Monthly Archives: January 2004

Singing (and Walking) in the Rain

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Tenor Takes AWinter Journey Coast-to-Coast

This is so cool! Tenor David Pisaro is walking across northern England on the classic Coast to Coast footpath right now, planning on ending his journey at Robin Hood’s Bay on about the 31st of January.

The catch is that he is performing Schubert’s “Die Winterreise” each night – sometimes to audiences as small as 3 people (in a farmhouse that had the only piano for miles around). He’s attempting to meld “method” acting with classical music by literally experiencing a long, cold winter’s journey and then singing his heart out about just such a madness-inducing trip nightly.

According to the route/concert location timeline, he has a couple more performances before he finishes up.

Darn – I had really hoped to hike in the area of Robin Hood’s Bay on our September trip, but we didn’t make it to that part of Yorkshire. Maybe next year.

A big end-of-grueling walk party is planned: “Festival of Desperation and Disappointment.”

This is so cool, I just can’t stand it.

Heh heh heh… I love the word “whilst.” I really think I like this fellow. I wonder if he’ll ever perform in the Chicago area? He’d be great at Ravinia…

I ran across this in the Chicago Tribune (free subscription), but didn’t link to that story because it goes to pay-to-view archive in only 7 days. However, this quote was amusing:

‘The goal, Pisaro says, “is to see whether method acting and classical music go together, and whether I can attract a new audience to music that can be seen as the preserve of overeducated buffoons.”‘

Fabulous! Admirable! I salute you, sir! I offer you my best wool socks in tribute! 😉

I also found mention of it at Ruby Street. Word does get around so…

Best of luck, David! Keep your feet and head dry. I hope people have been offering you cups of tea with lemon and honey. 😉

Ready, Set, Amazing Race Already, Will Ya?

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Checked in at the TARflies Times site to see if the little counter to the next episode has started yet. Nope.

Checked in at the TWOP Amazing Race site to see if any spoilers had been posted (sightings are considered spoilers) and ditto – nope.

Augh. What’s happening? What’s happening? Are they starting soon??

And since the Tarflies site is run as a group blog, onto the blogroll it goes. Yayyyyy! (tm Kenny)

God, I miss this show. Ready, set, Amazing Race already!

My Tribe – the Redheaded Band

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My sister has gotten into the act with a few embarassing photos. I’m told that I might need to start a blackmail fund to keep her from sending the most notorious ones.

Proof that I am indeed a full-blooded member of the Phaeomelanii:

small-Gin-Indian.jpg

This was when we were living in Albuquerque in the early 60’s.

Since I’m wearing the headress, I MUST be watching “Roy Rogers,”
although maybe I’m cheering for the Indians. Usually I wore a cowboy hat and rode my palamino pony, “Horsey Honey” in the living room when RR was on. HH was powered by springs, not hay, and went thumpy-thumpy instead of clop-clop. And I think I yelled “Hiyo, Horsey Honey” a lot.

Jeez. Nostalgia. All the thumping and “hiyo’s” must have driven my mom nuts.

I was one happy, contented kid then – the biggest problem in my life was what hat to wear when watching TV (TV watching was all about the accessories at that age).

My mom still has most of the furniture in the shot (some has been cropped from the image to avoid giving everyone an overload of 50’s Early American decor). My niece has the rest – when we visited her a couple of Christmesses ago, it was a very topsy-turvy maple-induced deja-vu experience for me.

Vote Now And Vote Often

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London Underground Tube Diary – Going Underground’s Blog

Right, this site needs to win a Bloggie – I wish I’d seen it before our trip. And note please – it’s written by a woman, not a bloke.

She’s evidently chapped by being mistaken for a chap online. Must tell David that his “Mind the Gap” T-shirt might mean something like “Mind the Pinch” in Dutch.

Interesting – several of the blogs I stumbled into reading as a side effect of thrashing about helplessly are up for a-wards. Everybody links to the same few top blogs.

It’ll be interesting participating in the process next year.

And I’m kidding about voting the “Chicago way.”

In other “Road Goes Ever On” news, the “first day in London” entry is now posted in the September archive.

Good night, good night.

Old Friends, New Haiku

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Journalings

Here’s an old friend from my Highlander fan days – I used to host chats that she attended as “catsnco.”

We got re-connected recently and it’s good to know that she’s doing all right after her move. Her “catsnco” link tells her lives story (hint) better than I could – it’s a strange and confusing one, but real.

And she’s moved to an area near Eugene, my old college home. I already told her she has to go to Eugene to get Monster Cookies. They’re generally sold in coffeehouses and deli cases.

I went looking for a website for the Monster Cookie Company and got “404 Haiku:”

You step in the stream,
but the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

They evidently still exist (thank goodness) but don’t think it necessary to have a website. What?