Blondie Tomorrow!

I’m sitting here giggling with excitement because I’m going to see Blondie tomorrow. It never really occurred to me to post about it, until Husband asked if the only reason I’m going to see them is because my voice teacher was Debbie Harry’s voice teacher way back in the day. Of course not! He has no idea how influential Blondie has been on my singing, and I actually never really thought about it much, but looking back, I realized I learned a lot from listening and singing along. And sing along I did – I learned all the words to every Blondie song. This was back when I was a certified “alto” and didn’t believe I could hit the high notes, so some of the songs were especially challenging for me. Picture This was the most challenging of all for me. The chorus went on with no room for taking a breath, and it was at the cusp of how high I could sing below that flip in my voice. Now, of course, it’s a piece of cake. But then… I practiced that for hours and hours, trying to have enough breath to finish the line. What else? Sunday Girl. Also, just at that point of my (then) highest notes. Then other songs I just had so much fun with. Fade Away and Radiate. All sort of dreamy verging on dramatic. Hanging on the Telephone. Hell yeah. Rip Her to Shreds – the ultimate mean girl song!! In the Flesh. Swaying back and forth and flirting with myself in the mirror, then getting pouty. Call Me – loved the end “call me for your lover’s lover’s alibi.” I’d get mad when it was on the radio and they cut the ending before that line. And “roll me in designer sheets,” what a great line!!! Atomic. “Toniiiiiight…” “Oh… your hair is beautiful…. Ahhhhhh tonight!” And then there was a video for Dreaming that used to come on USA’s “Night Flight” and maybe the Kenny Everette Video Show (that link isn't for that video - I can't seem to find it on Youtube). I’d jump and sing along. Rapture. The first rap song? Maybe! Men from Mars? Sounds good to me. Now to give you a better picture of what this was like, I must add that I did most of this singing in front of my bedroom mirror, using either a baton or a hairbrush as my microphone. I’d pretend that I was Debbie Harry. And yes I did this with Queen songs too, where I loved that I could choose basically any line in the harmony to sing along with. But I never pretended to be Freddy Mercury like I pretended to be Debbie Harry. And speaking of baton twirling, two girls in our baton twirling group had this awesome duet set to Heart of Glass. What else? College - singing The Tide is High at a party, somewhere... I don't really remember...but I was hanging out with this guy who knew how to play it on guitar, so I sang it. Haha I wonder what my parents thought of me singing all these lyrics at age 12.

So to answer husband’s question, while I am thrilled at the idea that I was doing all that singing in the mirror while Debbie Harry was studying voice with the woman who now teaches me… hell YEAH I’d be going anyway.

Of course my voice teacher knows I’m going, and she gave me a note and a gift of handmade notecards to pass along to Debbie. How? I have no idea. I’ve emailed Chris Stein on facebook, commented on a picture on his public fan page and tweeted both him and BlondieOfficial… but I don’t really expect him to see it or reply. But who knows. Will tomorrow be another of my crazy rock/opera adventures? Either way, I’ll post about it.

Hearing is Believing

I still can't believe I sang at the meet and greet. I know this sappy happy feeling will fade, but I'm reveling in it now. I mean, WOW. Jared snapped his head around at the sound of my voice. A voice that he has, in part, inspired me to achieve. The whole band has, really, but you know. I was pretending that he had to be able to hear me up in that cupola in the painting! I lapsed into that trance and forgot that he was actually in the room. How ridiculous is that?! It was, as one friend pointed out to me, both thrilling and slightly horrific at the same time. But mostly thrilling! And somehow, through it all, I managed to maintain bladder control. Actually, peeing in my pants wasn't really a concern of mine. Forgetting how to talk coherently, yeah. But that's pretty much always a concern...

But yeah. Shannon fawned over me and my voice. Tomo and I talked about proper breathing. Jared... he heard me sing. And complimented my voice. I didn't even think to tell him that he has inspired me. I was just... gahhh.

My voice teacher was thrilled when I told her all about it. She said that it really took cojones to do that, and she's not surprised that I did, because I have them! She pointed out to me how validating is it to be able to sing on command and to "wow" people like that. And that often people are in awe of opera singers because opera seems so difficult and inaccessible. Was Shannon star struck? Maybe a little! Plus he was definitely impressed that I had the cojones to do it. The truth is, I felt a little uncomfortable by the attention. People were there to see them, not to hear me. She told me to get used to it. Yikes!!

I've found that people I know are impressed that I can sing an entire "song" in another language. But I don't just stand up and perform - I practice and study and learn the words and the notes and how to sing them and I practice singing them in front of people and so on. It may appear effortless in the end, which is the goal, but it's only all the prep work that makes it seem so.

And now, life resumes as before. Must must must call the vocal coach. Must must must mentally prep for my next adventure, which is seeing Nathan Gunn perform next month. And then Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau and Joyce DiDonato the following month. And finally, I must plan for my next adventure on Mars!

Mars Fan Tutte!

Wow wow wow wow!!! Saw 30 Seconds to Mars last night. AMAZING ADVENTURE!!!! We had the more-than-I've-ever-paid-for-an-opera-ticket tickets which gave us early entry to the venue and a meet and greet with the band after.

We were told to get there at 5. We got there at about 4:45 and had to stand out in the freezing rain until they checked us in, 1 at a time. We were all like, Ok wait we paid from $250-$450 per ticket (depending upon the VIP level) and we can't wait INSIDE while you do this? But the chick in charge (who was really very nice) said that they allowed only 5 people in at a time. Some people were there in just t-shirts. It was brrrrr coooollllldddd but we survived. Then we got wristbands and went to wait in a little lobby area. After a while they let us into the venue and we went straight to the barrier where we planted ourselves for the evening. I was directly in front of the guitarist. I actually sent him a direct message on Twitter to tell him I was there and I'd wave my long braid at him. I did, and he gave me the thumbs up, although I learned later at the meet & greet that he didn't see the message until AFTER the performance! So I was just another lunatic doing weird stuff until then. Well I still might be, but anyway... The concert was great. I LOVED being on the barrier. I made friends with security. When Jared had people move up, I braced myself and held on. There was a cool breeze, I could breathe, I could hang on. I wasn't moving from my spot, no way, no how. Here are some photos of my view of the stage:

Yeah. We were that close.

The concert was awesome. The people around us were all totally into it and going nuts. I heard later that the back of the crowd was kind of tame, but we had no idea. As Jared says, the front is for the people who want to go crazy, and we were going crazy. It was like an out-of-body experience.

After the show we waited in the pit area for the meet and greet. The rules were, no cameras, no hugs, no asking for hugs. Can only imagine what has happened in the past to prompt that one. They had us line up in this long line, then the band members came out and went down the line, chatting and signing things. I had made opera-mars bracelets for them.

Now, I know that most of my readers will know what these bracelets are about, but for the non-opera folk, here's your explanation.

"ZauberTomo" is taken from Mozart's Die Zauberflote, the Magic Flute. So we have, Magic Tomo!

Shannonini - Man that was a hard one to come up with. I already gave him (via a friend from Austria who saw them in Switzerland, ain't the internet grand??) a bracelet that says "Don Shannovanni," and seriously, how could I top that? So I looked through one of the opera books I have and finally came up with Shannonini, inspired by Rossini, Bellini and so on.

And finally, my favorite, for Jared. "Mars Fan Tutte," from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. You know. "All girls are like that" or "All the girls do that." In the context of the opera, it's basically that all girls cheat on their boyfriends. But in THIS context, it's "all girls do (meaning, are into) Mars" OR, using the "fan" as the English word fan, all Mars fans... are girls!! Which I know is not true. So no need to get all up in arms. There are plenty of male fans. But most of the audience seems to be female. So how amazing is that pun?? Huh?? I was so excited when I came up with it, because I'm such a dork. But there you go.

So here comes the absolutely amazing and crazy part of this adventure.

I was excited but not nervous or star struck about the meet and greet. I got over that after my idiotic star-struck meeting with Nathan Gunn back in 2008. So the guys are coming down the line. Shannon is first. He's the drummer. I introduced myself, we fist-bumped hello (is that the germ-free handshake?) and I told him I sing opera, mentioned the Don Shannovanni bracelet (he had no idea what I was talking about, no surprise there) and gave him Shannonini. He was like a little kid. "You sing opera? REALLY? Sing something!" I joked with him, "Wait a sec. I think I'm the one who paid to see YOU perform..." and he kept saying, "No, really! Sing something!" so I said ok. He stepped back to the middle of the room, told the band video guy to film and said, "Hey Jared! Jared! listen..." Inside I was like, "Holy cr@p, this isn't happening" and outside I looked at the camera, took a deep breath and lapsed into "performance mode," which, as you all know, generally means imaging the Cupola Man in the cupola of the church in that painting in my voice teacher's house. Cupola Man... oh wait a sec. That's Jared. One of the people who inspires me to sing my best. He was there. Cupola man was there. IN THE ROOM. I sang the first few measures of Ombra mai fu before the "cupola man is in the house" realization hit me like a ton of bricks and I got nervous. But I have to say, I'm pretty damn proud of myself. I had my voice on the air and when I hit those upper notes it RANG through the venue, clear as a bell. I could hear everyone sort of get quiet when I started, but when I went up and got loud, the place went SILENT. My friends said that Jared glanced over when I started, but his head WHIPPED around when my voice rang out. Luckily for me I didn't see that. So I sang a few measures, then stopped when the brain-bricks hit me and asked Shannon if that was enough. He was like, "You have an amazing voice!" and I said, "I can't believe I just sang in front of everyone, look, now I'm shaking." We chatted a bit more, he signed the back of my t-shirt and moved on. Next came Jared. Fist-bump hello. I'm like, "So obviously you know that I sing opera... I made you this bracelet, it's a pun, I won't tell you what it means..." and he said something about google... which now as I read that I hope didn't come out rude! I was still all off-kilter from singing. I mean, I can't friggin' believe that I did that. I wasn't star struck. I was post I-can't-believe-I-just-sang-for-people-on-the-spur-of-the-moment traumatized. He told me to take care of my voice, he signed my shirt and moved on. Then Tomo came, saw my mass of hair and said, "OH!! Now I get it. I didn't see your tweet until after the show." It was pretty funny. Gave him his opera bracelet, we chatted, he signed my shirt and moved on. After they finished the chat-n-sign it was time for photos. When it was my turn I said to Shannon, "You're not gonna make me sing again, are you?" and he said he was impressed, he didn't think I'd actually do it. Yeah, I don't believe I did it either. Then they took the photo and that was it.

My friends and I all went to a diner where it slowly sunk in that Shannon asked me to sing... and I did. And I did a halfway decent job. I imagine they'll remember me...

I love my life.

A Quckie

Quickie post here...

Got a great, really helpful comment on my previous post. I tried it... and it worked! Focusing on the a of soave made the other notes just sort of... bounce off into the right place. And so far I'm able to do it about 90% of the time.

I haven't been to my coach in a while. I really really REALLY have to call her. Hoping to start back up with her next week.

My lessons are getting better and better, just more and more fun plus more and more work, but GOOD work. My teacher has me going back to older pieces I've sung, to keep them fresh. And, I assume, for me to apply what I've learned since I last sang them.

And now... I must run and prepare for an ADVENTURE!!! Going to see Thirty Seconds to Mars tomorrow night about 3 hours north of here. It's supposed to snow/sleet/rain tomorrow so we're going up tonight. Pictures and a full report to follow of course!

Marching with Torches

I had another adventure last night! This was not opera related, although, like my last post about 30 Seconds to Mars, there was a little outdoor opera action on my part.

Thirty Seconds to Mars had put out an open casting call for extras in their upcoming video for their song Hurricane. Shooting was Wed and Thursday night. Someone I know got picked. They were allowed to bring a friend. She invited me along. I didn't go Wednesday night but I went yesterday, on Thursday! It was so much fun! Here I am sitting on the top of the bench seatback, waiting for my friends to arrive:

After we entered the park, most of the time was spent waiting around, of course, not unlike supering in an opera. And in fact I did do a little singing, although not much. And we did pee in the bushes, but that was all part of the adventure. And after about 2 hours they were ready for us.

Do we look bad-ass or what?

Yeah, I know. The answer is, "what." We don't look scary, we look cute. But we were part of a black hoodie mob carrying torches and flags. I wasn't carrying anything but because I had that super-cool mask I was placed near the front of the mob. Here I am during a break while we waited for them to reset the camera:

It was really cool to experience the filming. Before we started, they called us over to tell us to listen carefully to the safety rules from the pyrotechnics experts. I was so excited - I was hoping for fireworks and explosions! But it was nothing like that - it was just a little talk about how the torches worked and what to do if you were uncomfortable with your torch. I ended up not carrying one. They did give me one at first, but the guy behind me was carrying a flag, and the pyro experts said that flag behind fire was a no-no. Picky picky! So they set us up in a sort of marching mob formation and then filmed us coming up a flight of steps. Then we went back down, waited for them to reset the cameras, then they relit the torches and up we went again. We did that maybe 4 or 5 times. Then in the same formation we marched around some paths a few times, waiting in between each take for the camera to set up and the torches to relight. Then we were waiting for the next little march around. I was still in the front and my back was achy so I sat down on the ground. There I was, in my mask and hoodie with all that hair hanging down when I noticed the director on his way up the hill. He was wearing that grey jacket. He looked just like in that picture, except no sunglasses. I was the only one sitting. I caught his eye and we just watched each other as he walked up the hill. I don't think anyone else had noticed him yet. Then when he got nearer he looked at the whole bunch of us and said, "You're all a bunch of freaks." A short time later he came over and was all business, directing us with exactly how he wanted the shot to look. He cut out all the blonds, then anyone without a mask or hoodie. Then he looked at the redhead (yeah, that's me) and said, "You...you're gonna have to move over there." And off to the other group I went. Me and my red hair, too festive for the shot! He kept walking back and forth in front of all of us, trying to figure out who fit into his vision of the scene. He was nice, but business-like, very focused. Not at all like his insane stage persona. He ended up with a small, tight group of very dark scary looking people. The rest of us went back down the hill and we could see the torches moving around a little but that's pretty much it. So those of us who were sent "down the hill" hope that our scenes aren't totally cut from the final product. I'll be posting the video here once it's officially released no matter what! I made the final train and ended up getting home at 3am. *YAWN*

So there you go. My first actual interaction with Cupola Man. "You... you're gonna have to move over there." Oh yeah! Well YOU, you're going back in the Cupola. Can't wait to see the final video!!

Cupola Man in the FLESH! Plus Opera in the Parking Lot!

Ok readers this isn't really opera related, but it sort of is because I did manage to sing a few bars and make some spoooooky ghost sounds...

I went to Atlantic City Saturday night to see Thirty Seconds to Mars!!!! I was there!!!!!!!!!! My cupola man (click the link and read to see what I'm talking about) was right in front of me!!!!!!

Ok, calming down to write now. Just remember, I may be 43 but I feel like I'm 14.

So you know from my last post how important Thirty Seconds to Mars has become for me. Their songs helped me fight all that anger and horror of the pedophiles linking to Alex's video and commenting about him. And after watching one live clip of the band after another on YouTube I realized that I had to see them live. I could not pass up on the opportunity to see them in Atlantic City, about 2 hours from here. Easy to say that now. At the time I waffled and waffled... no one I know wanted to come... I had no ticket... although I kept checking the website all day Friday and there were still tickets. Husband finally got tired of me saying, "Should I go? Should I go alone? How can I NOT go? But can I go alone?" and so on, which is stupid considering I go alone to operas, including flying halfway across the country, without a second thought. Finally he told me to cut it out and just GO already. Great!!! It was Friday night prob around 9. So I went online... all sold out. NOOOOOO!!!!!! I had finally decided to go!!!!! Then, serendipity. I look at Twitter... and lo and behold someone is offering an extra ticket to AC!!!! Another twitter user helped connect us and there it was!! Not only was I going, I suddenly had people to meet! Someone else offered to drive me, but they were staying over and it just seemed easier to drive myself. But... that meant more people to meet!!!

So... Fashion!! Just like with going to the opera, I had to decide what to wear. Decided that with the amount jumping I was seeing on these videos I should wear a top with a little extra support to help keep the "girls" in line. The only one I have with that extra panel in it is bright pink. Yes, I wore a bright pink top to a 30 Seconds to Mars show. Please don't tell anyone!! I'm so not a pink person! I wore black capri-ish pants and what I call my zoo shoes, because the first time I wore them was to the Philadelphia Zoo. They are blue plaid wool sneakers and I love them so shut up. And of course I wore earrings, a pair that I've worn to the opera, just because. Just because I wanted to wear something shiny and rhinestoney. And the socks... well, I took them from Alex's drawer. Yes, he's 6 and I'm wearing his socks. With all that I brought this horribly bright orange string bag. I was fashion in motion.

Saturday morning I was so excited I could barely contain myself. I went down in the afternoon and got there at about 3. I hooked up with the woman who had the extra ticket, then we wandered around and made our way to the line for the theater. Or whatever you call it. Venue. It was in a casino. Talk about sensory overload: I spend two hours in the car, yeah with music playing, but still... then wander through a quiet parking deck, stand in a quiet elevator and suddenly burst out onto a casino floor with loud music, flashing lights, bells and people everywhere going in every direction. I wanted to just shut down. It made me wonder if that's what things are like for Alex when he just collapses to the floor sometimes. But anyway we got into the line and I did get a chance to sort of shut down as I snoozed on my ugly bright orange bag. Before long some of the other people from twitter found me and it was like one big party waiting on line to go in. I met so many wonderful people and had to keep trying to remember real names with twitter names to keep track of who was who. I was scared about being near the front of the crowd and everyone assured me that it'll be fine, it's the best place to be, sure it's a little squishy but it's worth it. Well... they were right!! But I'm getting ahead of myself. We got on line at about 3. Doors opened at 7. We went to the front toward the left side of the stage and were about 3 rows from the very front. And there we stood. The opening act came on at 8. They were loads of fun, long hair swinging around and fun, clever songs. They finished at about 8:40 or so. Then we kept standing... and waiting... the anticipation building... and building. I thought I would explode. I was ready to burst. Seriously. I was. I kept telling anyone who would listen. Finally, at about 10 after 9, the lights dimmed and the show began!! (NSFW Warning: Jared Leto curses like a sailor. And that's how we like him.) And as usual, the blogger format cuts off the video, so click through to YouTube to see it all.

Yes, I go to operas. And I go to 30 Seconds to Mars shows and jam myself into the front to see my cupola man right there. Four feet away from me. And he's not 2 inches tall. He's REAL!!! The singer in me can't help but notice he didn't sing the high notes, but let the audience do it for him. I didn't realize it at the time. Now I totally want to give him some private voice lessons - get that voice on top of the air Jared, and drop your jaw, and use your breath, let those high notes ring out! Do you think he'd let me? I believe that he can actually reach the notes, but not while jumping around like the maniac he is. We all jumped. I jumped and jumped and made a few very jumpy videos, most of which I'll link to here.

Now I just have to post a small aside here, because I realized as I wrote that we got there at 3 and the show started soon after 9... when I went into labor with Alex I got to the hospital at 3 and gave birth at about 10 minutes after 9. The same amount of time, and while of course you can't really compare the two experiences, I will because it's my blog and I can do what I want. There was back pain, there was anticipation, there was nervousness, there was back pain. There was no baby on Saturday night - instead there was the most adrenaline-pumping, exciting evening of my life!!! As opposed to the "thank God THAT'S over" feeling of giving birth and not being in labor anymore... The excitement and energy in that room was palpable. It really was. And the guys in the band radiate charisma. Jared Leto is amazing. I'm not talking about his physical beauty (ok, maybe a little) but his presence. It's electrifying. And he's funny. And at the same time he's just normal. Like he goes from being this huge presence to just a regular guy, joking and talking, and then suddenly it's like he's preaching and everyone is worshipping. That's not exactly it... I'm having trouble finding the words. It's almost like the entire show was a religious experience. You can't not look, you can't not participate - the energy and excitement just sweeps you along and it's the most awesome feeling in the world. And the man can sing!!! No, it's not opera. It's all in a lower register. In fact I noticed that they transposed many of the songs into lower keys for the live performance. I sing along an octave above in the car all the time - my muscles know where to go to hit the right notes - so I was a bit messed up when I lapsed into singing along during the show. So I gave it up and just sang down low. And trilled, and whooped, and cheered, and yelled along with everyone else. And jumped!!! It's not like I even had a choice. I was fine in the Very Crowded front until about the 5th song or so when he told everyone to take 3 giant steps forward. Did I mention that it was already Very Crowded? Suddenly I was a sardine, a short sardine in a can of long tall sardines with elbows in my face and people packed all around. The guy in front of me was hugely tall and as excited as everyone else. I thought for sure I was going to be crushed. After about a minute of this wild press of jumping people I had to get out - I was starting to panic! So I made my way to the side and stayed just at the edge of where the crowd started to get rowdy. I was in a good position to help pull out other people who stumbled out to escape the press of people, plus I could dance and jump and go wild without fear of bodily harm.

So here's another video I made before I escaped. Another video I made while jumping... Dude knows how to work the crowd with that insane pause in the middle.

Here's another jumping jumpy video:

And here's another. I had to stop filming because the jumping was so jumpity jump jump that I needed both hands to protect my face from the elbows around me.Not fun being only 5 feet tall in a crowd like this.

For the rest, go to my YouTube page.

So I hung out at the edge of the rowdiness and slowly eased my way back in, and ended up very close to where I started out. My camera card was full and the videos I took with my phone sound AWFUL. The speaker couldn't handle the volume. In fact, one of the videos I took came out with no sound. Looks pretty good, though. I was sad/bummed/disappointed that I wasn't up in the press (yet still relieved) when Jared came down into the crowd. Wanted so badly to be there and was so very glad not to be in there. Can I arrange a private show for just me and my twitter friends? So we can all be wild without the claustrophobia? Husband's theory is that they like to see how far they can push the crowd to do stuff - like they're a little masochistic. Could be. Don't really care. They make it so you WANT to do what they say. It's scary, sort of. But it's not just that. It's the music. It's so full. It surrounds you. You just give yourself up to it and let it wash over you. The lyrics are great, if at times a little teenagery-earnest. But I eat it all up. I love it. And obviously I'm not the only one.

One of the best aspects of it, for me, was hearing and singing along with all the songs that I listened to after those pedophile bastards wrote about Alex on their message boards. It was such a great release to just scream RUN AWAY I'LL ATTACK and all the others, at the top of my lungs, with hundreds of others. It was truly cathartic. So intense. I actually feel a lot better.

After the show we milled about being silly. Jammed ourselves into a photo booth for a picture:

(see the hot pink top?)

Then we hung out on the boardwalk where I met more people that I "knew" from Twitter, even called a tattoo place to check on their hours for someone who had gotten the band to autograph her arm with a Sharpie, but she was eating greasy cheese fries and couldn't touch her phone. That was pretty funny b/c I put on my mom/teacher voice, "Hi, could you please tell me what time you're open til? And what time do you open tomorrow?" and the guy was like Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times, "Uh... 12. Maybe one." Duuuude thanks. I hope you're not the one holding the needle tonight. Not that I'd ever get a tattoo for so many reasons, the main one being not liking pain, and next being I'd never be able to decide what I want on me forever. So I'm happy looking at other people's tattoos.

Then Braxton Olita, who plays keyboards in the band, came out with his guitar and played a few songs on the beach. He was on a live chat last night where I was able to tell him I sing opera and was at the show. He commented on it so now he knows, there was an opera singer at the show Saturday night! But I digress... Meanwhile, a few of us ran over to where the tour buses were b/c the guys usually come out to chat with people. Well me missed Jared by like a minute. We were actually running (did I mention yet that I'm 43 going on 14?) and could see the bus and the crowd and hear the screaming. Then chunks of people were leaving as we got there. Grrr. I heard that he was really nice, telling people to follow their dreams and so on. Very inspirational. He talked about some of that during the show too. But then Shannon, the drummer, came out. He signed autographs and was super sweet. And small!! I mean, really muscular, but much tinier than I imagined. I guess he just looks larger on stage. They all loom large but appear petite in person. While he was signing Jared came out again carrying a cup with his hand over it. He ran over to Shannon and threw the contents of the cup at him. I heard later it was a bug. Ah brothers. I'm not the only 14 year old adult in the world.

We all hung out for a while longer and someone suggested we make a human triad. A little background: The band has these glyph symbols and the triad is a triangle with an extra line part way up. People make the triad out of candles and other things. We made this one out of ... people. See me in there? Near the point, hot pink shirt, long red hair? The other pictures in that flikr set are from that night. You must all go look even though they have absolutely nothing to do with opera.

Then we all chatted a little more before I decided a little before 1 that seeing as how I had a 2 hour drive ahead of me I should probably hit the road. During the goodbyes I found out that someone else likes opera, I sang a few bars of Lascia ch'io pianga, made some ghosty spooky operatic trills and off I went, back through the labyrinthine casino to find my way to the elevator to the parking deck. Then of course I got lost in Atlantic City and while, sure, it's cute to be on all the streets from Monopoly, it's not so cute to be lost in Atlantic City. Miraculously I had gotten onto a street that lead directly to the highway I needed, so all was good, and two hours later I stumbled out of the car and up my front steps.

This weekend was so intense, intense the way Rape of Lucretia was intense. I am so glad I went. I can't believe I went. But I did. I went. It was insane, it was, as everyone kept saying, epic. Epic was the word of the day. I want more, more, more... in spite of the pain I still feel in my back from all that standing, and the sleep deprivation and the sheer terror of being trapped in the crowd. I want to do it again!!! I met so many awesome people. I had a blast.

So today I had a voice lesson. I told my teacher all about the weekend. She's 71, by the way, and she gets a huge kick out of me. She loves that I just go out and live life rather than sit home and wonder and regret. She is the same type of person. She told me about being Debbie Harry's voice teacher and going to a few Blondie shows in New York and understanding how crazy it can be up front by the stage. She also told me about the time David Bowie asked her to dance and she didn't know who he was. Also she sang a duet with some guy from Foreigner. I showed her this picture (yes, yes I did!!) and of course she thought it was hilarious. She knows he's the man I sing to in the cupola in her painting. She said I should write him a letter and tell him he has inspired me to be a better opera singer. She was serious. I have no idea how to do that, so I twittered it to him. My "letter," in under 140 characters, including spaces:

@jaredleto Atl City was my first Mars show - I'M HOOKED! My opera singing is improving in part thanks 2 yr inspiration. Thx 4 that! ~Susan

Do you think I'll get a RT? I doubt it... but there you go. (RT = Retweet, a form of reply on twitter.) I don't think there are any characters left in my message for a RT unless he cuts some of it out. And that is way too much trouble for someone with over 250,000 followers. Do you think I'm the only opera singer in the Mars Army?

There is so much more to tell about the weekend. I'm sure I'll remember it all after I publish the post. But I think this is enough to give you all an idea of the sheer...EPICNESS of the adventure!!!

Pins and Wings - The Full Adventure

Finally ready, I think, to tell about the entire day of the opera. Surreal as it was.

It didn't start out surreal. Looking back, I realized I wasn't feeling 100% earlier in the day but attributed it to nervous excitement. I even remember thinking, funny, this isn't usually what my body does when I'm excited, but what else could it be. Ha!

Anyway, I actually fell asleep on the train on the way into the city. Another red flag. I fell asleep? On the train? I don't do that. For so many reasons, I simply don't do that. Apparently I do... when I'm not in 100% health.

Met my voice teacher (who is also my friend) and we walked uptown. I was fine, no problems. We had drinks and a very nice dinner at Rosa Mexicano. They made guacamole for us at the table, that's their shtick. They serve it with red and green sauce, chips and warm soft tortillas.



It was part of the prix-fixe dinner.

For entrees, we both had salmon over tropical fruit mole. It was delish. I was so full from the guac that I ate only half.



That triangle is a slice of pineapple, in case you were wondering.

Then, a chocolate hazelnut cupcake for dessert! YUM! I managed to eat all of that of course.



Then we rolled out of there, filled to the gills. I ignored that strange feeling in my stomach, attributing it to overindulgence in food and drink. We crossed the street to the Met where we took the usual photos.

Outside:



Check out my $2 gloves with the sparkly hearts.

Inside:



View from my seat in the front row of the balcony... you can see the titles system they have there on the panel in front of the seat.



Me in my seat:



And so the opera began. And as I sat there... the odd feeling in my stomach got... odder... and uncomfortable... and suddenly I felt quite unwell... hot prickly... cold sweat... nausea... stomach gurgles... shaking... I did my best to suppress these feelings while my mind began racing... "Ohmygod I can't be getting sick, here at the Met, during an opera. This isn't happening. And Ohmygod if I am sick how the heck am I going to manage going home on the train? What am I going to do? I can't be sick!!!" And my next thought... "...Maybe I'll just sit on the floor and put my head down on my seat, to rest..." and then my rational brain, what was left of it, said, "Uh... no... better to get out of here..." and then I realized that, as much as I wanted to be there, if part of my brain wanted me to get out of there, I should probably listen... I realized that I no longer cared where I was... so I stumbled up the stairs where the usher immediately came over to see if I was ok. She assisted me to the lobby where I was suddenly surrounded by ushers and the bartender, asking if I was ok, can they help, here's some water, here's a damp cloth, and meanwhile I was quite woozy and my brain had pretty much had left my head and I was sort of watching this all happen. I thought I'd be sick so they brought me to the bathroom. Everyone was so concerned and friendly and caring.

When I came out of the bathroom the house doctor was there and he asked me a few questions. After my trip to the bathroom I was feeling a bit better and the head usher actually unlocked the doors and let me back in! Didn't expect that. (I'll credit my dress for that!) I managed to hold it together until intermission, practically passed out in my seat. People probably thought I was drunk. Whatever. I made myself alert for the singing and snoozed during the talking. And with La Fille, that meant I had a lot of snooze time.

At intermission I realized there was no way I could make it through the rest so my companion asked the usher to call the doctor. The doc and the lead usher brought me down to the doc office, which is this tiny room backstage with a too-large desk squeezed in, a little bathroom and a closet with a gurney in it. It was cluttered with medical equipment.

The doctor was so so nice. I was feeling rather stupid for getting ill (irrational but whatever) and was annoyed at myself that I was missing the performance. He told me that there are 4000 seats there and that someone gets ill every night. Every night. And tonight was my night. Then he asked if I'd ever had acupuncture and would I be willing to try it? And in my woozy state I said, "Sure, why not." So there I was, backstage. On a gurney. With pins stuck in me. I could hear the opera going on. I thought I was hearing on a monitor. Little did I know that this little "treatment" room was basically a short hop, skip and a jump down the hall from the stage and I was hearing it live.

I cannot express now nice the doctor was. He stayed with me the whole time. He treated my physical symptoms and made me feel better about the situation. When I was feeling better, he said that if I promise not to throw up on Diana Damrau he'd let me watch from the stage. I guess I wasn't clear on what he meant, exactly... because surely he couldn't mean, from the stage, right?

So I jumped down from the table and he led me through a set of doors and the next thing I knew, we were in the wings! I was like, holy crap! He kept urging me forward, closer to the stage. It was unreal. I was so excited and still vaguely ill and I was right there like 10 feet from Juan Diego Florez and Diana Damrau and they were singing the trio as I mentioned in my last post. Like, right there. Next to me. And my brain was still floating a bit above my body, it was so bizarre. After we left I joked that had I known I'd get to watch from the wings I'd have gotten sick at the Met long before this. And it was also a sort of familiar feeling since I often watch from the wings when I super. But this wasn't my local opera company. This was the Metropolitan Opera. And that was Juan Diego Florez. And Diana Damrau. Right there. Ahhhhh!!!!!

I watched the rest of the performance on a television monitor from this little couch in the hallway. My friend collected me before the curtain calls and we made our way through the freezing rain into a taxi and eventually back to NJ. I stayed home from work the next day and really wasn't myself until the evening - about 24 hours after it all began.

What an adventure!!! Obviously it was no picnic getting sick and almost passing out, but the experience - acupuncture backstage and a view from the wings - totally bizarre - totally surreal - and looking back - It was almost like a gift!!

Everyone at the Met was so so nice, from the bathroom attendant to the ushers, the bartender to the doctor. Today I sent them a thank-you note.

I'm sure there's more to tell, and no doubt I'll remember once I publish the post. But for now, that pretty much covers it.

Today and Tomorrow: Aliens, Trains and Lawns

Tonight: Abduction. I hope they don't do the brain probe again. WAIT A SECOND! Not alien abduction. Wrong blog. No! It's Mozart's Abduction!
Fashion: The Florida outfit.

Tomorrow: I'll be either taking a train and sitting on a lawn, or playing with trains and sitting on a lawn.
Fashion: Skirt, t-shirt and flip-flops, either way.

A Quickie

Voice lesson: Since we'll have a few weeks before the next lesson, instead of starting Gretchen, we began Batti Batti, which I had pulled out last week. We did the pronunciation, the rhythm, the melody. I know much of it already from listening and singing along with the CD. In the car. Very loudly. I make up the words I don't know. I guess I'll learn them now. I still need to translate it word for word and do selective IPA-ing.

Tomorrow: Changed my mind and decided to go with the long black flowery skirt and a black top. I do have earrings for it but of course I needed to make new ones so I spent much of the evening after my lesson throwing together variations of sparkly dangly things I can wear with it. I'm too wiped to photograph them now but I will. I think I made 5 or 6 pair.

So anyway I've tossed what I think I need into the bag, including the tickets. Don't want to forget the tickets. I have makeup, clothes, shoes, jewelry, toiletries and the camera. Tomorrow I'll toss the phone charger in and that will be it.

Hooray!! An adventure!!!

Adventures Are Afoot!

Adventures are upcoming!! Let's get excited!

1. April - Nozze di Figaro in Florida with Elizabeth Caballero as the Countess. Taking my mom. My cousin is joining us. Should be a fun evening.

2. May - La Cenerentola in HD. Once again I have to find someone to join me.

3. June - Rape of Lucretia in Philadelphia with Nathan Gunn and William Burden. And OHMYGOD I just found the most horrifying page when I did a search to link to his name. Someone is handy with photoshop, that's all I'll say. And I'm not searching again, thankyouverymuch. I think I'm traumatized, ha ha. Yet another thing to get over. Where was I? Oh yeah - Ann (Banawoman) is coming out and we're going together. I am excited to finally meet Ann in person. She has been very supportive in the situation referenced above. Dang I'm done with that... something more pleasant please ... oh I know ...I'm looking forward to seeing Nathan Gunn perform again even though I just saw him last week. I'm not so sure I'm looking forward to an opera about how a woman's life is ruined. But either way the whole event/adventure will no doubt be fun.

4. June/July - Hopefully my local opera company will need supers for one of the productions. Adult female supers. Otherwise I'll have to *gasp* pay for my tickets, and that would never do.

One Problem Solved

Well, I probably won't have to worry about what to wear on Sunday.

Today's weather report from the National Weather Service:

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR

CENTRAL DELAWARE
NORTHERN DELAWARE SOUTHERN DELAWARE
NORTHEAST MARYLAND
CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
...NORTHERN NEW JERSEY...NORTHWEST NEW JERSEY...SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY...EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA...NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA AND SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA.

SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY.
A STORM SYSTEM TRACKING TO OUR SOUTH AND EAST SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY SHOULD PRODUCE A ROUND OF WINTRY PRECIPITATION, ESPECIALLY FOR LOCATIONS AWAY FROM THE COAST. THERE REMAINS UNCERTAINTY REGARDING THE PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS AND THE EXACT TRACK OF THE SYSTEM, HOWEVER A MIXED PRECIPITATION EVENT LOOKS TO AFFECT PARTS OF THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY.

So what does this mean for the roads? Glad I didn't pay for a ticket. Maybe they'll postpone it...

For those of you wondering what "it" is:

The 49th Annual Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Lecture-Performance: Nathan Gunn

Nathan Gunn, one of the most acclaimed and in-demand baritones performing today, will be the featured artist for Goucher’s 49th Annual Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Lecture-Performance, held on Sunday, March 1, at 7 p.m. in Kraushaar Auditorium.
Free tickets must be reserved in advance by calling 410-337-6333 or e-mailing boxoffice@goucher.edu.
In addition to his performance, Gunn has offered to do a Q&A session/lecture/ demonstration with interested Goucher students and faculty on Monday, March
2, from 9 to 10 a.m. in Merrick Lecture Hall. If you would like to attend, or if you need more information,
contact Kristen Keener at kristen.keener@goucher.edu or 410-337-6316.
For more information about Gunn’s performance and
accomplishments, please see www.goucher.edu/x29695.xml.

Two Things

1. A friend recently said, "Always err on the side of adventure." I like that. Sort of.

2. My brain needs an internet vacation. See you next week.

Cat Pic Friday Adventure

Not sure how the week went by so quickly, but here it is, Friday again. Friday means... cat pictures. Here we go:


Diego settles into a pile of clothes on the chair.



Viola caught checking the jewelry box for anything she can pawn.
(get it? PAWn. Just made that up. I'm feeling very clever!)



For 5 minutes there were no toys on the floor, so the cats made their move and collapsed as if they had been sleeping there forever.


Am in intense, intense discussion with the friend from the friend/person post about the particulars of her upcoming adventure. This is important stuff, people. We'll be living vicariously through her soon. She is aware that the pressure is on. She won't disappoint us.