Trip Down South...

... and it was ALL ABOUT the flowers. The weather cooperated and the hot early summer sun was, well, awesome! There will be two more rafts of pictures doled out over the next week. See ya later, then.

Found her by chance on YouTube...

... but, you know, she is pretty good. This, of course, is one of the party-arias of all time.

Here is Miklósa Erika in "Mercè, dilette amiche" from Verdi's I vespri Siciliani:



See what you think.

Minuses (first)... The low sort of vanishes and slight out-of-kilter moment at the end (but, like, who cares? I don't... these things happen; it was the conductor's fault anyway)

(considerable) Pluses... sweet portamenti and a nice trill; a bright sound that has nice warmth; she's a pro.

PS The manuscript is sent off now. Let's see what this round of readers thinks. Cross your fingers. Some vacation pictures to come in time and it really does seem that I may be blogging more.

Well I am back for a moment...

...but only for a moment. We are going on a two-week vacation to the South Island on Tuesday. The manuscript is mostly done now--- my editor is going to take a look at it and there are only like another 100 more hoops to jump through--- which does not seem like much after I feel like I have jumped through 20000 hoops of various degrees of bothersomeness already. Anyway, here are some roses we saw at the gardens here (the name of the rose in question appears below each):

This... is still delighting me... and it....

...showed up on a mixed CD I was listening to. So I ran to Youtube and there it was. It is "Music of Life" by Cerrone. Late 70's-- disco but with some cool jazz overtones-- and a general sweet sad niceness to it. Very very pretty and optimistic. Chill at 114 BPM!



I have to buy this record. Gemm has it for $172.00. I think I will wait for the moment.

It is that time of the year...

We went to the Botanic Gardens to see the spring tulips today! But I think you know that.

Critical Driver's Test Update

I was ready. I had studied, spent the time and knew, par example, how deep the tire tread needed to be on the tires (1.5 mm!!!!) and, yes, it is six meters from the roundabouts that you can park if there is no yellow-dash line (which means no parking allowed). I was READY.

READY, re re re READY!

BUT

It turns out that as of September 1 of this year, persons converting overseas licenses don't have to take the test... sigh.

Driver's Test

My US driver's license is expiring on my birthday which is coming up shortly. I have to pass a written test to get my NZ driver's license like now. I have waited and waited and procrastinated until I like have to pass this test NOW.

NOW, now now now NOW.

So this afternoon when I should be crafting prose about the wondrous intricacies of late-Roman manhood, I am worrying about how many f@#$%^ meters I can park from a f%^&*O( roundabout. Let's hope I pass before my birthday, or, going for the gold, even on the first try tomorrow. Otherwise, after my birthday I will have to stop driving until I do pass.

If I drive after that day and have a mishap, can you imagine how happy our insurance company will be? I so don't want to see or hear the faux-concerned smirk.

Juliya Lezhneva! Again!

Well, if you check to the left you will see that I have installed this counter thingy and I am now aware that people actually visit the blog a little more often than I thought. It is/will be a spur to getting a little more engaged. Anyway, it tells me where people are visiting from and I noticed that I got a visit from Moscow. That is where the heroine of this very post you are reading hails from--- and I suspect the Moscow visitor might be someone she is related to because he, if it is he, sent me the nicest note when I posted on her before. (Go here for the previous posting.) Anyway, Moscow Visitor got me to thinking about Juliya some more. And so I searched and I found her singing the Louise aria, Depuis le Jour! As I hit the play button, I wondered what I was going to hear--- I mean she is good with the Rossini and all--- what will happen here with the ineffable Gallicness of Charpentier's line, the floating high notes, and all the baggage that I, as a consumer of this aria for years, will bring to a listen? Let me say that I really really. so really, liked what I heard. She has nice spinto heft in her lower registers and the high notes float. Such a beautiful sound she has. I did not resist remembering what others did, I rather surrendered and was grateful. It seems to me that she should be going places. Let's keep our fingers crossed shall we? Just lovely:



PS: My book manuscript should finally be out of my hands soon; I am looking forward to some life changes when that happens!

PS the Second: I will post some pages from the book again within the week I should think.

Bridge Tournament

At our bridge club today, there was an all-day tournament. My partner and I won in our grade. Both of us are extremely junior players and I suspect that we were the only people in our grade so this win is probably equivalent to coming home from kindergarten on sef-esteem day. But that is ok, it still felt nice. If you see TRH, give him a pat. He actually had competition and did not get a prize, which made him sad.

Access (UPDATED) (AND AGAIN)

A short political observation: I note that Obama has delayed his VP pick for so long that he is driving all the pundits and press people mad. They don't have the access they have come to expect!! Gnashing of teeth!! Crankiness!!! It is delightful to read. This impresses me as possibly quite clever. Is there a meta-message to all of these preening leeches that they will die from a lack of inside access if they don't start playing a little nicer--and by nicer I mean evenhandedly?

In more important news, the dog has stopped shaking and I have been giving him a good stripping. If all goes according to plan I should have some adorable before (shaggy) and after (sleek and ready to roll!) pictures at some point soon.

UPDATE Now that it appears that Biden is it, all the headfaking or whatever you want to call it just seems dumb. For THIS you made us tremble with anticipation?! Such an uninspired choice it seems to me. Maybe I will be proven wrong and I will be thrilled if I am. He (you know who) has announced he will NOT vote when our ballots arrive. He is crushed and surprised at the choice. I am about there too, but plan to vote if only so I can complain for the next four years, if the worst happens.

UPDATE THE SECOND: There is such abrasivness and orations ex tempore and in extenso on the subject of THE choice around here, that it is clear to me that Obama did not consider ME in making this choice. Now it's personal AND my comments above about canny meta stuff seem increasingly beside any point that matters to me or as any sort of analysis that might have any claim toward incisiveness. Utterly down in flames in so many ways....um...How many days until the election?

[It is past time, WAY past time, for adorable dog pictures. Claro.]

Shaking Dog

We had some pretty loud thunder (but not much by Eastern US standards) and a bunch of hail the other night. The dog got spooked. Then last night we had some wind that was a little noisy and the dog was spooked all over again. He just shakes and shakes and instead of all being all cuddly and warm you find him at 4:00 AM sitting in a rooom where he normally never goes shaking. He looks so pathetic, like someone hit him. He is not doing much sleeping now. He will get over it I know but it is bummer to see his sunny disposition go away and be replaced by anxiety. Wellington is noisy and the noise never seemed to bother him before--- he will HAVE to deal.

Some of the Things I Wind up Listening to as I Write (Part Two)

I have a couple more things to share.

The first up is... what? ... is it, I hear you guessing as you listen... like Human League? Except it's not!... which becomes quite evident when the vocals come in... so what is it? Well, it's nothing so common as the New Wavishness of Human League's Don't You Want Me (a good song actually). It's Sad Italo-Disco! Everyone's favorite subgenre (if you are from my neck of the woods). It's Runaway by One Two Three. The year is like 1981? 1982? And this song was a total playa on the floor of That Hot Troc for like a year and half and it would come on at like 6:00 AM--and the light man would opt for sad darkness with baleful and not plentiful red lights. Those WERE the days:



The next item is happy happy happy and it's One Two Three by the Peter Jacques Band. About 1980. It is Mark's bubblegum addiction showing up again. Catchy and fast, I loved it from the start. Orchestration is superb:



The last item is Magnifique by Magnifique. It may impress you as silly at first but it in fact is one of the most magnificent of all the disco songs (that one would hear only in the clubs). It may sound frivolous like I say but it actually is earnestly sinister in a way that is fun when you are doing some serious clubbing. Magnifique was to be heard in the heart of the evening at 3:00 AM usually. I first heard it like in 1979 and I can recall it still turning up in the clubs in 1984 AND we of course still thought it was awesome. This particular remix creates a sense of architecture that is only present in the original in nuce and by doing so it maximizes all the potential that this song possesses:



"Oh! That feels good. It's really hot stuff. C'est magnifique!"

Some of the Things I Wind Up Hearing as I Write (Part One)

If you don't like teh disco, then you need to move on quam celerrime. Go see teh boss? Yeah go there now. Or here.

Ok! Now that those rockin' scolds are all gone, we can have some fun.

It is now no doubt a worn-out obervation that youtube is full of fun stuff. Worn-out but true true true!

There are youtubes of dance numbers that I loved back around 1980 there. I will start with two of these and share some others later. These two and the others show up on my various CDs and on mixed CDs from some big parties that have been happening recently at the club (the Trocadeo Transfer) we all used to go to way back in the day. I own the vinyl for these two myself and may mix them for you in the future once my research is in better shape.

The first is Lisa's Jump Shout. This is an extraordinarily odd song. It is a little country with a whole-lot-a bubblegum--- a whole lot. It features the irrepressible Lisa, who possesses a memorable voice not unlike a powerful rubberband. But she does have presence, steadiness, and sass. I thought the world of this song and I guess it was my favorite--- though it does have competition from Nightlife Unlimited's Just Be Yourself. I am not apologizing for the inexplicable love I have for this song but if you feel I should, chalk it up to the mysteries of one's youthful passions. What can one say? ANYWAY, I saw her live in July of 1982 (in Oakland!) and I so looked forward to it. She was great and I wrote her a fan letter afterwards (like the only one I have ever written). She sent me back her picture, signed. It is framed on the wall in the record room. Anyway, the song is a young gay man's dream from around 1981. She is singing about the various gay clubs in North America (Trocadero Transfer "That Hot Troc", The Saint, The Probe, Badlands, Dreamland, The Lost and Found, etc.):



This next number, the friendly guy on the youtube introduces but I will tell you that it is We've Gotta Dance by Sylvia Mason. As you listen to the song, note the nice orchestration--- the horns! the strings! it is all very very tight--- and this Sylvia is not lacking in presence and indeed possesses a nice top and a fetching slight lisp at times. The "dance" in "we've gotta dance" is deliciously put under the pitch. She knows what she is doing. Her back-ups are guys (like a Rossini Opera). AND, and and and and, AND DON'T YOU MISS the break on this song. It is ICONIC (also check out Sylvia's reentrance after the break-- she is not mailing this in) :



That is all for now. More later.