Friday, December 23, 2011

December 23 - Into the Great Beyond


Ready?


Here we go again -- bound for Walla Walla, WA -- to celebrate Christmas with Tisha, Claire, and Tom:


up


505 and


5,


past the


Coast Ranges and


Sutter Buttes,


to


the


environs


of



Redding


and


the


Gates of the Mountains,


up the grade by


Gray Rocks and


Castle


Crags


towards


Mount Shasta,


to the high country of


Black Butte,


the great dormant volcano itself (with consort Shastina),


then


out


into


the


Valley,


winding


our


way


beyond Yreka,


Anderson


Grade,


the


Klamath


River,


the three northern H's of Henley / Hornbrook /


Hilt,


out of California,


surmounting the high point of Siskiyou Summit


(grateful here, as everywhere on the trip, for marvelous weather, given the season),


plummeting down


into


Ashland


and


Medford, in view of


Mt. McLoughlin and


Table Rock, launching once more into the roller coaster on the other side of


Rogue River that is


Grants Pass,


Sexton


Mountain,


Sunny Valley,


Smith Hill,


Wolf Creek,


Stage Road Pass,


Glendale,


Canyon Creek, and


Canyonville.


Near


Myrtle Creek are some of the


last vestiges of


Californianesque


landscapes,


but we must press on before Round Prairie and


Roberts Mountain,


through


the


South


Umpqua


Valley


into storied


Roseburg.


The light continues to fade impressively in


Sutherland and


Rice


Hill,


until waning just after the rising of Pass Creek and Divide,


where we reconnoiter at


Cottage Grove.


The ruddy western sky continues to guide as we reach the expansive Willamette Valley's south end at


Eugene /


Springfield; indeed, it indicts upon departing the


Corvallis-exit petrol stop.


An 11- (make that 22-) mile ridiculous mishap sends us eventually on our way again, stopping for nothing until a side adventure in The Dalles.  The Columbia River Gorge and Wallula Gap all in the dark (via 82 and 730) and at last we arrive.

Ah, yes, the listening for the trip (listening to works familiar and new to Harriet):

Kurt Weill
Violin Concerto
Berlin Requiem
The Threepenny Opera
Happy End
The Seven Deadly Sins
Silver Lake
The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

Leonard Bernstein
On the Town
Candide
Westside Story (Broadway and Film versions)
Chichester Psalms
Mass

Nat King Cole
Straighten Up and Fly Right

Alexander Courage
Star Trek

Earle Hagen
Andy Griffith
Dick Van Dyke

Dave Brubeck
Unsquare Dance

Nigerian High Life
Improvisation
Nyakrom Brass band

Pierre Boulez
Notations
Le Marteau Sans Maitre (two versions)
Structures

Julito Collazo
Emi Ra Obini Le Wa
Loteria

Marius Constant
The Twilight Zone

Bill Haley
See Ya Later Alligator

Johnny Mandell
M.A.S.H.

Chuck Berry
Maybellene

John Coltrane
Alabama

Miles Davis
Miles Runs the Voodoo Down

Laurence Rosenthal
Fantasy Island

Israel Berrios
Boriquen

Dave Kahn
Leave It To Beaver

Jerry Bock
Fiddler on the Roof (Broaway and Film versions)

George Crumb
Three Early Songs
Variazioni