My Trip to Joburg...

Recently I have been fortunate to be granted a wish that I have had for a long time, and it's probably not something that would have happened if a lot of my own initiative had been required - so I consider it a blessing.

A friend of mine was involved in this production and she said they needed a singer... when she mentioned this to me, I said to her... don't mess with such things because it's something that I really wanted to do. To be on stage! Wow!

Well, one thing led to another and here I am on the plane flying back to Cape Town after a successful two shows of "Paradise Road" in Joburg...

The shows were awesome. The people were mostly coloured, in fact there were very few if none at all, "whitey's" in the audience. I know there were two on the 2nd night because two of my friends came. Probably visited an area that they would never have otherwise.

I had never done anything like this in the past, so everything was new. The closest I had come to drama was in school and the closest I had come to musical drama was when I was a student I did two church "Psalty" musicals. They were awesome and I loved every minute and have always wanted to be on stage, so though I had butterflies, I was confident that not only would I be okay, but if there wasn't disaster like forget to come on or something, that I would actually be pretty cool. I knew that a little bit of energy and "larger than life" attitude can make up for any technical weakness (which I acknowledge I do have).

Just to put you in the picture, the musical is a "tribute" show. Now to those who don't know what that means, I'll give you a fly over description. A tribute show is one where the creator picks a theme, and then selects songs, old and new, along those lines. For instance, I have seen a tribute show entitled, "the guitar that rocked the world" - with songs which owe their fame to the legendary fender stratocaster a.k.a. the "strat". Other tribute shows i've seen, "the piano mean" - the likes of Bily Joel and Elton John - even some "Great Balls of Fire!" featured on that show.

Now this musical, "Paradise Road" is a tribute to S.A music. The show features an eclectic selection of songs from South African music, both old and new. From 60's love songs to noughties pop, from township dance to 80's pop. The show has taught me a lot about South African music and what a proud heritage in music we have - I found myself going "oh, is that South African?".

Friday night's show was a little on the rough side. I think largely because it was the first time a lot of us had done the show (there were 4 new cast members), and being our first time, I think we were unaware of exactly what was required. The lessons were quickly learnt as Saturday's show was a significant improvement having put the simple instructions received on Friday night into practice.

Yes, and the crowds were great. It was certainly not a "white" crowd, and it showed. The coloured community is far more ebullient and natural than us demure whiteys. I can remember some comment that was made after my first song, a passionate vent about unrequited love "don't cry". Perfect for the occasion and a good example of the kind of thing we're talking about. So from that perspective I think it was a very good platform for my first performance of Paradise Road.

It was a great weekend, and something that I would love to do more of. Fortunately, there were no disasters, there were blips and jitters and I do have a lot of work to do technically (that will of course never change). I think all in all, the best thing about the whole experience was that it has given me confidence something that my kind of personality requires.

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Up Oudekraal, to Grootkop and down Kasteelspoort

Hello, it has been ages since I posted anything on this blog, but since I took some really cool photos of a trip up Table Mountain the other, I felt it was high time I actually posted something.



This was taken on the way I think - towards the beginning!
Looks like you're in a plane. But those clouds are very low. We managed to rise above them.











Me playing nicely with my Camera. Having a 2 gig card means you can take as many pictures as you possibly want to.

Amphitheatre Wall

What a great day it was. It was a week before that I got the call that my friend Wayne was going to take a friend on a traditional climb up Elsie's peak. When he mentioned it I wasn't quite sure where he was going to go, but when we got there it soon became clear.

Elsie's peak is a quite useful mountain peak just south of Fish Hoek in Cape Town South Africa. It is a very good place to go climbing, it was strong solid rock with many climbing routes in all sots of grades. But arguably its biggest strength is that it is so close. To get to the parking lot not too far from the rock took probably less than 5 minutes.

The actual climb was legenday. We climbed 4 pitches of varying lengths, each one was about 10 metres in height. It was my first time leading in trad climbing. For those who don't know, trad(itional) climbing is climbing where you put the protectionm in. Unlike sport, you do not use the bolts that have already been placed but you place your own protection in the form of what is called friends, hexcentrics, slings and bolts.

Like I said I was leading for the first time in trad. It was no big deal, it was simply like sport climbing except that when you clip you place a runner. That was a new experience – but I think I managed quite well. I was personally happy with where I placed the protection and how well it was placed, but I do think that I need to mature in this area. This is why amphitheatre wall was a very good start. It is only about an 8 in difficulty in the modern gradings – trad climbing is quite different to sport as it is typically far more exposed. If you fall in trad without protection you will die – you'll probably fall hundreds of metres unlike sport where you'll probably just fall to the ground, 20 metres max.

The actual climb was particularly enjoyable – it was one of those days that you enjoy every minute. The route was great, not too challenging from a climbing perspective. Sometimes when climbing you like that.

Coming down we took a route called “outlook ridge”. It was great as well! It was soooo much fun because we weren't roped. It was such freedom, and was rather long. I don't think I could have climbed it without the astute guidance of Wayne. What a clever route it is. I'm glad we went down that route rather than walked.

All in all it was an awesome day on the mountain. If you haven't had the pleasure of climbing it, then it is highly recommended. It is a route that makes me want to build up my trad gear.

Btw, in my next post I'll be able to supply some pictures, I've recently acquired a new digital camera, canon A640. I might just post a review of it as well.

Rock Climbing for the first time in a long time...

On saturday I had the pleasure of finally going rock climbing. I went with a friend, a familiar rock climbing buddy, Jeff. Byron, who was doing it for the first time, also tagged along.

It was an awesome day on the rock.

Unfortunately I had a good party the night before so was not able to quite wake up in time to be there at 8 as we had planned. I felt quite embarrassed when I realised that they couldn't do much without me as they only had one harness between them. I only arrived around 9.30. I should have been more sensible, though I do think that if they had reminded of this important fact, I would have said stuff it to the sleep I was missing and pitched a jolly sight earlier... anyway...

We were at the main silver mine crag, where there are a number of moderate grade fairly high sport climbs. The grades range from 14 through to about 22, though there is on 26. My friends and I are at about 16.

The rock at Silvermine Cape Town is firm and quite rough, perfect for sport climbing, and the weather, although it threatned to rain, it was just empty threats.

We were able to get in about 3 climbs each. It is ages since I did something like that, and it sure did show. Whereas before I was comfortable climbing 16's, pushing 17, this time around my absolute limit was 16. I think we only climbed 16. We did try a 17 but failed.

The last climb I did was probably my favourite, I was up for leading a 16. It was awesome. I could not believe how much I have missed those kinds of experiences.

As for my buddies, Jeff did well, he seemed to take everything in his stride, and Byron did very well for a first time. I think his power to weight ratio is very good and so in spite of the fact that he did not use climbing shoes for the most part, he looked effortless on the rock. I do hope he can find the cash to purchase a harness and some shoes.

There were a number of other people on the rock on Saturday, throughout the day. They're always friendly and welcoming.

For more on the experience, see my other blog, audiblethoughts.blogspot.com

Baxter Festival of Dance - a personal view

It was with relish that I heard about a pending performance from a dance friend of mine, Lindi. I enjoy watching dance, especially the kind that she generally gets involved in, but it is not often that I do that, apart from when she is involved. I guess it's just something we should do – i.e. support our friends in their endeavours – to me it's just what friends do, I think I'd be watching someone play tiddly winks if that was there thing.

Anyway...the particular event in view is known as the Baxter Festival of dance. As far as I can tell, it is a new venture put on by the baxter theatre to showcase young up and coming dance talent. Every evening had a differnet program and a particularly eclectic one at that. I guess it's a useful platform because there is no commercial driver – the artists get free reign to express themselves and explore new boundaries without being concerned with admin or worrying about whether it will sell. Besides, these kinds of things typically have that feel good factor – the aunt and her dog come just because Mary is dancing (apologies to the perfomers).

Anyway... back to the evening.

Like I said, I enjoy these kinds of evenings, and I think on this partiuclar evening there were about 20 different pieces, ranging from the classic contemporary dance kinds of pieces to pieces where it would be difficult to even call them dance. So they cater to everyone's taste. There were some solo dances, some small group and some big group, some where the spectacle is more important, others where the message is paramount.

Before I get to look at my friend's piece, I 'll just mark some other highlights from the evening.

There were a couple of particular interesting pieces, probably the most controversial piece was a work on Child abuse. The announcer indicated before the performance that there would be nudity in the piece. I think he should have said that this piece carries an age restricton of 16 for nudity and sex, because hell, that was hectic. Certainly the most disturbing piece I have ever seen.

I think what was the most interesting about that piece was that you would battle to categorise it as dance as such. It's fits better into the “Arts” genre – and I think the reason for that is that the message is the fundamental aspect. In other words, take away the message and there is nothing. I think what makes dance unique is that it does not require a message or a meaning in order for it to have value. Very often when I watch dancing, although the message might be clear to the initiated, I lose it completely, but still get a lot out of it, either by creating my own message or just enjoying the spectacle.

In this case the message was clear and it was brutal. Apparently a lot of the people did in fact leave after that piece. It's certainly not something I would have wanted my mother to see. I had never seen nudity in a piece before nor had I witnessed such a no holds barred approach, and I don't think I liked it. Thought to be honest, it did bring memories of the road safety adverts I saw in New Zealand – very brutal, and very effective. Sometimes taking no prisoners, gets the message across.

Lindi's piece bore the hallmarks of her work. Always innovative, always looking for new ways to look at the art form and what can be done through dance. She invariably produces something that is more than just a spectacle – and I think that is her strength and possibly also indicates something about her.

In this case the theme concerned a women who had lost a loved one – a sweet innocent girl who has a lover, soul mate and friend taken from her. The way this message was conveyed I felt was partiuclarly clever – a chair was repeatedly knocked down until it was not put back up.

One way that innovation came through, and possibly the best thing about the piece, it gave it its effect and depth, was how it was self contained. That's a unique way to describe a dance performance, for how can a dance performance be “self contained”. Well by that I mean that there was no third party. In general, the sound track which accompanies a piece of dance is the third party. It is the factor into which the piece needs to fit. It tends to have it's own message, not always in line with what is going on and thus brings an element disjointness to the performance. What I mean is, if an artist is trying to say something, they may not find a piece of music which exactly fits what they are trying to do and thus something is lost, “Lost in Translation” as it were.

In this case there was no third party, the performers provided the music as well as the dance. The piece had 4 dancers – it's actually not entirely accurate to call them dancers as they were musicians as well. The one member providing the vocal backing and the other applying a haunting melody on a particularly ostentatious marimba. The vocalist was clearly well trained and very good – actually quite beautiful.

It must have been quite an interesting dynamic in the creative process, being able to work the musicians into the piece, and I think that they were quite cleverly and creatively used. There was no sense of their dual roles – You didn't notice that they were both dancers and musicians.

Overall I enjoyed the piece, the message was clear – as is Lindi'a bent, full of emotion and how can I say, poignancy. You clearly got a sense of the angst the protagonist was going through. It was quite a powerful work in that sense. There were a number of clever techniques, especially the use of a small table which the performers sat around and moved the arms to create patterns. Quite eye catching.

It would be interesting to see where Lindi's creativity would go if she was given a full complement of dancers to work, it is a pity – because it would be interesting to see what she would produce. I think it would be a challenge for her to maximise the spectacle.

All in all however, I enjoyed the evening, and I enjoyed Lindi's piece. I look forward to the next one.

United 93

I first saw United 93 on TV I think - and the comment was made that with it being the first of the September 11 movies to be released, it set a very high standard.

It's one of those movies that I feel are a _must_ see. It's based on a seminal historical event, something which touched the lives of millions and it is thus important to absorb what we can from films made around the subject.

It was thus with great expectation that I entered the cinema, alone, as per usual.

I was greeted with one of the most memorable cinematic experiences ever, not only because the movie was very good, but also because the movie brought everything so close to home.

Watching the movie is a special privilege because it's like being a fly on the wall of all the aircraft control towers as well as the military command installation, norad. You're are also taken on a journey alongside the passengers of the doomed United 93 airline.

The movie is based on the events of September 11 - and apart from the scenes inside the aircraft, there is real hard evidence to backup what you're seeing i.e. Actual recordings of the conversations between the airline pilots and control towers, as well as between control towers. Seeing the events of the day from such an intimate perspective yields real insight into the challenges faced on the day, and the gravity of events of the day. It brings it all back, like a ten ton truck!

For instance, the major in charge at Norad wasted no time in scrambling fighter jets in response, but not only did he disregard the FAA's objection to those planes flying over manhattan but the jets that were scrambled were not all armed; the option of ramming the rogue plane was real, but from whom would permission be required? I remember them saying "but it's a commercial airline"... the president would be required for something like that - you can't just dial the president's number can you? Co-operation between the various control towers involved was not up to the challenge, neither was co-operation between the control towers and the military up to the challenge.

The scenes from inside the doomed aeroplane are revealing but they are also harrowing. The bulk of the material from that re-enactment would have come from the last ever conversations between the people on board and their loved ones. The events in minute detail would have been conjecture, but for the large part, they are probably correct. That the plane was destined for the white house or some other great american landmark is highly probable, that the plane was brought down by the passengers is also highly probable, and so the events depicted in the movie are very likely.

I watched the movie by myself, and I'm glad I did because it was a very intense emotional experience. To see these people fight for their lives and die doing it was almost too much, to realise that this was not make believe - it was like I lived through what they were doing.

It highlighted big time how unbelievable that whole event was. It was only when the passengers on United 93 got word that the Trade Centre had been taken down that they realised that they were going the same way and thus took action. Typical behaviour for hijacking up until then was not to take the plane and all aboard on a suicide mission, which is probably why the other planes were not averted in the same manner, that and the extra bit of time that the United 93 passengers had.

In closing, I think one of the most acute memories I have from that experience was when the hijackers pronounced that they were doing it for god. To think that man can be so deceived and disillusioned is devastating and cut to the heart. To think that man can do something like this in the name of a god that is not a god at all...

Voices of Spring

Saturday, 9 September 2006 saw the annual Philharmonia Choir, Rondebosch schools choir concert.

Since the choir, of which I am a member, began using the Rondebosch prep school as their practice facility, we thought having a joint concert would be an appropriate way to give something back to the school. And this year was the second time this concert was staged.

The concert this year was bigger and better than last year and this year saw the high school as well as the high school band added to the line up. The junior phase of the prep school were on first, they always acquit themselves well – the cuteness factor always helps. The performance was polished, they used a lot of actions and one could see they had been well prepared.

The senior phase of the prep school followed, they were very good I felt, did a particularly good number about Pharaoh which led into a rousing rendition of “Aint no mountain high enough”...

The high school was represented by a chamber choir whose standard was high. The works chosen were not easy, with lots of harmony throughout. They made significant use of the four voice parts. Their repertoire I felt could be significantly improved. There is so much good, happy, interesting material available for a choir of this nature that I don't know why they don't use it. They should do some barbershop numbers for instance.

Our performance was, in the words of our director, “fine”. The choice of music was far better then last year – this year there was a better spread between classical and pop. The pop stuff was exactly that.

We went from Laudate, a modern number by a Norwegian composer, to a french romantic composition. We included to African indigenous songs, as well as and even some fun, light hearted classics, “bare necessities” and that old favourite, “Old Macdonald”. We also did a popular opera chorus.

The material was difficult, but not out of our abilities, and we were well prepared. There were one or two mistakes where we just lost it completely, which was unfortunate.

The grand finale was two combined items, Look at the World – a John Rutter marvel and a poignant arrangement of the Lord's prayer. These were well done and proved a fitting finale. The audience responded very well to these songs. Combined items tend to have that effect given the size of the choir.

All in all the concert was a success. I think it is fast becoming a fixture in the life of philharmonia choir as well as in the Rondebosch school choirs and can look forward to growing steadily in stature and prestige.

Humanity at its core

It was a long time ago that I setup this blog, at that stage I was thinking i would blog about my "after hours" exploits (yip, you guessed, the after hours name was already taken, which is why I chose this name).

But now, I suddenly realised that there are things that I can and will put on this blog, and it won't be climbing...

Saturday...

On Saturday I returned with a bunch of people to a children's home I had been to before, with a similar bunch of people. One of the members of The Message (a church on the UCT campus) is studying OT (occupational therapy) and one of her assignments was to work with the children of this particular home so she organised a visit to this home with a bunch of The Message people. The home is for mentally handicapped people, apparently the PC term is intellectually challenged, but that, is an understatement. These children are severely handicapped such that they cannot walk or talk. Most of them have pretty serious cerebral palsy.

There is also a smattering of normal children as well however, they're just abandoned or neglected and so they end up there.

The day was quite simple, the aim was simply to go there and spend time there, maybe bring joy into the lives of the children. It was great. I think we achieved that.

It arouses a strange kind of feeling in me when I go, I do not get depressed or sad at the predicament of these people, "melancholic" is probably the best way to explain it. In a negative sense my sensitivities are aroused because of the terrible state some of the patients are in and I feel with them. They know nothing else however so I probably feel for them more than they feel for themselves.

The other manner in which I'm affected is probably analogous to the kind of bond that forms between a mother and her offspring. With these kinds of people, _all_ they want and are looking for, is love. All the rest of the complications are stripped out. All the trappings of modern society are null and void in that environment, they do not see people as they are empirically, "Michael the computer programmer", or Michael the rock climber/dancer, they do not see Michael who owns his own flat or michael that can sing... Your "credentials" mean absolutely nothing in that environment, and I think that's why I like it so much. It strips you down to your brutal humanity. All these little people see is someone who can love me. They do not ask "what can you do for me?", "what can you buy for me?", "can you make me laugh?", do you wear the right labels, do you hang out in the right places. No, all they're looking for is a shoulder on which to lay their head. EVERY person alive is fully equipped to bring joy into the lives of these little people.

And just like a dog never scolds his master for coming home late - in fact the later the master comes home, the _more_ happy the dog is - so these children put no conditions on the encounter. Any contribution that is made is seen as a significant contribution, no matter how small!

It certainly reminds me of what life is all about.

I've realised that a blog to write about the weekend's activities might not be a bad idea. Unfortunately someone has already taken the afterhours name, that is why I've called this one outsideofficehours. Which basically means the same.

I'm hoping to put my experiences of climbing and mountain walking on here. I'll put some photies up as well.