Column

I like Dustin Hoffman. I like Emma Thompson. I like them because they have the ability to act like real people. No flash, no dash, just someone who could be your next door neighbor or your best friend. So today, I bring you a little known movie from 2009, Last Chance Harvey.

New Yorker, Harvey Shine is on the verge of losing his job as a jingle writer. He has been warned by his boss that he has one more chance to deliver and he has the younger guys “nipping at his heels.” Harvey needs to go to London for the weekend for his daughter’s wedding. Carry-on bag in hand he heads across the pond on the redeye. Government worker, Kate Walker works at the airport for the Public Statistics Agency. She surveys incoming passengers at Heathrow and endures relentless calls from her mother about every aspect of her life, especially her singleness.

Arriving in London, Harvey checks into the hotel his daughter has arranged for him only to find out with a call to his daughter that his ex-wife has rented a home for the rest of the family to use. As the day unfolds, he finds himself on the fringe of the event overshadowed by beautiful Brian (James Brolin), the stepfather. His daughter even breaks the news that she has asked her stepfather, since they are so close, to give her away.

You can feel his pain. Rightly or wrongly, he believes he has created the estrangement and heads back to the airport only to miss his flight. Stopping at the airport bar, he dejectedly finds a table and sits down. He spots Kate sitting alone at the next table. Harvey remembers her and attempts to apologize for his rudeness as he was getting off the plane earlier. This chance meeting begins an amazing weekend for both of them.

Fifty two per cent of all Americans over 18 are single now. This is a relatively new statistic and really kind of sad. I am single. We all would like to think we are single by choice, but the reality is, if we could find the relationship we want we would grab it and hang on. Are our standards too high? Is there too much “baggage” the older we get? Are we too hung up on looks or been hurt too badly and don’t choose to return to the scene of that crime? If you’re single you can probably check off one or more of those reasons. Well, Last Chance Harvey is about this dilemma.

When was the last time you danced all night or kicked your shoes off and just sat and talked to someone until the sun came up? Crying, Kate says to Harvey, “How is this going to work?” Looking into her eyes, Harvey says, “I have absolutely no idea, but I promise you it will.”

Celebrate Life. Celebrate Love. Renew Your Promises!

As always, I value your comments at chastings@rockcliff.com.

The unique and melodious sounds of the saxophone are recognized by almost everyone. If you love the music of the “Big Band” era of the 1930s and 1940s, as exemplified by the sweet sounds of Glenn Miller and other big bands, you’ve heard the unmistakable sounds of the saxophone.

The saxophone is an instrument capable of depicting many moods—like the mournful saxophone solo in Revel’s Bolero and other classical pieces. No instrument comes close to the cool sounds of hot jazz and the precise sounds of a military band—the saxophone is an important and indispensable member of these ensembles and more.

In the 20th Century, the saxophone became a vital part of jazz music. They first appeared in dance bands and were important in the meteoric rise of the big band “Swing Era.” The emergence of the sax as a principal jazz instrument was firmly established by tenor saxophonist, Coleman Hawkins in Fletcher Henderson’s band in 1923.

In the late 1920s, the Duke Ellington orchestra featured an ensemble of saxophones with sax solos. The 1930s saw arrangements of saxophones and brass (trumpets and trombones) playing off each other in call-response patterns. One of the greatest influences for jazz musicians was Charlie Parker, who became an icon of the “Bebop” revolution in the 1940s.

In the 1950s and beyond the saxophone was further popularized by some great jazz musicians: Cannon Ball Adderley; Paul Desmond; Lester Young; Jimmy Dorsey; John Coltrane; Sonny Rollins; Stan Getz; Gerry Mulligan and Kenny G, among others.

Inventor
Antoine-Joseph”Adolphe” Sax, (1814-1894) a Belgian born instrument maker, developed the saxophone, circa 1840. He followed in his father’s footsteps—also an instrument maker of some note. Sax studied the flute and clarinet at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. He left the conservatory to pursue other interests and to experiment with new instrument designs.

Prior to his work on the saxophone he drew from the knowledge he gained while working on improvements on the bass clarinet and a large conical brass instrument called the ophicleide.

One of the purposes of inventing the saxophone was to make an instrument to bridge the middle ground between the woodwinds and brass. Sax anticipated that these new instruments would be the most powerful of the woodwind family and blend well with both woodwinds and brass.

In 1841, after Sax invented the saxophone, he moved to Paris where he lived and worked for the remainder of his life. He obtained a patent for his instrument designs in 1846. In 1857 Sax was appointed instructor of saxophone at The Paris Conservatory.

His initial idea was that the saxophone would be used in both orchestra and military bands. But saxophones in the orchestra saw little exposure, except for a few compositions by primarily French composers. Hector Berlioz and German composer, Richard Strauss, among others, included saxophone parts in some of their works. However, the use of saxophones in both military and concert bands is another story.

The Saxophone
The Harvard Dictionary of Music defines the saxophone as a family of hybrid instruments, played with a single beating or vibrating reed, like the clarinets, but they are conical in bore, like the oboes. Their key arrangement or fingering, also resembles the oboes but their mouthpiece is like the clarinets.

The body of the instrument is metal, like the brass instruments. The range of the instrument is two and a half octaves. The sound and tonal properties of the saxophone is quite flexible and variable. Its timbre is intermediate, between woodwind and brass. The dynamic range or volume, is also quite wide, and can play like the softness of a flute to the strength and power of a cornet or trumpet.

Sax designed the instrument in seven different sizes. The complete family consists of the Sopranino in Eb; Soprano in Bb; Alto in Eb; Tenor in Bb; Baritone in Eb; Bass in Bb and Contra Bass in Eb. They are all transposing instruments and written in the treble clef.

Usage and Function
The first popular usage of the saxophone was in military bands. The sax was especially prominent in France and Belgian bands. It was not used by the German bands in the beginning but later adopted by them. The British and American bands use them and today are virtually in all military bands.
Concert bands quickly brought them into their instrumentation and today the alto, tenor and baritone sax are in almost all bands. The Bb soprano is occasionally written in some concert band pieces.

It is customary for many saxophonists to also double on clarinet. Many of the “Big Band” era arrangements called for clarinet in the musical scores. In musicals it is a common practice to have saxophone and clarinet parts in the same book.

The saxophone has a long and storied history providing a variety of entertaining music for many musicians and their listeners.

Please submit your questions and comments to banddirector01@comcast.net
Visit our website at www.danvilleband.org for up-to-date information about the Danville Community Band.

I am amazed by the lack of excuses I have had in my life, living in the San Ramon Valley, to go to that little shopping center high on the hill off of Alcosta Blvd. You know the one that sits higher than the rest and the only thing you see is the McDonalds. I believe I went to that McDonalds once out of desperation, and that’s it. Until a couple of weeks ago, there for a million dollars, I couldn’t tell you any other businesses in the center. That has invariably changed now, forever.

My wife, bless her healthy soul, was the first to hear about Baagan. Our parallel quest and frustration for healthy dining out has led to a “no stone unturned” mentality in our house. Most stones overthrown reveal worms, but this time yielded an absolute gem.

Strip malls are not my most favorite places to visit, and Baagan kept the typical lighting (overhead and fluorescent) that came with the property, and that is the last negative thing I will say. The rest of the atmosphere is unique, almost clubby? The dining room floor made me feel like “vegan” was a verb and I was doing it in a nightclub. The manageable menu was broadcast on three mounted flat screen TV’s and medium level Indian dance music (think Bollywood) came in from above the vast open glass shelving hanging from the ceiling by metal wire dotting the floor space.

These shelves are methodically lined with various take-home health foods, like Cheesy Kale Chips, Gluten free health powders and teas. In the front of the restaurant was a squat white leather bound sofa ensemble around a glass table. It was just screaming for a red velvet rope. Here is where I sat and waited for my wife to arrive and was promptly served a hot cup of tea, which never found the bill. I don’t think it was preferential, simply policy and politeness. All around the squat table in the center were the non-descript white tables and black leather and metal chairs-simple and clean. The bright orange walls (coupled with the music) brought me right back to my days in the streets of Hyderabad. Every employee I interacted with acted as if they were the owner! This is exactly what breed’s success.

Now the food—Incredible!
I had the veggie burger with a house made bun while my wife had the quinoa wrap with avocado and a peanut butter cup smoothie (no peanuts). You order at the front, pick up at the window when called and bus your own dishes…awesome! Granted everything is ala-carte, but still, not a crumb was to be found afterwards. Next came the vegan cheesecake to split…. seriously…you wouldn’t know it’s vegan.

Angelique and Rajbir founded Baagan in Roseville on the basis that there just weren’t enough places serving what we should be eating over a counter. They quickly shot to the top of “the best of” everything lists and garnished quite a bit of media attention.

Things that set them apart (directly from their website):

• Healthy “fast food”
• We use mostly raw and organic ingredients and buy from local farmers.
• Our products are free from artificial colors and flavorings.
• Almost everything is gluten free.
• All of our products are dairy-free, casein-free, GMO-free and allergy friendly.
• We do not use refined sugar or high-glycemic index sweeteners.
• We soak and sprout our raw almonds, making them easier to digest and more health beneficial.
• We specialize in ayurvedic and Indian/East Asian spices, teas and ingredients.
• Their whole families eat this food daily!

The feel is India and Asian hawker food comes indoors to a subtle club atmosphere. The food is that clean, nourishing and good-for-your-soul feel.

You will know you’re in the right place when you see the huge metal slogan above the register: “Eat the Way Nature Intended.”

21001 San Ramon Valley Blvd
925-361-5470

As I sit here dreaming up this nonsense, I keep hearing about “Inflategate.” Are the New England Patriots actually deflating the footballs for an advantage? First steroids, now this. It seems we always have scandals and hints of wrongdoing in all of our endeavors. Let’s look at a few.

1. My favorite movie of 2013 was “American Hustle.” It was based on a famous American political scandal of the 1980’s. What was the scandal known as?

2. The biggest scandal in Baseball history occurred in 1919. What was it called?

3. In the late 1990’s a scandal hit the music world when a singing duo was discovered to have lips synched their way to fame on MTV. Who were they?

4. The television public was up in arms in the 1950s when it was discovered that intellectual Charles Van Doren was guilty of cheating on a popular quiz show. The integrity of all game shows was put into question. What was the quiz show Van Doren was on?

5. Who can forget Watergate? Who was the White House staffer who originally informed a Senate committee that skullduggery was afoot?

6. Old time radio was not immune to a little hanky pinky with the truth. Probably, the most famous sportscaster of the time had a weekly show wherein he described incredible feats of athleticism and amazing coincidences. It turned out, most of them were untrue. Who was this sportscaster?