one of the perks of going out w/ someone (among others ... heh heh heh) is that it motivates me to go out and do and see things more. in two weeks andy and i went to three concerts. the first was for some of his student composers, and it was entertaining. the second was a solo recital by a violinist for her doctorate in performance. although familiar with them, i'd never seen bach's ciaconna and paganini's 24th caprice live, and they are definitely show-stoppers. hearing them back to back was pretty amazing. also, last sunday we saw mit's gamelan, a group i've been meaning to check out b/c i know people in it. it was a bit loud and just a tad long, but overall it was quite good. need to borrow some balinese cds from andy ... in web news, i have to say that i'm really impressed w/ amazon's holiday ad campaign. their holiday a-list highlights a particular person (author, musician, actor, etc.). they've had worthwhile people like jack black, k.d. lang, and michael stipe as well as worthless people like "the bachelor", but overall i think it's a very clever scheme.