Damage Control

So my initial expectations for yesterday's concert were exceeded in some way, and fell short in others.  The weird stage provided some issues with balance (I kept being told to play much louder than I had in rehearsals, because the conductor couldn't hear me, even though I was actually quite loud to the audience) and Legends, despite again showcasing something that was far from complete, wasn't really that bad.  I think if we get a little more motivated (despite how dejected I sound about everything, I really do want this to fly), we might be able to put on a show that is not embarrassing.

Otherwise, I don't really have much to say, so I'll just talk about the second book that I've read for pleasure in almost a year (this is incredibly sad).  "Everything is Illuminated" is sort of a dual-narrative, one of which documents the birth and death of a small town in Ukraine called Trachimbrod - it reminds me strongly of Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude," the way it's written.  The other takes place in the present, following the American "hero" who shares the author's name (Jonathan Safran Foer) as he travels through Ukraine looking for a woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis.  Also in his entourage are Alex, a somewhat inept translator (who hilariously narrates this part of the novel in broken English), his blind grandfather, who drives for them, and his "seeing-eye bitch," Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior.  At first I was very impressed at how it could shift from being incredibly witty and funny to very sad, but toward the end the humor sort of vaporized, even when Alex was narrating.  That made the ending feel a bit off from the rest of the book, even though the last one hundred pages or so are supposed to be very sad when taking into account the subject matter.  Aside from that, the book is written with written with so much charisma and energy that I had trouble putting it down, and that's what we all look for in books, right?  Apparently, this is a movie as well.  I'll see it soon, hopefully.