Singing for my supper

The article about NYCO I linked in this post has run a correction on what is a pretty glaring error: " The New York City Opera has suspended plans to announce its fall season. The headline of a previous version of this article incorrectly said it has suspended its season." Glad to hear that it sounds like merely a delay in finalizing plans rather than scrapping them altogether, but shame on you for that kind of misake, Wall Street Journal!

By the side of the rural road, high on a hilltop....

It feels like the entire world is "on hold" just now. Even the ground is frozen solid as subzero temperatures sweep across the Northern Hemisphere (thankfully, we're merely in the teens rather than below zero, but it's still jolly cold for this part of the world!). The economy is caught in its mudlocked matrix which shows no signs of moving terribly quickly, and the rest of the world is responding to that with a profound wave of... wait and see. Call us again after the election/the holidays/the stock market report/the weather storm/the inaugration/fill in the blank. Oh, it's understandable, but for somebody like me who likes to go and DO things and take action this societally-imposed straightjacket is starting to feel mighty restrictive. Then again, we're still on hiatus from the colleges, and without the imposed deadlines of a semester schedule, we always tend to curl up and hibernate during this particular break. The holidays are over, but there's sti...

While standing in line today as our local bedding and household store finished its final day of trading before closing down, I had a lot of time to think. Being a devout bargain shopper, I was thrilled to score some seriously cheap goodies, but even as I gloated over the absurd discounts on the items I purchased, it all rang rather hollow; faltering retail is for sure a sign of the tough times ahead, and we would be foolish and naive not to acknowledge it as a worrying marker of what may be ahead. But among the sobering thoughts, there were some interesting observations to made, as well. Although the store itself was stripped nearly bare with only the most meagre selection of items remaining, it was packed. Each of the 5 lines had at least 10 people waiting to check out, and most of those people had carts piled high with bedding, curtains, small appliances and furniture, taking advantage of the 90% reductions on everything that was left before they closed their doors for good. Even t...

I admit it. I've followed For Better or For Worse for much of my adult life, the story of the Pattersons being part of my morning coffee-and-email routine (I admit to having switched to online viewing as soon as it became regularly available that way!). While I wish Ms Johnston all the best, I can't deny that I'm deeply saddened that the story will no longer continue to unfold as it has. Thanks for sharing the wonderfully funny, compassionate and real world you created; it will be sorely missed!

Ok, so I'm not the first to blog about FB. But I've been thinking about it a lot recently and I realise, like many, I have a very love/hate relationship with it. The plus column includes at least two things: I like being able to keep passively in touch with people who I don't necessarily talk to a lot, but who I would consider friends and of whose lives I enjoy being a part (and I like to include them in my own); I also like the professional networking aspect it offers so I can casually let colleagues and mentors know what I'm up to without necessarily bombarding them with news. On the other hand, the entire concept annoys me. It often feels far too much like "real life" has been so completely consumed by the internet that it gets written down before it gets lived. And, if I'm honest, sometimes the entire community feels like a giant invasion of privacy, as seemingly "off the record" updates and "wall" conversations are streame...

The dressing room situation for this most recent show was "basic" to say the least - one large room for all the women and, unlike larger theatres where every dressing room comprises what amounts to multiple walls of both full-length and lighted makeup mirrors, there were in fact no mirrors anywhere except those erected for the occasion by wig and makeup in their area, and a small mirror over the sink in the small, communal bathroom. Consequently, I never really caught sight of myself except in passing, and certainly not the constant reflection of my costumed self that I would have had sitting waiting for my entrances in a typical mirrored dressing room. It's only in looking at the photographs taken yesterday - and finally getting a chance to look at some of the production shots - that I realise how much I must normally be using those visual cues as part of The Process of preparing for a show, however subliminally. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm no "method...

Married to a Brit, I always find the 4th of July slightly amusing: the mixture of resentment and bemusement displayed can be entertaining! (In fact, one of my favorite photographs EVER is one of my husband standing at a 4th of July Small Town parade, bag over his head to keep the torrential rain off, waving a tiny American flag which was stuck in his hand by a passerby. It's perfect!). But that cultural conflict actually has wider implications, not least of which a sense of TIME. A country which is 250 years old simply doesn't have the same sense of integral history as cultures which still regularly use 6- and 700 year old buildings as part of daily life, and where it's seldom more than a day trip to visit the semi-intact ruins of the Romans, the Greeks or beyond. These things are simply THERE, and a given, accepted part of the cultural landscape. In his teaching, my husband is consistently taken aback by the fairly standard structure of American music appreciation and...

I'm still smiling at my own confession last night. If anybody had told my 15 year old self I'd even THINK the concept "I love to dance" someday I'd have laughed outright. Live and learn! This morning, despite the fact that just about every bone in my body aches from the falling-down staging and said high-heeled dancing, the weather finally decided to provide the appropriate dry, warm temperatures for me to get on with staining our deck, a project which we have been trying to accomplish since about April, and which has been consistently defeated by the bizarre weather patterns we've had this year. I didn't finish it, but I did make a good start, and hopefully my husband and I can use the extra time over the holiday weekend to finish it (weather permitting, of course. And that's a big "if" these days!) From Dancing Diva to paint-speckled suburban homeowner in less than 12 hours. Welcome to my world!

I love to dance. Onstage. In public. The funny thing is that, like many singers, for years I dreaded the idea that I might have to dance onstage. I'd never been afraid of being athletic in a swimming pool or when I was horseback riding, but on dry land on my own two legs? In my mind's eye, all I could envision as a dancer was the most elegant of pencil-slim, infinitely flexible ballerinas - a sort of cross between Margo Fonteyn , Iman and Elastigirl - which just made my efforts at graceful movement feel more like one of the dancing hippos from Fantasia than anything recognisable as dance. I just did my best to get through the movement and dance classes in my training; I didn't mind the movement part as such, but always felt slow at learning the actual dance steps, and not really sure what I LOOKED like which made me self-conscious. I did it, but as more of an obligation than a pleasure, often making the excuses born of insecurity to wriggle out of it at times. B...

I'm so pleased for a happy outcome. The missing camera was FOUND! (Ironically - and HOW often does this happen to any of us? - it was exactly on her desk where we all thought it SHOULD be, but hidden inside a bag where an envelope had become wrapped around it, thus masking it. Both envelope and camera are white, and it just disappeared into it) And to add to that good news, the temperatures have dropped 20 degrees following a huge thunderstorm last night and the predicted high is a full 10 degrees lower than yesterday (still hot, but 90 sure beats yesterday's 100+heat index!). School's out today, but no vacation for me: I'm working away at the music for my next gig, rehearsals starting next week. That said, I'm anticipating a lot of summer fun on this one since it's a somewhat silly role and I'll be among good friends. It's been a good season all round. Here's to the rest of the day continuing in the same vein!

Gig tonight. The soprano and I turned up with THE SAME CONCERT GOWN (well, nearly - very slight differences, but not many!) . Solution: we wore the same gown for our (comic) duet and worked it to the max, and then I swapped into my alternate choice for the remainder of the program. But still... what are the chances?!

If only I'd received this email from my colleague BEFORE going downstairs! I just came back upstairs from breakfast. It seems I caught them in the middle of a rush. I was early enough to get some food though. At the end of the line, there were about 4 people waiting for coffee; it seems the pot had run dry. Not wanting to be in the way, I went on to my table. On the way, I said to the waitress, “I think you’re out of coffee over there.” She said, “It’s still frozen.” With a giggle in my voice, I asked the next stupid question: “How can the coffee be frozen?” “They didn’t leave it out to thaw last night,” said she.

Yesterday: 80 degrees Monday: Snow showers