'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 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

it won't be long

the tito special

jeter's last at-bat in cleveland

bard's b'day

a little premature, but...it was at the kickoff event, for the....cleveland public library's festivities -- a talk, march 22, by diana price, author of the book 'shakespeare's unorthodox shakespeare' -- i thought it was a poor use of time, but....

look what mike & brandon can do

it tastes even better than it looks -- i don't know what that fork is doing there -- i just grab and eat

only at farkas bakery, in cleveland -- and they make a chocolate kremes too

gibsonburg

just watched this terrible baseball movie

bad script -- terrible dialogue -- poorly acted -- but...it is...a baseball movie -- which makes it great

has a 'cute phillie' -- looks familiar, too

list of credits...doesn't land her...close to me (nothing i've seen..., as far as i know), but, then,...she's from cleveland -- maybe...on stage...in town

just looked at her blog -- didn't see anything,...going back...about a year -- neither...in this local article

[addendum, 1.15.14: i forgot to note, old friend kent mercker...made an appearance -- in the broadcast booth, for the last couple of games, and also as a technical adviser -- must've been why they had a couple of great leftie pitchers]

interview with the cleveland rigoletto & maestro

an interview with our marco stella, the lead of this weekend's 'rigoletto' (he belongs to us now) -- preceded by an interview with the conductor, andrea raffanini

yesterday, we rehearsed in playhouse square's ohio theater, where the opera circle production will take place, saturday evening -- it was a lot of fun -- like seeing the opera, two, three times, in one night -- such...incredibly beautiful music -- and...what gorgeous singing -- the choral pieces, along with...all the rest

in honor of marco stella, here's ettore bastianini, one of marco's favorite baritones -- if not his favorite -- along with renata scotto, in the concluding scene of act two -- the full scene -- with...so much....

i love this scene -- the music, the singing, the...feeling -- feelings -- especially the feelings -- the depth of emotion -- gilda's high notes -- soaring -- flying -- in the sky, above everything -- 'piangi -- piangi -- piangi, funciulla -- fanciulla, piangi' -- love it -- actually,...love...doesn't...say it -- doesn't...say enough -- how deeply...it touches me -- rigoletto's 'non's -- 'mia figlia...mia gilda'

as soon as the pictures arrive in my e-mail (from my phone), i'll put them here

the swedish-italian connection; rigoletto comes to cleveland

yesterday (or was it the day before), i heard this incredible rendition of 'o soave fanciulla'...by jussi bjorling and renata tebaldi

all right -- i don't like the word 'incredible'...so much -- it was, certainly,...gorgeous -- amazing -- spine-tingling -- profound -- well,...you fill in...your own....

well, that combination...of a swede and an italian...connected, nicely, with my recent meeting of marco stella, the product of another...swedish-italian...duo -- marco's father is italian; his mother is swedish -- macro lives in gothenborg (pronounced 'yot'ti'bori' -- i think i got that right) -- and he's a very good guy

marco's in cleveland, to play rigoletto, on june 15, in a production by our local...opera circle -- in a return of opera to downtown cleveland -- playhouse square

i met marco, wednesday, after he performed with dorota sobieska, with her husband, jacek (yat'sek) on piano -- in a preview concert

i only caught part...of gilda's death scene...of the concert -- i'd come from the much-more-important concert of my nephew's fifth-grade...orchestra/band/chorus -- he plays the flute (like me, when i was a couple of years older than him)

speaking of...me -- my...musical...involvements -- i tried out for rigoletto's chorus -- joined in...two rehearsals -- couldn't cut it -- can't read the stitches on the fastball, couldn't hit the curve -- why, i couldn't even tell the difference between a fastball and a breaking pitch -- didn't know the count -- my batting stance...was a mess -- swinging...at all kinds of pitches -- fishing.... -- it was fun...fishing, though -- i'll keep on fishing

i might still get...to walk on stage

someone who will definitely be on the stage...is christina carr, as maddalena -- i met christina, a couple of months ago, at the wagner symposium, in walsh college

i just told marco about the great bjorling-tebaldi duet, and asked him if there's anything special -- in opera -- in history -- culturally -- between italy and sweden

'no,' he said, 'i think i'm writing that chapter'

i told him i was going to write this, and he...very helpfully...suggested a link...to a sample of his singing -- why didn't i think of that -- where does he get off,...telling me...how to do my job,...what to do

here goes

by the way, marco...loves his uncle bob

well,...here's another swedish-italian...coupling -- bjorling and pavarotti -- also from 'la boheme'

where do they get off...doing that duet

surrounded by aidas

aida in the mornin',

aida in the evenin',

aida at suppertime....

i just learned that they're doing 'aida' in detroit, this month

in the summer, they're doing it in cincinnati

in the fall, in pittsburgh

and, back in the bullseye, we've got the elton john/tim rice version, at the end of the month

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