Off I Go

I'm going to Florida tomorrow and won't be back until Monday. Here's some stuff to hold you over until then. This is all part of my "sing like no one is listening" attempt.

Yet another video of this. I never give up.



And this:



There's one more... if only I could get it to upload. But if you click through those to YouTube (and you should, so you can rate and comment... PLEASE comment with suggestions!!!) you'll see the other. If it ever uploads. Otherwise, you can see it here:
Still Singing Like No One Is Listening - Vedrai Carino



Finally, something professional. I love love love this:

Two Hours I'll Never Get Back

Just wasted two hours watching the Kennedy Center Awards to see approximately 2 minutes, possibly less, of the Gunnster singing for Barbara Streisand. Not to say that the people getting the awards didn't deserve them, but the program itself was your typical prime-time network event - just not my cup-o-tea. I will say that those Broadway singers have HUGE mouths, Beyonce was wearing HUGE earrings and Mr. Gunn is in HUGE need of a haircut. At least he was clean-shaven.

I have a friend (hopefully? Not so sure...) burning a DVD of it for me. If I can catch him before he does it I'll get him to do just the last 5 minutes so I can get the relevant stuff online for our viewing pleasure (?). The duet was very nice and he sounded great, especially with the microphone. I actually thought he sounded a little nervous at first, for like the first 5 seconds, but who knows. I was so exhausted by then after suffering through 117 minutes of the previous "we love you, honoree" business that my judgement was a bit skewed. However, the whole proceeding reminded me why I like opera.

On an unrelated note, one of my online friends, someone I "met" because I liked his MySpace profile picture, and where did I find it? On Mr. Gunn's friend list there - it was a squirrel with a superman costume on under his fur - I wrote him a note that I liked the picture and we instantly clicked. He lives in CA but was in NY this week on a musical project. We wanted to get together but he was too busy- he called me today. Husband answered the phone of course. "Yeah Susan it's one of your freaky MySpace friends..." Actually, he didn't say that. He knows who the friend is by name and was glad that it wasn't a telemarketer. It was fun to chat in person and be goofy in real time instead of via email. And we never would have known each other if it weren't for Mr. Gunn's Myspace page. Blah, blah, blah. Does make you wonder how many potential friends are out there who you'll never meet because your paths never cross. Ok, signing off before my philosophical waxing smears the computer screen.

Revideoing the Internet

Yesterday I realized that I have the technology and the knowledge to upload videos to MySpace.

That's all I'll say on the matter. I trust my readers will know what do to if they want to see if I've uploaded any there. Oooh lookie, I can embed here. Experiment time:

Nathan Gunn as Papageno- Magic Flute, Temple, Tamino, 3 Ladies

Who's Watching?

I like my MySpace tracker. I find it interesting to see where the page hits are coming from. People in the following places have viewed my MySpace page:

Australia, Rumania (Bucharest), Spain (Barcelona), France, Peru (Lima), Canada (Ontario)

NYC
Many NJ cities: Frenchtown, Trenton, Hamilton, Edgewater, Princeton Junction, Flanders
Decatur, Indiana
St. Louis, Missouri
Little Elm, Texas (I think I know who this is)
Huntingtown, Maryland
Mountain View, California
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Jacksonville, FL
Phoenixville, PA (I know who this is)
Yardley, PA (I definitely know who this is)
St. Charles, IA
Chicago, IL
Urbana, IL
Bronx, NY
Someone at the Metropolitan Opera looked at my page the day I saw Romeo there.

I have a free tracker so it only shows the last 100 visits. It always shows an IP Address and often shows both a city and the Internet provider. It also shows how many times that IP address visited my page. For example:

Mountain View, California, US 66.249.73.146

5/21 10:25:41 PM

1

Google

If there's no city listed, I'll sometimes plug the IP address into an IP Address locater. Occasionally it comes up unknown.

It's something I'll poke around with when I'm bored.

I wonder if I could put a tracker on my blog? Hmmmm.......

"Umm... I don't know?"

Wow. Before Camelot, I'd get one or two comments or questions a month regarding the Magic Flute videos on YouTube.

Then... Camelot. I put up a few videos and suddenly I'm getting all these emails from people asking me the strangest questions - like stuff about Nathan Gunn's personal life - or where he'll be performing - Umm... I don't know? And... I don't know? His personal life is, uh, personal? To him? And his professional life, meaning, his performance schedule, is on his professional website? I know if he's going to be performing somewhere where I could potentially attend... but that's pretty much it...

So here are some excerpts and parts of my replies:

Hi Susan,

I noticed you are one of the most distinguished fans of Nathan Gunn and opera in general. I am emailing you to ask if you know whether he is performing in New York in 2008. Apparently he is not in Met's 2008-2009 season.

Reply:

I don't know what Nathan's future schedule is. It's on his website, and sometimes he mentions in his journal what he's working on before it gets into the schedule section. Sometimes people hear things and post it to the board.

You can also look here: http://www.metmaniac.com/future.html to see some of the unofficial future met schedule.

***

I just Nathan Gunn's performance at Live at Lincoln Center
in "Camelot". What a voice.

Do you know if he ever comes to Houston, Texas? I was wondering how old he is? Does he have an e-mail address because I would like to tell him how much I enjoyed his singing as Lancelot in "Camelot".

Reply:

I would check his website - www.nathangunn.com. He has his schedule posted there, although it's not always up to date. But I do think he is going somewhere in Texas next year.
The best way to tell him how much you enjoyed Camelot would be to send him a MySpace message. He's in his mid 30's... 37 I think? Married, 5 kids.

As if I'd give out his email address? Or anyone's for that matter? And to tell the truth, I felt weird giving the marital status/kids info, even though that's all over the press. Can anyone say, Google search?

***

Hi,
I saw your upload of Nathan Gunn and Marin Mazzie in Camelot and was wondering if you had the complete recording of the performance. Please let me know.
Thanks.

***

I LOVE your clip of Nathan Gunn singing "C'est Moi!" I watched the whole opera on TV and really want to see it again, but I didn't tape it. Do you have the entire thing? If so, is there a way you could send it to me?

I told both of these people that I'd see if I could make a copy of the DVD. Many other people have posted comments under some of the videos asking if I could upload the entire thing. Umm... I don't like it enough to do that. I'd try to post all of Magic Flute though, if someone would only ask ...

***

I'd like to ask your vocal opinion about something Nathan Gunn is doing in "If Ever I Would Leave You." But I don't wish to make this a discussion at large as there are so many critics afoot.

I did exchange a few emails with that person about her concern, even though I don't feel qualified to have a vocal opinion on, well, anything. The "critic" reference was because one person was making nasty comments on that particular video, starting with "This sucks... are you people all unicorns?" Which made me laugh because who calls someone a unicorn as an insult? But the flurry of messages that followed was interesting.

And I saved my favorite one for last:

Lundriel,

Since you know all about NG, I am wondering about his wife and family. I know she is a musician. Do you know anything about her? Also, I am wondering how it works with all those kids, him often on the road and often appearing with half dressed, voluptuous women, plus all his female groupies. I would think that would give a marriage lots of huge challenges.

There are very few men who could keep their feet on the ground in his situation.

Whoa. Now this is someone with whom I've exchanged a few messages on YouTube, and I must admit that this message surprised the heck out of me. My reply:

Nathan's wife teaches at the University of Illinois. I met her once and she was very nice. I don't know what their personal life is like. I don't really think about it - everyone deserves their privacy, right? :)

Ok, for the record:

I do not know what Nathan Gunn's personal life is like. I don't know how he arranges childcare with his wife. I have no idea if appearing with half-dressed voluptuous women affects his marriage or his kids. I have no idea if he has groupies and if they throw themselves at him. (No I didn't and wouldn't.) Not only do I not know, I don't really care. It's none of my business. I do know that he is married with 5 kids because it's been published and he's said so in interviews. I know he's in his mid-30s because MySpace lists ages on profiles, and I've probably read it somewhere. Is it true that there are very few men who could keep their feet on the ground in this situation? And what does on the ground mean? That he's down to earth? Or hasn't lifted his feet from the ground to some floozy's bed? I met the guy for 5 or 10 minutes on two occasions. He seemed pretty down to earth each time... but what does that mean? In those 15-20 minutes, split between two events, I did not detect a bloated ego or a lascivious temperament. He maintained eye contact and did not do the bewb-glance while I was looking. He did squeeze me very tightly for the photo and I was sort of squished into him... is that scandalous? I don't think so... Would his wife mind? I have no idea. Some women care about that kind of thing, others don't. I wouldn't care if Husband squished some chick into him for a pic, as long as he came home with me that night and not her...

I'm reluctant to once again bring Real Life to my blog, but... I do have my own personal life with Husband and Child and the truth is I'm too tired to pay attention to the personal lives of people I don't know.

I don't mean to come across as harsh to these information seekers. But just because I posted a few videos to YouTube does not mean that I have the inside scoop to what side of the bed he sleeps on, and if he sleeps diagonally when he's alone in the bed.

However, if you ask nicely, I'll tell you if I do.

Whine and Drool

So I raced home from my voice lesson (more on that in another post) and got home at about 8:20. King Arthur was reminiscing with Jenny about pulling the sword out of the stone. Well it was more like whining. Then he whined through the “when I was a hawk I saw that there were no borders” and the rest of the “why can’t we all just get along… I know… let’s make the table round instead of square,” speech. I was like, ok, if he’s going to whine through the entire thing I don’t know if I’m going to be able to watch.

So out went the notices: Knights wanted. And in comes Lancelot. Shiny shirt, blue vest, black leather pants. Oh my. (go ahead, chant it like Dorothy...) Lancelot’s “C’est Moi” was hilarious. Hill-lair-ee-yuss. For anyone who didn’t see it… he’s reading the notice that the king sent out, that the king needs men who are brave, noble, daring, pure, and so on. He’s totally egotistical about it, “Why, that’s me! I am all those things!” The best was when he mouthed it. So he dedicates himself to the king and makes his way to Camelot. Maybe I sneezed or something but suddenly we see him standing over some guy he’s knocked down, and it turns out, of course, that it’s the king. They become fast friends. Then he meets the queen. You can see his heart just melt, and he struggles with it, because the king is like his BFF, and also I think he’s trying to be pure, blah blah blah. Good luck with that. At first she’s kinda bitchy because he’s so pompous, but then he cures some dead or dying dude and suddenly she loves him. So they struggle to ignore how they feel… then along comes Mordred, an evil drag-queenish teen love-child of the king, who, with the aid of a giant Hershey bar, convinces a whining Fran Drescher to trap the king in the forest overnight. Of course everyone knows that with the king out of the castle, Lancelot is going to come and uh, say hi to the queen. They decide to keep it at “hi” and not venture into “howareya” but it’s too late – Mordred and his buddies catch them in the act of whatever it is they’re trying not to do and the queen is put on trial for cheating. Or treason. Or something. Lancelot swoops in and saves her from being burned at the stake and everyone goes their separate ways. The end.

The king was good - the whining ended once Lancelot came along, go figure. The queen was great - what a beautiful voice! And did anyone else notice just how big her mouth is? She must be a dentist's dream - they can probably stick their entire head in her mouth for the exam. Anyway... Christopher Lloyd was awesome. He was typecast of course, as the flighty spacey old guy, but he plays it so well.

*

Ok, on to the fun stuff.

Nathan was a great Lancelot. And cuter than ever, I must say. Seriously. Ok not as cute as in person (yes you should be jealous, I’d be). The way he and the queen almost kiss, but then don’t… aye aye aye. How can she resist? Seriously. If he were leaning in to kiss me... ahem, where was I? Right...those leather pants, that shiny shirt…

I imagine there’s going to be a surge of new members at the fan site. He really should have someone check his MySpace page – how many pending friend requests must be out there. *Raising arm wildly like a know-it-all school kid* I’ll do it Nathan, just send me your MySpace password! I promise not to reply to messages or post any comments – I’d just approve friends and moderate the comments people make. Oh wait he doesn’t read my blog, never mind.

So did anyone else notice that the microphone on the stage picked up all the stage chatter that the audience doesn't usally hear? The dancers with their, "Over here, no over here, Ok," and then after the curtain calls you could hear the cast giggling and talking over the PBS announcer.

More later, after I see it again.

Meanwhile, if you go to the NY Times Review you can see a little video of the gala dinner, including Nathan giving Fran Drescher a big hug before he runs off for his beauty sleep.

Deeper into Minus Land

Oooh I was so excited when I logged into MySpace and saw that I had new messages. Turns out it was for two comments that needed my approval... or not. Both from Juan Diego Florez. How odd, I thought that he would comment twice. What in the world could he possibly have said, in a comment on my MySpace page? My skepticism paid off... it was an ad for his CD. Yes, two identical comments of an advertisement:

Juan Diego Florez has posted a new comment about you on MySpace!

According to your privacy settings, all comments must be approved by you before they appear on your profile.

Juan Diego Florez's Comment:

"




Click Here to Order: Juan Diego Flórez – Voce D'Italia: Arias For Rubini"


Please click the link below to approve or deny this comment.

This obviously confirms to me that some underpaid or more likely unpaid intern is doing his MySpace page. How tacky! And how rude to spam an advertisement to your "Friends" which in this case would be your FANS. Go ahead, look at some of his friends' pages for the ad. I poked about a bit - it's not on everyone's page, but it is on many. Tacky tacky tacky. So even though it's more than likely that the Florezberry himself has no knowledge of this, it still reflects poorly on him, pushing him even deeper into Minus Land as far as I'm concerned. I guess I couldn't really be mad at the man for swallowing a fishbone, so at least now here's something. I sent a reply that I wasn't so sure about posting an ad as a comment... hasn't been read yet. I guess the lackey had to go make more espresso.

And You Gave Me No Replyyyyyy

Well at least someone read it. That's more than I expected.

• Score 1 for Nathan Gunn for replying to the message I sent him last summer.

• Score 0 for the Florezberry for eating fish, getting an infection, canceling an entire run and not replying with even a "Thanks, hope to see you there," which is basically what NG wrote. That puts JDF's score in minusland.
  

• Score 1 for Nathan Gunn for not canceling, not eating fish, not getting an infection.

Final score:

The Gunnster: 4
JDF: -4

Message Received?

Just checked my MySpace account. Someone is logged into Juan Diego Florez' MySpace page right now, and the message I sent is marked "read." So I wonder, who logs in, and do they really read the messages?

More Kindness of More Strangers

I love the internet.

A fan of Anna Netrebko read my review of her fabulous performance last Wednesday and commented on my blog. We began emailing back and forth. He has a subscription to Sirius Radio and has recordings of the 12/12 and 12/15 broadcasts. He uploaded them to a file sharing site and explained how to download them. So I know have the full operas from both days! Denise sure was surprised when I handed her a copy on CD the other day. I've offered to send him my copy of Opera News with Anna on the cover but haven't heard back.

I love the internet.

In the comments section of a Juan Diego Florez video on YouTube people were writing that they were going to see him in Fille Du Regiment at the Met. I chimed in and it turns out I'm going the same day as someone else who posted. We began corresponding and it turns out we have a LOT in common - it's sort of scary. First off, not only are we going to the same performance, we're sitting 10 seats away from each other in the same row. We both used to teach ESL and now do something else. She taught a TOEFL prep course and I work at ETS writing, reviewing and editing portions of the TOEFL. We have the same favorite authors, books and movies. She's a little younger than me. It's like we fit some demographic for the young opera fan.

I corresponded a little with another YouTuber after reading her comments for a Nathan Gunn video. I've also corresponded a little bit with other Juan Diego Florez fans.

The internet has made the world smaller. I love it. Husband and I each just got an iPhone, which includes a cell phone, internet access, weather, email, YouTube, iTunes, traffic reports, maps, an iPod and many other features. My son will grow up in a completely different world than I did. It's like the people who grew up before TV... we can't imagine life without it, even when we don't have one in the house. He won't be able to imagine life without the internet.

One more tidbit. I have a tracker on my Myspace page. On Dec 12, the day I went to the Met, someone at the Metropolitan Opera viewed my Myspace page:

Location

Access

Organization

New York, US 207.237.181.16

12/12 10:22:26 AM

Metropolitan Opera

Private

Private

At first I didn't see that it was AM because it was on the next line, and I thought, holy ***! who at the Met looked at my MySpace page during INTERMISSION????? Then I saw it was the morning... so someone was probably at NG's page and clicked onto mine. Oh well, there goes that random thought that I won't even put here. Ok, so I'll concede... he probably didn't actually make eye contact with me during the curtain call, although he did scan the balcony.