Once a Year Day

 

When time permits on some of the bus rides to the next city we will often have a chance to stop off and do some touring along the way.  In between the drive from Minden to Genk, Belgium we took a two hour detour in Cologne, Germany.

The Cathedral in Cologne is the most visited site in all of Germany and before the completion of the Washington Monument was the tallest building in the world.  Check out wikipedia’s entry here for more information.

   

Exterior (with construction!) and interior shots

 

The REAL reason I was thrilled to go to Cologne, however, was that I knew my friend Jamison was living there and we could have our yearly get together in some random city.  The last time we met might you might remember we were ghost hunting in Watseka, Illinois.  I’m hoping for somewhere in South America in 2012… ‘cause if the Mayans are right we might as well be where all the hubbub is.

I took the opportunity to catch up over lunch and walk around the city a bit.  Apparently Mark Twain was in town doing a book signing for the latest release of his autobiography. 

 

Get it little Mark!

 

Two hours isn’t exactly a lot of time to explore anywhere so after lunch we mosied on back to the station where the bus was located.  Along the way we did have a chance to explore “Lover’s Bridge,” where couples will inscribe their names on a lock and put it on the chain link fence that runs the length of the bridge.

Jamison making the only pose he knows how to

 

It was certainly sad to have to say goodbye so quickly but seeing him was certainly a boost to my spirits.  Until next year!!!!

Oh how I wish I had on real clothes in this picture (as opposed to the fake Blue Lake ones)

 

Artist: Richard Adler and Jerry Ross/ Album: The Pajama Game

The man who mistook his wife for a hat

So now that the opera and master class are officially over, the time has begun for me to re-focus practicing towards my specialist degree recital.  I kinda had to put it on the backburner because, in addition to the two afoermentioned performances, I also had the pleasure of singing Johann Sebastian Bach's St. John's Passion with the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers this weekend in celebration of Easter!  Needless to say, I haven't really been able to put my most considerate energies towards the recital.

Luckily, a couple of weeks ago my pianist gracefully recorded the accompaniment to all of my songs so that I could practice them whenever I wanted to... something that has come in very handy now that I have more hours to spare doing processing in the stock room at Pottery Barn.  And let me tell you, opening box after box of napkin rings, outdoor cushions and picture frames can get as repetative as Glenn Beck's crocodile tears without an iPod to displace the monotony.

I have all of the tracks organized under a folder entitled, appropriately enough, Joseph Roberts- Specialist Recital Accompaniment.  However, I noticed today that iTunes' mystical album art locator actually found an image for my com-pletely fabricated album.

... ... ... ... so, that was a little surprising.   Don't get me wrong, while green isn't exactly my color I'm still completely flattered nonetheless. Though, it did get me searching to see if there were any other misnomered musical machinations in my collection.  <------alliteration, fools!

For the soundtrack of the movie Camp.  If you've seen it... then you KNOW this is absolutely not an appropriate correlating image

The original cast album of Mack and Mabel.  It was at this point that I started to wonder if my computer had an identity crisis.  Or if it was going to pop a cap in me while I slept.

For Josh Groban's self-titled CD.  And yes, I do realize this is also an admition that I still have his CD on my computer.  Deal with it.

Finally some more color!  Too bad the actual album is for Big River, a musical based on Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  I doubt even Mr. Twain, a man they literally named the American award for humor after, could find the funny in this.

Apparently my iTunes thinks I have much more street cred than I unfortunately do have.  I'll take it as a compliment? If you don't hear from me in a couple of days, though, please call the Apple Genius Bar and make an appointment... ... ...