points for creativity though.


Jade Chocolates had these wonderful cocoa dusted edamame that were healthy and delicious. lol They do all sorts of chocolate covered items (mangos, nuts, etc.) and their chocolate infuses Asian ingredients like green and jasmine tea, brown rice, roasted red chili, sesame seeds, and lapang souchong.

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Clarine's Florentines were tasty crunchy treats. They're made from thinly sliced natural almonds baked in a golden brittle and the final step adds a coating of Guittard bittersweet chocolate. CF is based up North, but I'm sure you can place an order online.

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One of Mr. Insom's favorite booths was Chocoveda, a chocolate that infuses Avuydera principles. I didn't quite understand it when the chocolatier was explaining it to me - something about healing properties, herbs, and chakras... I don't know. What I did know is that these chocolates packed quite a flavor punch. The ginger lemongrass practically made my eyes water. To call them assertive would be the understatement of the year... lol.

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Another booth that Mr. Insom dragged me to was XT Patisserie. When the owner saw my camera he wanted to know if I was "press". I mentioned something about my blog and he pushed me to the front of the line. lol. Respect... I likes it. I conveniently left out the part about getting 3 hits a day. Their truffles were amazing. Mr. Insomniac shoved one in my mouth. "Here. Eat this." I took a bite and a flood of bright passion fruit hit my taste buds. Whoa. I didn't try any more of the pieces, but if that passion fruit is any indication, this might be the best chocolatier on the planet. lol

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More chocolate from Chocolatique... those little white pieces were adorable white chocolate ghosts with a green goo lime center. Boo-yetiful. They won the prize for most varied flavor combinations - they had a root beer float and Christmas crunch brittle for tasting, but go to their website and you get all sorts of crazy things like peanut butter and jelly, chocolate chip hotcakes, and Brooklyn vanilla malted.

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This peculiar item that resembled soap caught my eye from Sterling Confections. Apparently, they're hand painted truffle bars featuring an amalgam of flavor combinations and nuts. From left to right we have white chocolate raspberry and peppermint, rocky road, banana honey caramel, cappuccino liqueur with a twist, pineapple ginger macadamia nut, and double hazelnut caramel.

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If you got tired of eating chocolate, you could spread it on your face. Sweet Beauty Spa based in Seattle was offering chocolate lip balm, body scrubs, body washes, and body creams. I was kind of feeling the chocolate body cream...

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Or you could watch a movie about chocolate. Or rather buy a movie about chocolate. This woman didn't have a lot of people at her table. lol

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This was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, CJ's Stix or Bitz or whatever.

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Once I bit into this peanut butter filled pretzel surrounded by chocolate and toffee chips and felt the peanut butter spread against the roof my mouth, I was done. Not even the port could help me at this point. I sampled at a few more booths, but the joy wasn't there. I was starting to feel a little dizzy and my hands were shaking a bit. Time for some real food. We left around 1:45pm after an hour and forty-five minutes of chocolate gorging and the vendors looked like they still had plenty of product to go around (the event started at 11am). I didn't even hit several of the tables - apparently, there was some sort of roast your own marshmallow station that I totally missed but that you can read about on the gastronomy blog.

We drove to Elements Kitchen and I was feeling rather ill, but this place was just what I needed.

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We were seated on a relaxing patio shaded by large yellow umbrellas. Everything on the menu looked tasty, but sadly they were out of the homemade biscuits. I ended up choosing a curry chicken salad with dried cranberries, toasted cashews, and Madras curry on homemade foccacia that was much better than I expected. I especially liked the accompanying green salad made from tender baby mixed greens. The waitress also brought me a sample of their homemade potato chips.

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Mr. Insom got the duck sausage breakfast burrito which was also very tasty -duck confit, scrambled duck eggs, sweet potatoes, onions, and peppers with a side of Tomatillo salsa.

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And sweet Jesus, I'm done - three days later.

That was almost as exhausting as walking around and eating all that stuff. ;)

Support your local artisian makers!

Insomniac, out.