If you’ve ever heard Redline Tango — or even if you haven’t — you need to check out this video.  This is 10-year-old Ami Saigo of Japan, performing “Redline Tango” in competition on the Yamaha Electone. (An “Electone” is an electronic organ, complete with two keyboards, foot pedals, an “expression pedal,” and drum sounds.) This video is both amazing and surreal. Ami won the Gold Medal for this performance.

Believe it or not, this is the second consecutive year that somebody in Japan arranged Redline Tango for Electone. If you think marching band is a niche thing, I think this trumps it.

I hope “Asphalt Cocktail” is someday deemed worthy of the full Electone treatment.

In one of the great birthday presents, Jonathan Newman wrote code for my website. Thanks to him, there is now a Performance Database. I used to have to manually enter every performance into each webpage, typing it as HTML into a table via Dreamweaver, then uploading the page whenever I made a change. Now, the whole thing is done with a PHP database. I type in the info, and it’s placed, with proper formatting, into the master page.

I haven’t entered many previous performances yet, but I think I have most of the confirmed future performances in there. I also haven’t added a menu button for the list yet (I’m busy with the new piece, so some of these fun activities have to wait), so for now, the only way to see the fancy new list is by following this link.

If you’re performing a piece of mine this year but you don’t see your concert listed, email the info to me.

Thanks, Newman!

AEJ and I spent three days in New York last week, courtesy of ASCAP and CBDNA, and the timing of the trip coincided with my birthday. After receiving numerous complaints that the blog hasn’t had enough food pictures, hopefully this entry will put that to rest for a while…

The night before we left, we took Loki to stay with Steve and Verena. Even though they were the ones doing us the huge favor of watching our little bundle of terror, Verena treated us to an awfully nice spread to enjoy while Loki settled in. There were tomatoes with mozzarella and basil (grown personally by Steve & Verena!)…

… tasty brie on crackers with a sweet fig spread…

… and a fine bottle of wine.

The next morning, we flew to NY, checked into the hotel, then headed to lunch at Bouchon Bakery (which I’ve written about before). AEJ had the grilled cheese and tomato soup.

The best thing there, though, is their dessert, the Nutter Butter: insanely yummy peanut butter sandwiched between two moist peanut butter cookies, with vanilla ice cream on the side.

After lunch, we went for a walk through Central Park, where we found this alarming chalk outline.

Dinner that night was at Artisanal with the NewSchlachtMans. We had cheese fondue.

AEJ and I shared “Chicken Cooked Under a Brick.”

And I even got a little birthday surprise. (These tasty treats were presented with the chocolate fondue dessert.)

The next night, we had dinner with the Junkins, Kevin Sedatole, and Bob Reynolds. The destination: The Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building.

When you have dinner at a restaurant known for old school power lunches (and also where JFK celebrated his 45th birthday), you have to start with a martini.

AEJ started with “Parma Proschiutto,” with cinnamon, star anise, and poached pear.

I went with the Kobe wagyu beef carpaccio (and didn’t regret that choice).

The salad course was incredible: roasted beets (I’m a sucker for good roasted beets) with fresh cheese, hazelnuts, and “bee naughty honey.”  Bee naughty, I shall.

AEJ’s main course was filet of bison — the filet mignon cut from a bison. They served it with fois gras on top (because bison filet wasn’t rich enough on its own?), and a Perigord truffle sauce.

My main course was Cabernet-braised short ribs of beef with a parsnip purée.

JFJ had the duck. I’ve never liked duck before (I think it’s too fatty), but this was awfully tasty — and crispy.

Dessert: soufflé. I ordered the pear soufflé.

AEJ had chocolate.

We also received an assortment of complimentary desserts to share. (We accepted them graciously.)

Other people were offered an enormous ball of cotton candy.

Dinner was incredible — both delicious and a lot of fun.

The next day, before leaving for the airport, we took a quick trip to the Museum of Modern Art. Among my favorite things on this MoMA visit were… (Only look at the horn player. Ignore what’s happening right above him, which I’m sure isn’t actually scandalous.)

… this Picasso monkey sculpture made from found objects (the head is a toy car), a little tribute to Steve-o…

… and finally, what would a trip to the museum be without a picture of Two Cheeseburgers with Everything (by Claes Oldenburg, 1962)? Mmmm….