The Concert I Heard (2017)

***** = Transcendent.
****   = Really good. 
***     = Worth  it, but not one penny more. 
**       = A waste of time, but one or two good moments. 
*         = Not good.  Possibly damaged my brain. 
 -0       = Ug fa meh loo poo pa.

1.  Apollo et Hyacinthus by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.**** This was the first dvd in the Mozart: The Complete Operas box set. That's where the other 21 Mozart operas that follow are from, too. 22 operas for $80. What a deal!

And it was just stunning to think that WAM wrote this when he was 11 years old. Because it wasn't cool because it was his first opera, it was cool AND he wrote it when he was 11 years old. I was also quite smitten with Christiane Karg, who not only has the voice of an angel, but is also quite a beauty.

2. Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots by Mozart.**** The beauteous Christiane Karg make an appearance in this opera, too . . . this time as a fat, red faced devil. This was one of the few funny operas I've ever seen. I liked it so much that I took it over to a friend's house and watched it with her. (She liked it, too.)

3. La Traviata (2005)***** A lovely staging . . . surrealistic at times. And Anna Netrebko's voice was mesmerizing. The rest of her was pretty mesmerizing, too, come to think of it. One of the best opera performances I've seen.

4. The Mikado at The Brown Theatre, February 12, 2017. **** Accompanied by fellow opera lovers Jacqueline and Joseph. The troupe did a very good job, even though they inserted a few topical references, which I'm not a big fan of. Hmm, it took me over a month to get to my first in-person concert this year. Getting old. In addition to loving this opera (which made Jacqueline laugh out loud several times), it was very exciting to have Joe turn to me and ask if we could get season tickets to the next opera year. And to think that I had to talk him into his first opera (Macbeth) by telling him that Macbeth used a sword and was a murderer. Hey, whatever works.

5. The Misty Mountain String Band at the Middletown Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library, March 7th.**** Man, the library just keeps on giving, doesn't it? These guys were so good, so much fun. I was going to buy all three of their cds from them, but there were so many people lined up (and I could see that they were running low on supplies, as I had a good long peek into their merchandise carrying case) that I decided I would get them on my own recognizance and leave a complete set for someone else, who might not be as persistent as I am. But these guys are really good. They have an album on Bandcamp (Brownsboro) that you can (and should) listen to for free.

6. Eugene Onegin (2017)**** My second Anna Netrebko opera. Mmm-hmm.

7. Dr. Atomic (2008)***** Very cool modern opera with lots of things to think about in addition to pretty girls and beautiful voices. I wonder why John Adams couldn't come up with a single aria, though. I mean . . . sheesh. 

8. Sean Rowe at Zanzabar, May 11, 2017.***** Actually only six songs from Sean plus an opening act set by some skinny girl with a big voice who wrote sad and boring songs. Sean was great. Amaszing, too. But it was Joe's first concert, and he wasn't into it. At least I got to see Sean and buy a vinyl of his latest album. 

9.  Rhinegold, whatever that first one is called

10. Fidelio (video)

11. Peter Frampton (video)

11. Yes (video)

12. The Misty Mountain String Band on the steps of the Kentucky Center for the Arts, June 27, 2017. *** Definitely worth doing, and I really like these guys, but the energy seemed off today/night. Maybe the venue . . . which included such interruptions as mufferless motorcycles, cops on horseback, and a very loud generator. There were moments of Exceptionally Good, but there were also moments of hmmmmm. Looking forward to seeing them back at the Middletown Branch Liberty in the near future, though.

13. Julius Caesar, Shakespeare in the Park, July 19, 2017. A good show, a really good show. The actor who played Brutus reminded me of Dave Chapelle. A lot. And the actor who played Cassius sounded dead up like Pete Seeger. Oh, and the girl who played Lucious? Aimee Mann all over. But all the main folks did a great job. Unfortunately there was a mom with two kids behind us, and one of the kids talked non-stop through the first part of the play. It didn't ruin it, but it sure was distracting. After intermission she and the talking kid hadn't come back, and just as I was settling into enjoying that they returned and immediately the kid started talking. I couldn't help myself, I said, "Oh, for God's sake!" And at first she looked like she was going to throw down, which I didn't want to happen, but then she started shushing her kid, and it actually went much, much better. I figure that if I have two autistic kids who can sit politely through plays, operas, concerts, etc. that parents with "normal" kids ought to be able to at least fucking try, y'know? ANYway, other than that the play was quite enjoyable. Like at least ***. Oh, wait a minute, it was free. Let's go whole hog and **** it. It was also very much a Trump play. " . . .  he would not be a wolf, But that he sees the Romans are but sheep . . . . " for instance. His susceptibility to flattery. The stupidity of his followers. More.

14. The Band Perry on television. After watching it, I wasn't all that crazy about the band anymore.

15. Meanwhile, in Randolph, Vermont:

A splendid time, for sure. In fact, I actually found myself thinking, "You know, I could do this again next year instead of going to the Baltimore Fiddle Fair." But I'll probably do both.

16. Boz Scaggs at The Paramount Theater, September 7, 2017.

Boz might be 73, but he can still warble those tunes. The high points were "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle" (of course), but "Loan Me a Dime" also kicked some serious ass, and his rendition of "C'est La Vie" was a nice tribute to Mr. Chuck Berry. 

17. First Kentucky Opera of the Season: Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. What a superb piece of work this was. I had no idea that this kind of meta-opera existed one hundred years ago. Leave it to the man who brought us the 2001: A Space Odyssey song (actually "Sunrise," from Also Sprach Zarathustra). Aside from that, this opera was also noteworthy for the part of Zerbinetta, played by the most lovely Elizabeth Sutphen . . . in hot pants for the first part. I shit thee not.

I love opera. Joe and Jacqueline enjoyed it, too. I suspect that Joe's enjoyment was more in line with mine, though.

18. Anastasia

19. Norma at St. Matthews Theater, a Met production 10/12/17. 

I'd never heard of this opera before, and when I first saw the listing I imagined that it would be something modern and American. I mean   . . . Norma?  Turns out that Vincenzo Bellini's opera debuted  at La Scala on 26 December 1831. So surprise, it was quite an old opera, actually . . . and distinctly not American. And? Just a thing of beauty. Sondra Radvanovsky and Joyce DiDonato in the lead roles were superb, and they sang with the voices of angels. And the staging was incredible. They used an elevator stage that allowed the first scene--of a forest--to be pulled up into the air to reveal a second stage--the Druid priestess's underground home. Most impressive. And the cast was so huge. I would really like to see this again asap. The only negative had to do with the theater. Blade Runner 2049 was running next door in the XD theater, and there was a constant undertone of rumbling from that movie which really was more than a little distracting. 

20. Les Miserables at Kentucky Center for the Arts April 15th with Jacqueline, Joe, and Pat. **** Most excellent job. 




2016