Winners (Me!) and Spoilfaces (Others!)

THANKS to everyone who voted for my drink in the Elixir of Love contest… I WON!!! I sent facebook messages to groups of people, asking them to vote – opera people, moms groups, 30 Seconds to Mars fans, Adam Ant fans, college and high school friends. I also posted on some people’s walls and put the link as my facebook status every day, reminding people they could vote once a day. I tweeted it up the wazoo (I believe that’s an official term to mean, a lot) and asked people to RT. I tweeted people directly asking them to vote. People asked their friends to vote. And lo and behold…I got 527 votes! The guy in 2nd place got 334:

 

 

Then the Met sent me a letter saying that my drink “won the hearts of their fans…” Well. Not exactly. But I’ll take the win! The contest said to get everyone to vote. That’s what I did.

 

The prize is, two tickets to L’Elisir D’amore and a special gift from the Met Opera. The tickets and the special gift will be waiting for me at the box office on the day of the performance. I will, of course, report back afterwards. The performance is in February so you’ll all just have to be patient.

 

And then while I was busy basking in my win, I ALSO won the Met’s weekly drawing for $25 weekend tickets. So I got to see the Saturday matinee of Il Trovatore from Orchestra Row R. I had a friend meet me, but unfortunately she got there late and had to watch the first act with about 35 other latecomers on a tv screen until intermission.

 

The opera was interesting. The plot was ridiculous, of course… a sort of loosely woven story of revenge, betrayal, misunderstandings and death. But the music was wonderful and the singing WOW as usual. I loved the soprano. She had such a sweet voice. She made it all sound effortless. At times the orchestra was louder than the singers, which was not ideal, but that was only at a couple of points. This is the opera that has the famous “Anvil Chorus.”

 

Afterwards, I got “involved” in a conversation on facebook with someone who has a Bad Attitude. He actually gave me permission to quote the conversation here, although I will leave his name off. Not that it matters. You wouldn’t have heard of him, he hasn’t sung anywhere. But for the sake of anonymity, let's call him, Mr. Snooty Spoilface

 

It all started when a friend "checked in" at the Metropolitan Opera:

 

Mr. Snooty Spoilface I wonder who the soprano is.... I saw the final dress... the MET was TRYING IT.

My Friend:  They are trying it now...it's a mess

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Hahahahaha the only two great singers are Dolora and Morris.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Who is the soprano?

My Friend: It's true those two are the best. I don't remember some Asian woman. I'll look at the program on intermission.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Wow. The same one I saw in the final dress on Wednesday. She sings out of tune and I doubt she'll make it thru Act 3.

My Friend:  It is guanqun yu

Mr. Snooty Spoilface That's her. Should be singing Susanna from nozze, not Leonora.
 

My Friend:  It was a mess. Dolora and Morris were great...it seemed like they muted the orchestra. How do you even do that?!
 

ME!! : Did we see the same opera? Carmen Giannittasio was Lenora. She was amazing. The sets were a big clunky sounding as they moved around but I thought all the singers were great.

ME!! : Also the orchestra was pretty loud down in the orchestra. LOL. Row R. They drowned out the singers at some points. Where were you sitting? If you were under an overhang that could explain the muted sound.

My Friend:  I stood in the back and sat in a few different spots out from under the overhang. The orchestra was muted and you (me I'm guessing everyone) still couldn't hear the singers. I went to the matinee sat afternoon and there was an insert saying that Carmen Giannittasio was sick and that Guanqun Yu was taking her place and making her met debut. The production was kind of awful...with Morris Robinson and Dolora Zajick, and to be fair a few others, as vibrant spots in the mediocrity.

ME!! : Oh! There was no insert in my or my friend's program. I wasn't thrilled with the production but I did like the singers. I thought the soprano sounded lovely.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface HILARIOUS.

ME!! : Which part is hilarious? There are so many choices...

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Trust me, you don't want to know.

ME!! : Hmm. Are you making fun of me for liking the soprano? I can take it, I'm a big girl.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Lol. There were only TWO Verdi singings in that ENTIRE cast, Zajick and Robinson. If we as singings, young and old, begin to accept mediocre singing as the norm there truly is no hope for our art form. I'm not sure if you're a singer but I challenge you to research the singers of the past who have sang that role. Both L. Price and M. Price, Millo, Milanov, just to name a few.

ME!! : I don't have formal training in music - I'm one of those people who started studying voice as an adult, for fun. So as an audience member, I'm not analyzing every note or technique, and I don't know what composer people have trained to sing or whatever. I experience the performance as it is. I understand where you're coming from, however I have no interest in knowing who sang the role before and how they sang it. I'm there seeing who IS singing it. Does that make sense?

My Friend:  Lol Susan I wouldn't make fun of you...everyone has different ears. I think she had a nice voice just not for Verdi. I am curious about what specifically you liked. And please don't feel I'm asking you to defend your opinion, simply want to hear it...I want to know exactly what you thought. Feel free to post here or message me.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface I thought I was having a conversation with an actual singer. Oh well. Continue on your journey sugar.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface I apologize, My Friend. You know how I get about singing.

ME!! : Mr Snooty, Are you implying that someone who hasn't studied formally doesn't have a valid opinion of a performance? I consider myself an actual singer. I don't get paid and I'm not on a career path but I love singing and I love performing. It's part of who I am. I don't have to have gone to music school to have that passion. Your patronizing attitude is one of the reasons opera seems so snobby to the general public.

Each singer brings his or her own self to the character. It's fine to love how a particular singer performed that role, I have my favorites in certain roles too. But I try to see what's good about a performance, and what's enjoyable... not what was wrong. I don't go in expecting a sub-par performance because the singer isn't "trained" to sing Verdi.

Friend , what I liked was how pretty her voice was. It was sweet. This was my first time seeing Trovatore and I thought the sweetness of her voice was right for the innocence of the character. I also thought the tenor was good too. Yes I've heard better tenors, with stronger voices, but he was fine in the role. And the reception they both got from the audience shows that I wasn't the only one who thought so. She had one show-stopping aria and also a standing ovation at the end. Are we to dismiss the general public's "opinion" as because they're (we're) not "smart" enough to know what's good, so we accept mediocrity?

If you guys don't mind, I'm thinking of using this conversation as the topic of a blog post.. I won't name either of you of course. But that "actual singer" comment is priceless!

Mr. Snooty Spoilface By all means use want you want. But please become a learned singer so you and actually appreciate what you're hearing. When you and a baritone, soprano and tenor who have no business singing Verdi, yes that bothers me. And what bothers me more is when you have a singer who claims they loves and are learning how to sing in an art form yet doesn't want to do the research of what type of voices should be singing the certain rep. I find that ridiculous. I'm very opinionated when it comes to singing and I know tons of patrons who have never sung a note yet know rep and who should be sing it. Don't be a dummy. Please do some research. Trust me, I will help you with your very own development.
Best in your singing!!

ME!! : Thank you for your well wishes. And no no no. There is more than one way to appreciate and learn music. Your way is not the only way. You don't know anything about me to say what I want or don't want to do. I started studying at the age of 40. I see it as an achievement to finally do something I've always wanted to do. I have a job and am the parent of a special needs child. I squeeze in 30 minutes of voice lesson a week unless parenting interferes. I am in it for me, to learn what I can do with my voice, not to criticize the casting director at my local opera company for putting the wrong type of singer in a role. I do agree that you appreciate more the more you know. I appreciate opera singing more than I did before I began studying voice now that I know a fraction of what goes into it. I love learning to sing, I love singing, I love going to the opera when I can afford the time and money. But let's switch lives for a few days, and then you tell me when you have time and energy to do anything else for yourself other than the weekly 30 minute lesson. I do most of my practicing in the car because it's the only set chunk of time I have alone.
One piece of advice I have for you is to be nice to everyone you meet, from the friend-of-a-friend mom who studies voice for herself, the person measuring you for your costume, the super who volunteers to be a soldier or townsperson or the person in the box office selling tickets. You never know who is in the position to do the hiring, or who they know. And you never know who is in the position to buy a ticket to see you, or decide NOT to buy a ticket, based on how you treat others. No matter how talented you are, if you are as rude to other people as you have been to me, you will encounter a glass ceiling when the decision for a role is between you and the guy who maybe isn't as strong a singer but sure is nicer to work with.

Mr. Snooty Spoilface Sigh.

_______

Yes, Mr. Snooty had to get the last word in. I let him, because it was obvious that he was not getting off the top of his cultural ladder. I suppose another option would have been to attack him. But I figured I went beyond the necessary by defending myself, and he wasn't worth my time to attack. I'm not proud that I played the "I'm the busy parent of a special needs kid" card. But... he called me Sugar!

 

I do believe that it's attitudes like his that keep opera inaccessible, by implying that you need to have all this background knowledge to "properly" enjoy an opera. What a load of garbage. You either like something or you don't. If you have some background knowledge, great, you'll understand it more. But it's not a requirement. And there was no mediocre singing that day. The Met doesn't hire mediocre singers. I realize that all the Snooty Spoilfaces out there will say I'm naive for saying that. And I don't really care. I go in to a production ready to be amazed, not prepared to criticize.

I think what really made me reply at all was that he called me Sugar. So patronizing. Part of me wanted to smack him so hard upside the head that he'd fly ass-over-teakettle against the wall. And truthfully, I wrote that only for the opportunity to write "ass-over-teakettle."

Vote for my Vintage Cherry!

Thought that might get your attention!!! Vintage Cherry is the name of a drinky-drink the Huz and I came up with to enter the Metropolitan Opera's "Elixir of Love" contest. The entry with the most votes wins tickets to see The Elixir of Love. Which yeah, I've seen twice this year. But this is a new production with a different cast!!! You can vote once per day between now and September 23. This is my shameless plea to PLEASE VOTE FOR MY DRINK!!!!! <---click the link to go directly to my voting page. THANKS!!

The Lazy Blogger

This might possibly be the longest break I’ve ever taken from the blog. And really it’s just because I’m lazy. And busy. Busy being lazy. So what’s new? Let’s break it down.

Voice lessons: They're going great!! Working on the lower part of Rossini’s Cat Duet. Don’t have anyone to sing it with. How pathetic is that? I’m also working on Sposa son disprezzata. It’s sounding better and better. It’s in a perfect range for me. My main concern is keeping the air up and over and front for every note. I practice sections at a time to make sure each vowel combo gets lifted, lifted, lifted.

Opera: Got tickets to see Comte Ory at the Met in January! They changed their pricing structure. No  more Grand Tier Rear. Bye bye jokes related to that. Now it's premium, prime and balance. Like steak, almost. So of course the prices went up too. Balance is the last two rows on the sides, except for the aisle seats. The price difference is ridiculous. So I got the best possible balance seats. Hoping we'll be able to move to slightly better seats like I've done in the past. And of course if they still have it, I'll enter the weekly drawing for $25 weekend tickets. And YES!! I'm excited to see Juan Diego Florez and Nathan Gunn in the same opera. Finally! Maybe. As long as no one cancels this time. I don’t think either of them will. I don’t think I’ll cry if they do, like I did last time, but I make no promises.

Other upcoming adventures: Seeing Blondie (again) in early October, and then Adam Ant (again, after a Very Long Hiatus) that same week, two nights in a row. Meet and Greet tickets for Adam are $300 so that won’t be happening. But, as usual, I have something in the works… the tickets for one of the AA concerts are courtesy of a friend’s husband’s friend… so the friend will work on the husband to work on the friend to see if there’s any way we can somehow participate in some type of meet and greet. I suggested she bake the guy cookies, or maybe even a cake. Because Adam Ant was my life in the early and mid-80s. Much like opera and 30 Seconds to Mars are now. Now, the idea of meeting him makes me crazy with excitement. And even though I kept my cool meeting Juan Diego Florez and 30 Seconds to Mars, I can’t help but wonder if I wouldn’t dissolve into tears meeting Adam Ant for real rather than down an alley and behind a fence like I did last time… in 1985. And since I have no idea if it’ll even happen, I’ve decided to simply refuse to think about it. Wish me luck.

Finally, YouTube: I have an accounts under Melfindel, TheLuindriel and Bookshelf23. I don't need or want multiple accounts so I plan to consolidate them soon... whenever that will be.

Double Cross-Dressing

Once again I find myself apologizing for the huge gap in posting. Last month was a little hectic, but things have finally calmed down enough for me to catch up. And guess what? I sang in a concert and I’m actually not disgusted with my performance! I mean, yeah, of course I hear all the mistakes, but I’m pretty pleased for the most part. Here, decide for yourself.



And yes, as you see, this is my “alternate” youtube account, because once again EMI has made copyright claims on the 30 Seconds to Mars videos I posted. I filed the same response as I did last time. If/when my Luindriel account is reinstated, I’ll quickly change the descriptions on all the Mars videos.

But back to the concert. I played Cherubino in drag in another scene, dressed as a girl from the village bringing flowers to the Countess. That was fun because I got to act, hiding behind other girls while they shoved me to the front, and then they spun me down the line to end the song with me presenting the flowers to the Countess on the last beat of the music.

I also sang in the chorus for scenes from Die Fledermaus, Madame Butterfly, Dido & Aeneas and The Mikado. If videos of any of those scenes show up anywhere, I’ll post links.

An Interlude to my Interlude

Lots going on here! YouTube reinstated my page, hooray! And I'm doing scenes and an aria at an upcoming Opera Project Wing concert. But more on all that later. I'm breaking my (unintentional) posting interlude with something I haven't done in a very long time... A Gunn Interlude.

Here Nathan talks about his top 5 shirtless roles. He seems to be smeared with mud and blood alot.



Note his reversal of barihunk into hunkatone. Somehow "hunkatone" has a slightly different meaning to me than "barihunk," and it actually does seem to more accurately describe him.

And here's another topic on which Mr. Gunn and I agree: His view on Opera vs "Popera." I have had, while not quite arguments, let's call them... heated discussions, with people, on why Andrea Bocelli is not really an opera singer, nor are any of those contestants on the many singing reality shows out there who choose to squawk out an aria when it's their turn to compete. It's not that these people don't have talent. They do! But they couldn't get on stage and sing an opera, without a mic.

So yeah, speaking of getting on stage and singing, I'll be singing Voi che sapete and also doing the Cherubino cross-dressing scene in the upcoming Opera Project "Artist Development Wing" concert. Basically it's me and 15 teenagers. The youngest is I believe 13. We are all singing in the chorus for scenes from Die Fledermaus, The Mikado, Dido & Aeneas and Madam Butterfly. We have actual staging and everything. I'll report more on that... eventually.

From YouTube to You Tomb

I'm out of town but had to make this quickie post to let you all know that YOUTUBE SHUT DOWN MY PAGE!!!! Apparently EMI records doesn't like people posting live concert footage of 30 Seconds To Mars, in spite of the fact that it in no way hurts record sales. So they've been filing copyright claims on youtube for live videos - I'm not the only one affected by this. After 3 claims, YouTube automatically shuts down the page. Nice!!! So there go all the Nathan Gunn vids, my singing vids, the John Osborn videos, I think I had a Christian Van Horn vid... all gone, along with all the comments. Camelot? Bye bye. Magic Flute? Gone, gone, gone. And what's even sadder about all this is, I think I trashed the Romeo, Camelot and Magic Flute vids from my hard drive a few months ago when it was too full. So when I return to home base I'll see if I can file a response or whatever to get my page reinstated, and if that fails, I'll make a new one. Meanwhile, the 4 people a year who access the "My Favorite Baritone" page are going to see a whole lot of "video not found" messages. Sorry, Nathan fans! I'll try to fix it as soon as I can. Meaning, at some point in 2012. Now, my next challenge is to figure out how to send this blog posting from an iPad. Wish me luck...OH! I see a publish button. That was easy! ps anyone know how to add tags?

A Double Dose

First off: This blogging format has me stumped. It adds lines that I'm not inserting. So if there's a gap after the picture, scroll down for more text. I have spent far too much time fiddling with the formatting to no avail...

So here we go!

Having some serious sighing sighing moments here. I’ve been in this position before. It’s all Juan Diego Florez’s fault. You see, I saw him at the Met in L’elisir D’amore on March 9, then I won the weekly Met drawing for the $25 orchestra seat tickets. For the same opera. Juan Diego Florez and Diana Damrau. Again. So of course I went! Two weeks later. And now I’m in that euphoria that only comes from seeing Juan Diego Florez sing, twice in two weeks.

The opera was amazing. Basic plot: Nemorino (Juan Diego Florez) loves Adina (Diana Damrau) but she keeps brushing him off. She reads everyone the story of Tristan and Isolde, how Tristan drinks a potion to make Isolde love him. An army regiment comes to town and Sergeant Belcore (Mariusz Kwiecien) sees Adina and proposes marriage. She finally gives in and accepts. Nemorino is heartbroken. Then a traveling quack doctor comes to town, selling a potion that can cure anything. Nemorino asks about the love potion. Of course the doctor says he makes it. He sells a bottle to Nemorino, telling him that it’ll take a day to work, but once it does, every girl will find him irresistible.

Nemorino is very excited and drinks it at once. Of course it’s actually a bottle of wine and he gets drunk. The best part of the opera: Juan Diego Florez doing a drunken happy dance. Some brave soul recorded it from one of the performances:

If the blogger format cuts off the edge, click through you YouTube. It was HILARIOUS!

Nemorino decides to ignore Adina because he believes that tomorrow she’ll love him, so why bother her now. She notices this, and is upset that he’s suddenly not paying attention to her anymore. He didn’t even come to the banquet to celebrate her upcoming wedding to Belcore. Nemorino decides he needs to buy another bottle, and joins Belcore’s regiment for the sign-on salary so he can afford the elixir.

Next, the village girls share the news that Nemorino’s uncle has died, leaving him a pile of money. So naturally he’s suddenly an excellent catch. The next time they see him, they’re all over him, trying to get his attention and win his affection. He hasn’t yet heard the news of his uncle’s death, so he thinks that the potion is working! Adina sees the girls fawning over him and gets very jealous.

Nemorino is packed to join the army, and he sings the famous “Una furtive lagrima” on his way. You could hear a pin drop, that’s how quiet the audience got. Did Adina shed a small tear at the news of his leaving? If so, he can die happy. Meanwhile she bought his contract back from Belcore to keep him there, and blah blah blah happy ending she and Nemorino end up together, her friend ends up with Belcore and the doctor declares another successful outcome of his marvelous potion.

Adventure number 1, March 9
Train to Penn Station:

Walk uptown to Cafe Fiorello. Get seated here:

Yummy food, as always, including this rum-soaked cake topped with meringue.

We got out of there with minutes to spare. We literally ran across the street to the Met and dashed up the stairs as the chimes were ringing. Keeping our momentum, after the usher directed us to our seats (2 rows down and to the left, for row F) we went straight down to Row A (6 rows down and to the right) where as of that morning there were still 2 unsold tickets. The seats were still empty and most of the audience was already in, so we figured we were safe. We settled in, took a “view from our seat” picture and then up went the chandeliers, like, right in front of us. Holy cow! We had upgraded our seats, ninja-style!

During intermission we posed for a few pictures on the outdoor balcony on the Grand Tier level:

And at the end, we all turned on our cameras (and I do mean all, like everyone in my section) to take pics and vids of the curtain call. Here is a zoomed-in shot of the picture I took:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
All in all, a fabulous evening at the opera.
 
Adventure number 2, March 24
 
So like I said, every week the Metropolitan Opera has a drawing for $25 orchestra seats for the upcoming weekend. I enter almost every week, and have never had my name drawn... until last week! Even though it was for the very same opera I had seen 10 days earlier... a chance to see Juan Diego Florez and Diana Damrau again... from the orchestra... for $25... I didn't hesitate.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I grabbed a different friend, one who had never been to the opera before in her life, and off we went. We decided to drive rather than take the train. My very first time driving in New York City! It wasn't a big deal at all, really. We parked in the Lincoln Center garage, grabbed the tickets from the box office and went across the street to find some dinner. Ended up at Fiorello again... but outside. With this view:
 
 

 


Of course we didn't skip dessert ... nom nom nom chocolate mousse!

 

Then we trotted across the street in our heels where there was plenty of time to hit the ladies room. We even did a little shopping at the table they have in the lobby from the gift shop.

 

 

The seats were far back enough that we were under the overhang of the balconies above. But there was no one directly in front of us, so we had a nice view:

Intermission, I dragged my companion to the Grand Tier outdoor balcony for the requisite pictures:

 People caught us taking that picture...



Then as the final chimes were ringing before act 2, two very tall people came and sat directly in front of us! We immediately moved forward to two empty seats about 5 rows up:

 

 

Now we were no longer under the overhand and WOW! What a difference in the sound!

I think the singers were even better the 2^nd time I saw them. Juan Diego Florez sang one legato line the entire opera. Music flows out of him like honey, sweet and luscious and yum. Diana Damrau’s voice moved me to tears at some points. The opera is a comedy and I was sitting there with moist eyes because her voice was just that beautiful. And again, like on the 1st night I was there, for Una Furtiva Lagrima, you could hear a pin drop, the audience was that quiet, until the end, when everyone hooted and hollered. The people we were sitting next to in Act 2 were whooping and yelling like we were at a rock concert. So was I… At the curtain call too. I didn’t take any pictures during the curtain call, but almost everyone around me pulled out their cameras.

The rest of the adventure involved driving around New York City looking for the hidden entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, driving in the rain and fog on a road that suddenly exited into Newark with no warning, and eventually getting ourselves home safely.

I'm so happy that I got to see this opera again. I am in total Juan Diego Florez mode right now, listening to everything and anything I have. And melting. And wanting to see him perform again. And sad that I'll have a to wait a year for that to happen.  

Old Wish (Hopefully) Coming True!

Waaaaay back near the beginning of this blog I wrote about how totally awesome it would be to see Juan Diego Florez and Nathan Gunn in the same opera. Then, it almost happened, until the infamous fishbone incident. That all worked out for the best in the end… and at the time I thought, eventually, EVENTUALLY, they’ll be in something together at the Met. Well, finally, FINALLY, that eventuality has arrived! Or, it will arrive, a year from now. Look! So, the question is, do I go see Le Comte Ory again? Ok. Dumb question. Nathan Gunn and Juan Diego Florez in the same opera. Of course I do. And I drag along as many people as I can!!! Hopefully neither of them will swallow anything throat-scratching.

Other tasty looking picks, for me, include La Traviata with Diana Damrau, and possibly the holiday performance, which next season will be a shortened, English version of Barber of Seville. What are the chances that I can drag Alex to that? He’ll be 8 ½ then. He’s familiar with the opera. He likes it. Hm. It’s a definite possibility.

Whirlywind

The days are just flying by!

I sang in the first Opera Project Wing performance last week. I sang two songs – Nel cor piu non mi sento and Voi che sapete. I did ok, but would you believe I actually FORGOT THE WORDS at one point? I fudged it and no one seemed to notice. People who know Voi che sapete will know where I made up a word. Hey at least the vowel was the same. And a few people actually approached me afterwards to compliment my voice and say how much they liked my performance. That was nice! I'm always so surprised when that happens. All I hear are mistakes, so I always assume that people are just being nice. But I also know they wouldn't approach me and say that just to be nice. So it's pretty cool!

The voice lesson following that recital I was lucky enough to have two teachers at once. Sometimes they talked about me like I wasn’t there. I was fine with that. I learned a lot about breath and legato line and how to really incorporate the two. Like my voice teacher says, sometimes you just need a different person to explain the concept to you a different way in order for you to get it. So I’ll see her today for a lesson, then I’ll be seeing the other teacher later in the week.

Then… on Friday. FINALLY! L’Elisir D’amore at the Met!! Juan Diego Florez. Ahhhh. And then on Sunday, another recital, where I plan to tackle Ombra mai fu. Then I'll write all about both adventures, hopefully while they're still both fresh in my mind.

Random

Let’s start with voice lessons and singing.

I can hear and feel myself improving every week. Slowly, slowly, I am incorporating and blending together the different techniques that together help me to produce beautiful rounded notes on top of my air. I’m currently working on many many songs, but focusing mainly on Voi che sapete and Deh vieni non tardar. Because why not sing two different character’s arias from the same opera? Also working on El Majo Discreto, I Love all Graceful Things, O mio babbino caro, and keeping fresh and updated on the songs I’ve already performed. Upcoming concert will be in April, I think in a local library.

Speaking of April, I’ve planned a trip to see the parents. Last time I was there they told me and Alex to stop singing around the house. Oh joy. Then if for some reason they do ask me to sing, my mother will interrupt and ask why I’m not singing in English. Oh joy. My dad will make some snarky comment about the crystal breaking, or when will I be onstage at the Met. Oh joy. So they’ll be snarky to me, but I will learn later from the relatives that they brag about me when I’m not there. What’s up with that? I wanted to plan the visit to coincide with Rigoletto at Florida Grand Opera so I could take my mom, but I just couldn't work it out.

Next random. For a giggle. Jared Leto has a photo blog. He has been asking people to send self-portraits that he makes into a collage and posts on his blog. He gets thousands of entries and uses about 20. He chose my picture for the first one. Look! Guess which one is me. Go ahead, look for me there.

Another random: Fun with the blog tracker! There was a period of time where I was getting hits from a search on “spider with striped legs,” mainly from people in Ohio. That’s weird, right? I often get hits from google searches about the Grand Tier in the Met Opera. And now I wonder if Nathan Gunn isn’t up to something, as I’m suddenly getting many hits from searches about him… including people looking for naked pics!! Uh… no. I realize that simply by putting this in a blog entry I’m going to get more hits. It’s a loop. It’s loopy. I’ve also got people googling him and my blog together. Like they're looking for him here. More than once. So now if they do it again they’ll know that I know they’re looking. I know that they know that I know…and so on, and so on, and so on.

Final random: My next operatic adventure is in March! It seemed like it would never get here when I bought the tickets back in August. But finally, soon, I'll be seeing Juan Diego Florez and Diana Damrau in Elixir of Love. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, thinking about it.

The MARS 300 Song!

I finally had the house to myself the other day. I put my R2 shirt on, warmed up the pipes and then recorded myself singing this about 50 times until I got a version I wasn't too embarrassed to share. So this is how I wanted to sing it on the 7th. I've tweeted the link to the band a few times but they get so many tweets that it's unlikely that they'll see it... but I wanted to get it out there. So, without further ado, here we have, the MARS300 SONG!

Mars 300 Serenade!

Had another AMAZING 30 Seconds to Mars adventure!

Last week they celebrated the end of their 2 year world tour with a record-breaking show at an old opera house in NYC, the Hammerstein Ballroom. The moment tickets went on sale I got myself one of the “more expensive than opera” tickets to include early entry, a meet & greet with the band and a few bits and baubles of swag.

So rumor had it that they had sold about 200 of these early entry tickets.  I knew that there wouldn’t be space for 200 people on the barrier, so I got to the venue at about 1:30 pm. Did I mention it was pouring rain? It was pouring rain. And crowded with umbrellas. And while that may all sound miserable, it was actually ok. I mean, yeah, it was miserable to be standing out in the pouring rain, shivering. BUT it was great fun to be hanging out chatting with my friends and making new friends! And meeting people with whom I’ve only interacted with online. That was awesome. So anyway we are eventually let in, and then between dropping off our soaking wet stuff and so on, the line order from outside was completely lost. We lined up in a room that only vaguely resembled the order we were in outside. So when we went into the venue, the entire barrier was taken by the time I got up there. I ended up being 2nd from the barrier, which in theory is good. Here’s a picture of my view.

Here’s a video I took of the opening song.



However, once the concert started, the people on the barrier pushed back to hold their spots, while pretty much everyone else in the venue pushed forward to get closer. Like agitated molecules, the temperature rose very quickly. Now, I’m only 5 feet tall. I could see nothing except the elbows that were coming toward my face as my body was pushed simultaneously in several directions. I could barely hold the camera. I was terrified. I asked the woman in front of me to call the security guard over. He pulled me out at the end of the next song. He lifted me over the barrier like I was a feather. I went around the side and made my way to the  middle of the crowd, near the soundboard. Why the soundboard, you ask? Because during almost every 30 Seconds to Mars show, Jared does an acoustic set from there. Plus someone had tipped me off that he had done it from there the night before. So I was ready and waiting when he appeared. Here are the videos and pictures I took from there. I just love how you can hear everyone singing along.

Everyone in the back was just as into it and excited as the people up front, but it was much much SAFER back there. I had plenty of room to jump around and go nuts. I definitely had more fun back there than I would have if I had stayed up front. And the place wasn't that large... here's a pic I took from the back, of the stage:

And then you hear me, saying OHMYGOD over and over because they played this song:

So after the show we had the meet & greet. All 200 or so people jammed into this little curtained off area of a room. They had people line up all around the wall, then another row of people facing the wall people, with a path in between. We could have done a Virginia Reel dance. Then they had ANOTHER set of people facing each other, in the middle.

This time around I decided not to make bracelets for them. Instead, I would prepare a song. So I took a verse of Caro Nome (the melody that starts here) and changed the words, although the last part is sort of a real translation of the aria:

This is your 300th show
In support of This is War
The record keepers say it’s so
And you keep on playing more
Thirty Seconds to Mars
You will always have a part….. of my heart…
You will always have my heart.

The words sound hokey spoken but are fine when sung. I’ll eventually make of video of me singing it. So anyway I printed up two copies and glued them to a card. One the back of one I wrote, “Thank you for inspiring me to follow my dreams,” and the other was for them to autograph.

So Shannon got to me first. I showed him the card and told him I sing and that I … he cut me off. “Oh yeah I remember. You sang opera for me.” Uh… yeah! So I told him I have this short song, he said, sing it when we get the picture taken. Next, Jared came over. I said, “My gift for you is a song…” and he said, “Yeah, I remember, you sing opera.” ZOINKS went my brain, again. I showed him the card, which he tried to keep after he signed! I explained that Shannon has the original. Like Shannon, he said I should sing the song when we get the picture taken. A little bit later, here comes Tomo. Before I could say hello, he said, “HI OPERA SINGER!”  so inside I’m like HOLY xxxx THEY ALL REMEMBER ME and to him I said I have a song, etc. Sing it at the picture. Yep.

Eventually we lined up for the photos. Plenty of time for me to get nnneerrrvvvoouusss. The photo taking is really really quick, because they have so many to do. So you hand your stuff to one person who hands it to someone else behind the photog as you pose for the pic, then you collect your stuff from that other person and run out. Yeah anyway so I hand my stuff and they say “WAIT! Let’s hear the song!” So … I sang. I started way too low, to the point that I had to switch to chest voice for the bottom notes. And I was nervous at first, until one of my friends said SING LOUDER, which made me relax, because it made me smile. Meanwhile, Jared, Shannon and Tomo are looking at me with the most amazing expressions of wonder and delight. I looked from one to the next as I sang, right into their eyes. It was amazing. I don't think I'll ever forget how they were looking at me. Then when I was done everyone applauded and someone shouted “BRAVO!” Jared and Shannon put their arms out and Jared said in the sweetest voice, “Come ‘ere” so I trotted over to be squeezed for the photo. This photo. Where Jared is SMILING. Because I sang to him.

If you google “30 seconds to Mars meet & greet photo” you will see that he makes silly faces but he rarely smiles. He was all smiley and amazed while I was singing. I mean I could see it, they LOVED the words, I could see that it moved them. It.Was.Awesome.  Afterwards all these people were like, how did you have the nerve to sing for them? You’re so brave! And one of my friends said, “Of course they loved it! How many people serenade them?”  I hadn’t thought of it as a serenade but yeah I guess it was!

The next day I actually cried a little, walking around the streets of NYC with my friends. I couldn’t believe it… they inspire me so much, and have helped me get through some nasty experiences… and to be able to sing to them how I feel was just the most amazing experience.

That night I saw them play a small, acoustic show at a beautiful old church. There were probably more people at the meet & greet the night before than there were in the entire church.

When I stood up to leave, Shannon was on stage with the mic. I waved and he said, "Bye Opera Singer!"

Remember when I saw them in Feb and guessed that they'd remember me?

I was right.

Remember when I said I loved my life?

I still do.

Professional Advice

I've been bad, bad, bad about writing. I've thought of all sorts of things to write, but haven't gotten my act in gear to sign in and actually write. And I'm still not there yet. I'm here today to embed this video from the lovely Joyce DiDonato, about how she handles nerves when it's time to perform. I'll definitely be following her advice about handling the physiological reactions the next time I'm about to step out in front of people to sing... and that might be next week at the 30 Seconds to Mars meet and greet. More on that later. For now, look at this:

Duran Duran and Duran Duran

In another flashback to my youth, I saw Duran Duran twice over the past 10 days. Yes, Duran Duran. These two shows were my 5^th & 6^th time seeing them. I saw them 3 times in March of 1984, twice at Madison Square Garden and once at The Meadowlands in NJ, and once about 10 years ago. Way back at the 2^nd MSG show in 1984, I had friends who had 4^th row tickets. They went back and forth with the ticket stubs until about 10 of us were jammed into 4 seats in the 4th row. The moment the band came on we all surged forward over the seats and ended up in about the 2^nd row. Why they even had seats there I have no idea… anyway… this time around I had seats off to the side, but very close. Close enough to make eye contact when Simon came to the side of the stage. But I must back up because I saw them in Philadelphia last week, before the recent MSG show.

I’d like to thank Google Maps for giving me very wacky directions that entailed weaving around inner Philadelphia in a zig-zaggy square… eventually I found my way to the parking garage adjacent to the theater.

Now, normally, like most people, I suffer through the opening act in anticipation of seeing the main group I’ve paid to see. However, I knew that the opening act, Neon Trees, had opened for 30 Seconds to Mars, and that many Mars fans liked them, so I made a point of checking them out. I was not disappointed! They were so much fun. The lead singer is a maniac – jumping and dancing all over the place, running into the audience, telling wacky stories, getting the audience to sing along. I even knew one of their songs! Here it is, I found it on Youtube, from that night:

I was jumping around, punching the air with my fistful of glowsticks. I probably looked like an idiot but I don’t care. Remember the Blondie show? Oh yeah. I can dance while surrounded by seated people, no problem! And does he sound classically trained? Maybe a little: http://twitter.com/#!/tylerinacoma/status/128222171322515457

In between acts, Duran Duran had a screen on stage where they were displaying tweets with the hashtag, #duranlive. So much fun so see my own tweets up there, saying hi to people I knew in other parts of the audience and so on. Shrieking like a girl. Etc. OH yeah. Look. http://twitter.com/#!/duranduran/statuses/126078204703277056

Finally, finally, Duran Duran came on! I’m happy to report that I love them now as much as I did back in the 80s. They were so good! And now they are much more relaxed and polished. They were so relaxed, obviously enjoying themselves, really connecting with the audience. They made fun of themselves constantly. Simon leBon is now in his 50s, how strange is that? As strange as me being in my 40s. Ok. Simon is just so charismatic. His voice – beautiful. So much better live than on the recordings. Their show was great. They had these giant head things up over the stage – you can see it in the videos I took, here and here:

Yeah. You can hear me singing along, in my fantasy job of backup singer with them.

The crowd was great. Everyone was pretty much my age. Everyone sang along. I love hearing the crowd sing at concerts – so cool. When they played Rio I thought people would riot with happiness. A Rio Riot!!!

They had a female backup singer, she was amazing and she also oozed charisma. Like I said. My fantasy job, to sing backup for Duran Duran. Sigh… I didn’t want to video too much – I just wanted to relax and enjoy. And my way of relaxing at a concert is go to insane. Jumping, dancing, fist pumping. Completely losing myself. In this case, I was mostly standing on the seat so I could see, with my knees pressed into the seat back in front of me. Yes, I came home from the concert with bruised knees.

Ok so then I saw them again this week at Madison Square Garden. Perspective: The Tower Theater in Philly holds about 3100 people, and I saw plenty of empty seats. MSG holds I think between 18,000 – 20,000 people. There were some empty seats so let’s say there were 15,000 people there. Compared to under 3,000. They did the same set yet it was a totally different show. They were definitely still relaxed and happy, but the energy – WOW. Seriously. You can feel it in the air when that many people are excited and when the band is excited. It’s a physical feeling. I met an old friend, someone with whom I went to see INXS, Adam Ant and Duran Duran back in the 80s. We had so much fun, and really great seats. Here’s my view:

And yes, there was a point where I thought, "OHMYGOD. Simon LeBon is RIGHT THERE." And my 16 year old self got very, very excited. Especially when he went onto that box thing you can see at the right side of the picture. Be still my teenaged heart! Our seats were in the section where the management and friends of the band get tickets. There were women in our section in ballgowns, seriously! Maybe they had somewhere to go afterwards? There were also people who looked vaguely familiar. When I left my row to visit the ladies room, there were two older men sitting near the aisle. Rather than make them stand up, I climbed up one row… We chatted about that a little…about still being able to climb over seats… and I swear, I knew these two guys. I don’t know how, I just did. Then in that next row, this guy asked me to take a picture of him and his daughter. I swear he looked so familiar. But as I’ve said before, I live under a rock. Unless I actually work with or went to school with these people, I’m pretty sure they were some sort of famous. Who were they? I don’t know. Who knows. Maybe I’m just old enough that I’ve met enough people, and now everyone looks like someone I already know.

There are tons of videos from that night up on Youtube. Again, I didn’t bother taking any because I didn’t want to worry about it. But you can see the happiness emanating off John Taylor – look!

And … my fantasy moment… happened to someone else of course… Simon jumped in the crowd and asked if there were any singers in the audience. He picked someone from the front row to help him sing The Reflex. Of course they were a little flat… drove me nuts…

PICK ME SIMON PICK ME!!! I CAN SING IT ON PITCH!!! Ah well. There go my chances of getting hired as a “backup” backup singer.

So. The people next to us. OHMYGOD. They were drinking. One woman was a little bit beyond tipsy. She was all over the place. On the floor with her feet on the barrier. On her friend’s lap, facing her friend. Leaning backwards over the railing. At one point I was holding her head to keep it off the floor. Yes, she was that drunk. Then… she lifted her shirt to flash the band. Was she wearing a bra? Of course not. Did they see? I doubt it. I saw. I didn’t necessarily want to see, but I had no choice. She was quite entertaining. I hope she didn’t wake up the next day with any regrets. Or a headache.

So they're playing again tomorrow night at the same place I saw Blondie. A tiny, tiny place. So...tempting... but... I can't. However, I am going to see Don Giovanni in HD tomorrow, and I'm bringing an Opera Virgin with me. Converting my Mars friends, one at a time.

Plenty to post about voice lessons and singing... next time.

From Singer to Winger

Well, it was good while it lasted. The peeps in charge of the Opera Project have changed the focus of the group, to a more professional type of group, featuring people who have or are on their way to a career in opera. Makes sense - this way they can get more donations, more patrons, etc. I’ve known all along that I’m not in that league. The good news is, they’re creating a “wing” program for people like me – people with a halfway decent voice who want experience performing. They’re planning on holding 1 or 2 concerts a year. So eventually I will get to perform again… just not any time soon. It is sort of a kick in the gut when I get the press release emails about upcoming concerts … but I know it’s not a personal kick. To add a twist of irony to all this… Due to a miscommunication, I wasn’t informed that I wouldn’t be performing in the September concert, so I showed up for the rehearsal. Awkward… yeah. So anyway I got there at 2. A photographer from a local newspaper was there to take a picture to accompany the print version of this article. The people who actually were performing, including the accompanist, hadn’t arrived yet. The photographer had to leave, so I ended up singing while one of the founders/teachers sort of accompanied me. I say sort of, because I’m singing a different version of Nel Cor than the one in the Italian Aria book, but he knew the one from the book, so that’s the one he played. I plugged along singing the version I know while the photographer snapped away. Luckily you can’t hear in a photograph. So…I got my picture in the paper as a singer for the Opera Project…







...when actually I’ve been moved (let’s not say “lowered” ok?) to the Wing program. Story of my life. From Singer to Winger. My teacher told me of some other local, amateur performance groups in the area so I might check them out. The more confident I get, the more likely the chance that I’ll eventually maybe be back on the regular roster.

In A Different Universe

The Blondie concert was SO MUCH FUN!!!

Husband and I got to Atlantic City at about 6:30, plenty of time for drinks, dinner and for him to win $80 in the 5 cent slot machines!

Dinner was yum. Sangria! Martini! And look, oysters! And little cheeseburgers that look like muppets!

Not a frequent visitor to casinos, I was amazed and entertained by the variety of slot machines out there.

Even the bathroom was cool:

Finally it was time for the show. The venue was tiny!! The view from our seats:

On our way in I noticed the guy in front of us looked really slick. Like, short spiky hair, expensive suit. And he was wearing a laminated backstage pass. I still had that note from my voice teacher, and I was still wondering how to deliver it, so I filed Mr. Backstage Pass in the back(stage) of my mind.

Then, the concert started. WOWOWOW!!! Now here's where, if I ever wondered if I was from a different universe from other people, this concert may have proven it. I was the ONLY PERSON DANCING. Ok that's not entirely true. There were a couple of people right up front, and occasionally some people above me to my right... and also... Mr. Spikyhair BackstagePass, a little behind and to my left. This was BLONDIE, people!!!! Not a string quartet. I was on my feet the entire time, dancing and singing, jumping and fistpumping and having a blast. Every now and then I peeked around and saw the rest of the audience just... sitting there. Once the woman next to me stood up to dance. Someone behind us yelled, "Down in front!" and she sat. I turned around and yelled, "STAND UP AND DANCE! THIS IS A ROCK CONCERT, NOT AN OPERA!" The people right behind us were grumbling too, sort of under their breath but loud enough for me to hear, "I can't believe this. I didn't pay for this. I can't see." I very nicely URGED them to get up and dance. What was WRONG with everyone???? I wasn't going to just sit there like I was singing kumbaya around a campfire. Seriously. It wasn't until they played One Way or Another, about two-thirds of the way through, that people got to their feet.

Hey look!! It's Debbie Harry!!!

That's pretty much the only good photograph I got. However there are lots of fabulous photos here on the Artskooldamage blog.

And now... Here's my fangirl moment, because you know I had to have one. At one point, I don't remember what song, I could SWEAR she was copying my dance moves. I'd do something, then she would. Then I'd think, who did that first? Me or her? Then it'd happen again. So there. My fangirl moment. I danced with Debbie Harry, while everyone else (except for those few I mentioned) sat around me.

Here's a playlist of videos I took. I should post a warning - if you're prone to seasickness, don't watch. I was dancing the entire time. Also, they're not in order of performance. If the blogger format cuts off the YouTube window, you can find the playlist here.

After it ended, I realized I had one last chance to get my voice teacher's note backstage. You guessed it: Mr. Backstagepass man. I timed getting to the stairs when he did, and said, "I think you and I were the only ones dancing for this entire show." We chatted about that, and I asked if that was a backstage pass. I pulled out the note and explained to him that I study voice with the same woman Debbie studied with in the 70s, and this was a note from my teacher to Debbie, could he possibly deliver it? Well. He thought it was awesome, and he said he'd love to. I introduced myself, then he told me his first name, then repeated his full name in a sort of upspeak, as if to say, "You've probably heard of me?" Besides the fact that it was too loud to really hear, we all know I basically live under a rock. So even if I had heard his name, I doubt I'd have heard of him. Maybe he was a fashion designer, or a photographer? Doesn't matter. He was super sweet and took the note back for me. He even apologized that he couldn't take me backstage with him. How sweet is that? I'm really so happy to be able to tell my voice teacher that her note was delivered.

As we left the theater lobby, two tall, glamorous women approached me to thank me for dancing! They said they loved my energy, that it was contagious and inspiring. Then 2 minutes later another pair of young women came over to say that my enthusiasm inspired them to dance. So you all can imagine, I was dancing like a dancing fool. I loved the music, I sang along. They did old stuff, they did new stuff, they did... The Beastie Boys!! Fight for your Right to PAAARRRTAAAYYY! I think everyone was already standing up by then. I mean, can you IMAGINE sitting through that?

So the person sitting in front me recorded almost the entire concert on her iPhone, in between texting and posting to Facebook. Her videos are no doubt smooth and steady. And I bet you can hear me singing in all of them. Heh heh.