Happy Birthday, Leroy Anderson!

June 27, 2008

I'm a fan of Mr. Anderson. Born on June 29, 1908, this American master of light orchestral music would have turned 100 this Sunday.

I've always had a soft spot for pops and light music. Like others, including pianist Christopher O'Riley, I can't help but agree with the famous Duke Ellington sentiment that there are really only two types of music, good and bad. A well-crafted melody is one of the most wonderful things in life.

When growing up in the Chicago suburbs (before moving to Houston), I attended an arts magnet elementary school. Lucky for us kids, there were many school orchestras in which we could participate: Beginner's and Intermediate Levels, a Chamber Orchestra and even a Strolling Strings Orchestra!

Our conductor and teacher, Stanley Ackerman, had spent time as a musician on the West Coast -- in Hollywood, in fact -- and had returned to his hometown to teach. What I remember best about Mr. Ackerman is that, though he himself was a serious violinist, he loved to joke around and had great affection for popular and movie music. In addition to learning pieces by Vivaldi, Handel and Mozart, we played arrangements of Fiddler on the Roof, Disney songs, "Try to Remember" from The Fantasticks, the Theme from A Summer Place and others. I got to know those show tunes pretty well for a ten-year old. Later, he re-invented the school orchestra as "The Strolling Strings." We memorized our pops music, so that we could stroll leisurely through the audience while playing. (That is, the violins and violas would stroll; cellos and basses would remain seated/standing, while Mr. Ackerman continued to conduct and somehow keep us all together.) We had "gigs," like performing at teacher's banquets. It seems a little wacky now to imagine myself as a strolling violinist, but it was one of the funnest times in my "musical career"! I learned to appreciate all types of musical expression.

Back to Leroy Anderson. "It's concert music with a pops quality," he said of his own repertoire. The New England Conservatory-trained and Harvard-educated composer made it look easy to invent perfect orchestral miniatures. Each of his 3 to 4-minute morsels bursts with spirit, imagination and clever sounds.

A runaway typewriter becomes a percussion instrument in The Typewriter. Three different strengths of sandpaper (coarse, medium and fine) are used to create various effects in The Sandpaper Ballet, evoking softshoe dance. And wood blocks used to describe the horse's gallop in Sleigh Ride also symbolize the tick-tock of time in Syncopated Clock. How can this not make you smile?

These "songs without words" combine beauty and irresistible catchiness with an element of the everyday. And the stories behind some of the pieces are so relatable. Though we think of Sleigh Ride as a Christmas piece, the story goes that Anderson started the melody during a heat wave in August 1946 (maybe to cool down by writing about a wintry escapade?).

Another one of his signature pieces, and a personal favorite, is Trumpeter's Lullaby -- an oxymoron of a title! He wrote it in 1949 for Roger Voisin, principal trumpeter of the Boston Pops Orchestra, who challenged Anderson to write something other than the customary trumpet fanfare or other triumphant, military-like solos. If you never thought a trumpet could sound tender and gentle, just listen to this piece.

I've mentioned just a few beloved examples of his music, and there are of course many more. Anderson also composed a delightful Piano Concerto in C, rarely performed. The Houston Symphony and its pianist, Scott Holshouser, played it just a week ago at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Associate Conductor Robert Franz shared his love for Anderson's concerto recently on "The Front Row." If you missed it, please check out his great interview with Bob Stevenson on June 19.

Leroy Anderson passed away on May 18, 1975. But let's salute him in spirit on this 100th anniversary of his birth, and say "thanks" for the music!

Searching For Debra Winger

I had the pleasure of interviewing actress Debra Winger on June 12, twice! First for KUHF's The Front Row, then later that night in front of a live audience at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. It's been quite a year for me; in over 30 years of broadcasting, I've interviewed relatively few people, perhaps two dozen. One was with Star Wars composer John Williams, more than 20 years ago; that was a real thrill, that I thought couldn't be topped! Little did I know...in March of this year I scored an exclusive one-on-one interview with Robert Redford for The Front Row. Then I was asked to host an evening with Debra, Redford's Legal Eagles co-star. The event was to be along the lines of the Inside the Actor's Studio cable show. The two of us would chat, she would read passages from her new book, take questions from the audience, and then sign books and meet the public at a reception afterwards. My problem: I'd never interviewed anyone in front of an audience! I was nervous.

Debra's just written a memoir (well, it's really a series of personal essays) called Undiscovered. She lives in the New York area now, and Houston was the first out-of-town stop on her nationwide publicity tour. If you're still trying to place her, she was one of the most popular young actresses of the 1980s. Her hit films included Terms of Endearment with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson, Urban Cowboy with John Travolta (both filmed in Houston), and An Officer and a Gentleman with Richard Gere. She was just 24 in 1979 when she showed up in Houston, having paid her own way, to audition for Urban Cowboy. The original leading lady, Sissy Spacek, left the project, and Debra landed the role opposite Travolta, who was white-hot thanks to the one-two punch of Saturday Night Fever and Grease.

Debra was wholly unprepared for the media glare that followed, and how rough show business can be, even if you've "made it." She married actor Timothy Hutton, had a son, then divorced; she is remarried now for 12 years to actor/director Arliss Howard, with whom she has a second son, and raised Howard's son from his first marriage. Meanwhile, her career went from an early-80s high to "whatever happened to..." Fellow actress Rosanna Arquette filmed a documentary in 2002 featuring women in Hollywood over 40, and called it Searching for Debra Winger. You shouldn't have to search for someone who's earned three Oscar nominations for Best Actress, but Debra, now 53, still has to answer the same questions: "Where have you been?" and "Did you retire?"

Three days before Debra was due here, I watched her navigate the stormy waters of "The View." That's Barbara Walters' morning TV screamfest which guarantees that on any given weekday, you'll be able to watch at least four women talking over each other (five if Barbara's there). I thought, "Well, whatever experience Ms. Winger has while she's here, at least it won't be that." I wasn't able to get Robert Redford to come to the KUHF studios for our interview; I had to go to his hotel. ("Ahem. Mr. Redford doesn't go to the media. The media goes to Mr. Redford.")

Debra, though, agreed to visit with us at KUHF; I looked at it as a warm-up to the evening's events. She showed up 20 minutes early and was ready to go: no entourage, no "people," just genuinely nice and down-to-earth. She's just a "chick," and I mean that as a compliment. During the interview she remarked, "You're not asking me any 'dirt' questions! I must be on public radio." I told her I didn't have to ask the "gossipy" questions, as the audience would take care of that during the night's Q&A. After we were done, I told her about talking with "Bob" and asked what her memories were of Legal Eagles. She said it was amusing for the cast and crew to observe the reverence with which big-star Redford was treated, and so they would refer to him as "Just Plain Bob." ("We're waiting for 'Just Plain Bob' - he should be on set in 5 minutes.") I also asked if she were doing any other press during her one day in Houston. "No, Regina, you've got the exclusive!" Wow! Two in a row.

That night at the Museum I found a (relatively) quiet space and looked over my notes. Debra had asked me to pick the book passages for her to read. In other words, I was really in charge. I got more nervous. I wanted her to read one passage about her children, one about her mother (now deceased), and one having to do with her career. I thought that would show the audience what the book was about, because it wasn't the typical "show-biz bio," about my terrible childhood, the co-stars I hated, the lovers I've had, blah blah blah.

Finally it was time to start. We went out onstage, saw the full house and people applauding and smiling. I felt a little better. Debra was handed a huge, beautiful bouquet of flowers. Deciding to set the tone, I placed one hand on my hip and remarked, "So where's mine?" I got the hoped-for laugh, Debra handed me a flower from her bouquet, we sat down and things went well from there. She and I shared a moment when I told her that we were about the same age, and had lost our mothers at around the same time. There was another moment, the most emotional for her, after she read a passage from her book called "Penn Station" at my request. It deals with a time when she was in the bustling train station and thought she had lost her then-11-year-old son. She thought she was ready to deal publicly with some of the very personal memories recounted in the book, but "You caught me, Regina." She also shared memories of Urban Cowboy, Black Widow, and some of her other films.

As I anticipated, during the Q&A, someone did ask her about Shirley MacLaine, who had played her mother in Terms of Endearment. The longtime rumors had them fighting on set. Debra said that any disagreements had been blown way out of proportion, it was all a long time ago, and she's seen Ms. MacLaine since then and they get along just fine ("at least in this lifetime"). Her major concern right now is paying for tuition for her two oldest sons, who are both in college. "Aha!" I said. "That's why you've written the book!" She told us that she never "retired," and in fact just finished filming a role in Rachel's Getting Married, due this fall. It co-stars Anne Hathaway and was directed by Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs). At the reception Debra signed tons of books and chatted with all who approached her. Everyone had a great time, and I'm forever grateful to Debra Winger for making the experience such an enjoyable one for me.

Who were the YBAs?

The newest exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston is END GAME: British Contemporary Art from the Chaney Family Collection, opening this Saturday, June 14, and today I was pleased to get an advanced tour, as part of the Museum's media preview.

The artworks represent the generation of Young British Artists, or YBAs, of the 1990s, who introduced new ways of thinking about art. The influential and revolutionary group of painters, sculptors, video artists and photographers include most famously Damien Hirst (b. 1965), whose earlier iconic and controversial work, "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" (1991), featured a tiger shark suspended in formaldehyde and encased in glass.

The exhibit's title piece is indeed Hirst's 2004 work, "End Game," a large steel and glass case that encloses two human skeletons, with shelves of meticulously arranged medical instruments. On display in the Museum's lower level, the work is an entryway into themes such as life and death, science and technology, and the use of non-"high art" materials that mark the work of other YBAs.

The majority of the 21 pieces in this intimate exhibit are on display in the Caroline Wiess Law Building. In a single gallery, the works are within view of one another, inviting you to discover interesting juxtapositions. In one corner is Hirst's "Sacred IX" -- an actual heart, stabbed straight through by a medieval dagger, and mystically preserved in formaldehyde, as if floating in air. Around the corner is another heart, also pierced by a dagger (or is it shot through by an arrow?). This one is a huge, sparkly, almost delectable, light sculpture -- "Toxic Schizophrenia" by Tim Noble (b. 1966) and Sue Webster (b. 1967) -- which references tattoos and flashing night club signs, magical in a completely different way.

As MFAH Director, Dr. Peter Marzio, reminded us this afternoon, virtually anything that is hanging or standing in the museum was originally contemporary art. What made it survive?

"What, within this concept of masterworks, makes it important? What makes it significant? And can you take those criteria and apply them to the contemporary world to help you penetrate the hype and the commercialism ... to get to the heartbeat of what the work of art is about? And I think that's one of the great things about contemporary art in the encyclopedic museum. I love the idea very much that you have [artwork by] Damien Hirst hanging in the same building with Rembrandt ... how contemporary art can bring the snap of everyday back into the older things that you can perhaps look at in a different way now, once you've seen how exciting this fresh material can be for you."

Perhaps END GAME will introduce contemporary artists new to you, change the way you look at artists past, or both.

END GAME: British Contemporary Art from the Chaney Family Collection is on view June 14 through September 28, 2008 at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

Please stay tuned for more from curator Alison de Lima Greene on "The Front Row"!

Is Classical Music Alive and Well on Public Radio?

Several weeks ago KUHF was invited to take part in a day-long meeting at WNYC in New York along with other national and major-market public radio colleagues to discuss the role of classical music radio in the 21st century.

As KUHF is the only classical music station in the nation's 6th largest radio market, our input was eagerly solicited and we were glad to give it. It fell to me as KUHF's Director of Cultural Programming to make the trek to New York and add our views to the national debate.

Represented around the table in WNYC's brand new (not yet inhabited and very impressive) facility were large classical music stations such as WABE in Atlanta, KBAQ in Pheonix, WGUC in Cincinnati, and WETA in D.C., as well as national organizations such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and American Public Media (the production and distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio, responsible for such programs as SymphonyCast, Performance Today and Classical 24, the 24/7 classical music programming channel).

CPB is funding this initiative and April's forum was a second in a series designed to help public radio brainstorm, examine, and challenge ideas and approaches to building, strengthening and sustaining a classical music audience in the 21st century.

One thing that became apparent in the course of the discussion is that not all classical music stations are the same! Sounds obvious doesn't it? Well, what I mean is that there are stations, such as KUHF, that might be termed "dual format," i.e. presenting a programming mix of news/talk and classical music; and then there are stations that have little or no news/talk content focusing instead almost exclusively on classical music programming.

The needs and challenges of these different kinds of stations are not necessarily the same when it comes to ensuring an on-going audience for classical music.

In the spirit of collegiality (and survival?) everyone had been asked to bring with them some sort of show-and-tell element from their station or network, a programming innovation of which they were particularly proud, or which represented a new direction for them: a representative playlist perhaps, or a short sound sample.

Before leaving for NYC I thought about what I could say to this august group about KUHF that might make an impression and give them ideas for their own outfits. I have to say that I really didn't have to think that much before hitting on what I considered the perfect show-and-tell topic: the KUHF Chamber Ensemble.

I took copies of Reflections, the ensemble's 2005 release on KUHF's own label, to give to the various participants in New York. The CD includes two flute quartets by Franz Krommer and a Beethoven string trio.

My rationale was not crass self-promotion (although I'm sure that was an "unintended" consequence!), but rather to show KUHF's full commitment to the presentation of classical music.

One of the things I learned early on about KUHF is that it doesn't just play great classical music over the airwaves. Its presentation of this music forms a continuum; the music is broadcast over 88.7FM (both from CD and live on The Front Row), streamed online at KUHF.org, and is performed before audiences in Houston as well as recorded onto CD for even wider presentation.

This "presentational continuum" is something I believe makes KUHF special in the public radio world. There were a lot of very surprised faces when I gave each person around the table a copy of Reflections and explained that we had our own chamber ensemble which gave public performances and recorded CDs. I know of no other station in the country that has such an outreach tool.

Here at KUHF our commitment to classical music is complete. We make it available, or accessible if you will, in as many ways as possible. We share with our audiences not just the sound, but also the live experience of great music. And this is music that often comes from within the Houston community: music by and for Houstonians. I believe KUHF had good ideas about how to strengthen the audience for classical music to share with our colleagues around the country. And listeners to the station should take comfort in knowing that our love of this music is strong and multifaceted.

Public radio is not resting on its laurels or taking its classical music audience for granted. The debate about the nature of what we do is ongoing and productive. KUHF is part of that debate and engaged in ensuring future lovers of classical music in Houston and beyond.

And to briefly return to my mention of "crass self-promotion," a couple of stations emailed me after the trip to New York to say they were programming the KUHF Chamber Ensemble CD on their stations!