things i did in 19.
a moustache-twisting journal of the few things in my life worth mentioning

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hosted
Texas Public Radio asked me to host a new show, Classical Connections, on KPAC. For two short hours a day, I get to spin disks from TPR's 20,000-cd collection, and talk to directors and musicians who drop in to talk about upcoming shows, and even perform live on-air occasionally. In 12 months, KPAC went from 100,000 weekly unique listeners to 130,000: a stunning 30 percent growth that got us named arcnewsfeed's Top Classical Station of the Year. It's a blast. I'm really part of a process that makes connections, bringing audiences and artists together in a way that there's just not enough of in American cities.



found a first edition
signed by Gil Seldes, of "The Seven Lively Arts." Fantastic condition. This one strikes my heart especially: he's the godfather of taking pop culture seriously. He was inventing a language as he went along, in writing this book.



nurtured catherine through medical troubles
She got worse for a number of reasons this year. What a hassle. She bore it with her usual good nature, though. Please let 2020 be better than 2019.


did a bunch of interesting projects
   · A music producer had me put together some tracks that will be visited by top line composers and singers and eventually turn into cool electronic music singles.
   · Kara Stevens and Mark Little put together a new song cycle. I did the string quartet arrangements. We performed it live at the Empire Theater, with me conducting the Avanti String Quartet. Beautiful stuff to be part of.
   · Roosevelt High School had me play for yet another musical, this time "Hairspray."
   · The Bexar County Heritage Center, as part of its spiffy renovation, commissioned an introductory video, for which I recorded the soundtrack. Count 'em: 63 instrumental tracks and 9 vocal tracks. Tons of fun to wrangle it all together.


flew on my 19,000th day
I always try to do something unusual on k-days. This time, some family members sent me to iFly, the wind-tunnel indoor skydiving place. Exhilarating! I used muscles in new ways, floated up and down, engendered envy in my 9- and 6-year-olds, and spent a landmark day surfing on air.


did the charleston
in Charleston, South Carolina. The wonderful Maggie Worsdale flew our entire family out there to live and love and eat and drink and see the sights and hang out with the people for ten delicious days. Our excuse was Maggie's "Jazz Meets the Beatles" show, for which I did seventeen arrangements of Beatles songs. Nice crowds, great music, and a chance to make music with Maggie for the first time in years. She and Tom went the second mile in hospitality as our hosts, making us feel like a million bucks the whole time. There was even a fancy Southern tea party with the girls.


got away
for a few days to celebrate our anniversary: the fifteenth. Fifteen! Catherine says that on the day we met she told her mother "I've met the man I'm going to marry." That certainty is a mark of deep and true passion. But fifteen years is the mark of other values, which are often considered unsexy and unspontaneous and unromantic: proof, though, that they're the most romantic of all. They help us to take romance most seriously. A decade and a half of serious romance through illness, health, kids, car trouble, and many days and nights of the best company I could have imagined.


wore a poljot stadion
I do love Russian 80s design — which is basically saying I love European 60s design. When I saw that a Russian dealer had this beautiful watch, a model worn by cosmonaut Valerij Rjumin, I knew it would be perfect for my purposes: distinctive, stylish, versatile. I'm still at the stage where I check the time, am reminded I have this cool thing, and smile.



shut down the broasis
Years ago, I found these friends-of-friends at Baylor to stay with for Sing and Pigksin: an official organization of rotating roommates, all fun and nerdy and reverent and irreverent in the right ways, with me there for something like eight years as an uncle-father-mentor-foil. Last year the thing had played out. The final iteration all went their separate ways, and the Broasis was no more. Godspeed, gents.


read a book
Out loud, that is. Into a microphone. That's right: I did an audiobook: James and Pamela Nelson's "Alamo Letters." A historical romance in the old sense of the term, it's pulpy and bloody and huggy-kissy and noble and sad and funny — and a great page-turner too. What fun, getting to exercise my voice this way.


upgraded
Once I get something stable, I keep it till I simply must move on. It finally happened: with a new computer, some of my trusty old apps worked no longer. So, at long last, all-new Logic and Sibelius (an upgrade to the newest Sibelius from version ... wait for it ... 2.2). It really is nice getting all up-to-date for the next fifteen years.


lost the dad sound
That satisfying clink that my wedding ring had made for fifteen years finally got muffled. Having lost some weight, I then began to lose the ring. After several losses, two of them harrowing, I got one of those silicon coil things. It works admirably well, but no more clink. Sometimes I turn it around when I need a coffee-clave.


sent girls camping (and scouting)
The girls each spent a week this summer at ye old classic summer camps: cabins, woods, rivers, archery, singing around the campfire, silly skits, sleeping bags, the whole bit. They each loved it and can't wait to return. They also went on their first camping trip with the Scouts. That's right, we got Scouts now, starting fires, tying knots, earning badges, the whole bit.


got back to new york
Stayed with our friends in their lovely Brooklyn mansion, and with more friends in their doormanned East Side pad, enjoyed the food and fun and public transport, and of course also did what I went there to do: Ken Slavin's terrific show at the Triad theater, for which I did the arrangements and served as musical director. The place was packed. The management loved us. We'll be back soon.


hung with Paul Shaffer
at Birdland, where I sat in with the band. It turns out Shaffer was there, in the audience. So. Some lucky few can say "I heard Shaffer live." Fewer can say "Shaffer heard me." He was an utter gentleman, kind and generous and interested and enthusiastic as you wish all celebrities were.


called the cops
Our newish neighbor girl hid behind our grill for half an hour, then came to our back door claiming that her mother was threatening her and had a history of whipping her. There were tons of other details that mitigated and unmitigated in all directions. Clara was accommodating, sisterly, and comforting to the girl. Catherine was gentle. We held hands and prayed. I called a trusted friend to bounce ideas off of. I then called the police, who came, listened to her, took her seriously, and said it was time to go home but that he would stand by her side and hear the whole story. She absolutely refused, with a heartbreakingly adult firmness. Clara said in a stalwart voice that she was going to go with her and K need not go alone. Incredibly, the cop agreed. Clara stayed by the girl's side through the negotiations. The girl wound up going to a Child Guidance Center; she'd been there before and had very positive feelings about going back. Whew! I'm especially grateful for Catherine, who showed that strength and grace are not opposites, and for Clara, who was not just a friend but a staunch friend. My heart cries for all the brokenness that sits just out of plain view, all around us in this world of sorrows.


stayed in a sears house
Dear friends got married, putting us all up in a gorgeous 1906 house made from a kit delivered by Sears and Roebuck. Every board (marked and numbered), every nail, every everything. All you needed, they said, was a hammer. It's incredible construction, and marvelously preserved and restored to B&B status — by an old colleague of my dad's, as it turns out.



said farewell to george
George Archer Winters was a mentor, friend, and amazingly good conductor. Rock-solid — never saw him make a false choice musically. Many many hours we spent together listening to music, talking about his pipe collection, discussing guns and travel and women and art and spirituality. In recent years, every year or so, right around his birthday, we'd get in touch and get lunch and catch up. George, thanks for knowing what your students needed, for committing to great music, for knowing the good life and pursuing it. Farewell.



spoke for dinner
Twice, as it turns out. San Antonio has an abundance of dinner-and-lecture clubs. Maybe other towns do too — anyone? — but it seems like unusually much. One, the University Roundtable of San Antonio, invited me to speak in August. Later, they named me as their Best and Brightest Man of 2019, putting me in the company of 'Elf' Louise Locker (this year's female honoree), Henry Cisneros, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Jacques Barzun. The woman who did my introduction said, "If you want to get turned on by something, get Barry to talk about it." I take that as a high compliment.


drank Bauchant
I'd heard it described as the Goldilocks of orange liqueurs — just sweet enough, just oily enough, just bitter enough, just right. Better balanced than Cointreau, I think. In hot cocoa it's divine.

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What a year. Dedicated to the glory of God.

so, what did you do?

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