The humidity of other planets

This month has been one of my busiest ever, I think. Late June and early July had me bartending at a furious pace during World Cup soccer matches, after which I immediately segued into a titanic, non-arts-related writing assignment.

Amid copious rewrites and explorations of several business-related fields about which I previously knew next to nothing, I found time to crank out several music-related assignments. Though it took away valuable time from a series of impending deadlines, writing about music did me quite a bit of good.

So, from Sunday, a preview of the Philadelphia Orchestra's presentation of Planet Earth Live, an evening-length, multimedia, music/video/nature documentary jawn, with both music and film images adapted from the BBC documentary Planet Earth. I'll be attending this on Thursday with my wife and several members of her family.

Also, a feature on Red KoolAde, a very talented jazz trio with two doctors among its members. The group's saxophonist provided me with a never-before-seen journalistic opportunity: he invited me over to his house for a party where the band was performing. It made for some observations that sitting in on a Sunday night practice session never would have afforded.

Finally, in my first non-Paperboy contribution to Phawker in several months, I put together a preview of this past Saturday's Non-Classical showcase, presented by Gabriel Prokofiev's far-reaching record label. The interview with GP went up on Phawker a scant couple of hours before the event, and I wasn't able to attend anyway, but GP's answers to my questions turned out to be very illuminating. I haven't heard any reports on Saturday's attendance, but I hope my preview encouraged at least a small boost.