"Baseball postpones, parades cancel, opera doesn’t." Sort of like life, isn't it? It goes on regardless. Nice to know that even in New York there's such a thing as restraint. Not that I'll be going to opera any time soon. I had my first (and last) taste of it, driving along in a tiny VW beetle with an amateur opera singer who "warmed up" her voice like a blowtorch. I guess that put me off.
Being an understudy is so much more difficult than sitting the bench. But it is a good seat to watch the game and I had lots of experience doing it in high school basketball. When the coach put me in, the outcome of the game was immutable, while the whole enchilada may rest on the shoulders of the understudy, and they play the whole game. Tough duty
So, is Salome a new creative influence? Do you plan to introduce another level of weirdness to Lake Wobegon?
There are no proposed cuts in Medicaid. There are proposed changes in eligibility rules requiring that able bodied individuals who are now on Medicaid be required to look for a job and justify why they should be on Medicaid. It is the same thing Bill Clinton, a fellow liberal Democrat of yours, did when he was President. No kids will be taken off of Medicaid.
Glad you enjoyed the opera.
The "Trump" Opera is being written right now in real time...wait until it is over before you criticize. You just might be surprised at the ending and richer and safer to boot.
The work requirement was a total failure, as this one is destined to become. The states simply don’t have the funds for the required infrastructure and the Big Beautiful Betrayal Bill provides none.
They tried cutting me off food stamps for not verifying that I worked enough hours, so I protested it and won. The wording on my letter said 20 hours a month in one spot, and got my card loaded so fast with extras, too when they knew they lost.
I had many health challenges then that with Medicaid I finally got corrected over time at least to where I can feel good again.
Yes, PoppiRowe, you have disclosed the reasons for All Bad Things and their names are Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris.... let's see, who else.....
But thank the Great Powers of All Good Things that President Obama did, as you say, lift the work requirements and open the welfare flood gates because how else would your Beloved Great Pumpkin Prince of All Waste, Fraud, and Abuse be able to spend his days playing golf or figuring out the newest version of his many con-games if Obama had required him to work?! Well, we mustn't dismiss the hard work of lifting Fat Fingers, encircling a Special Sharpie dubbed "the poison pen," and signing Off With Their Heads!!" directed at everyone not genuflecting and handing over their dignity, their erstwhile integrity, their savings, their daughters and their souls.
Thanks for the glimpse of "Salome" and your enjoyable account. I'm in a hurry to get to work and so only clicked and fast-forwarded through the YouTube . . . but I saw the lush lips of the seductress, the head of the Baptist, and the regretful Herod order the young woman's death. Yup, just like you said, a glimpse of our last and likely coming century written by a genius who saw it all before it happened. Did he end up losing his head too. I'll have to look that up later when I have more time. Good job, Garrison. I hope your Anoka friend gets her chance to take the stage.
I love the idea that someone may write an opera about the current political situation. It would be preferable to watch it than to live through it. I have been an opera fan for more than 50 years, but do not enjoy those by Strauss very much, and don’t care for “Salome” at all. I saw the Met Live in HD version of it several years ago and don’t have any interest in seeing or hearing it again. I don’t like most of the stories in Warner’s operas (“Meistersinger” is OK), but do enjoy the music.
We are fortunate to live near Providence, RI and get their LEARN channel on cable. It has one of the Met Live in HD operas on every Saturday night at 8:00, so I have seen most of them, some more than once. In some ways it is better than seeing them in a movie theater because there aren’t people talking during the show and surround sound at home is almost as good as the sound in the theater, which is sometimes too loud. I have studied German, Russian, Italian, French and Spanish so can understand the subtitles in those languages to varying degrees. It is easier to understand the recitativ than the actual singing.
They are in the order that I took the college courses. I had been intrigued by foreign languages since early childhood because my mother spoke French with my grandmother and great-grandmother when we visited them a few times a month.
I also had 4 years of Latin in high school, which doesn’t help much with operas, but I do also enjoy listening to Latin masses even though I am not religious. My Latin teacher had a PhD in German and was multilingual - he spoke 7 or 8 languages fluently and could read more than a dozen. He also taught Russian in my high school - one of my greatest regrets in life is that I didn’t take advantage of that opportunity. He talked a lot about linguistics and etymology, which I found interesting.
I took 2 years each of German and Russian to satisfy the language requirement for chemistry graduate school. I took 1st year Italian during my lunch hour when I was a postdoc at UNH. I took 2nd year Italian, and 1st year French and Spanish after I retired, at the university where I had taught for 32 years. I intended to take more French and Spanish classes, but the pandemic intervened and I didn’t have the energy to drive to the university 2 or 3 times a week after that.
I love this; thank you for taking the time to reply! There are so many options for learning on our own now, too. For example, I remember when buying a newspaper or magazine in another language cost more than I wanted to pay. Now we can access many on our phones, tablets and computers, often at no cost.
We are in the opera, only the regalia is ugly and gold and the music sucks…Little Marco wishes for/needs someone to rush in and take him home, to be respected for leaving it others. The well named operatic Hegsdeath will grab the axes and throw them into the audience while many little gnomes writh around in ‘tighty whites’ and yell, “off with their heads.” And of course Junior Devil, horns and all, will stand in the corner throughout waving his arms, mimicking the star’s motions.
The king on his golden throne, a ‘two-holer,’ will gesticulate and bombast about how mean people have been to him all his life, (for two hours, weaving) with the climax his melting and reforming, rising about the stage on a golden pole as ‘Tawny.’ In all her regalia!
The climate comes as orchestra plays and the now smiling chorus sings, with required audience participation, ‘lyrics on the back of the program’, ‘You can’t always get what you want.” With Keith’s and Mick’s permission.
It's too late for Little Marco. His hypocrisy is astonishing. He'd spent his life condemning authoritarianism in Cuba only to facilitate its rise here when given the opportunity.
Salome is an amazing tour de force and your insights are as well
"Baseball postpones, parades cancel, opera doesn’t." Sort of like life, isn't it? It goes on regardless. Nice to know that even in New York there's such a thing as restraint. Not that I'll be going to opera any time soon. I had my first (and last) taste of it, driving along in a tiny VW beetle with an amateur opera singer who "warmed up" her voice like a blowtorch. I guess that put me off.
"We have our own Herod, ...Some should write an opera about him."
Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men?
Bravo! Bravo! And thank you.
Your trip to the opera reminds me of another "prophet" who almost got her head cut off by "Herod"...
https://jonathanbrownson.substack.com/p/what-will-become-of-those?r=gdp9j
To the point from beginning to ending! From a Rochester, NY follower from “Radio Days” to being “live” with you recently.
💞
Being an understudy is so much more difficult than sitting the bench. But it is a good seat to watch the game and I had lots of experience doing it in high school basketball. When the coach put me in, the outcome of the game was immutable, while the whole enchilada may rest on the shoulders of the understudy, and they play the whole game. Tough duty
So, is Salome a new creative influence? Do you plan to introduce another level of weirdness to Lake Wobegon?
Just write the libretto please. The composer will appear. Thanks as always!
Ach du lieber! Esoteric much? Now your opera, that I can relate to.
There are no proposed cuts in Medicaid. There are proposed changes in eligibility rules requiring that able bodied individuals who are now on Medicaid be required to look for a job and justify why they should be on Medicaid. It is the same thing Bill Clinton, a fellow liberal Democrat of yours, did when he was President. No kids will be taken off of Medicaid.
Glad you enjoyed the opera.
The "Trump" Opera is being written right now in real time...wait until it is over before you criticize. You just might be surprised at the ending and richer and safer to boot.
The work requirement was a total failure, as this one is destined to become. The states simply don’t have the funds for the required infrastructure and the Big Beautiful Betrayal Bill provides none.
They tried cutting me off food stamps for not verifying that I worked enough hours, so I protested it and won. The wording on my letter said 20 hours a month in one spot, and got my card loaded so fast with extras, too when they knew they lost.
I had many health challenges then that with Medicaid I finally got corrected over time at least to where I can feel good again.
It was not a failure until Obama came along and lifted the work requirements and opened the welfare flood gates.
Yes, PoppiRowe, you have disclosed the reasons for All Bad Things and their names are Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris.... let's see, who else.....
But thank the Great Powers of All Good Things that President Obama did, as you say, lift the work requirements and open the welfare flood gates because how else would your Beloved Great Pumpkin Prince of All Waste, Fraud, and Abuse be able to spend his days playing golf or figuring out the newest version of his many con-games if Obama had required him to work?! Well, we mustn't dismiss the hard work of lifting Fat Fingers, encircling a Special Sharpie dubbed "the poison pen," and signing Off With Their Heads!!" directed at everyone not genuflecting and handing over their dignity, their erstwhile integrity, their savings, their daughters and their souls.
Glad to facilitate you venting...have a great day.
Here’s a bit more detail on the effects of the Big Beautiful Betrayal Bill. And no, in the states where it flopped Obama was no where near. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/they-are-in-fact-coming-after-obamacare-republicans-big-beautiful-bill-cuts-aca-billy-joel?r=6ptqj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
PoppiRowe: Absolutely nothing you’ve written here is accurate.
Yes, we realize that you’re simply repeating the lies that Fox/MAGA/Trump are spewing out.
That is bad enough. But are you really OK with them playing you like this?
Allowing them to trick you into standing up and making a fool of yourself, and
of soiling your own name, by spreading these lies?
In short, you should bear in mind that there folks out here who are actually
watching —and are aware of— what is actually going on.
Americans are not stupid. You should stop treating them as if they were.
Unfortunately, we are paying for front row seats whether we want them or not.
Thanks for the glimpse of "Salome" and your enjoyable account. I'm in a hurry to get to work and so only clicked and fast-forwarded through the YouTube . . . but I saw the lush lips of the seductress, the head of the Baptist, and the regretful Herod order the young woman's death. Yup, just like you said, a glimpse of our last and likely coming century written by a genius who saw it all before it happened. Did he end up losing his head too. I'll have to look that up later when I have more time. Good job, Garrison. I hope your Anoka friend gets her chance to take the stage.
I love the idea that someone may write an opera about the current political situation. It would be preferable to watch it than to live through it. I have been an opera fan for more than 50 years, but do not enjoy those by Strauss very much, and don’t care for “Salome” at all. I saw the Met Live in HD version of it several years ago and don’t have any interest in seeing or hearing it again. I don’t like most of the stories in Warner’s operas (“Meistersinger” is OK), but do enjoy the music.
We are fortunate to live near Providence, RI and get their LEARN channel on cable. It has one of the Met Live in HD operas on every Saturday night at 8:00, so I have seen most of them, some more than once. In some ways it is better than seeing them in a movie theater because there aren’t people talking during the show and surround sound at home is almost as good as the sound in the theater, which is sometimes too loud. I have studied German, Russian, Italian, French and Spanish so can understand the subtitles in those languages to varying degrees. It is easier to understand the recitativ than the actual singing.
Interesting comment! Are your languages listed in any particular order here?
They are in the order that I took the college courses. I had been intrigued by foreign languages since early childhood because my mother spoke French with my grandmother and great-grandmother when we visited them a few times a month.
I also had 4 years of Latin in high school, which doesn’t help much with operas, but I do also enjoy listening to Latin masses even though I am not religious. My Latin teacher had a PhD in German and was multilingual - he spoke 7 or 8 languages fluently and could read more than a dozen. He also taught Russian in my high school - one of my greatest regrets in life is that I didn’t take advantage of that opportunity. He talked a lot about linguistics and etymology, which I found interesting.
I took 2 years each of German and Russian to satisfy the language requirement for chemistry graduate school. I took 1st year Italian during my lunch hour when I was a postdoc at UNH. I took 2nd year Italian, and 1st year French and Spanish after I retired, at the university where I had taught for 32 years. I intended to take more French and Spanish classes, but the pandemic intervened and I didn’t have the energy to drive to the university 2 or 3 times a week after that.
I love this; thank you for taking the time to reply! There are so many options for learning on our own now, too. For example, I remember when buying a newspaper or magazine in another language cost more than I wanted to pay. Now we can access many on our phones, tablets and computers, often at no cost.
We are in the opera, only the regalia is ugly and gold and the music sucks…Little Marco wishes for/needs someone to rush in and take him home, to be respected for leaving it others. The well named operatic Hegsdeath will grab the axes and throw them into the audience while many little gnomes writh around in ‘tighty whites’ and yell, “off with their heads.” And of course Junior Devil, horns and all, will stand in the corner throughout waving his arms, mimicking the star’s motions.
The king on his golden throne, a ‘two-holer,’ will gesticulate and bombast about how mean people have been to him all his life, (for two hours, weaving) with the climax his melting and reforming, rising about the stage on a golden pole as ‘Tawny.’ In all her regalia!
The climate comes as orchestra plays and the now smiling chorus sings, with required audience participation, ‘lyrics on the back of the program’, ‘You can’t always get what you want.” With Keith’s and Mick’s permission.
It's too late for Little Marco. His hypocrisy is astonishing. He'd spent his life condemning authoritarianism in Cuba only to facilitate its rise here when given the opportunity.
You know Trump loves attention, positive and negative. Let’s try ignoring him. Thanks
That's what too many Americans have done, and it has been a disastrous failure. We all need to be speaking out much more than we have been.