NorCal (Less Tragic) Parterre Gathering: Part the Second

Casta Divas

The City* might have been fogbound and frigid, and parterre.com may continue to offer up the occasional chill (via the Comments’ peanut gallery…aka The Real Housewives of Parterre?), but there was plenty of warm sunshine and good cheer still to be found in Petaluma.

On Oct. 2nd, Batty Masetto and Frank hosted an intimate, operatic-themed sit-down early dinner on their veranda, beneath a glorious specimen of a redwood…with Norma conceivably worshipping Irminsul just a mistletoe sprig away. Emanating from their home were live Callas selections…but, of course! jumping clapping man sang along with his best Callasian coloratura runs and disembodied high notes, from Ophélie’s Mad Scene to Abigaille’s “Anch’io dischiuso.”

 

The masterful Cassata alla Melba, a multi-layered ice-cream dream.

 

Cher Public Shares

An attempt to urge a garden-side duet (“Mira, o Norma;” “Sous le dôme épais;” or at least the Barcarolle) from Ching (an operaphile and sometime Parterrian) was unsuccessful. Meanwhile SF Guy shared details of the treasures in his extensive video library (dvds cleverly transferred from dusty Beta videos), including the original mounting of the Hal Prince Butterfly that I’m opening in next Tuesday at SFO! It was televised via Great Performances, with Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Peter Dvorsky.

The food would have made Alice Waters salivate, and the English garden turned Ina Garten green with envy. It was fresh, divine, AND oh so very operatic! Kudos to our hosts for their inventiveness, culinary skills and generosity!

* referring to San Francisco, NOT NY, however difficult that may be for a New Yorker to swallow.

Menu

Preludio:

Trittico di antipasti:
• Il Signor Bruschetta
• Ciliegine alla Martina (“Madama Butterballs”)
• Carciofi alla Callas (vinegar and honey)

Atto primo:

• Spaghetti alla Norma

Atto secondo:

• Bracioline di maiale alla “Scotto”-dito
(based on a traditional Scottadito, meaning “finger-blistering” or “burnt fingers,” and meant to be eaten hot, with the fingers)

• Finocchio al parmigiano (fennel)

Finale:

• Cassata alla Melba

Genius, Batty, Genius!!! (Batty conveys his apologies to the Italian language.)

Our first meeting was Parterrians @ the Pagoda, this time Parterrians in Petaluma. There were whisperings of the next gathering being in Oakland. That’ll need some alliterative help. Wanna be on the guest list? Drop me a line. Until next time…

My Favorite Divas of This Generation

My responses to La Cieca’s quizzes and inquiries are often worthy fodder for re-posting here on jcm. Her current call for nominees is for “your favorite opera diva of this generation,” from which the surpreme list of ten will be crafted.

The acceptable career range is onstage between 1980 and 2010, BUT I took it upon myself to discluded any divas who had a large part of their primes BEFORE 1980 (begrudgingly discluding the queens of my Diva Totem: Price, Caballé, Ludwig, etc.), because they are really Golden Age holdovers, NOT really divas of THIS generation. For each the notable attributes are highlighted.

Here goes…they are essentially in order of my nomination, but I felt they were just too equal to assign a number to. Which of your favorites, or other truly deserving divas (OF THIS GENERATION!) have I left off?

Ileana Cotrubas
Limpid tone, truly affecting pathos.

Agnes Baltsa
Blazing coloratura, firm tone, balls-out ferocity.

Parterrians Partake in Gaiety @ The Pagoda!

Brace yourself for this historic and tragic first-ever NorCal gathering of parterre.com fans and followers! La Cieca has sanctioned it with an amusing post. We hope you can join us…I know I’m just itchin’ to get on with it. Opera fanciers, queens and lovers are encouraged and welcome too.

What?

A SF/Bay Area parterre.com Soirée…dare I say: Demented Mini-Conference? Perhaps our fair Queen Mum herself, La Cieca will descend upon our happy occasion and lead us in some gaiety. Although, Nilsson, Tebaldi and Rysanek’s attendance is more likely.

Where?

Chinese Pagoda (pictured below), on Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Location details: eastern tip of Stow Lake island, just south of Stow Lake waterfall, just southwest of the red star on this map.

We can mosey over to the Verdi Statue, towards the end for “Va Pensiero” and a knelt adoration. And, I’ll be sure to pass by the Beethoven Statue too on the walk home to make sure he doesn’t feel left out.

When?

12 noon – 3pm, Saturday, July 31st
(If too foggy, wet or cold, our back-up date is: Saturday, August 28th.)

What to bring?

Please bring something to share, by last name, as below. (If you object or have a terribly pinched wallet, you are still welcome to come, but please let me know.) Opera-or-Chinoiserie-related themes encouraged, but random, store-bought lameness fine too:

A – F: savory dish, finger food, or substantial snack
G – M: salad
N – S: beverages…chinese tea anyone?
T – Z: dessert

Activities

All (good/festive/opera-related ideas) welcome! I plan to shoot a Wenarto-inspired video shoot, involving those who are interested. If you have any operatic accessories (particularly Chinese), please bring/wear them to spice up our video.

Music

My iPod will be chock full of apropos selections, but feel free to bring yours as well, if you’re compelled. Again, orientalism encouraged (given our setting).

If we find a bevy of pigeons or a rival encampment has already inhabited the pagoda, we’ll be forced to shift our location, so it’s best if you RSVP beforehand, so I can give you my cell phone number, in case we should need to move.

Until then!

jcm Celebrates 1 Year!

104 Posts Later

In the midst of the buzz of the Vancouver Olympics, and following on the heels of Chinese New Year and V-day festivities, there is another notable, although perhaps somewhat smaller scale event occurring…jcm’s one year anniversary!

I take this moment to step back and survey the view on this first whirlwind year in the blogosphere. For many years I admired and enjoyed the outspoken thoughts of such bloggers and online community hosts as Malibran and the queens at Queer Opera Punks (now largely dormant), Aaron at AL&S, and La Cieca at parterre.com. Taking a page from their books, and a good dose of their inspiration, I launched jcm because I felt I too had something to say, with a unique perspective to offer, both informative and enlightening. It has proven to be a very satisfying creative outlet and communication tool for me.

Thank you for reading, commenting, and returning again! I’ve very much enjoyed connecting with you here…hearing reader’s perspectives, and getting to know other bloggers touting similar or parallel topics.

A Snapshot of Year I in Stats

Top Post:
The post with easily the most hits is “Olympic Reigns Ending: Likelihoods or Naysaying?” This issue clearly must have really hit a nerve with skating fans, and their searches!

Biggest Referrer:
AL&S has been my biggest “Referrer”, thanks to Aaron’s “Blog Check” sidebar, noting the most recent post titles, and his periodic jcm post mentions.

Most Clicks:
The website link with the most clicks: Required Elements, in my “rink links” sidebar (with AL&S a very close second). The video link with the most clicks: the Duchesnays ’90 Worlds FD! Who’d-a-thunk-it?

Top Ten Search Terms (in descending order)
cheeseburger — Huh?! It was the nickname of my character in “Hair”: Berger
2010 vancouver olympics — No surprise here!
drag me to hell — 2009 Horror film directed by Sam Raimi
johnny weir boyfriend — Way more interesting (and elusive) than Evan’s latest
tara donovan — An American installation artist
michelle kwan — Only the most famous figure skater of the past two decades
adelina sotnikova — 2009 Russian National Champion
no night is too long — 2002 titillating BBC gay flick
elvis stojko — Really? People still care?
heidi melton — I’m very pleased people are getting Melton updates here!

Most Amusing or Curious Search Terms (in random order)
michelle kwan boyfriend
why did michelle kwan separate from lori nichol
johnny weir naked
johnny weir high heels
why did paris leave johnny weir
evan lysacek naked
evan lysacek gay
is yuna kim overrated
scott hamilton loves yuna kim
drag king workshop
hot glue and glitter
styrofoam
albino man
cow tipping

Some Overlooked Posts

Perhaps you missed these the first time around. They are some of my favs with just a few too hits.

Ode to “Home”
My musings on my apartment, and life in SF.

Know Thyself: Theatre as a Tool to Discovery
Just a bit about what theatre has taught me about myself.

The Best Things in Life Are Free
An international urban phenomenon dreamt up by an installation artist.

Pinch Me! A Diva Tale
My experience as Chauffeur for Anna Netrebko’s Violetta.

If music be the food of the soul…
My list of the most spiritually transformative classical music.

A Hip “Hop”: In Search Of
The tale of my self-guided SF art hop.

Schwanewilms. Schwane-who?
An introduction to german soprano Anne Schwanewilms.

What Next?

Who knows what bloggin’ the next year of livin’ will inspire. But, if it’s even half as enticing as what the past year brought, I’m sticking with this! Perhaps a new blog look is in order? We shall see.

I’ve periodically thought about specializing in one particular subject (ie: just skating, just opera, etc.), to try to attract a demographic or more followers, but that wouldn’t be true to me and my schizophrenic interests.

So, plenty of diverse events, shows, and life experiences linger, and just may inspire me to post: the Vancouver Games, Torino Worlds, the threesixty° production of Peter Pan, the SFO productions of The Girl of the Golden West and Die Walküre, my BIG four-ohhhhhh, and more!