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Hither, Zither and Yon with
Ben's a featured character in "Almost Famous," written and directed
by Cameron Crowe. (A true story written and directed by Crowe - his first since writing and directing Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire.") ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This is a new tradition that I hope will become an annual event," he said. "It's worth the price of admission to hear a white boy speaking Chinese in Davies Symphony Hall." For their $45, guests got a musical and visual banquet, beginning with youthful lion dancers from Leung's White Crane Kung Fu Association, and including a performance of "The Butterfly Lovers" concerto featuring the dazzling, Grammy-nominated Jiebing Chen on erhu (the two-stringed Chinese violin).
Amy, once given to stage fright, is commanding on stage, dressed in gold and black Chinese hat and tunic, and poised enough to time her reading with the orchestra's score - and to maintain eye contact with the audience. Behind her, Chen, along with Zhiming Han on what Daugherty called flutes (dizi) and a butterfly harp (yangquin), and Cynthia Hsinmei Hsiang, on the Chinese zither (zheng), melded perfectly with the orchestra. For the children's book, they played a composition by Nathan Wang (whose work includes the opera Gold Mountain, based on Lisa See's book), and, for "Joy Luck Club," they performed excerpts from the film version's score by the Oscar winner Rachel Portman. It was beautiful. The erhu's soaring expressiveness reminded me of the opera singers I used to hear on Chinese radio broadcasts and on occasional trips from Oakland into San Francisco's Chinatown. It was a nice bit of nostalgia to have on the eve of Chinese New Year. Amy was also feeling nostalgic. She lost her mother, Daisy Tan, last year, and dedicated her two concerts to her. "It was always my mother's wish that I play with a world class orchestra," she told the audience. "I can hear her now, saying, 'See, if you'd only practiced harder, you would be Jiebing Chen, playing instead of just reading a book.'" Backstage, Amy welcomed dozens of admirers, then invited Dianne and me to join her at a party a friend was staging a couple of nights later. Because the hosts had recently moved into their house on Graceland Avenue, they decided to have a (belated) Elvis birthday party. "Are you sure you can invite us along?" we asked Amy. "Sure," she said. "Sandy's seen you doing your Elvis, and she even told me she wished she could invite you - if only she knew you." So we showed up and joined in on the karaoke. Along with all the Elvis songs, there was Amy, doing "Leader of the Pack." Her husband Lou, in a tough black leather jacket and with his hair greased up, acted out the song, falling to the ground after the song's climactic motorcycle crackup. Amy herself was decked out in a Fifties version of dominatrix gear. And to think, just two nights ago, she was dressed for the symphony. There's nothing like showbiz... --------------------
Visit Ben's Official Site: www.BenFongTorres.com
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