In a matchup between Palisades private schools, the Calvary Christian girls volleyball team defeated defending Junior Delphic League champion St. Matthews, 25-17, 25-17, last Thursday at the St Matthew’s gym. Calvary exacted a measure of revenge against the team that eliminated them in the Delphic League semifinals last year. Eighth-graders Glenna Roberts, Cati Hance, Hilary Dahl and Catherine Price led the Cougars while seventh-grader Maya McPherson made numerous kills. Dahl passed well in her defensive specialist role. Other valuable contributions were made by Christina McHugh, Genevieve Dash and Tate Johnson. Calvary is coached by Brian and Karen Kelly. ‘St. Matthews is a well-coached team,’ Brian Kelly said. ‘We put forth a good effort and we are looking forward to our remaining games.’ All six Calvary starters play for Sunshine Volleyball Club. Along with St. Matthew’s, Calvary competes in the Junior Delphic League with Harvard-Westlake, Brentwood, St. Paul’s and Windward.
Judith Lengyel, 59; Pioneering Molecular Biologist at UCLA
Judith Ann Lengyel, a molecular biologist at UCLA, whose groundbreaking work has created new insights into how specific genes control cell shape and movement during the formation of an organism, died September 25. Lengyel, 59, a professor of molecular and developmental biology at UCLA for 28 years, died from a brain tumor. She was a longtime resident of Pacific Palisades, where she enjoyed hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains and bicycling. ‘Judith was an amazing figure who broke new ground in determining how organisms evolve,’ said Utpal Banerjee, chair of the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. ‘She was a superb scientist, a role model and a mentor for women in the sciences, and a national leader in advancement of work in molecular biology.’ Born in Rochester, New York, Lengyel moved to Los Angeles at an early age. She attended Palisades Elementary, Paul Revere and University High, then earned her undergraduate degree in microbiology at UCLA in 1967. She received her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in molecular biology. Lengyel conducted post-doctoral work at MIT in molecular and developmental biology, beginning her work on genetic development in drosophila (fruit flies) that she would continue for the rest of her career. In 1976, Lengyel became an assistant professor in the biology department and the Molecular Biology Institute at UCLA. With her first student, Kathryn Anderson, she pioneered the measurement of the rates of synthesis and turnover of messenger RNAs in drosophila embryos’research that opened the door to modern molecular approaches to investigating development of organisms. ‘Judith conducted landmark research on ‘tailless,’ an extremely interesting gene with many unique properties that affect development,’ said John Merriam, professor of molecular and developmental biology at UCLA. ‘Her work was instrumental in creating a revolution in biology that had a major impact on our understanding of how genes control the development of the embryo. ‘It is likely that the tailless interacts with other signals to lead to specific head and tail organs. Judith’s work on tailless led to a more contemporary question: how are the cells that make these organs actually controlled?’ said Merriam. ‘Judith played an important role in promoting the idea that the signaling pathways used in the early embryo are deployed again at later stages of development, and are also used in adults to maintain the integrity of organs,’ said associate professor Karen Lyons. ‘This concept emerged from the collected work of many scientists, but Judith’s research certainly provided some of the strongest arguments supporting it. Among her most specific contributions were many papers clarifying the details of the tailless signaling pathway. The work was one of the earliest examples to show that repression of gene activity is as important for proper development as is activation of gene activity.’ Lengyel’s honors include Phi Beta Kappa (1967), elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1992), the Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award (1996), elected California representative to the National Fly Board (2001-2004), and elected treasurer of the Society for Developmental Biology (2002-2004). Well known for her active role in teaching, mentoring and as a role model for young scientists, Lengyel established and regularly taught the upper division developmental biology course, bringing in most of the other faculty who now teach in this course. She was a leader in many arenas to promote graduate and undergraduate teaching in developmental biology. Lengyel is the daughter of physicist Bela Lengyel, the founding chair of the Department of Physics at Cal State Northridge, and Helen Wilman. In addition to her husband, Frederick Eiserling, she is survived by two stepchildren, Erik and Ingrid, and her brother, Thomas. Plans for a memorial service are pending. Call 825-1054 for the time and location.
Christol’s New Book Tackles International Law
Quitting skiing led Palisadian Carl Q. Christol, 91, to write his latest book. In 2001, a friend of his was in a skiing accident and Christol, a lifelong athlete who still swims a half-mile every day, decided it was time for him to give up skiing also because it was too dangerous. His book, ‘International Law and U.S. Foreign Policy,’ is the result. ”Christol, a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of international law and political science at USC, would like citizens to be well-informed and to participate in the formulation of American foreign policy. He will be sign and discuss his new book at Village Books this Sunday, October 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. ”The book was designed for both a general audience that would like to understand foreign policy better prior to November’s election and also for university students who are interested in public policy and foreign policy, international law and U.S. Constitutional law. ”Drawing on his athletic life, Christol offers an analogy between international law and the rules for sports contests. International law, he explains, ‘is the product of the collective actions and decisions of countries wishing to fix rules for their international relations. These rules are designed to serve their basic interests and to promote a maximum world order.’ ”Comparing this to a football game, he says: ‘A football game is played on a gridiron with fixed boundaries. Players must stay within the boundary if they want to make gains or to score.’ ”The book is divided into 10 chapters with sections on international criminal tribunals, environment and climate change, anti-personnel land mines, arms control and disarmament, the Middle East peace process, the war in Iraq and terrorism. In fact, Christol has been concerned about terrorism for a long time and brings the perspective of years of study to his view of the problem. ”In 1987, Christol was quoted in USC’s Daily Trojan that ‘now terrorism is getting to such a boiling point that we ought to be taking a look at it. Unfortunately, the more freedom a country has, the more open it is to terrorism.’ At that time he was the organizer of a conference on terrorism, whose principal speaker was L. Paul Bremer, the Department of State Ambassador-at-Large for terrorist activities. Bremer’s work emphasized preventing aerial hijacking, the protection of U.S. government personnel serving abroad and the effective criminal prosecution of terrorists. ”Christol says the controversial part of his new book is about the war in Iraq, which President Bush has been defending and Senator Kerry has called ‘wrong war, wrong place, wrong time.’ ”Based on his own World War II experience as an infantry officer, Christol has been a careful observer of military policy. ‘You cannot have troops in a standby position in the blazing hot heat of Saudi Arabia and Iraq at a time when periodic sandstorms begin to travel at high speeds. Why? Sand gets into tanks and guns’incapacitating or neutralizing their potential utility. It was very bad planning by the Pentagon to get troops in a precarious position before diplomacy, when desert storms started kicking up.’ ”The book addresses the approaches of unilateralism vs. multilateralism. ‘Unilateralists are also called realists, while multilateralists also claim they are approaching from a realistic basis, but they rely more on a legalistic-moralistic approach.’ Christol gives the example of Henry Kissinger as a realist and Woodrow Wilson as having a multilateral approach. ”The book acknowledges the important role of globalization and analyzes the manner in which the Clinton and Bush administrations have been committed to multilateralism and unilateralism. ”’My own biases are in favor of multilateralism and the need to give the United Nations another chance in the area of security, as well as to make evident contributions to education, social and health benefits, and the promotion of basic human rights.’ Christol is also a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court. ”Christol grew up in South Dakota, graduated from the University of South Dakota, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and his L.L.B. from Yale Law School. He moved to the Palisades in 1967 with his wife Jeannette, daughter Susan and son Richard. This is his ninth book, including several on his specialty, space law. ”Christol taught at USC for 40 years and received the school’s Raubenheimer Outstanding Senior Faculty Award in 1982. In 1962-63, he held the international law chair at the U.S. Naval War College. ” ”A Palisades Rotary Club member and a member of the peacemaking committee of the Palisades Presbyterian Church, Christol is available to speak about his book to small groups in the Palisades area. In the book’s addendum, he encourages voters to influence foreign policy choices, by writing to their leaders, their newspaper, and by keeping abreast of current events.
A Gourmet Political Rally
A truly grassroots effort in a Palisades neighborhood raised $50,225 Sunday when 301 Democrats paid $150 apiece for a Kerry/Edwards political rally and festive gourmet dinner at the home of Stefano and Debra Coaloa on Grenola. Originally the brainstorm of Palisadian attorney Scott Corwin (Palisadian-Post, October 7), a trustee of the Democratic National Committee, the party evolved into the biggest political gathering in many years in the Palisades as 14 Palisades couples joined the preparations. Said Susan Corwin, Scott’s wife: ‘We had four chefs who are neighbors (Stefano Coaloa, Rob Vogel, Steve Mindel and Antonio Cocoa), 10 servers and helpers, hundreds of hours at committee meetings planning and replanning, and neighbors who were understanding enough to let the party happen even if they have an alternative point of view.’ She continued, ‘I know that everybody loved the food. At my table, my mother-in-law commented that the dinner here was better than her meal at the $5,000-a-plate Kerry fundraiser at the Sheraton Miramar Hotel. Several guests asked me who catered the party, and when I said, ‘Our neighbors!’ they were stunned in disbelief.’ Guest speakers at the event included California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, L.A. City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, and State Assemblymember Fran Pavley.
Palisadian Recalls Reeve’s Final Movie
‘I don’t think there’s a day that’s gone by that I haven’t thought about Chris and how he’s made me consistently think about how lucky I am and to appreciate everything I have.’ These are the reflective words of Palisadian Paul Maibaum, who had the privilege of working with Christopher Reeve in what would unwittingly become Reeve’s final film project. Reeve, perhaps best known for his role as Superman, went into cardiac arrest Saturday, then fell into a coma and died Sunday at the age of 52. Doctors said he died of complications from an infection. After a horse jumping accident in May 1995 left him paralyzed from the neck down, Reeve became a strong advocate for both spinal cord and stem cell research and, in turn, was an inspiration to many. Primarily a veteran of the television industry, Maibaum works for Universal as a director of photography, a position that oversees all the components that appear on camera, ranging from production design to set decoration. Some of his TV credits include ‘Run of the House,’ ‘Lucky,’ ‘Dragnet,’ ‘Grounded for Life,’ ‘The Invisible Man’ and ‘Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.’ This past summer, Maibaum worked on the A&E television movie Reeve directed called ‘The Brooke Ellison Story.’ The docudrama is based on the real-life story of a girl, who at age 11 became quadriplegic after being hit by a car. The two-hour program chronicles Brooke’s incredible and inspiring journey from the fateful car crash to her graduation day at Harvard. Filmed in New Orleans from the end of June through July, the movie stars Lacey Chabert (‘Mean Girls’) as Brooke and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (‘The Perfect Storm’) and John Slattery (‘Mona Lisa Smile’) as Brooke’s ever-supportive parents. Maibaum fondly recalls the first day he met Reeve on the set: ‘He got out of his big, black van with his driver, nurse and assistant and was adamant on negotiating everything on his own’getting himself into the building, into the elevator and up to the second floor. We exchanged hellos and he gave me a wink and said, ‘Thank you very much for coming’ with the most sincerity I’ve ever seen anybody have.’ This was the second TV movie Reeve had directed. In 1997, he directed an HBO movie called ‘In the Gloaming’ which dealt with the issue of AIDS. To accommodate Reeve’s arduous routine following his morning awakening, the production ran on a five-week, 9- to 10-hour-a-day timetable as opposed to the standard TV movie filming of four weeks, 12 to 14 hours a day. As a result of his injury, Reeve was unable to regulate his own body temperature and was regularly kept in an air-conditioned space. A room equipped with state-of-the-art cameras was also set up which allowed Reeve to view filming that took place in small spaces, such as a bathroom. In addition, a lipstick, or spy, camera was positioned (Continued on Page 6) on Reeve’s microphone so the actors could see a video image of him on the set. ”Although he was physically separated from the activity, he could always see what was going on and was always part of the production,’ says Maibaum, a director of photography for 13 years. ‘Directing really gave him all the control that he really didn’t have.’ Since the director, the assistant director and the director of photography are ‘the nexus’ of a TV movie, Maibaum collaborated very closely with Reeve. ‘Chris made me feel extremely welcome and that all my ideas were valid, even if they weren’t necessarily the ideas he was going to use. He was the kind of guy who pulled the best out of you.’ Reeve’s wife, Dana, and 12-year-old son, Will, both had small acting roles in the movie. One on-set memory that stood out for Maibaum was when Will was standing next to his father and playfully gave him ‘a big noogie.’ The real Brooke Ellison and her family also visited the set and even witnessed a few scenes. Maibaum says he believes the movie goes ‘beyond the level of your generic TV movie of a family crisis.’ ‘I’m not belittling those other movies dealing with important issues, but I think there’s something very different about this one because the guy at the helm knew intimately what it meant to be confined in a wheelchair, unable to breathe on his own or even turn his head to look at you. Because he was in the same condition [as Brooke], he was a stickler for the truth.’ Looking back, Maibaum says he saw no indication that Reeve’s health was waning in any way during filming. He says Reeve was consistently early on set, often stayed late to review the next day’s work and even met with crew members on weekends to discuss the production. On days off, Maibaum recalls seeing Reeve at a movie theater and touring the city’s French Quarter. ‘After a few hours with him, you pretty much forgot he was in a wheelchair,’ Maibaum says. ‘He was like any other creative mind and wheelchair or not, spinal cord injury or not, he could direct.’ The last correspondence Maibaum had with Reeve was through e-mail during the film’s post-production stage at the end of September. ‘He was telling me how much responsibility he thought I took for how good the show looked,’ Maibaum recounts. ‘I felt I had been overly complimented because it was his inspiration that made everyone rise to the occasion.’ Maibaum, who learned of Reeve’s sudden death in the newspaper Monday, says he was ‘shocked’ and ‘greatly saddened’ by the news. ‘I considered him a friend. He was more than someone I had worked with because he had touched me so much.’ Maibaum says he believes Reeve would want to be remembered for ‘being courageous, having a dream and keeping a sense of humor.’ ‘One of the things that kind of took the edge off the anguish off his passing for me was that he did get to see the film completed. He got to screen a DVD copy of it at his house with his family and friends.’ A self-proclaimed ‘townie,’ Maibaum grew up in Rustic Canyon and now lives with his wife Julie in the Marquez area. Their daughter Shanna is a freshman at San Diego State University. Maibaum is currently at work on a new NBC mid-season comedy ‘Crazy For You,’ which debuts in January. ‘The Brooke Ellison Story’ airs Monday, October 25 at 8 p.m. on A&E. For more information, log onto http://www.aetv.com and click on ‘The Brooke Ellison Story.’
Renaissance Academy’s Ongoing Saga
How did Renaissance Academy convert 13,600-sq.-ft. of office space in the 881 Alma Real building into usable classroom space in less than seven weeks this summer? It was a remarkable feat ‘by any standard,’ said Ron Skarin, chief inspector of L.A.’s Department of Building and Safety for West L.A. When, exactly, did construction on improvements for the new public charter high school begin? ‘I don’t know,’ Skarin told the Palisadian-Post on Tuesday. Why was the work started without proper building permits from the city? ‘I don’t know,’ said Skarin. Why was a building permit issued by Building and Safety for the improvements to the terrace (lower) level just one week before RA received its temporary Certificate of Occupancy on September 17, even though extensive work had been going on in the space leased by the school for weeks prior to that date? ‘That should not have happened,’ he said, acknowledging the one-week discrepancy. The Palisadian-Post’s ongoing investigation of the controversy over Renaissance Academy’s use of space in the Alma Real commercial/business building intensified last week after the school applied to Building and Safety for a ‘change of use’ permit, which would give the school an E(ducation)-Occupancy, allowing for one person per every 20 sq.ft., instead of the current B(usiness)-Occupancy which is limited to one person per 100 sq.ft. The change of use would allow for over 350 students. The landlord’s reaction was swift. On October 5, in a letter to Alan Wendell, the chief inspector for Building and Safety downtown, Schem wrote: ‘I do not approve any building permits of any type, including change of use permits, to be issued with respect to RA.’ That same day, the school was told by Building and Safety that the reason it could not issue the change of use permit was because parking had become an issue. Under the Pacific Palisades Specific Plan, a high school requires ‘seven parking spaces for each classroom or teaching station.’ This plan technically requires RA, if and when it is officially permitted by Building and Safety to use all 15 classrooms, to provide a total of 105 parking spaces in the building. While the underground garage can accommodate up to 268 vehicles, and the school has only 27 designated spaces in its lease’reflecting the current permitted use of four classrooms’ RA said it only needs 20 spaces and has already applied to the city for a parking variance. ‘We’re only asking for 20 because our traffic study will show that with carpooling and the use of vanpools we don’t need seven spaces per classroom,’ said RA president Bill Bryan, who detailed for the Post on Monday the school’s plan to obtain the variance, which takes several weeks. A traffic study is required to measure the potential impact of an increase in vehicles in the area, and how the school plans to mitigate the problem. ‘First, notices will be sent to all homeowners and businesses within a 500-ft. radius of the school,’ said Bryan, president of the RA board. ‘A public hearing will be held, after which the city will make a determination regarding the number of parking spaces needed. Then the city will deal with our request for the change of use to occupy all 15 classrooms.’ But why bother with a public hearing when RA, which is its own school district under the charter school system, could invoke California government code No. 53094, which would exempt the school from the city’s zoning ordinances? Bryan said that ‘the [RA] board has passed a motion to invoke the code if necessary, but we don’t want to further inflame the community.’ From Inspector Skarin’s point of view the school’s request for a change of use to occupy all 15 classrooms ‘reflects what already exists and what was planned all along.’ He called the school’s current use of the unpermitted space ‘a calculated risk which could create a libelous situation for the owner.’ Skarin told the Post that his department would not intervene at this time because ‘there do not appear to be any life safety issues and the school is working to correct the situation by applying for the parking variance.’ While Skarin did say that there are penalties for doing construction without the proper building permits (paying double the permit fees, for example), it is rarely enforced. ‘Unfortunately, this is typical of what goes on’people come to us after the fact, as is the situation in this case. We work with them until they are in compliance.’ Skarin said that in his 30 years with the city he has rarely seen owner-tenant disputes and has ‘never had a case like this’ in which litigation is being threatened by both sides. ‘The position we take is that the tenant has the owner’s approval for the improvements. If there is a dispute it then becomes a civil matter, which we would not get involved in. When that gets resolved, we can then deal with the request for the change in use. If the owner does not agree, he can file an appeal to stop the process.’ Skarin is scheduled to review the school’s temporary Certificate of Occupancy on Friday, when it officially expires. The last time he reviewed it, after personally visiting the site on Monday, September 13, at which time he found that more rooms were being used than the four permitted, he recommended that the C of O not be renewed. However, he was overruled by his superiors downtown. ‘I don’t really know what went on there,’ Skarin said. Asked if Scott Adler, a member of the Renaissance board and former commissioner with L.A.’s Department of Building and Safety (1993-96), intervened, Skarin said he didn’t know but that ‘undoubtably his knowledge of the department presumably helped them get what they needed.’ Adler, an attorney, builder and parent of an RA student, told the Post that he did speak to Building and Safety about reissuing the C of O. While he was involved in the renovations on a daily basis from the beginning of August, and said that ‘some steps were missed’ in the rush to get the construction completed on time, Adler also said, ‘we were always working with plans to eventually allow for eight classrooms on the terrace level and seven on the ground floor. The only real problem turns out to be the parking and we don’t need nearly as many spaces as we would if we were operating a business here. We’re operating a school not a billiard hall or a bar.’ Having received clearance from the fire department last week, the school opened up the terrace level to 150 students and is allowing 65 students to use the space on the ground level. While that allows for a maximum of 215 students and teachers to utilize the leased space, there is sufficient room on both floors to accommodate the entire RA student body. The enrollment number as of yesterday was 324, 13 students less than the end of September. Landlord Greg Schem, who has recently installed video cameras in the building, reiterated to the Post on Tuesday that the reason he did not approve RA plans for his building is ‘because they were never submitted to me, even though I requested them several times.’ At the point he saw that the demolition had begun, Schem presumed the proper permits had been pulled and asked for copies of them. Asked why he allowed any work to go on in his building before approving the plans he said ‘because I wanted to be cooperative.’ He said the plans were finally submitted to him three or four weeks ago. When told by the Post that RA has this week allowed up to 215 students in the building Schem was upset. ‘In spite of what the fire marshal says, if the school continues to allow that many students it will force us into the position of terminating the lease earlier.’ As of now, RA’s lease with Schem, which does not specify how many students may occupy the building, terminates June 16, 2005. The Renaissance Academy Charter, which Schem said he had not seen until recently, allows for growth up to 400 students over three years. Palisadian-Post reporter Alyson Sena contributed to this report.
Tom Neenan Mixes Familiar and Challenging Works in Chamber Orchestra’s 20-Year Run
When Tom Neenan founded the St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra 20 years ago, he had 50 percent of what he needed: world-class acoustics in an architecturally inspiring church. The other half of what Neenan was looking for’a core of professional musicians’not only joined the orchestra, but many have remained committed season after season. ” ‘We started with four people who wanted to develop a chamber orchestra,’ says Neenan, who was hired as St. Matthew’s music director in 1981 while he doing graduate work at UCLA in organ, conducting and music history. The group of four friends included Neenan, violinist/violist Maria Newman, oboist Heidi Chisholm and Neenan’s wife cellist Robin Guyett. These friends invited other musicians in the Los Angeles chamber world and the orchestra launched its first season. ”The debut concert was conceived around the newly installed C.B. Fisk organ in 1985, and the first commissioned piece was written by Maria Newman’s brother David, who was already making a name for himself as a film composer. ”Rarely does a group of professional musicians outside the highest level of orchestras [e.g., L.A. Philharmonic] play all the concerts in the season, Neenan says. ‘We really hit our stride 8 to 10 years ago when it was became clear that we had a core group of 20 or 25.’ For this 20th anniversary season, several long-time orchestra principal players will be featured in works commissioned in their honor, or as soloists in favorite works from past seasons. ”From the outset, Neenan thought ambitious thoughts for the orchestra, which he has demonstrated by balancing the familiar repertory with the unfamiliar. ”’I think part of our success has been programming pieces that the audience is familiar with and others that they have never heard. Our audience trusts us.’ ”Violist Marda Todd, a Palisadian who has been an orchestra member for eight years, considers Neenan’s skill at programming his special talent. ”’I know that every season I will be playing a piece that I have never played before or I’m unfamiliar with. Tom is always putting together interesting and balanced programs.’ ”The St. Matthew’s Chamber’s classical repertory is extensive. ‘We can play 60 percent of the literature that big symphony orchestras can play, everything except the big 19th- and 20th- century symphonies that depend on size,’ Neenan says. ”He is particularly proud of having tackled Beethoven’s symphonies over the last nine years, culminating next June with the Ninth in a spectacular conclusion to the 20th season. The orchestra will be expanded to over 50 players and the choir will be joined by members of several area choirs’with more than 160 participating’in two performances. ”Neenan begins planning for the upcoming season about a year and a half in advance. ‘I generally listen to a lot of music and go to a lot of concerts. I find a composer I like and invite him to do a concert.’ Most of the composers are Los Angeles-based, and many of them teach at local universities. ”This year, six out of the eight concerts feature new pieces, some commissioned by individuals, others by the St. Matthew’s Music Guild. The commissioned piece by Roger Bourland for the November program is of special note, says Neenan, because it was written for the four long-time principals in the orchestra. Entitled ‘The Night Train,’ it features Jim Lasota, flute, Amy Shulman, harp, Aaron Smith, percussion, and Guyett-Neenan. ”Over the years, there have been some standout moments, Neenan says, recalling several. ‘One of the concerts that had an astounding effect on the audience was Britten’s ‘Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.’ It’s an incredible, powerful piece of music. At the end, the French horn is played at a distance. I remember that Rick [Marda’s husband hornist Richard Todd] sneaked out the door into the courtyard and played solo. I will always remember that moment. I have goose bumps up and down my legs even now.’ ”Another memorable evening came in 1996 when 16-year-old Andrew von Oeyen (a Crossroads student) played Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Now 22, Oeyen has a full concertizing career, but will return as he does every year, in January, for a solo recital at St. Matthew’s. ”The feeling at St. Matthew’s is familial’60 percent of the subscribers are somehow involved with the parish and the ensemble gets solid financial support from the parish, Neenan says, adding that audiences have been steadily growing: 70 percent of the audience is non-parishioners. ‘I think one of the reasons we have been successful in the last five years is the increase in traffic. Many subscribers have given up their subscriptions to all the downtown events.’ ”But while Neenan is encouraged by healthy attendance, he would like to attract music lovers from farther afield. ”’There is this barrier that I find difficult to overcome,’ he says. ‘We have to dispel the idea that Pacific Palisades is some closed enclave way out there and difficult to get to. We have people from Malibu, 90049 and Santa Monica, but really not east of the 405.’ ”Neenan would also like to find a way to perform some of the season’s concerts in a second location, a concept he is trying with the Beethoven Ninth concert in June. One performance will be help at Corpus Christi Church in the Palisades and the other at a Methodist church in Pasadena. ‘It would be economically advantageous, but we haven’t found a venue or a support base for this yet.’ ”Meanwhile, Neenan anticipates the next 20 years offering a panoply of new program ideas. ‘I would like to finish performing all of the pieces for solo voice and chamber by Britten. This is incredible literature you don’t hear that often. There is also a lot of music being written in the modern Western style by Asian composers’sort of like the Asian fusion restaurant concept, where you are infusing Western-style cuisine with Asian flavors.’ Neenan will give of a hint of what’s to come in May, when he conducts Bright Sheng’s ‘Postcards,’ in which the composer used as inspiration beautiful places in Northern Japan. ”St. Matthew’s season opens Friday, October 15 at 8 p.m. with Falcone’s ‘Fanfare for Orchestra,’ Mozart arias and duets, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. Tickets at the door are $20. Contact: 573-7787, ext. 2.
Brass Quintet Launches Chamber Music Series
The Crown City Brass Quintet will make its debut appearance at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, October 19 at St. Matthew’s Parish, 1031 Bienveneda, when Chamber Music Palisades presents the opening concert of its eighth season. The quintet will be joined by flutist Susan Greenberg, pianist Delores Stevens and narrator Alan Chapman in works by Monteverdi, Mozart, Lutoslawski, Andre Previn and others. ”Crown City Brass has become especially known for seeking and performing new compositions for its ensemble, said Delores Stevens, CMP’s Artistic Director. ‘In 1994, just two years after they were formed, the quintet performed 10 new works for brass quintet in collaboration with the Pacific Composers Forum,’ she said. ” ”Members of the quintet are Rob and Marty Frear, trumpets; Sarah Bach, horn; Andrew Malloy, trombone; and Norm Pearson, tuba. ”Former principal trumpet with the Israel Philharmonic, Robert Frear has performed to critical acclaim throughout Europe, Asia, South America and the former Soviet Union. He holds a master’s degree from USC and currently conducts the trumpet ensemble at Cal State Long Beach. ”Marty Fenton Frear was a prizewinner at the 1991 Keystone Brass Quintet Competition and toured with the Israel Philharmonic in Japan, the former Soviet Union and throughout Europe. She has performed with several Southern California orchestras and with the Stuttgart Ballet and the American Ballet Theater. ”Shortly after graduating from the Eastman School of Music, hornist Sarah Bach promptly joined the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and toured extensively in Europe and throughout North America for the next three years. She obtained her master’s degree at Rice University and is currently principal horn with the International Philharmonia. ”Trombonist Andrew Malloy performs regularly with many Southern California orchestras. He received his bachelor of music ed. degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree from the Juilliard School. ”Norman Pearson has been the tubaist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra since 1993. Prior to his 1992 graduation from USC, he was appointed principal tuba with the Orquestra Filarmonica de Caracas in Venezuela. Upon his return to Los Angeles, he made many appearances with the Pacific Symphony, Joffrey Ballet and the Los Angeles Music Center Opera. ”Chamber Music Palisades was formed in 1996 by flutist Susan Greenberg and pianist Delores Stevens, both longtime Palisades residents. Contact: 459-2070 or 454-4024. General admission tickets will be available at the door for $20. Students are free.
A Poet Becomes a Novelist Like That
It has become a cliche to regard a writer’s first novel as autobiographical. But in Lisa Glatt’s case, she readily concedes similarities between her own life and that of her heroine in ‘A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That’ (Simon & Schuster, 2004). ”Glatt will speak and sign copies of her book tonight, October 14, at 7:30 p.m. at Village Books, 1049 Swathmore. ”Rachel Spark, the narrator, is a free-spirited 30-year-old poet and college instructor who lives at home with her mother, a terminally ill cancer patient. Despite her fate, the mother maintains a cheerful and optimistic take on life, while Rachel is consumed by a frantic grief, played out as a string of doomed love affairs and one night stands. ”Glatt’s own mother died of breast cancer in 1998 and, like the mother in the novel, Glatt’s mom maintained a calm, upbeat attitude throughout it all. ‘I wanted to show how individual every response to illness is,’ explains Glatt, who lives in Long Beach and teaches writing at Cal State. ”Glatt describes Rachel’s grief as closer to a state of terror, one that separates her from people and makes it impossible to connect honestly with anyone. Rachel’s story, the main narrative, is cast in the context of the stories of two other women’Ella, Rachel’s star student, who is facing issues of marital infidelity and Georgia, a bright young girl whose reckless behavior leads to venereal disease. ‘These women all make huge horrible mistakes,’ says Glatt, continuing ‘but it’s the best they can do at the moment. It’s not always going to be like this’good things await them.’ ”Given the bleak circumstances of the plot line, Glatt’s novel is never morose, but focused on the living. It is both funny and cynical, sweet without being sentimental.” ”Yes, like Rachel, Glatt is a writer and teacher. But unlike Rachel, the author is happily married to David Hernandez, a poet and visual artist. ‘Fiction gives permission to lie,’ Glatt says with a laugh. ‘Rachel is a little wilder than I ever was.’ ”Glatt, the author of two collections of poetry, began the novel when her mother was still living. It first appeared as a short story, the provocative title referring to the narrator’s lifelong pattern of unfulfilling relationships: ‘A girl becomes a comma like that, with wrong boy after wrong boy; she becomes a pause, something quick before the real thing.’ ”The original story slowly evolved into a book, with other previously written stories woven into it. Glatt favored this ‘novel-in-stories’ form since it allowed her to ‘have a break or pause between the main narrative and other women who intersect her life.’ ”The author has a new collection of short stories entitled ‘The Apple’s Bruise’ coming out next spring. She’s working on a new book, and hopes to continue writing fiction, a genre where she can meld the story with her poetry. ‘I’ve always been interested in the story in a poem and the poetry in a story,’ she says. ”Glatt also teaches private writing workshops. For information, visit her Web site: www.lisaglatt.com.
My Italian Adventure
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It’s easy to lose track of time when you travel. Days of the week become a blur, and when you’re not showing up for work, weekends morph into weekdays. Throw in jet lag, and time ceases to have its normal meaning. ”So it was easy for me to get the dates mixed up when I was trying to make hotel reservations for our stay in Venice. ”My husband John and I had just arrived in Zurich early on a Sunday morning this September for the start of a 10-day vacation. Although it had been a dream of mine to go to Italy since a college art history class my sophomore year, the trip ended up being arranged on the spur of the moment. I wasn’t used to spur of the moment and I was worried about not having reservations in advance, and other things that might happen. Most of the fears I had didn’t come to pass, but other fears that never occurred to me did. ”Numerous Venice hotels were full, so when we finally found one we took it. It was only when we were in an Internet caf’ later to e-mail the hotel and confirm the reservation, that I realized I had given the hotel the wrong date on the phone. ”Taking the train from Switzerland, we spent a night in Lake Como, and two days later arrived in Venice. We took the water bus from the train station, and made our way through the narrow streets to find the hotel. ‘Didn’t you get our e-mail?’ the woman at the front desk inquired. ‘We’re all booked for the dates you wanted, but we have another hotel and there’s an apartment you can use for the same price.’ We gladly accepted the apartment. ”Although we didn’t need the kitchen and dining room, having our own apartment in this magical city felt luxurious. My mistake had given us something better than we could have planned. My favorite artwork in Venice was the intricate and richly colored mosaics of Biblical figures in the Basilica on St. Mark’s Square, but mostly we just enjoyed the city itself, and planned most of our museum-going for our next destination, Florence. ”The one piece of art I had most wanted to see since college was the baptistery doors by Lorenzo Ghiberti. I still can remember sitting in the a darkened history class and being blown away by the slide of these great bronze doors with their three-dimensional perspective. When we arrived in Florence, we walked straight to the Duomo to see the replica doors, as well as the original panels housed in a nearby museum. ”The next day featured a tour of three Davids. First the original by Michelangelo, in the Accademia museum, celebrating its 500th birthday that month. We saw a second David, a bronze copy, in the Piazza del Michelangelo along with a gorgeous overview of the city. We continued on to the Uffizi Gallery, seeing everything from the delicate, translucent veils painted by Filippino Lippi, to Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus,’ whose beautiful, sleepy eyes were repeated in the artist’s other paintings. Walking out into the rain, we saw our friend David again, another copy, covered in scaffolding. ”On the way from Florence to Rome the next day, I looked in my purse for the digital camera to take pictures out the train window. My stomach dropped when I realized the camera wasn’t there. It wasn’t even my camera; I had borrowed it from a friend. And it had all the pictures from our trip. Hadn’t we downloaded any of them? asked the couple sitting across from us. No’there was nothing I could do but wait until I got off the train in Rome. When we arrived at our hotel, I called the hotel in Florence. I knew the camera wasn’t in our room, because I had it after we checked out, but could have left it when we went to the lobby to pick up our bags and leave. The hotel clerk hadn’t seen it, but he suggested I call back the next day and speak to housekeeping. ”He also gave me the number of the train station and I just started making phone calls. Adjusting to an old-fashioned rotary phone was difficult, and I got a recording I didn’t understand. I called the bus company (we had taken the bus to the train) but couldn’t figure out how to say noon or 12 in Italian, to explain when I was on the bus. The page of Italian phrases in the guidebook only gave numbers up to 10. Trying to say uno’due (one-two) wasn’t working. So, I called again, and a kind man transferred me to an English-speaking woman. She gave me the number of the bus depot where another kind man told us to call back at 10 p.m. ”That evening, after a romantic sunset visit to the Spanish Steps, I tossed three coins in the Trevi Fountain, with one of my wishes that I find the camera in the next 24 hours. I prayed to find the camera. In my mind I imagined having to tell my friend ‘I lost your camera’ and not seeing any of the photos I had taken. ”I asked Enzo, our front desk clerk, if he could call the bus depot for me. No camera there. He tried the train station, but since their automated system required a push-button phone, he kindly offered to make the call from his home. ”The next morning, we woke up early to take a thrilling self-guided tour of the Vatican, a whirlwind of art from ancient Egypt and Rome to modern-day works highlighted by the Sistine Chapel. I finally had a chance to call the hotel again during lunch. Our waiter pointed out a pay phone on the street. I didn’t know how to operate it and inquired in the money exchange office where a woman told me she didn’t know either because ‘I always use my mobile.’ I inquired elsewhere and learned I had to buy a phone card and where. Finally I placed the call. Eureka! Francesco at the hotel said they’d found the camera in the hotel bathroom. ”The relief of the camera being found was a weight off my shoulders. I’d worry later about how to get it home. Off we went for a wonderful afternoon seeing St. Peter’s and the Colosseum, taking pictures with the disposable camera we bought. ”The next day it was time to leave for Zurich, where we we would spend one last night before flying home. Instead of boarding the plane immediately from the boarding tunnel, we rode a little bus which took us to a small plane. ”After a short, uneventful flight we arrived in Zurich. John’s bag came off the carousel right away. Several of us waited and waited, but our luggage never arrived. We all shuffled over to the lost baggage department. The man who helped me said the same thing had happened on the flight the day before! His theory: the airplane was just too small and they didn’t have room for everyone’s luggage. He guessed it might be coming later that night, and be delivered to the hotel, or early the next morning where I could pick it up before our flight. ”When the luggage didn’t arrive, I called and found out it had gone to’ Casablanca! But at that point I was mostly amused’I would miss only the souvenirs I had bought in Italy. It was the end of a wonderful trip and my dream came true to see some of the artwork that I had sketched and studied during college.” ”Like all the other misadventures we had, these turned out okay, thanks to the kindness of many strangers. The luggage was delivered to our home around midnight the following day and the camera arrived a week later. Maybe they needed to have more adventures and weren’t quite ready to come home.
