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[John G.]

Five!

[singdaw]

Today was the luncheon for which I made the table favors but did not attend.  One of my friends who did attend stopped by with a poinsettia that I suspect was one of the centerpieces.  That was a nice surprise.

How nice!

[singdaw]

That is one fine-looking piece of stereophonic equipment, DR Jrand70!

[ChasSmith]

I"m not sure I have a good answer for the TOD, but it brings up an interesting question I hadn't considered before:

How many of your birthdays can you actually -- truly -- literally -- remember? I know I'd have to work on this one, and I have no idea what I might come up with.

For me, having mine so close to Christmas, I might at least remember "something" about one or the other. We'll see.

[John G.]

The plumbers have finally showed up.

[ChasSmith]

I remember when Nixon could say that.

[John G.]

I"m not sure I have a good answer for the TOD, but it brings up an interesting question I hadn't considered before:

How many of your birthdays can you actually -- truly -- literally -- remember? I know I'd have to work on this one, and I have no idea what I might come up with.

For me, having mine so close to Christmas, I might at least remember "something" about one or the other. We'll see.

Maybe last year’s. It was a day before leaving for Greece and involved some dancing.

[John G.]

I always thought the birthday device in Our Town was phony. Who really remembers birthdays?

[ChasSmith]

DR ChasSmith - did you decorate your tree last night?  I hope there will be a photo.

We had to postpone due to various other things that arose over the weekend. But it's sitting regally in its place. At this point the decorating won't happen till at least tomorrow night, so I'll try to get a picture of it in all of its nude glory tomorrow.

[John G.]

Today's Christmas Carol is the Alan Menken musical version with Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge. Boy, is it lousy.

[elmore3003]

For your seasonal listening pleasure:


https://youtu.be/7foL28k2tZk

Ladies and gentlemen...the Florence Foster Jenkins of flutes!

It sounds like the reed player I used to beg BK to replace.

[John G.]

Not the show itself, which is OK and a two or three nice songs, but the look is too monochromatic and the acting too broad.

[Ginny]

TOD - No question, my 25th birthday (45 years ago - yikes!).  It was the first night of rehearsals for “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” in which I was to share the role of Lucy with Snooky.  Director DR Elmore said at the end of our meeting, “Now I want Ginny to come sit next to me.”  I thought I was in trouble or about to lose my role when Snooky and Andrea appeared carrying a blazing cake and the whole company was singing “Happy Birthday.” 

After living here a little over 2 years, it was the first time I felt like I had friends here in Middletown.

[elmore3003]

I had for around 20 years a neighbor on the first floor who covered a lot of the lyric soprano roles at the Met. She had a lot of stories about the monstrous Miss Battle, as did several agents at Columbia Artists.

Would love to hear some of those stories. I'm remembering an article in The New Yorker when she was canned.

My first sight of her was in one of the operas at the Cincinnati May Festival in the mid-1970s and I thought she was the sweetest, most innocent thing. But I guess that's what we were supposed to think.   But I wonder if she was always what people grew to know later, or if she went through a change over the years, and how quickly or gradually that change occurred.

I saw her debut at Cncinnati Summer Opera in Don Giovanni.

Was that at the zoo?

Wikipedia reminds me that she sang in the Mahler Eighth at the 1973 May Festival, something I'd forgotten. I was a rehearsal pianist for that and a few other things during the following two years. The 1975 opera was Tannháuser in which she sang the Shepherd, which was her Met debut role a couple of years later.

I never met her. I think I was only playing choral rehearsals for the Mahler, but I was at all the orchestra rehearsals and have always remembered watching her as the Shepherd. I might still have cassette recordings of the FM broadcasts of a few of those works, and maybe a couple of rehearsals.

Edit:  I'd also forgotten that she'd studied with Italo Tajo, one of the most amazing character actor/singers ever. That might have been at UC.

No, it was at Music Hall, but thinking about it now, she might have been playing Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte with my late friend William Parker.  I also have a sneaking suspicion that Max Rudolf conducted. He was such a nice man and brilliant artist. It would be around 1976 or so. She was a UC-CCM grad.

Italo Tajo staged for CCM the most delightful productions of Albert Herring and Falstaff that I ever saw.

[John G.]

$1,300 in plumbing costs. Merry Christmas to me.

[elmore3003]

Well it is what it is.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PVal8Fy7CM

Oh, God, make them stop!

[John G.]

Today is Pearl Harbor Day, which prompts a memory of one of Woody Allen's best lines in Radio Days:

Who's Pearl Harbor?

Seriously, we owe a debt to those who have served our country then and now.

[elmore3003]

Today is Pearl Harbor Day, which prompts a memory of one of Woody Allen's best lines in Radio Days:

Who's Pearl Harbor?

Seriously, we owe a debt to those who have served our country then and now.

Amen. Exactly one week after Pearl Harbor, Dec. 14, was my Dad's 20th birthday.  He had enlisted in the US Navy just days before his birthday.

[elmore3003]

This birthday is my third, 71 years ago, in the back yard of my Grandmother's house at 711 Tenth Avenue. I remember it, I suppose, because several photos exist of the family gathering: my grandmother, my mother, brother Macbeth, my cousins Judy and Jeanne, my Aunt Ruth, and my uncles Paul and Bob. Whenever I see tyhis photo, Barber's "Knoxville, Summer of 1915" comes to mind: one is my mother who is good to me.

[elmore3003]

I believe that bike beside me was a birthday gift.

[TCB]

Happy Birthday,
To our dear nursie and DR Jane!!

[George]

Well it is what it is.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PVal8Fy7CM

Now, that's funny!!

[George]

I"m not sure I have a good answer for the TOD, but it brings up an interesting question I hadn't considered before:

How many of your birthdays can you actually -- truly -- literally -- remember? I know I'd have to work on this one, and I have no idea what I might come up with.

For me, having mine so close to Christmas, I might at least remember "something" about one or the other. We'll see.

I never really do anything "special" for my birthdays.  Not even when I turned 50.  I don't know why.

[George]

$1,300 in plumbing costs. Merry Christmas to me.

Yikes!!

[George]

This birthday is my third, 71 years ago, in the back yard of my Grandmother's house at 711 Tenth Avenue. I remember it, I suppose, because several photos exist of the family gathering: my grandmother, my mother, brother Macbeth, my cousins Judy and Jeanne, my Aunt Ruth, and my uncles Paul and Bob. Whenever I see tyhis photo, Barber's "Knoxville, Summer of 1915" comes to mind: one is my mother who is good to me.

Nice picture, Larry.

[George]

Well it is what it is.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PVal8Fy7CM

Oh, God, make them stop!

But wait...there's more!  Here's the American Idol remix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD1cXWZXVkI

[bk]

Enjoying Capriccio - Strauss' final opera and an opera within an opera.  I gather it's not that popular and rarely staged.  This recording is wonderful, though - Karl Bohm conducting and the singers are terrific.

[vixmom]

Who is Susan?     

I love this!

[vixmom]

DR ChasSmith - did you decorate your tree last night?  I hope there will be a photo.

We had to postpone due to various other things that arose over the weekend. But it's sitting regally in its place. At this point the decorating won't happen till at least tomorrow night, so I'll try to get a picture of it in all of its nude glory tomorrow.

Hey, this here’s a family site!

[vixmom]

TCB I am so sorry about your stepson.

I wasn’t aware that you had stepchildren