Tuesday morning musings
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It’s Groundhog Day.
Be on the lookout for Bill Murray.
According to Punxsutawney Phil, looks like six (6) more weeks of Winter. Of course, being here in The Land Behind the Zion Curtain, we can most likely expect something more like… 12 – 16 weeks of potentially winter-like weather. Just saying.
Last night I had an… odd.. dream. I only remember three specific things about it:
- Part of it took place in my grandparents’ house,
- My father was in it, and
- Someone was listening to the Jackie Mason at some point in it.
I’m okay with the first two things; the third, however… I have never really been a Jackie Mason fan. In fact, the only thing that I ever recall liking him in were The Ant and the Aardvark cartoons, that were part of the old Pink Panther cartoons.
EDIT: I just looked up info for The Ant and the Aardvark. It turns out that it wasn’t Jackie Mason, after all. It was John Byner impersonating Mason. Huh.
Last night was a lazy night in. I was at work late – hooray for 10.5 hour days! – and stopped off for Chinese food on the way home. Once in, I sat down to dinner and an episode of Burn Notice. Win-Win. SaraRules got home a little later; we rounded out the evening with a couple of episodes of Top Gear on BBC America.
Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Today’s person of note is Grace Bumbry:
Ms. Bumbry, is an American opera singer (mezzo-soprano). She was a member of a generation of singers who followed Marian Anderson in the world of classical music and paved the way for future African-American opera and classical singers. She was particularly noted for her fiery temperament and dramatic intensity on stage.
Her international career began in 1960. She sang Amneris in Aïda–an epic challenge even for the most seasoned mezzos. She was just 23 years old and this was her operatic debut, at the Paris Opera. It was an unconditional triumph that led to another major career milestone the following year and a performance that would change the face of opera forever.
In 1961, Wieland Wagner, grandson of Richard Wagner, cast Bumbry as Venus in a new production of Tannhäuser. As the Goddess of Love that seduces Wagner’s noble hero, Bumbry would be the first black opera singer to appear at Bayreuth, the world’s most revered shrine to the great composer and his art.
Ms. Bumbry also performed at the White House, before President and Mrs. Kennedy:
“If I go to dinner,” said the diva. “I’ll eat and not sing very well.” But this was no ordinary invitation, and so Mezzo-Soprano Grace Bumbry, 25, took her place at President Kennedy’s table in the state dining room of the White House, dutifully nibbled at the first course and at the dessert. Then she adjourned with the other guests to the East Room and soared flawlessly through the most important recital of her career.
Singing magnificently in her rich, bronzelike voice, she began with O del mio dolce ardor, by Gluck, went on to Quella fiamma che m’accende, by Benedetto Marcello, Ständchen and Zueignung, by Richard Strauss. Invitation au Voyage and Le Manoir de Rosamonde, by Henri du Pare, Boatmen’s Dance, by Aaron Copland. Out in the Fields with God, by William Dawson.
Jackie Kennedy had extended the invitation after hearing from friends of Mezzo Bumbry’s triumphs in Europe. (from Time Magazine article)
In the 1990s, she also founded and toured with the Grace Bumbry Black Musical Heritage Ensemble, a group devoted to preserving and performing traditional Negro spirituals.
Her last operatic appearance was as Clytemnestra in Richard Strauss’s “Elektra” in Lyon in 1997. She has since devoted herself to teaching and judging international competitions; and to the concert stage, giving a series of recitals in 2001 and 2002 in honor of Lehmann.
More recently, she has also become known as a recitalist and interpreter of lieder, and as a teacher. From the late 1980s on, she seemed to concentrate her career in Europe, rather than in the US.
Stray Toasters
- Feb. 2, 1935: You Lie
- Another contributor to what evolved into the modern polygraph was William Moulton Marston, who is also fairly well-known for another of his creations: Wonder Woman.
- New Hearing Aid Uses Your Tooth to Transmit Sound
- From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Indonesian man loses his teeth in a cigarette explosion
- Awesome Card Flourishes
Thanks to the in-laws, I have a shirt from English Laundry. I’ve been quite pleased with its quality, look and feel. I can gladly recommend this clothing line. - Heat-Changing Arcade Mugs
I think I kind of covet this mug.
- AT-AT Lido Cup (also available as a postcard)
- ATM Skimmers
- From Fish to Infinity
- Apple iPad May Ship with Webcam
Namaste.
