look what these dummies can do

look what jessica can do

and you're actually supposed to eat these

there's more (the rest of the pictures are from yelp's page for the bakery)

i always get the cream buns -- unbelievably...yum-yum

 

bubble-tea

you-name-it

3710 payne road, cleveland, 216-881-7600

il quartetto encore: quattro più...e...una 'tutte le feste'

a domingo duke -- with isola jones, ileana cotrubas & cornell macneil

an anna moffo quartet -- with alfredo kraus, rosalind elias and robert merrill

something else, from the movie 'quartet' -- i noticed, and really enjoyed, the slow...instrumental-only...renditions of the quartet -- beautiful -- and...various parts of the piece too -- works...great -- just...tremendously beautiful music

cruising around on youtube, i came across, from that same '77 met production, ileana cotrubas & cornell macneil's 'tutte le feste al tempio' -- beautiful,...gorgeous,...spell-binding

jose carreras -- apparently, from one of the two times he played the duke...with new york city opera (in 1973) -- with patricia wise, margaret yauger, louis quilico

another pavarotti-sutherland pairing -- this time with huguette tourangeau and sherrill milnes, in the studio, in 1971 -- with sutherland's husband, richard bonynge, conducting

what a tremendous 'di provenza': renato bruson

over dinner, yesterday, after the butterfly in pittsburgh, my opera buddy sheila shared that verdi was disowned (or the like) by his father, which made me think...that's the source for this song -- the source for the sentiment...behind the song

groucho follow-up -- new and old

i attended the great musical '1776,' in pittsburgh, a couple of weeks ago, and, playing the role of james wilson was jeremy czarniak

in his bio, it says he created the one-man show 'groucho: a life in review' -- i'd love to see that -- it says he's doing it in the sullivan theater in north carolina, this spring -- from his web-site, that looks like it's in fayetteville, and it's the only upcoming production i could find of the show -- too bad

anyone wanna go to...carolina? -- 'gone to carolina, in my mind'

okay -- so now, here's...the real groucho -- a few...snippets -- actually, clips -- good-sized...clips

first, groucho, in top form -- as a panelist, on 'what's my line?'

another gem -- this time, he's the mystery guest

another...classic groucho -- here, roasting johnny carson

a few weekends ago, i spent hours, watching clips...from his 'you bet your life' -- loved it -- love it, still

'say the magic word, you win a hundred dollars'

there are scores of videos...from the show, on youtube

here's a clip -- not from 'you bet your life,' but from 'the jack benny show'

cleveland's opera per tutti: angelica & schicchi, in april

got an e-mail, today, from andrea anelli, head of our wonderful company opera per tutti

they're doing giacomo puccini's 'suor angelica' and 'gianni schicchi' -- friday, april 19, at 7:30, and sunday, april 21, at 3 -- in cleveland public theater

you can pitch in, and support the orchestra

then, of course, this summer, their always-magical evening of song, in the italian cultural garden -- sunday, july 21, at six

well, this reminds me to put up 'o mio babbino caro,' which i heard kent state's marita tornabene do, sunday -- and she did it beautifully -- always a winner

also taking part in the 'schicchi' were opera per tutti's tim culver (in the top picture, as the clown pagliacci, and in the white jacket and black vest), and his son (i assume), samuel (whom i saw in opera per tutti's 'amahl and the night visitors,' a year and a half ago)

the 'schicchi' was part of kent's program of shorts (the other two being mozart's 'impresario' (they did the play in english -- and the songs in german, i think) and samuel barber's 'hand of bridge'

first, an anna moffo rendition of 'babbino'

victoria de los angeles, one of the all-time greats

and, in honor of oberlin's production, last week, of johann strauss jr.'s 'die fledermaus' (done in english), an anna moffo rendition of 'mein herr marquis' (sung in oberlin on saturday by aubry ballaro-hagadorn)

i went to oberlin for saturday's show because rob mcginness performed the lead that night (as well as on wednesday) -- i saw him in a master class in oberlin with marilyn horne, a couple of weeks ago

 

then, a week later, the lucky dog got in, as a last-minute fill-in, with thomas hampson, in akron -- after hampson's recital of american art songs

belly-dancer, copying loie fuller

oh, my god -- this belly dancer, from four years ago, copies what loïe fuller, an american dancer in france, did, 120 years ago -- toulouse-lautrec did abstract drawings of fuller, in mid-twirl -- i saw one...in the cleveland museum of art, a couple of months ago

i couldn't include the youtube video of the belly-dancer here, but it's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLvFuBId0vY

the first movie, below, is from 1894, one of the earliest moving pictures -- by the lumiere brothers -- i don't think this is fuller, dancing

a film from 1899, with a bit of narration and information about the lumiere brothers

a possibly longer dance clip, of annabelle whitford, set to music for cello by philip glass

then there is this montage of serpentine dancers, by early filmmakers -- the dance, it is said, was a popular way of showing off the new technology -- i couldn't insert the youtube video here -- it's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZcbntA4bVY

madeline..can't wait for the train

several weeks ago, my friend jan and i exchanged stories about two little girls

jan saw a little girl on television, on the morning news, along with her father

for her third birthday, the girl wanted to see a train -- they live near a train track, and that was the girl's dream -- to see a train -- so dad, video camera in hand, took her for a train ride

the girl's reactions, jan said, were adorable

well, jan, being a luddite, asked me to e-mail her pictures of the girl, so she could forward them to friends

first, i found these

not the right girl

well, here she is -- and, since i found madeline, i've been printing pictures of her, to frame, for jan -- and, maybe, for myself

i've also shared these pictures, and madeline's story, with my nephews (11 and nine) and their sister (almost seven), and i changed my question to the oldest, who's an ides-of-march baby, asking him...what he wants to do for his birthday, rather than what he wants me to get for him (we ended up going to the apple store, after a dentist's appointment nearby, and he got a speaker -- now i'm about to return that (he already has a speaker -- plus,...it's too expensive), and, instead, get a sphere/ball...we saw there, which you can manipulate, from an i-pod/i-pad, via applications you download...from the i-tunes store (i think that's how it works))

here's dad's video of madeline

well, in exchange, i told jan about the two-, three-year-old girl i saw, that same day -- she was running up and down the sidelines at the indoor soccer field...where i'd taken my nephew -- she was running, at full bore -- well, maybe toddling...was more like it (she's a chubby little girl) -- and she and i remarked...that she was running fast -- i said (to her and her mom) that we need to set up some tables, along the sideline, with cups of water...for her to pick up, as she ran; when her running...petered out, i told her she looked like she was getting tired -- she replied, through...panted breath, 'i am getting tired' -- she then did somersaults on the field, and showed me her belly button and let me touch it -- i told her...i don't think it's okay...for me to show her mine

this brings up a picture i love -- which i saw...in the recent exhibit of 'the 50 greatest national geographic photographs,' in our natural-history museum -- it's by william albert allard, from 1967, in the basque village béhorléguy

yitzhak nakash's 'shi'is of iraq' & other books

i finished yitzhak nakash's the shi'is of iraq, this morning-- excellent piece of scholarship -- and very well written (i've been wanting to read it, since it came out, in '94 -- while i was in boston, and got to befriend him -- finally...got to it) -- i tell you,...you memorize this book, and you've got iraqi history...of the 19th and 20th centuries, down pat

next up, lugalbanda: the boy who got caught up in a war (by kathy henderson), the only children's story i found...based on mesopotamian mythology -- i was looking for books for my 11-year-old nephew, who's 'into' mythology -- especially, fantasies, based on greek and egyptian myths -- so, i thought, why not find something for him...from 'his'...ancient forebears

follow-up (3/22): i finished lugalbanda -- very well done -- gorgeous pictures, by jane ray, whose name, as an illustrator, i've come across, here and there -- lugalbanda, by the way, was the father of gilgamesh -- both, kings of uruk -- and the story in this book is based on two poems, the first of which may be the oldest surviving story -- at least, recorded 'on paper'

update: in looking for pictures from lugalbanda, to include here (i could only find...two or three, on-line), i saw that ray illustrated the king of capri (by jeanette winterson), which i have in my inventory

plus, on amazon's page for lugalbanda, there's a trilogy for children...based on the epic of gilgamesh, written and illustrated by ludmila zeman: gilgamesh the king, the last quest of gilgamesh, and the revenge of ishtar

now, next up: the origins of totalitarianism, by hannah arendt -- i think

update (3/23): i gave up on 'totalitarianism' (who wouldn't), after just a few pages -- too difficult -- i'll need to build up to it

near at hand, for my next non-fiction, the best candidates were empires of the word: a language history of the world, by nicholas ostler (i read a few pages, a few weeks ago -- looks great -- great topic -- a survey of world history, as seen through its languages, their migration -- migrations -- etc. -- recommended...by former case linguistics professor p k saha), and the magic years, by selma fraiberg (about early childhood), which i've been wanting to read, for years -- i went with the lighter fare