Piano Man

 

Last weekend I had the chance to meet up with my dear friend Jeremy (he was getting his doctorate under Martin Katz while I was at U of M) and help him drive across country and set up his new apartment in Bloomington, Indiana, where he is just beginning a post-doctoral fellowship and teaching classes at Indiana University.  He’s basically one of the smartest and most talented people I know so it’s no surprise one of the largest and best music schools in the country caught on as well.

After flying into Hartford, Connecticut I was picked up by Jeremy, who had just finished up working at a camp in Lenox, Massachusetts and we were off to Buffalo, New York to go to his parents house, have a quick dinner and get a bit of a nap in before the 13 hour overnight drive.  As nothing particularly interesting occurred during the trip there really isn’t that much to report on.  Towards the last four hours of the drive we would switch off sleeping and driving and arrived in Bloomington relatively refreshed. 

Luckily for Jeremy (and by proxy myself and my back) his parents had gone down earlier in the month to accept and unload the Pod that had been packed in Minneapolis before Jeremy was gone for the Summer.  Prior to tackling the re-arranging and decorating, however, we grabbed breakfast at one of Bloomington’s most well known eateries—the Runcible Spoon!  I think I can comfortably say that breakfast is mine and Jeremy’s favorite type of food

“They dined on mince and slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon…” ~ The Owls and the Pussycat, by Edward Lear

 

After breakfast it was back to the apartment for a quick nap then off to shop for the necessaries!  For the next couple of days we slowly pieced the place together, with Jeremy taking care of his responsibilities (faculty ID, class schedule, etc) in the mornings and coming back in the early afternoon.  I basically would wake up and think to myself: “Okay, if this were my place how would I decorate it?”… and then I would just do it.  Luckily he didn’t take too much issue with my work so it worked well for both sides!

Jeremy, lording himself over his new dominion in true Lady Strauss mode. (Umm, by the way, that coat rack was only $12!)

 

While in Bloomington I also had the chance to meet up with another fellow U of M friend and have lunch.  Lenora and I both did our Masters degrees together and it has been a while since I have seen her!

SOUTHERNERS UNITE!!!!!

 

I also had a chance to check out Jeremy’s new office (he has a grand piano!) and on my way to the music building I noticed that, though he had only been there for a scant few days, they had already erected a statue in his honor:

They even got the coat right!!

 

I leave you finally with the “advertisement” Jeremy made for his class, in which he will talk about different styles of singing, the singers who were great at it, why they made the musical decisions they did, and what is appropriate to do in our day and age.  Sounds a little dry, right?  Well… as this video is proof, it will be nothing of the sort.

I kiiiiinda wanna apply to Indiana University just so I can take this class.  (Though, I suppose I could just call him up and ask any pertinent questions if I really needed to.)

 

Artist: Billy Joel/ Album: Piano Man

That’s Entertainment

 

I spent another one of my days off in Ann Arbor exploring some of my favorite haunts around State Street, beginning with seeing two movies (The Tree of Life and The Trip) at the gorgeous Michigan Theater on Liberty. 

  

 

In addition to appreciating the fact that they show independent and art films I also LOVE that they still have an operational organ that is played before each movie.  I arrived at one show just in time to catch the last vestiges of one such performance.

 

Though the news is a couple of weeks old, when I first got back the news broke that Borders Bookstore was being liquidated.  Ann Arbor is the corporate headquarters and home to store #1 so I felt it only fitting to stop by and check out the sale.  It was still in its infancy then (only up to 40% at that point [lame]) but I did make my final Borders purchase in the form of Jane Austen’s Persuasion… because I know you care and all.

  

 

Also in the nearby vicinity is one of my absolute favorite Ann Arbor spots: Encore Records.  I used to go there about once a week and troll through the immense selection of records in hopes of adding to my own.  Luck was with me this time as I found yet another Martin Katz collaboration with Frederica von Stade!!

 

All in all I’d say it was quite a perfect day by Ann Arbor entertainment standards!

 

Artist: Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz / Album: The Bandwagon

Put Your Records On

 

This last Saturday across our great land was “Record Store Day,” celebrated by hipsters and audiophiles alike in musty smelling shoebox sized buildings masquerading as retail establishments. 

Cactus Music even got into the spirit with live music!

 

One of my prized possessions is a record player I got several Christmases ago.  When I informed my parents it was what I wanted they seemed perplexed.  “You mean… … … like vinyl?”

It’s like the iPod version of a record player

 

One of the best things about this one is that it is completely portable and can work off batteries if needed.  It has it’s own speaker so in a pinch you don’t have to plug into anything else to listen.  I have many great memories on the screened-in porch at the Broadway house in Ann Arbor with this lil’ biscuit providing the entertainment. PLUS, I can hook it up to my computer and digitally transfer the record into mp3’s which is buh-mazing because a lot of the records I have aren’t available on CD at all.

Very appropriate, I might add, seeing as how all my friend’s Facebook wall’s in Michigan have been lighting up because of the recent snowfall there this week!

 

I’ve amassed a nice little collection since then and take any opportunity to at least peruse stores when in another city. Ann Arbor had a really great store, Encore Records, and when visiting Jeremy, Clinton, Nate or Jamison I always reserved at least three hours for Cheapo Records.   Luckily, Houston has a handful of them and I spent several hours just hopping across the city and looking at their choices. 

There are some albums that I will ALWAYS buy, and on the top of that list is anything that Martin Katz has played on.  For those of you not in the know—Martin Professor Maestro Katz, called “the gold standard of accompanists” by the New York Times, is the professor of collaborative piano at the University of Michigan.  Oh, and he’s played with basically every great opera singer of the last thirty years, written a book, and is basically a musical genius (and I’m not just throwing that word around willy-nilly). In the four years I was a student at Michigan I had the privilege of taking every one of his song classes and being conducted by him in two operas (Puccini’s La boheme and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin).  Needless to say, any chance I see one of his records I snnnnnnatch it up, and on this most recent trip I got TWO!

  

                  It’s the return of Flicka!!!!!                             Martin Katz + Stephen Sondheim= BUH-LISS!!

 

One of the other reasons I really wanted to get out on this day was that Adele was releasing a special edition remix of some songs from her album just for “Record Store Day.”  I’ve extolled my love for her before (here and here) so it should be no surprise that I was on the hunt for the disc! The first three places I visited had sold out and it was at the last stop that I was able find one—and it was their last copy!!! 

 

And, if anyone out there is making a list—though to be fair, I am still waiting on that watch—if you ever run across Astor Piazzolla records puh-lease get it for me and I’ll pay you back.  The guy who owned Encore in Ann Arbor was a big fan and would always hoard them away for himself whenever someone brought one in!

 

Artist: Corinne Bailey Rae/ Album: Corinne Bailey Rae

Voyage à Paris

 

Now, I realize that a lot of you read my blog and feel at times I may be a bit hyperbolic about certain aspects of my life.  It’s not that you’d be wrong, it’s just hard to pin-point exactly where those places are.  Oddly enough, I try and tone down some of the wilder entries and embiggen those that are more mundane.

I off-handedly mentioned in my post regarding Dead Man Walking a while back that Fredica von Stade’s performance in a YouTube clip was reminiscent of a certain customer who frequents Pottery Barn, Chantal.   Let’s just re-visit that video, shall we?

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaand this is Chantal (with the General peaking out in the background):

SISTERS!

 

Artist: Frederica von Stade, Martin Katz, Francis Poulenc/ Album: Voyage à Paris

The Kids Don't Stand a Chance

 

Last night I had the honor of getting to sing in a master class for world renowned bass Samuel Ramey.  A master class, for those of you who don't know, is an opportunity for a guest artist to come in and coach students in a performance setting.  (In a nutshell it is basically a one-on-one lesson but done in front of an audience). 

While Professor Katz was giving an introduction to the audience-- "Mr. Ramey is the most recorded bass ever in history" "he is known for his portrayal of the devil in many different operas" "he has sung roles by composers from Mozart to Mussorgsky, from Bellini to Bartok"-- Sam leans over to me and says: "He left out the most important role I've ever done: I've sung on Sesame Street!"

So here you are folks... a collection of all the opera stars that have sung on Sesame Street!!! Oh, and by the way... I've met every single one of them! Now that my Opera/Sesamie Street collection is complete, I can now move on to the cast of Designing Women.  One down (Delta Burke), four more to go!

 

Samuel Ramey:

 

L is for Low (to the music of  the Toreador from Bizet's Carmen) Look at those cape twirling skills! Btw I don't think his hair has moved an inch since this video.

Renee Fleming*:

 

 

 

 

Counting is so much fun! (to the tune of Caro nome from Verdi's Rigoletto) Oh, Renee... there are so many amazing moments in this clip.    I'd like to note that Texas gets a shout out in reference to the pigs from Galveston and, though the way she pronounces "fun" ("fine") doesn't really rhyme with our island city, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt because she pulls off that amazing plaid sheet wrapped around her shoulders.  Honestly, I want one seven. [*Technically from The Muppet Show and not Sesame Street, but whatevs!]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marilyn Horne:

This isn't so much a picture of me with Marilyn Horne as it is a picture of me with a record of Marilyn Horne and one signed by Marilyn Horne and Martin Katz

 

What I love most about this video, aside from the obvious inclusion of a cookie literally springing forth from Marilyn's head, is that I can just picture Professor Katz coaching her on this.  "How much do you love this cookie, Marilyn?" "Pretend your coloratura is a landscape of chocolate chip mountains on a soft, chewy landscape!" "I can't tell what's hotter: these snickerdoodles or those slavepuppets?"

 

 

 

 

 

Denyce Graves:

The Michelle Obama of the opera world... you should see her arms!

 

Because what doesn't a seduction aria have to do with getting your kids to sleep? I also appreciate that the dancing sheep are all representatives of different operas.  I think I count Aida, Madama Butterfly, La traviata, Turandot, I Pagliacci, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Walkure and Salome.  I'll be honest...chickens one and three have kinda thrown me for a loop.  On the plus side, though, I would absolutely love to see a chicken do the dance of the seven veils.

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE: Well unfortunately I am going to have to put my stalking of Dixie Carter on the back-burner, because I have been rightly informed that there is another opera singer who has been on Sesame Street!! Janai, when you work with him next year at L.A. Opera, could you introduce us, please?  I have a collection to complete.

 

Artist: Vampire Weekend / Album: Vampire Weekend