Open Thread June 1 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 012025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” One of two operas based on Beaumarchais’s trilogy which caused somuch scandal inits day by dissing the aristocracy (They barely made it past the censors.) The other is Mozart’s “Figaro’s Wedding.” There have been numerous attempts at operas intended to get the third play, “La Mère coupable,” into the repertory. So far John Corigliano has come the closest, with his “The Ghosts of Versailles.” It has received a fair number of performances (including one in Los Angeles with Patti Lupone in the role which Marilyn Horne created), but it’s not really in the repertory yet. But I digress. The story in “Barber” is how Count Almaviva courted Rosina with help from Figaro and even more from Rosina, in spite of opposition from her guardian, who wanted to marry her himself – the last thing she wanted. The cast appears to be from all over, and unknown to me, but I never saw or heard a performance I didn’t enjoy. I will say there’s only one tenor who has ever given me chills at the end when the count, his character, threatens the guardian and his sidekick with the Italian 18th-19th century version of “Nice life you’ve got. Be too bad if anything happened to it,” and that was a fellow named Rockwell Blake who must have just leaned on his white privilege. It’s kind of a plot point, so it’s unfortunate more tenors can’t do it. Anyway, I’m off to see Virgil and will check in as usual upon return.

This is good news for a number of reasons, and probably different reasons for different people. For me, there’s the factor that Yosemite means so much to me.

Not exactly news, but definitely good. Even though it’s blue, I can’t always be proud of my state. I can about this.

Kermit the Frog‘s graduation address at the University of Maryland (ending with The Rainbow Connection” and the presentation to Kermit of a Citation from the Governor.) I did not set out to do an double-frog post, honest. (Off topic, but the best-known orange frog will kill you.)

We’ll never know for sure why Harvard picked this moment to back fown on this – but from where I sit, it looks as though being attacked by a corrupt administration has provided a sense of proportion previously masked by privilege.

Randy Trump Derangement (That’s Entertainment) I clipped the ad, but if you want the whole enchilada you can go to YouTube.

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Open Thread May 25 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 252025
 

Today is Kyiv Day – the (this year the 1543rd) anniversary of the founding of Kyiv. Happy Kyiv Day to all who celebrate. Here’s a link to the picture at left, and a little back story. (Also, UNITED24 is raffling off 24 sweatshirts with a Kyiv monogram – to enter, they ask a contribution of $24 by May 31. I couldn’t find it on their website, but will gladly forward the email on request.)

Yesterday, the radio opera was a new opera by John Adams (“Nixon in China,” “Doctor Atomic”) which for once is not set in modern history: “Antony and Cleopatra” – based on Shakespeare. (One thing hasn’t changed – Gerald Finley is still one of his favorite baritones.) The opera was staged in the 1930-s, more or less, and had some references to fascism. At least one review – the one I found – wasn’t crazy about it, but I found it very listenable Having learned to like Adams’s other compositions has made me comfortable with his style..

This is pretty cool. Anyone who wants to repurpose Alcatraz should read this first.

This good news from Amazon Watch is qualified – but it is good news for now. And we don’t often hear good news from Amazon Watch. (I wonder if the new Pope’s election had any influence.)

The original of this parody is from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” made for TV and originally starring Julie Andrews (later remade with Lesley Ann Warren.) The fairy godmother sings it : “Impossible.”

Cat

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Open Thread May 18 2025

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 182025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Richard Strauss’s “Salome” which is not based directly on the Biblical story, but on Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name. Richard was no relation to the Johanns – his father was a French horn player. His life was a bit later than the waltz royal family, and I don’t know whether he was influenced by Freud, but it’s a good bet that Wilde was – the libretto and score reek of it. If that sounds depressing, yes, it could be, but I have always found it helpful when feeling down – it gives me the feeling that, yes, I’m down, but I’m not that down, and it helps me snap out (and, if I’m not down, the music, although even today it sounds very avant-garde, is beautiful in its way.) This production is part of the “Live in HD” and thus has been recorded and was shown in theaters around the world. I doubt I’ll seek it out – I don’t feel that it needed quite as much visual dysfunction as they added to it – I think it’s better stripped down – but that didn’t impair hearing it on the radio. Off to visit Virgil now – I’ll check in upon return.

This is not news, but it is a pretty good anecdote, and not a shaggy dog story – it has a punch line.

Not to imply anyone’s death (well maybe a few) is good news. On the other hand, the life of a good person is worth recognizing, even celebrating, especially when we have so few just now in the right positions. Harry Litman eulogizes David Souter.

Cat

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Open Thread May 11 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 112025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Puccini’s “Turandot” in an archived broadcast studded with stars from my youth. I always subconsciously expect it to be longer than it is, and I think that may be because the casting for it, especially the principal soprano, require singers capable of singing Wagner, whose operas are notoriously long. Anyway, it received rave reviews at the time, and rightly so.

From Democratic Underground. Video in Italian with English titles. No telling how much, if any, impact it will have. But he’s not wasting time.

This from goodgoodgood – well, you’ll see. As much time and energy as we have all probably sped worrying about 3D “printed” guns, this reallt is a ray of sunshine.

John D Cundle

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Open Thread May 4 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 042025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.” Yes, the “Anvil Chorus,” as you may have heard on TV cartoons as a kid. The opera takes less than two and a half hours excluding intermissions, but the story – that’s a revenge tragedy which was decades in the making. And so hard to believe that many people still want it explained to them. I think someone finally told this guy, but there sued to be a cafê in Italy whose owner offered a free bottle of wine to whoever could explain it to him. Frankly, it didn’t totally click for me until the last decade. Sometimes I’m slow. But at least in this case I have good company. Now I need to go back to Friday, when I got an email from Virgil’s prison that my paperwork was expiring and they needed new paperwork by 2:30 pm that day or I would not be able to see Virgil today. Well, I didn’t even see it until after 2:30. I was able to put it all together and email it, but not until about 10:00 pm (still Friday though.). So you don’t have to worry about me being on the road today, and I won’t post a comment.  Almost forgot – May the Fourth be with you.

This from Reasons To Be Cheerful pretty much speaks for itself. I could wish we could have this here, of course. But it’s probably happening where it most needs to.

From Democratic Underground – You have probably read or heard this. I’ve seen references to it but not the actual story yet.

This is from Good News Network, and it’s regarding something I’ve been worried about for quite some time now. Maybe you have too. I’m not suggesting we can be complacent – but it is a step in the right direction.

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Open Thread April 27 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 272025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Mozart’s “Le Nozze de Figaro,” usually translated “The Marriage of Figaro,” but more accurately “Figaro’s Wedding.” I didn’t know a soul in it – usually I know someone. I went to school with a Liz Bishop, but it can’t be the same. Yes, the character has to be old enough to be Figaro’s mother, because the is Figaro’s mother, but the Liz Bishop I knew would be 80, old enough to be his grandmother or maybe even great grandmother. Plus, this Elizabeth Bishop was raised in North Carolina, not California. In any case, it doesn’t matter. The opera, like the play on which it was based was scandalously revolutionary at the time, and Mozart needed special permission from the Emperor to stage it. Servants objecting to the wishes of a nobleman? And outwitting him in the end? Horrors! One of the plot points is the jus primae noctis, which was an actual thing in European history (one could apparently pay to get out of it.  But it’s also a plot point that Figaro didn’t have money.) I don’t know exactly when it was abolished so it could have still been customary at the time the story is set. In any case, it’s tough to go wrong with Mozart. One aria from this opera became the Macarena of its day – so overplayed that even Mozart joked about it. His sense of humor may not have been very sophisticated, but he certainly had one and it was robust. Then, later in the day, Theater of War streamed a live event (and recorded audio available any time,) and then after that there was the “NOT the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.” And I took in a grocery order which was over an hour late. It’s a wonder I managed to get this posted.

I would like to have “biglier” good news than the revocation of previous bad news to share. But this is a pretty consequential revocation, and I’m very relieved to see it.

In regard to the new contract for the Chicago Teachers Union, you may have to take my word for it that this is a huge (yooge?) win for teachers – and therefore for everyone. I was alerted to this by an email from “The Labor Force” which said (among other glowing praise) “This victory proves that even in times like these, we can fight, and we can win.” It also pointed out that CTU is spearheading a “May Day Strong” day of national action which you can learn about at this link, and find events near you. May Day, of course is Labor Day everywhere in the world except here. For a city that so much of what you hear about it is “violent crime,” I continue to be impressed by how progressive Chicago can be.

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Open Thread April 20 2025

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 202025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “L’Assedio di Corinto” by Rossini. This is the first opera Beverly Sills sang at the Met – and in fact we heard a recording of that debut on April 19th of 1975, exactly fifty years earlier. Fifty years. I wasn’t there, but I had heard Ms. Sills a few years earlier, at the Kennedy Center, in recital, on the tour, which was famous at the time, when she was so ill she requested no encores, but people demanded them anyway, unable to believe that anyone could sing like that but have something wrong with her voice. It wasn’t until she asked the audience in her own speaking voice to refrain from requesting encores that she was believed and her request respected. I have this opera on vinyl with her and also with Norman Treigle, who is not in this performance (Justino Diaz is.) But that’s OK – Shirley Verrett is in this performance but was not on the vinyl. The opera is not really about Corinth (which has been through some sieges) but about Missolonghi which was under siege in 1826 by Turkey. I’m pretty sure none of the main plot (about a love triangle, a domineering father, and mistaken identity) happened at either siege. or at any siege ever), but it’s Rossini, so it’s listenable, even without the shining stars of this production. Sigh. I remember some opera opera lovers and I used occasionally to refer to Sills as “Silverly Bells” – a Spoonerism, but it intended as a tribute to that voice. Now I’m feeling old. But it was worth it. Also yesterday, Wonkette reported that Barbara Lee has won her special election to be the Mayor of Oakland, CA. I don’t believe it’s been officially announced, but the numbers are clear. I can only compare what that will be like for Oakland to South Bend, IN, who had Mayor Pete for 8 years. I certainly hope they keep her in office as long as they legally can. Now, let’s help make Kasie Porter Governor of California, and I’ll think about forgiving Adam Schiff. And one more thing – At 1:00 AM EDT yesterday, the Supreme Court issued an opinion – and it was a good one. This video from the Contrarian is almost 45 minutes. But it took me less than 10 minutes before my jaw dropped. If you already know about it, fine, but if you don’t you need to.  Off to see Virgil now, will comment upon return.

And this in, of all places, Tennessee. And Dolly Parton wasn’t even there.

Colorado Public Radio published this on Good Friday, so I can share it on actual Easter. Nice not to be late, for once.

Wonkette doesn’t mention this, but I would like to point out, if you made phone calls or sent postcards or did anything at all to help keep the Supreme Court election in Wisconsin fair and prevent Republicans from getting the vote overturned in favor of the Republican candidate, give yourself a big pat on the back (just don’t break your arm.) Because you did this. Your work helped make it possible for the cOurt to rule this way. And this is an example of why I try to bring attention to special elections, recall elections, or any disputed or might-be-disputed, no matter where.

Founders

Dog

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Open Thread April 13 2025

 Posted by at 5:56 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 132025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” – or I should say “Die Zauberflöte,” since it was the full opera and in German – except for a few interpolated jokes by Papageno. Such as, in the second act when he and Tamino were supposed to be refraining from food, drink, and even speech, he whistled and then sang a snippet from “New York, New York,” quoting “These little=town blues,” to be exact. I think Emanuel Schickaneder, who wrote the libretto and was the first to play Papageno, would have loved it (he was quite the card himself, and an improviser.) Today’s audience certainly did. Also yesterday, ProPublica reported that both Leonard Leo and Charles Koch are among plaintiffs (both as parts of groups) suing the the Mango Monster over tariffs. Did you ever expect to be grateful to either of those two for anything – anything at all? I certainly didn’t. Also, I chose the video I did because virtually everyone is riffing on “Who Shot The Sheriff” – besides Don Caron, the Riccardis, Founders Sing and  Patrick Fitzgerald have all covered it – with slightly different lyrics, but the same issue – tariffs.

I’d call this very good news indeed. Colorado appears to contain some very courageous people – and, more importantly, have at least some of them in positions where it is needed.

I don’t want to post a single-source open thread, so I’ll need a third one. But this one even CPR marks as good news – which they can’t do on political stories very well.

Here’s some good climate news from Wonkette. “Doktor Zoom” is the writer there who is most into climate change news, though all are to some degree.

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