My First Tattooing Experience...

...was my best friend Megan's fourth tattoo. Megan just finished her second year of medical school, and is rightly very proud of her achievement. To celebrate, she decided to get a swoosh of colorful stars bursting from her waist, down around her back and onto her "hiney." (That's how Megan and her med school buddy Shali kept referring to this region of her body, and so that must be the proper medical terminology.)

Look how excited Megan is (above right) before the tattoo dude pulled out any needles!!! I thought I was going to be really grossed out at the whole process, and possibly pass out on the floor. But actually it wasn't so bad. The tattooist was very professional and listened to all Megan's design requests, and told her when he was about to go over the most sensitive areas (the little bit over her rib cage seemed to be the worst part). Even during those parts, Megan didn't scream or cry. Instead, she repeated, "fire, fire, FIRE!, fiiiiii-yrrrrre!!!" Apparently some of the colored ink felt a little like burning.

Here's some proof that I was there and had fun watching, and totally didn't puke or pass out:
And here's (maybe the upper two-thirds of) the finished product!!! Megan loved the way it turned out. Each of Megan's tattoos tell a story about the time in her life that she had them done. The exuberant design of this one reflects her feelings of accomplishment at this stage of med school. I am so proud of her for all the work she did to arrive where she is today. In the next 2 years of her school, Megan does clinical rotations, where she gets to actually interact with patients and doctors and learn in a more hands-on way. She kicked ass at the book-learning part, but I'm excited that she's onto a part of the process that she will actually enjoy. GO MEGAN! You are so awesome (and now everyone who sees your hiney will know)!

A Step into a Russian Fairy Tale

Today, my brother Greg has invited all his friends to "step into a Russian fairy tale" at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. I really wish I could be there. My brother is a talented pianist, and he and two fellow musicians are putting on a program of music by Sergey Prokofiev. In Greg's words,

"The program will include the whimsical second sonata for piano and violin, the tenebrous opening movement of the fourth piano sonata, selected movements from the sonata for two violins, and a small handful of shorter works, including a selection from the ballet Cinderella arranged for violin and piano."

Prokofiev is Greg's favorite composer (and mine too, but I just take all my cues from big bro). "Proky," as we call him, lived from 1891-1953. His music bridges the end of the romantic era and the beginning of the contemporary era of music, really in such a badass way (example: the Allegro Marcato movement of Prokofiev's Badass Piano Sonata No. 2, played here by Yekaterina Ervy-Novitskaya) In addition to some piano pieces Greg has played, I am most familiar with Prokofiev's compositions for the ballets, Romeo and Juliet (which Greg took me to see at Lincoln Center for Xmas), and Cinderella (in which I once got to dance the title role!). (Here's a waltz from Cinderella, which may be included in the arrangement Greg is playing tonight-- St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.) In the former ballet, Greg always points out how the beautiful melodies are tinged by foreboding hints what's to come later in the story. Even the girlish, innocent themes when Juliet first enters the stage are laced with a haunting, dark feeling, a theme Greg tells me is typical of Russian fairytales. (Would love to link to some audio of that, but Greg stole that CD of mine!) Greg can explain how Prokofiev creates those kinds of effects musically in terms of the harmonies... and stuff.... but, that's about as good as I can recap.

My big brother analyzes music brilliantly and passionately. When we both lived in the same house, he would often sit me down by his side and turn on a recording of a piece, and we would follow the score along together as we listened. Greg would tell me interesting things about the structure of the pieces, and what he loved about them so much. One time, while teaching me about fugues, he made me raise my hand everytime I heard a variation of the theme come in. I consider myself lucky to have garnered a deep appreciation for classical music in this format. I am so proud of Greg for finding a way to share his passion with the rest of the world, too. If he sends me a recording of his concert tonight, I can't wait to post his music here, so even more people can hear it!

One of the two images in this post is a rendering of Sergey Prokofiev by Henri Matisse. The other is a photo of my genius brother. Guess which is which!