I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

April 18, 2016 - 12:24 a.m.

Foxy Opera

This has been a long day. I woke up at 5 AM after going to sleep after midnight. I'm not getting my first time to write and it's after 11 PM. I would love to be asleep before midnight. I might not be able to manage that but I will try.

Know what I did most of yesterday? Stayed in bed. After getting very little sleep and volunteering at WFUV it was my day to rest. I had updated the night before so I didn't write then. I did manage to set up the page for On Your Radar with Durham County Poets, The Young Novelists, and Blair Bodine. I was actually pretty proud of myself for getting that done in the morning. There's a lot involved in getting these events up. This time I had some extra work, I had to find a new picture to use for the one act as I need one that can be cropped to a square aspect ratio and I had to convert a song from another to a lower sampling rate so I could upload it to Reverbnation. Then there was a problem with the invites, I had to click on people one at a time. FB did not automatically invite all of my friends in the Facebook group.

Most of the rest of the day I vegetated. I was supposed to see Holes a musical by Noah Rauchwerk of the The Lords of Liechtenstein but I was far too tired. Instead I "watched" Stargate SG-1 on my computer. By watched I mean used to put me to sleep. This was to give me energy to go out at night. Chris, his brother Albert, Ritchie, and a woman whose name I am forgetting, I never met her before, went to see the fabulous Emilie Renard in the opera-ballet, Les Fêtes Véntienes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. What you haven't heard of it? You didn't read this article in the New York Times? Les Arts Florissants Bring Opéra-Ballet Back to Life and the follow-up, Review: Les Arts Florissants in a Heady Mix of Cabaret and Miley Cyrus including

Music and movement blended to stunning effect in group scenes in which the dancers wove in and out of the chorus, and in the performance of the mezzo Emilie Renard as Folly: At one point, she sang reclining, raised aloft on the arms of dancers.
You need to follow the important arts closer. I got to the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House at precisely 7:15 when I was supposed to meet Chris and company. That's a very easy trip for me to time even when the is not running.

Our seats were up in the Balcony and thanks to my cataracts I had trouble seeing. I could not read the supertitles so following what little plot there in the opera was difficult. But I could get the gist of it. I knew which scenes Emilie were in and it was easy to spot her when she was raised aloft in the arms of the dancers. That was the primary image in the ads. Emily not only sings great but she can act and has stage presence. It's tough to show star quality as a mezzo in opera but given the chance Emilie pulls it off.

The scenes that worked the best for my limited eyesight were the big production numbers. There were quite a few of those. This was Bollywood from the early 18th century. We never see opera-ballets now but they were once quite popular. If you remember in Amadeus the Emperor made a law banning them and his enemies charged Mozart with writing one because there was some dancing in one of his operas.

I had to get up at 5 AM this morning and I was hoping the opera was short. I exhorted Emilie to sing fast and the opera did end about 3 minutes early. Thank you Emilie. I would have loved to wait outside the stage door for her but I couldn't. She had a lot of costume and makeup to take off so that would take time. Discretion is the better part of valor so I wrote her a text and headed home. Thanks to that I got almost five hours of sleep last night.

Good thing I had an easy day today, 13 hours of volunteering at WFUV. I usually take the to the Bronx and then take a bus. But as I said, the was not running in Brooklyn. So I had to take the to the . the thing is that was faster as the was running express! Of course it meant walking instead of taking the bus. But I made it there before 7 when the pledge drive started. The first shift was the syndicated Thistle and Shamrock and then A Thousand Welcomes with Kathleen Biggins. Those are The latter is Irish and the former Scottish and Irish. I love those shows though Thistle is now on too early for me to every hear. It used to be on at noon on Saturdays following A Thousand Welcomes. That was much easier for me.

I got to hang out with Colleen one of the old time volunteers. It's always great to hang out with her. Was she my only friend there? I think the other people were students. Of course I become friends with them. There's an hour off for the broadcast of the Catholic Mass. Then comes the other Irish show Ceol na nGael. I think that's when Gary and George showed up. Other long time volunteers. When was Laura there? She was there one of the two shifts. Eileen Ivers was the musical guest and she helped pitch. I ran into her husband and son and introduced myself to them. I could see he was a fun guy so when he told me he was her husband I said, "I'm in love with your wife." He shot back, "I am too." Later I asked Corny who was producing the show if he could ask Eileen to stop into the phone room so the volunteers could meet her. OK it was so I could talk to her. She is a sweetheart so of course she did. If you don't know who she is check her out right this second. She's a great Irish fiddler I've seen her many times and loved each show.

After Ceol na nGael come the last remnants of the City Folk format that sold me on the station, Bob Sherman's Woody's Children and John Platt's Sunday Supper. John I see often but the drives are my only time to see Bob other than the Clearwater Festival which is not happening this year. Brian came near the end of the shift. He was supposed to come earlier but hit bad traffic. I took one pledge from a friend and heard that another friend's call was taken by someone else. That's part of the fun of working during John's show. He plays the music I listen to the most often so my musical friends will call during his show.

I did not make the quick getaway I wanted which is why I got home so late. So now it's 12:21. I better post this, post my old blogs, then get to sleep. I'm getting up at 8 AM tomorrow. It would be nice to get seven and a half hours sleep once during the drive. I won't but maybe I can get close.


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Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile April 18, 2016
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