spine-tingling,...tear-inducing...beverly-sills sempre libera

because i can't hear pandora in jordan (turns out, it can only be heard in the u.s., australia and new zealand), i'm resorting to i-tunes -- beverly sills's sempre libera came on, with nicolai gedda -- spine-tingling -- sills is splendid -- lets it all out -- i was writing an e-mail to a friend, and mentioned it

i went to youtube, to send it to her -- the one i hit...brought tears to my eyes

not the same recording -- the audio i heard...is from the series 'great operas at the met': the traviata volume -- the video is from 1976, at wolf trap -- don't know who her alfredo was

bartolo baseball

vinnie remembers zim

I'd love to find a picture of vinnie, in the dugout

getting tossed, aussie style

'welcome to parenting in 2015' (and baseball)

hat tip: howard

collect all the phones? -- what will they do -- what will WE do

do the shimmy

fun with 'country joe'

they're back

vin scully, on yogi berra

one of my favorite yogi-isms (talking about a restaurant): nobody goes there anymore -- it's too busy

'a tale of two boys,' by vin scully

baseball,...bringing people together

i went to the indians game, yesterday -- my friend jan invited me -- it's her birthday -- we arrive very early -- bob feller jersey day

while jan's waiting in line to buy her sausage sandwich, i see four or five men, wearing identical white t-shirts -- says lehigh valley yankees fan club -- hey, my friend christine schiavo recently told me about going to the lehigh valley ironpigs games -- christine and i met, 30 summers ago, in london -- temple university's british mass media program -- me, christine and another temple student, louisa, went to the isle of wight for a weekend -- great trip -- christine found me, last year, on facebook -- told me that louisa works in the district attorney's office in detroit -- i make contact -- try to get together, while i'm there for an opera -- doesn't happen

i tell the men about christine, who works in the allentown newspaper -- they tell me that a member of their group, keith groller, is the sports editor of the newspaper -- where is he -- they don't know -- their party is sitting in section 140 -- they're a group of 47 -- from bethlehem and the lehigh valley -- six-and-a-half-hour drive -- here, all week

i go to their seats -- i'm told that keith usually arrives at his seat, later -- 6.30, 6.45 -- jan and i make our way to our seats, upstairs -- i remember how strange it was to me, in the seventies or eighties, when i met a group of yankees fans in the parking lot below the west third street bridge, who'd driven four hours from rochester to see their team

i e-mail christine, tell her what happened -- she can't believe it

This is so weird. Are you saying you are with my co-worker Keith Groller? Are you in Pittsburgh? This is crazy.

i'd e-mailed christine from pittsburgh, friday night, when her former phillie jimmie rollins lined one off the fence in dead center, to tie the game in the ninth (if i remember right)

i tell her i'm in cleveland -- yes, her keith groller

That's crazy. Keith, as you probably already know, is a sports writer at The Morning Call. But he's really a legend. He works all day, every day. Writes a column, stories, blog, does a radio show, TV, goes to every sports banquet. But we're talking high school sports and local college sports, the grass roots of sports. I hope you get a chance to talk to him.

great game -- goes into extras -- in the fourteenth or fifteenth inning, jan and i go quickly down the stairs, so i can meet keith, and so we don't miss anything -- he's pointed out to me -- i introduce myself -- he thinks the world of christine -- he's in the middle -- no cap -- eyeglasses, poking out

he, his wife and their daughter leave before the game's over -- we talk a bit

the lehigh valley group have driven to toronto, chicago, st. louis, atlanta, among other cities -- they were going to go to spring training, last year -- fell through -- the club has 300 members -- i say that's more than the indians fan club in cleveland

the yankees' last pitcher in the game is named pinder -- i tell jan about the great sports writer of ancient greece, pindar -- i have to read a book i have, of his odes -- maybe the best sports writer ever

michael brantley lined a shot off of pinder, in the bottom of the sixteenth -- goes off of diving mark texiera's glove -- jose ramirez scores from second -- we win -- players chase brantley into left center -- spray him with water -- corey kluber uses a machine gun -- kids

greatest catches

five years ago, today

i think his name is masato akamatsu

nineteen years ago, yesterday -- kenny lofton

july 1, 2006 -- sarge junior

you gotta love vinnie

vin scully, from yesterday's game, between the dodgers and the angels

in the bottom of the fourth inning:

a hopper to third -- nice stop at third by featherston -- they get an out at second, but that's all -- wuh-ho-ho -- puig crushed the ball, and taylor featherston almost lost a syllable,...but he stayed with it -- wonderful play, at third base

in a later inning (not verbatim):

joe smith is warming up in the angels bullpen -- seems like an undercover agent -- joe smith in the bullpen

samurai-ninja batter

and who says the japanese don't have any individuality

'one of these days,...pow! -- to the moon!'

i'm listening to my favorite broadcast team -- bob brenly and steve berthiaume, of the arizona diamondbacks

brenly does this thing, each game -- 'on this date'

today, he had a little...connect-the-dots

on this day, in 1969, neil armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon -- 'one small step for man,' chimed in berthiaume

five years before, continued brenly, alvin dark was the manager of the san francisco giants

dark said they'll put a man on the moon before gaylord perry will hit a home run

guess what happened, moments after armstrong stepped on the moon

can't go without noting the cleveland...and...ohio...connection -- the three principals -- and the storyteller

addendums: from marc: the story is called 'dark side of the moon'; from nancy: the mets won the world series in '69

indeed, a year of miracles

'the little prince' the opera

while waiting in line to buy a ticket for il trovatore at cincinnati opera, last month, i heard the woman in front of me talking about being in 'the little prince' -- turns out, cincinnati chamber opera is doing it, the weekend before christmas

i don't know if they're using the francesca zambello production, for the opera's premier, in houston, in 2003 -- her web-site has pictures

one of the best theatrical experiences i've had was a play of the story that oberlin summer theater festival did, four years ago -- magical -- wonderful

the game that nobody saw

they played a baseball game, today, and nobody came -- really,...nobody -- they weren't allowed in

that, of course, begs the question -- if they play a game, and nobody sees it, did it really happen

well, mlb.com...had it as their freebie of the day -- i watched almost all of it -- from library to library, and in between (on my phone)

there were a couple of scouts behind the plate, the announcers said, and that's it

ubaldo pitching for the birds

balls going into the stands -- nobody chasing after them -- a lot of souvenirs to be had, when the orioles play there again, in 10 days

the birdies scored in the first -- nobody cares -- except the dozen or so fans they showed, pressing up against one of the gates

then chris davis hit a three-run shot -- nobody on the receiving end, and just the claps of the players

then a double -- and another double -- guy rounds third,...to a background of green seats -- nobody.... -- so strange

every time they showed a player,...with the seats in the background,...it just looked...odd -- empty -- nobody

well, ubaldo pitched very well -- i think he gave up just three singles -- made it through seven -- one run, i think -- could've gone on (that's amazing, in itself), but they wanted to get their relievers some work -- they haven't pitched, since sunday -- they wrapped up the game, in barely two hours

during the game, they showed a clip from before the game -- the orioles' caleb joseph, whom i saw in his first game, as a yankee, two years ago, was standing by the seats beyond third base, signing some fake autographs, then he did his cal-ripken impersonation, jogging around, near the stands, giving hi-fives to...fake fans [the link, above, turns out, is from corban joseph's first game, so it might not be the same guy]

throughout the game, they showed a group of fans standing outside a main gate -- one woman, wrapped up in a light-colored blanket -- looked like a dozen or so people (they didn't widen the shot, to show everybody that was there) -- every now and then, they chanted, 'let's go, o's' -- couldn't really hear 'em -- the announcers...relayed their chant

at one point, jim palmer, the orioles' color analyst, remembered when he was playing in aberdeen, south dakota, and their manager, cal ripken, sr., told them the reason they play -- what it's all about -- is the fans who come to the game

ripken jr., they reported, was in the stadium

last night, on espn's 'baseball tonight,' alex cora and mark mulder were talking about how strange...and difficult it was gonna be, for the players -- cora said that the players were really gonna have to focus,...on every pitch -- that they'd have to create their own energy -- he and mulder said that they weren't gonna get the energy from the fans -- no buzz -- cora compared it to playing an arizona fall-league game -- mulder said you're out there, but you think you're still warming up, coz there's nobody there

palmer compared it to the b-squad games in spring training, where there's nobody there -- then he related how at one b-squad game, which started at eleven, joan jett was in the stands -- he asked another player who that was, wearing all the black leather, and the guy said it was joan jett -- palmer asked him where the blackhearts were -- she grew up in silver spring, i think he said, and he approached her, or vice versa -- she said she was a big fan -- she asked him what he was doing, that evening -- he said, nothing, that he was with his kids -- she was in town -- i think this was hollywood, florida -- she was playing, before...or with...some big rock band -- i forget who it was -- she invited him and his daughters to the concert, and backstage -- he said they traded posters -- him, in his underwear -- her, on a motorcycle

after the last out of the third or fourth inning (a ground ball to the shorstop, i think it was), first baseman chris davis, jogging to the dugout tossed the ball, underhanded, into the stands

gary thorne, the orioles tv play-by-play announcer, said the producer texted him, this morning, asked him if he was going to use his master's-tournament voice or his 'everybody-gets-to-see-baseball-for-free' voice -- so he did little bit of golf announcing -- whispering,...'adam jones, up -- he takes a whack at it -- it's way back -- it's off the base of the fence -- he's into second'

the orioles scored six in the first inning -- thorne said, considering how superstitious buck showalter is, he might not let any fans into the stadium again -- but they had two six-run innings on sunday, palmer countered

i was thinking, now we can't say, 'nobody's at the game,' when we see a thin crowd -- which reminded me of a time, some ten years ago, when i took a cousin's two kids to the playground (in cambridge, mass) -- we'd gone there before -- this time, it was drizzling, and the playground was empty -- and little danya said, 'everybody's not here' -- well, everybody was not there, today

perfectly reasonable...apocalyptic thinking

i just read, in the book the devil within: possession and exorcism in the christian west, that 'jewish apocalyptic thought [influenced by zoroastrianism, during the babylonian exile] flourished in the two centuries before christ'

well, of course it would -- they were approaching the year zero -- they must've been thinking -- yelling and screaming -- 'oh, my god -- what happens next -- we're gonna fall off the end of the calendar'

old blue eyes singing mozart, w/grayson -- domingo, freni & graham

i just learned, in opera news magazine's new backgrounder feature (operapedia -- this month, on 'don giovanni'), that frank sinatra sang that lovely love duet (?) -- seduction scene -- that the don sings with zerlina (right after she got married) -- old blue eyes sang it with kathryn grayson, in the 1947 movie 'it happened in brooklyn' -- i had to see it

i wonder who that masetto is -- i just looked on imdb, to find out -- what a cast -- durante, gloria grahame, peter lawford -- maybe it's bobby long

i then went on, as one is wont to do on youtube -- a couple of charming ones -- magnificent -- placido with mirella freni, then with susan graham -- look at her -- she's barely out of her teens

the piano guys play the cello song

the best wake-up song

the last couple of weeks have been...carmen-crazy -- on the radio, live from the met -- sunday, in concert, here in cleveland, with a fantastic mezzo, audrey babcock -- on saturday, pittsburgh starts its run of four shows, with rinat shaham, in the lead

well, i've been wanting to get the gypsy song to come on, as my alarm -- on the computer, i-phone, cd/radio player -- i'll have to figure out how to do it

here it is, from verona, where they put on a great show, with marina domashenko -- she's from siberia -- kemorovo -- and, i have to include this name, she studied opera singing in the yekaterinburg conservatory

hvorostovsky's 'il balen'

the met just announced its lineup for next season, and they're doing 'il trovatore' in september, october and february, with the october 3 show kicking off their season's live screenings in movie theaters -- dmitri hvorostovsky will be their count di luna -- i love 'il balen'

i hope i'll be able to make it to cincinnati, in june, to hear stephen powell sing it

it won't be long

the tito special

villazon antics

i watched that great netrebko-villazon boheme movie again -- then watched a few behind-the-scenes videos, including this one, of villazon's antics

gotta love this guy -- he's so cute -- gotta get me one of those rubber noses too

jerry lewis sings, and those old roasts, with rickles & brooks

i came upon these roasts, after i watched 'the nutty professor' (great movie), and i looked on youtube, to record jerry lewis, singing 'that old black magic' -- i think he's a great singer,...and this is a great scene

then, all these...foster brooks...roasts