During his 4 month residency at Recology San Francisco back in 2007, young Bay Area composer Nathaniel Stookey was inspired to write Junkestra, a 3-movement piece for percussion instruments improvised from stuff he found at the dump! Stookey assembled what he called “a sonorous collection of pipes, pans, bottles, deck railings, bike wheels, bathroom fixtures and shopping carts”.  Junkestra has already been performed many times to great acclaim and you can hear it next when members of the SF Symphony take up these, uh, instruments to play it on May 9 at 2pm.  Click here for more.

Stookey

That’s the nickname for a beautiful gilded harpsichord built especially for Philharmonia Baroque’s maestro, Nicholas McGegan.  One of the cool things about this instrument is that it has two sets of legs so it can be one height when Nic is playing sitting down and higher when he is playing and conducting.  Here’s a photo:

Actually flying over the spectacular Bay Area with KDFC listener Bruce Bolla and his wife Karen at about 1500 feet.

This is your co-pilot, me.

Bruce is also a professional pilot for United Airlines and a pilot instructor. It was a perfect day to fly with hardly a bump all along the way and terrific visibility. Here’s some of our trip in pictures. Hope you enjoy them.

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The aircraft, a Beech Bonanza. Sweet.

Our new Bay Bridge under construction.

Fort Mason and Alcatraz.

Lake Merritt in Oakland.

Circling Alcatraz.

The Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay.

Approaching Half Moon Bay Airport.

Yes, Bruce even let me fly for a few minutes. Fun!

Hope you’ll be able to join us for our next KDFC at Yoshi’s SF concert.  This time we welcome pianist Jon Nakamatsu to the casual nightclub setting of Yoshi’s.  A native of the Peninsula, Jon won the 1997 Van Cliburn Competition and since then has become one of today’s most sought-after performers.  When he was here for a KDFC Casual Concert, we had a great time and discovered that he is not only incredibly talented as a musician but super articulate, funny, and approachable.  All those things will be on offer Monday, May 3rd at 8pm.  Get your tickets here and check out Jon’s website there.

Jon Nakamatsu