Whistling a Happy Tune - LA Phil & Volunteering Excursions

**soundtrack to this post: - Starlight - Muse - right click & open in new tab **

Ok so...remember how I started this blog to fill my Sunday night HBO programming void?  Well let me explain the hiatus by saying True Blood and Curb are officially back and in full swing-- apologies!

LA Phil preps for the "Brahms Unbound" program

Summer is in full swing here in LA with the Royal couple visiting and next weekend's Carmageddon with the 405 closing.  Fortunately, I was able to cross off one of my to-do items before the craziness at work set in - specifically, visiting the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  I waited and waited and finally made the executive decision to brave the downtown drive the afternoon of Sunday, June 5th for the final show of the LA Phil's 10/11 season with Dudamel conducting Brahms' Fourth Symphony.  I scalped tix for the last row of the first mezz (still a great view) and the show was unbelievable.  What was especially cool was that the concert was broadcast live to movietheaters nationwide and John Lithgow introduced the program.  You can even download the live recording on itunes!

Outside Walt Disney Concert Hall

The concert was completely sold out and it was pretty cool to see the space at full capacity (2,265 people).  I've been excited to go here since I first moved out to LA but kept putting it off because I absolutely HATE going downtown *shudder*.  I became a fan of Frank Gehry's work since visiting the Guggenheim in Bilbao back in -oh, 2005? - and the concert hall is equally stunning.  A few building facts for you trivia enthusiasts:

• The project was launched in 1992, when Lillian Disney, widow of Walt Disney, donated $50 million (Gehry completed the designs in 1991)
• Upon completion in 2003, the project had cost an estimated $274 million, including the parking garage which had solely cost $110 million.
• The walls and ceiling of the hall are finished with Douglas-fir while the floor is finished with oak. The Hall's reverberation time is approximately 2.2 seconds unoccupied and 2.0 seconds occupied. (Note: I respect wood)
• The organ is a gift to the County of Los Angeles from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
• The first ever movie premiere at the concert hall was in 2003, when The Matrix Revolutions held its world premiere.

So that's that...which still leaves pretty much a month in which I've left you all high and dry wondering what I've been up to.  Biggest adventure was a trip to Springfield, MO ("The middle of everything" is their town motto - I kid you not) for work during which my team volunteered in Joplin, MO to assist in the tornado disaster relief efforts.  There really are no words to describe what it's like to see that kind of destruction in person...certainly incredibly humbling to come back to my life in LA afterwards.  So how it works there is having the debris on your property is considered a public safety hazard and if you don't dispose of it, the government organizations will do it for you and charge $3-5k.  As volunteers, we moved debris to the side of the road where it became public property to help homeowners avoid these expenses.  Whole system still kind of baffles me.  I mean - you can see the destruction from the picture to the right and this is a month after the tornado hit.  


And that's pretty much that depressing note I'm going to leave you on this Sunday evening.  Exciting posts to come though, including the long awaited family visit to LA and seeing Eddie Izzard at the Hollywood Bowl next week.  Later Gators!

CTOWN OUT!