Happy Pride Weekend

Highlights:

• The concerts Friday and last night went spectacularly, both from a performer's perspective and from the feedback I've received from the audience. We opened with a pre-recorded track which was followed by a piece by Eric Lane Barnes called "I Am", which featured an alto soloist from the Seattle Girls' Choir in pajamas kneeling in front of an amorphous blob which was the entire chorus -- risers, piano, and all -- performing under a gigantic white parachute silk.


• Traffic has been the bane of my existence all week. From Wednesday through Friday I was commuting from work in Bothell to McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center, located just north of downtown in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood. Based on distance alone it should take about 25 minutes but it was taking more like 45, since every route into downtown Seattle gets extra-crowded when the Mariners have a game.


• Today traffic was effing ridiculous because not only did we have to contend with the Mariners vs. my hometown Reds, but we got caught in the tail end of the pride parade traffic. Fortunately the delay in the parade meant that the pride rally was also delayed about 45 minutes, so I actually arrived in time to sing with the Chorus at the rally.


• After wandering around the post-parade festival grounds we decided to grab lunch at the Seattle Center House nearby, then we made the trip up to C.C. Attle's on Capitol Hill to see the Northwest Bears' float which won first prize in the Stranger's first annual pride float competition. It was good to see the Bears since I've had so many conflicts between Chorus and Bear events over the past month or so, and to meet some folks from out of town.


• This evening will be time to kick back and relax, as I go on call for work next week. It should be fairly quiet (I hope so anyway), as we have a change freeze in effect that is going to get more stringently enforced as the iPhone launch approaches.