opera
July 10, 2009
- I went to the bathroom while I was at the opera in the ancient Verona Arena. I realize this may not constitute news in the traditional sense, but it was kind of interesting to me. While I was doing my business I noticed that there was some writing on the wall—strange writing in languages I did not understand. I wondered if I had stumbled on some artifact of the forgotten past, words of a poet ...
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July 9, 2009
- We were sitting in our seats at the ancient Verona Arena. The rain had stopped and we were waiting to see Aida and the live elephants. Our seats were good, but they were not the really expensive seats down below where they used to throw people to the lions. The people with the big voices and costumes began singing. Then, after they were subdued by security, the opera began. However, because of ...
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July 8, 2009
- Remember the story of Walter Raleigh spreading his cloak over a puddle for Queen Elizabeth? I mostly remember cartoonists making fun of the tale (i.e. the woman would step on the cloak and sink in up to her neck, etc.). But still, I was raised to make the chivalrous gesture whenever the opportunity arose—holding the door, yielding my seat, drowning in the Atlantic, etc.On my honeymoon just such ...
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May 27, 2009
- It may not surprise you to hear that I have very little experience negotiating international policy. While this wouldn't have held me back from a prominent advisor position in the Bush years, I am afraid that it disqualifies me from stepping up to the plate in the current administration. But I have stumbled on a unique rarely mentioned negotiation strategy that I feel compelled to share . After ...
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May 1, 2009
- Do people come up to you and ask you to tell their story? Do you walk away from school visits with loads of new story ideas that kids give you like sticks of gum? Do adults drop hints about stories you could work on?What about your family? Are they the worst of all? You might be a writer if...you hear "you should write this" A LOT."You should write this" comes out of all ...
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April 29, 2009
- Although I couldn't put down "Kavalier and Clay," the super novel about superheros -- and how the comic book industry came into being in North America in the 1930s -- when it was published a few years ago, it's a long time since I have really read a comic book right through (I'm not counting newspaper "funnies" that don't seem so funny to me anymore). When I did read piles and ...
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April 9, 2009
- Andrew Paul Jackson's Grigori Efimovich: The Memory of Liars premieres this month at the Boston Conservatory in Massachusetts. The one-act opera, on which I served as librettist, details the shaky connections between Felix Yusupov, a bumbling traitor to Russia's last Tsar, and his co-conspirators in the death of Rasputin. The monk from Siberia, Grigori Efimovich, has been called a sexual deviant, ...
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March 12, 2009
- It seems I'm not the first crime writer to turn his hand to writing a libretto. Apparently, Ian Rankin and Alexander McCall Smith have also had a go, as I discovered from this article in The Times.Is there something about writing crime fiction that makes us especially qualified for the task, I wonder?Without wanting to appear either pretentious or glib - though aware that I will probably come ...
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October 15, 2008
- The Judy Joy Jones Show recent show with classical composer; Stefan Meylaers has been written about in three Belgium newspapers; with over 500,000 readers note . The Judy Joy Jones show theme music Stefan composed is beautiful, as are all his compositions. A young Belgium composer to keep your eye on! Listen to the live Interview: ...
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October 14, 2008
- Horacio Ferrer is to contemporary tango what Ira Gershwin is to Tin Pan Alley - and maybe more.He is a recognized poet, a tango lyricist of formidable talent, and a noted historian — of promethean output — of Argentine tango music and dance. His best-known lyrics are those for "Chiquilín de Bachín," which was composed by Astor Piazzolla. It is an instantly recognizable tango ...
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