For our foreign friends looking in wondering why Americans aren't dropping everything to march on the streets. There is just so much corruptions, grifts, abuse of power, all the outrageous immoral and unpresidential conducts being committed every single day not just against Americans, but also against the rest of the world that most of us can't keep track of anymore (and still manage to function in our daily life, keeping afloat in the economy that has been unnecessarily and frivolously wrecked for everyone except for the Grifter in Chief and his oligarch accomplices).
Oh, and it isn't just the mad man on top who's doing all the wrecking of us, it's the braindead and spineless Republicans in Congress and the Gordon Gekko wannabes cabinet members that are not just sitting idly by but actively abetting ALL the crimes.
Poxes to all of them and their supporters (the minority that they are).
At this point, these goons are just shooting people for fun now, thinking Nuremberg 2.0 will never come.
Murders in broad daylight. And what did this guy do? He was just filming and went to assist a woman these goons shoved to the frozen ground. They both got pepper sprayed. I bet he was just trying to secure his phone away in his pocket when one of the goons fired on him... and kept on firing... with lots of people in close quarters.
Stupid morons like that has no business handling a gun. There is no such thing as self defense when you've pepper sprayed the guy, knocked him to the ground and mobbed him with 4 or 5 of your pals, and then basically empty a whole clip of ammo on him.
What sort of animals stay working for ICE these days?
The optimist in me had some hope that 2026 would be a better year than 2025. Well, we're more than 3 weeks into it now, and it has just been relentlessly hideous.
"There are many statues of men slaying lions, but if the lions were sculptors, there might be quite a different set of statues.' - Aesop
If only there were more popular books and films from the perspectives of the poor majority and slaves rather than the fabulously rich oppressors, perhaps we wouldn't today lionize the 'lions' of the Gilded Age so much...
We read those books and watch those movies and identify ourselves with those 'have' 'heroes', but if most of us were to get transported back to that era, we'd most likely be the slaves and the poor, working more hours than we sleep just to pay rent for the month.
Oh, wait... maybe getting transported back in time wouldn't be necessary to get to experience that now, after all.
When I was younger I sometimes fantasized about living as a trapper/hunter in the wild American West or in Vienna during the time of Mozart (in Amadeus, even the 'poor' Mozart had a maid... it didn't look so bad). Or living in the wild and being healthy and prolific like Hawkeye in the Last of the Mohicans.
But then... back in those days most people didn't live past their late 40s (so I'd be dead already). Their teeth would have fallen out well before then from lack of hygiene, among other health problems and all the many pandemics. There was no antibiotics or vaccines or serums, or even analgesics if you needed any invasive medical cares. And so on and so forth..
In fact, even today we aren't that far removed from that sort of life. I'm just about finished reading Jennifer Worth's Call the Midwife books. It's her reminiscence of her time serving as nurse midwife in the slums of London's East End in the 1950s. Pretty appalling what condition so many people lived in just one lifetime ago, and only miles from the prosperous side of London.
Class warfare is here, and most of us really aren't billionaires.
The devil's trick is to give the illusion that the majority of people supports him.
This is most easily done on the internet, where one can assume the identity of many, where a few with a lot of time and inclination can post/comment repeatedly to flood fora like Nextdoor or Facebook, etc, and drown out the true majority who have a lot going on in real life to tend to and can't spend hours shouting down everyone else on the internet.
But these people are not the majority. That is what all these protests that they would like to downplay as 'meaningless' actually show. The turn outs to them has been huge and getting bigger; not just in big cities, but even in small and 'red' towns.
Don't let online fora suck you into the delusionary rabbit holes. Go outside and interact with real life and real people. Keep things in perspectives.
For years I had been wanting to hear Lisa Batiashvili perform live and thought I'd really have to shape up and actually fly east either to New York or all the way to Europe as she really doesn't come west across the Atlantic Ocean much. So, when the Orange County Philharmonic Society presented an all Sibelius program featuring Finlandia, the violin concerto, and the 1st symphony with Esa Pekka Salonen conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and featuring Lisa Batiashvili as the violin soloist, I literally bounced off all the walls in my apartment, shouting for joy. Some dreams do come true if you manage to live long enough!
Renee & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa.
It was also my first time attending a performance at the beautiful Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. It is an impressive performance arts complex! All the staff and volunteers manning the events (there are other things going on at the many venues in the same complex) were wonderfully efficient and pleasantly helpful. The auditorium itself is very modern and comfortable. There are 1704 seats in the main auditorium and 250 choral seats behind the stage, and lots of reverberation-friendly panels. Indeed, the acoustical adjustability is one of the hall's many selling points.
For this symphonic concert, tho, I think perhaps not enough rehearsal time was available to fine tune the adjustable acoustics as the hall configuration during the concert really favored the last row of the orchestra; the brass section (trumpets, trombones, and tubas) and the strings double basses. Whenever those guys got to fortissimo or louder, they obliterated all the other instruments except for the timpani and the cymbal... The entire string section that sounded lovely and plenty loud enough at lower dynamic markings became completely covered by the brass whenever the music ramped up. Curiously, the French horns in the next to last row didn't enjoy the same acoustical boost as the last row brass did.
The extra acoustic boost on the low brass, tho, made for a rather awesome dynamic contrasts in the first number of the evening, the original (no-chorus) version of Sibelius' patriotic 'Finlandia'. Esa Pekka Salonen's crisp and tumultuous reading of the piece benefited from the extra brass ring/squillo/boost that made vivid the sinister oppression that the strings and the wind were mustered against. It is a compelling sonic history of Finnish independence that translates across many barriers. The triumphant finish to the piece was positively thunderous. My ears rang both literally and figuratively for all the non-musical minutes it took for Maestro Salonen to acknowledge the applause, leave the stage and come back with Lisa Batiashvili in tow for the marquee piece of the show - Sibelius' E minor Violin Concerto.
There are many recordings of Lisa Batiashvili performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto, of course. Many are available on Youtube. She's been playing this thing since she was a teenager (having placed 2nd at the Sibelius Violin Competition in 1995... as a 16 yrs old). Her earlier clips of the piece were played on either the Engleman or the Joachim Stradivarius, then somewhere between 2010 and 2014 she switched to the current Guaneri del Jesu. I always thought it pretty remarkable being able to watch her play the Sibelius concerto with a Strad and with a Guaneri. I think the Guaneri really suits her temperament better (and she seems obviously more comfortable playing it).
It was pretty amazing how well she projected even when the last row of the brass were really blaring... especially considering that the Guaneri she's playing doesn't have the brighter sound of the previous Strads. I tend to prefer a more expansive orchestral reading of Daniel Barenboim or Paavo Järvi - giving more breathing room, so to speak - than the more brisk and no nonsense pacing favored by the actual Finnish conductors like Oramo or on this night, Salonen. But that's a superfluous squabble when the soloist has no trouble with the pace (on a long and taxing number like this concerto, that's no small feat) and still manages to commiserate and engage with the orchestra like a bunch of fellow Scandinavians... never mind that she is from Georgia (the country rather than the American state) and the orchestra San Francisco. Maestro Salonen is a Finn, of course, tho brooding is not quite his thing and so there wasn't any orchestral sigh at the end of the 2nd movement... and no dancy exuberance for the 3rd movement either. It was a contrasts-driven reading of the concerto that was quite refreshingly 'to the point', much to the delight of both me (who must have listened to at least 15 different performances of the Sibelius Concerto by now) and my friend & concert buddy Suzanne, who was hearing the piece for the first time.
We, and just about everyone else in the sadly not nearly full auditorium applauded as hard as we could and were delighted that Batiashvili came back out to give an lovely encore of the Finnish traditional 'Evening Song' as arranged for a violin and orchestra by Jarkko Riihimäki. Here's a clip of the piece, from a different performance.
After the intermission Maestro Salonen led the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra on a spirited Sibelius' First Symphony. It's a piece I'm not all that familiar with (had only heard bits of it but not the whole thing). It's almost a folklore come to life in music, with lovely solos for the harpist to shine. Aside from a few extra loud places where the brass covered her and every other instruments, shine she did. As is often the case with Sibelius, of course, the music builds and builds, and ended with both my ears all tingly and all quite stressed out (in mostly good ways).
So, it was a really nice surprise when Maestro Salonen gently signaled for us to hush during his 2nd curtain call, and asked, "Would you like to hear something quiet?" As nobody in the world would say no to that, he then proceeded to lead the SFSO on not one but two delightful orchestral encores!
The first was Sibelius' Valse Triste. I'm not sure what the second one was.... perhaps a number from his Karelia Suite? Anyhow, I was in hogs heaven... All these years of attending symphonic performances I hadn't ever scored an orchestral encore (let alone two in one night) before. What a treat it was!
Of course, I had since learned that Maestro Salonen had announced just a few days before the concert that 2024 would be his last year as music director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. It's a rather sad news, but I hope that wherever he goes next he'll still come to Southern California for concerts sometimes.
Ordinary people becoming extraordinary by doing their work well.
Ordinary people doing what they can to improve things for their community.
No hero need apply. Just ordinary people resolving to do the little things that they can to improve their community and surrounding. Little things like cleaning up after themselves, resisting the urge to jump to conclusions, opting for compassion rather than self-righteousness, etc.
Don't like to see trash lining the streets where you live? Go out for a walk with a grabber and a couple of bags and pick up what you can. Call the city (or county, if you are in unincorporated area) to come pick up what you can't.
Pick up trash walking to the store. Got some exercise in, and the 2 blocks now look much less like a ghetto.
Want safer streets designs so that getting in a car to drive 2 blocks to the store would be optional rather than necessary? Hit up your city's traffic engineers. Attend street improvement workshops. If able, try walking or bicycling to places instead of just driving. You would be amazed how much our city planning has enslaved us to the cars. Often times to the point where the walking distance from point A to point B is more than twice the driving one... with lots of obstacles along the way.
Infrastructure improvement projects take a long time to plan and organized before any ground is broken.
Want better trails and recreational areas that you and the family can safely use? Volunteer to help build and maintain the trails and open spaces. Attend park and trails planning sessions and voice your supports or ideas.
San Diego Mountain Biking Association volunteers repairing Copper Creek Trail in San Marcos.
Don't like how your current government representatives are performing their office? Study the people and the laws going on the ballots... and vote for those that are more likely to do the right things.
Just ranting about things is lazy. Think of what you can do to help things. Then... Do it!
Queen Elizabeth II had been the Queen of England well before I was born. Many people have lived a decent length and died with her on the throne. It's pretty darn amazing for someone to be in the spotlight for so long and maintained a nearly impeccable record. There have been many scandals in her family, and yet she sailed through them all with such dignity, a true rock for the Brits and just about everyone else to look up to. The UK had been very blessed to have a monarch like her.
Queen Elizabeth II in 2012 (West Midlands Police)
Charles III in 2015 (Arnaud Bouissou)
Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth II. Long live King Charles III!
Back in fall of 1993, the last semester of my studies at Professional Golfers Career College in Murrieta (the college have long since moved to a bigger and more modern campus in Temecula), I spent every Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the driving range of either Menifee Country Club, Sun City Golf Club, or the newly opened Red Hawk Golf Club, giving free swing lessons as the practical part of the college's Techniques of Teaching class.
It wasn't my favorite part of the course. I was there at the college mostly to pass the time while I got old enough to be allowed to play on professional tours, and never intended on any teaching or club professional career. I was what they'd call a 'visual learner'.... What I really looked at tended to get pretty well imprinted in my head, and became hard to get rid of (forget). So, I avoided looking at any golf swing that I would have any problem assimilating into my own swing. When I would go out golfing with others, I'd take very good care to not look directly at their swing. I'd just look at the ball being hit, but not the hitting process.
Naturally, that didn't work very well when I had to correct other people (especially amateur golfers)' swing. My professor, the late Gordie Severson, who happened to also be my own swing coach back then, found that endlessly amusing and got into a wicked streak of sending for me when he'd find particularly obnoxious golf swings that needed fixing. In hindsight, I suspect that was his way of building my tolerance for exposure to really hideous stuff some people do in the process of trying to hit a dimply little white ball... But I digressed...
Anyhow, the most memorable swing I still can't get out of my head to this day (bless you, Gordie!), I was called to after having scored a much nicer looking swing on the other end of the golf range at Sun City Golf Course. I arrived at the appropriate stall and glanced at Gordie who was trying very hard to hide a growing smirk on his face while indicating that I should take over trying to fix the swing of the grumpy looking gentleman in front of him.
I resigned myself to being on the butt end of another unintentional practical joke from my golf professor and turned to have a glancing look at as the man made a few practice swings. Wouldn't you know it, it was one of the most beautiful golf swings I had ever seen! Something of a very fluid mix of the swings of the young Davis Love III and Steve Elkington; exquisite use of leverage while being beautifully compact at the same time.
I couldn't believe my eyes. I think I even broke into a very hopeful smile at the thought of being able to actually look at a golf swing full on without fearing having it stuck in my head and messing my game up.
Then the man stepped up and put his iron clubhead behind the ball...
Two full minutes went by, and he still had not progressed into the swing from his address... If you golf, then you know, two minutes standing on top of the ball translates to an eternity and a month. His beautifully relax stance transformed into a tense huff and puff, veins were popping on his neck and forearms. My heart sank... this gorgeous golf swing was going downhill fast.... and he hadn't moved an inch. I glanced back at Gordie, who had turned beet red and was quivering in place from a heroic effort to stifle a chuckle.
'Bastard!' I cursed under my breath, as I watched my designated 'pupil' finally inched his club into a jerky and laborious backswing, took a long pause at the top, and then proceeded to bash down on the ball, producing a perfect shank that nearly took the golfer in the next stall out.
"Well?", snarled my pupil, "What did I do wrong?" 'Oh, you caught me by surprised and I didn't have a good look,' I lied as my pants let off a wisp of smoke, 'Could you hit another one at the 150 banner for me, please.'
Nearly six more minutes, and only two actual swings (and two completely murdered range balls... and they were the abominable two-piece craps of golf balls rather than the wholesome but soft three-piece balata spheres that I was used to hitting) that produced rather undesirable results along with a stream of vocalized grumpiness,... and I was out of stalling option. Luckily for me, I had begrudgingly seen many golf swings in my teens to have one that seemed to offer the solution.
One of the ladies I had golfed with in tournaments in Asia back around 1991 had this weird habit of swinging the club forward past the ball before taking it back into a proper backswing. I never understood before why she did that, but she was a pretty good ball striker for it. So I got up to demonstrate to Mr Tense how I would like him to, as a matter of experiment, when he next addressed the ball, to swing the club forward to point toward the target before taking it back into the real swing and then just go on to hit the ball.
He wasn't keen on it, but as nothing else seemed to have worked for him lately, why not try this weird youngster's strange suggestion. As anyone would predict, the first swing didn't produce a good hit (it's quite a change going from the normal start of any golf swing), but it was still the most solid hit he had that morning. So he tried some more.
It was amazing to see the gorgeous Davis Love III/Steve Elkington-esque golf swing rematerialized and making contact with golf balls on that range. Even Gordie was at a loss for words. (Served him right!) He could diagnose the problem as well as I could, of course, but telling someone to relax.... and actually getting any relaxation out of them. Now, that was a dilemma.
It was a good learning experience for both me and the golfer (who left the range that morning never being told to relax at all). I still don't like looking at other people's golf swings even though I don't golf anymore, but I learned then to appreciate being exposed to different things and ideas. You never know when they would come in handy in giving you more choices of solutions to problems, and understanding why people do things differently. There are as many different ways of smashing the golf balls as there are of skinning a cat.... so to speak.
It's 4th of July. The founders of this country was nothing if not resilient in the face of division and a whole lot of tribulations. 13 different states stuck together despite of their differences to form a new nation... One that definitely has not lived happily ever after.
Even familial siblings fight and think differently about things, but they still love each other and their parents (well, usually, that is). So, my American brothers and sisters.... Happy Independence Day.
Think of it as the old Sunday dinner or something similar when despite all the fights we have had of late, we sit together for a peaceful meal (firework going off and all). Thankful for what we have, and hopeful to make it another week, probably still fighting all the time, but remembering that we are a family.
I've been very neglectful of this blog... So much has happened since I last regularly posted, and I'm proving to be quite the stellar procrastinator!
Well... It is July 2022, and where I live in Coastal Southern California you could walk around thinking that the COVID19 pandemic is long over with. Masking isn't even required on public transportation (buses and trains) anymore. I've had 3 shots of the mRNA vaccines, and will have the 4th one when I become eligible. I still mask up going on buses and trains, and when in a crowd.
Despite all the cycling I do, my immune system is suboptimal, and there is a couple of friends that I visit now and then who have no immune system to speak of (cancer survivors dealing with chronic genetic disease). The last thing I want to do is to bring them that (or other) bug. Sometimes I do get curious looks, but nobody has given me a hard time about it.
To be honest, it's been difficult trying to post things without adding to the negativity that seem to permeate the air the last few years. There was supposed to be a big relief when the final result of the 2020 presidential election came in, but as everyone knows... that last president we had did his best to screw the whole country over on his way out. It doesn't help that my chief roommate of the last 5 years is a big supporter of his (I live with a family of 5, and their living room TV is on nearly 24/7... tuned exclusively onto Fox News). We don't talk politic in the house, but it's there just under the surface. I haven't been out of my room much when I'm in. All the devious nonsense coming out of that TV all the time is a big deterrent.
Don't get me wrong, I make it a point to rotate my news channel through out the week, one of the seven days being on Fox News.... The last thing I want is to become detached from reality by staying cozy in my own little echo chamber. It doesn't make me a smart cookie, but it does deter me from becoming certifiably delusional. But... Fox News days are just horrendous days where I can feel my limited supply of brain cells dying by the millions. It's hard to believe that the anchor people there can be so determined to turn everything they report into anti-liberal (or even anti-centrist/moderate) propaganda.
La Dolce Vita by Vincent Figliola
There has to always be this 'us against them' slant... And the 'them' is not some real threats like the more and more hostile to humans climate, the real infectious diseases with high morbidity rate (that render many people unable to return to normal function/work), the Putin-led Russian army that is destroying a neighboring country out of pure spite, the hostile agents that are always trying to hack our various systems, or even the minority faction of Americans who are trying to do away with our separation between church and state in order to turn this country into a theocracy, etc. The 'them' for Fox News anchors are nowadays basically anyone who refuse to grovel at the stinking toes of Donald J Trump. You know it's dire when refusing to side with Trump (even when not siding with his opposites) is regarded as the same as being his enemy.
Not all cyclists are the lycra-cladded speedsters.
In a way, they remind me of a division in the cycling community these days. Only a small fraction of cyclists are rabid vehicular-cyclists who think everyone should drive their bike the way they drive their car on the street (so that there is no need for bike infrastructure to make separate and relatively safer room for bikes to get around town with), but, oh boy, are they so hugely disproportionally loud compared to the more muted majority. And... they also echo-chamber the heck out of themselves into believing that there are the field leaders that everyone else ought to look up to.
But they aren't. The not-so-eager-to-make-noise majority is actually more sensible and sane, and not so deluded in some delusion of grandeur (probably why they aren't so loud despite of their numbers)... It would be so nice if they are more compelled to speak up and shatter some delusions when it counts. Like... at election times, or when the various government agencies (like SANDAG or CalTrans) ask for feedback for their upcoming public mobility plans.
Speaking of which, SANDAG is looking for feedback for their Comprehensive Multimodal Corridor Plan (CMCP) for the Southbay to Sorrento Valley portion. We the public have until July 15th, 2022 to provide the feedback on how they are planning to make this busy commute corridor safer and more efficient for all modes of transportation (automobile, bikes, public transportation, foot, ..., hooves? Anything but teleportation!). The plan can be reviewed and feedback provided HERE.
Have your say, or forever hold your peace.... Or something like that.
Sorry, folks, no time to properly write, so I'll just paste below the San Diego Opera's latest press release.
San Diego Opera Announces 2021-2022 Season
· Fall Concert Series Featuring Stephanie Blythe, Michelle Bradley, and Arturo Chacón-Cruz
· Return to indoor mainstage performances at the San Diego Civic Theatre with productions of Così fan tutte and Roméo et Juliette
· Beth Morrison Production’s Aging Magician to make its triumphant debut at San Diego Opera
· Important and exciting debuts by a number of young singers including Pene Pati, Gihoon Kim, Kristina Mkhitaryan, and Reginald Smith, Jr.
· Soprano Alisa Jordheim makes her welcome return as Despina in Così fan tutte and principal guest conductor Yves Abel returns to lead performances of Roméo et Juliette
· Fall Concert Series supported by The Conrad Prebys Foundation, our 2021 Season Sponsor
San Diego, CA – San Diego Opera is excited to announce its 2021-2022 season, which returns to theatres indoors, after a reduced 2020-2021 season that saw the Company perform innovative drive-in productions during the global coronavirus pandemic.
The season begins on Saturday, October 23, 2021 at 7:30 PM at The Balboa Theatre with a special concert by mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe. Stephanie will draw from her vast repertoire of opera and Broadway to present a concert of arias and art songs, as well as a few surprises. Stephanie Blythe made her Company debut in 2014’s A Masked Ball as Ulrica, sang in the Company’s Verdi Requiem that same year, and returned in recital later that fall for We’ll Meet Again: The Songs of Kate Smith. She was scheduled to sing the title role of Gianni Schicchi last season, the first time the lead role was to be sung by a mezzo-soprano, but that production has now been postponed to the 2022-2023 season.
The season continues on Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 7:30 PM at The Conrad Performing Arts Center, Baker Baum Recital Hall with a concert by soprano Michelle Bradley. Michelle dazzled audiences in her 2019 Company debut as Aida and will perform a program of soprano arias, spirituals, and art songs in this intimate concert.
San Diego Opera is very excited to welcome the Company debut of Arturo Chacón-Cruz in concert on Friday, December 3, 2021 at 7:30 PM at the California Center for the Performing Arts, Escondido. Arturo Chacón-Cruz has established himself in recent years as a leading tenor with exciting appearances in renowned theaters and concert halls across the globe. He has sung over 60 roles in more than 30 countries. He is the 2005 winner of the Operalia Competition. Audiences can expect an exciting concert of opera favorites, zarzuela, mariachi, and personal favorites of the Mexican tenor.
The San Diego Opera Vocal Concert Series is supported in part by The Conrad Prebys Foundation, our 2021 Season Sponsor.
San Diego Opera’s mainstage series returns to indoor performances at the San Diego Civic Theatre on Saturday, February 12, 2022 at 7:30 PM for the first of four performances of Mozart’s delightful comedy Così fan tutte.
Così fan tutte marks the welcome return of soprano Alisa Jordheim, who dazzled local audiences and critics as Gilda in 2019’s production of Rigoletto, as Despina. She is joined by a number of young artists making important house debuts including baritones Reginald Smith, Jr. as Don Alfonso and Gihoon Kim as Guglielmo, who both recently competed in the 2021 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, which was won by Mr. Kim. They are joined by tenor Konu Kim as Ferrando, and mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as Dorabella. Così fan tutte tells the story of two young soldiers who disguise their identities to test their lovers’ fidelity.
Will the women fall for their "new" suitors as the opera's title ("All women do it") suggests? Filled with humor and keen insight into human nature, this opera features some of Mozart’s most seductive music. Director Tim Nelson makes his Company debut staging the opera and San Diego Opera’s Chorus Master Bruce Stasyna conducts. Così fan tutte was last presented by San Diego Opera in 2005. Additional performances are February 15, 18, and 20 (matinee), 2022. Così fan tutte will be performed in Italian with English translations above the stage.
Gonoud’s heartbreaking tragedy, Roméo et Juliette continues the mainstage season at the San Diego Civic Theatre when it opens on Saturday, March 26, 2022 at 7:30 PM for the first of four performances. Making important Company debuts for these performances is tenor Pene Pati as Roméo, a role he has sung to critical and popular acclaim. He will be joined by soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan, also in her Company debut, as Juliette. Other House debuts feature baritone Yunpeng Wang as Mercutio and mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit as Stephano. Returning singers include bass Simon Lim, who was last heard as Ramfis in 2019’s Aida, as Friar Laurent; tenor Adrian Kramer, last seen as Don José in 2017’s The Tragedy of Carmen, as Tybalt; and bass Colin Ramsey, last heard as Colline in 2020’s La bohème, as Count Capulet.
San Diego Opera’s Principal Guest Conductor, Yves Abel, leads the orchestra for these performances and stage director Matthew Ozawa makes his Company debut staging the operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s most famous play. Roméo et Juliette was last presented by San Diego Opera in 2010. Additional performances are March 29, April 1, and 3 (matinee), 2022. Roméo et Juliette will be performed in French with English translations above the stage.
Paola Prestini’s Aging Magician makes its triumphant San Diego Opera debut as part of the 2021-2022 season. Aging Magician was originally scheduled to be performed in March of 2019 but was cancelled because of COVID-19, making San Diego Opera one of the first professional opera companies to cancel a performance due to the pandemic. San Diego Opera is pleased to be able to move this production to this season as a symbol of perseverance and hope. Produced by Beth Morrison Projects, one of the most influential and innovative taste makers on the forefront of the “indie opera” movement, Aging Magician opens on Friday, May 13, 2022 at 7:30 PM at The Balboa Theatre. Additional performances are Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 2 PM and 7:30 PM. Aging Magician will be performed in English with English text above the stage.
Aging Magician tells the story of Harold, an eccentric and aging clockmaker who is nearing the end of his life. He has been working on a children’s book, called The Aging Magician, and is at a critical point in his story. Should Harold kill off the magician? Should he allow him to live? As Harold ponders these decisions he finds himself transported to a magical place where fiction and reality collide. Aging Magician stars Rinde Eckert in his Company debut as Harold. Aging Magician features the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, also in a Company debut. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus have appeared with the New York Philharmonic, The National, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Wye Oak, Shara Nova, International Contemporary Ensemble, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Barbra Streisand, Arcade Fire, Sir Elton John, and Grizzly Bear, among others, in recent seasons. The director is Julian Crouch and the conductor is Dianne Berkun Menaker, both in San Diego Opera debuts. The composer is Paola Prestini. These are the first performances of Aging Magician by San Diego Opera and the West Coast Premiere of the opera.
Only subscriptions to the 2021-2022 season are now on sale. Single tickets will be on sale at a later date. A subscription for the two Main Stage operas begins at a low $70. A subscription for the three vocal concerts starts at $105. Tickets to Aging Magician begin at $35. Subscriptions start at $210 for a full series including the Main Stage operas (Così fan tutte and Roméo et Juliette), the Vocal Concert Series, and Aging Magician and goes up to $1,180 for a full-season of prime orchestra level seating on Saturday nights, the Company’s most popular day. Casts, repertoire, and scheduling are subject to change.
At the heart of every reopening plan is the safety and well-being of our audience, artists, and staff. While it is impossible today to know what our safety protocols will look in the future, we will be taking careful steps to ensure the safety of our guests and employees. Additionally, the different theatres we perform in all have different policies that will be enforced. Guests should visit our website at www.sdopera.org for the most up-to-date safety policies. It will take all of us working together to keep each other safe. Before arriving to any in-person San Diego Opera performance, we ask that our staff and patrons perform a self-assessment. If they are feeling unwell or showing any symptoms of COVID-19, we ask they do not attend the performance. Our Patron Services team is happy to exchange tickets for our patrons for another time.
Senior citizen discounts of 15% are available to the Main Stage series on Tuesday and Friday subscription packages. Senior citizen discounts of 15% are available to the dētour Series on Saturday subscription packages.
Military discounts (active and retired) of 50% are available to the Main Stage series on Tuesday and Friday subscription packages. Military discounts of 50% are available to the dētour Series on Saturday subscription packages.
Just dropping off some photos from my various essential trips out of the house (we are still under 'Shelter In Place' order, and so are to stay home except for short essential errands or to exercise in the immediate neighborhood).
The last week of March and the first week of April saw us hit with a series of soaking rain. Our road ways have gone quite holey, and the bike lanes full of gravel and other debris. There are a lot of downed trees, and not enough city public works crew around to get them all quickly fixed up.
Social distancing with people staying at least 6 feet away from each other is the rule, so stores are marking their floor with tapes to help people visualize how far a distance 6 feet (or about 2 meters) is. Many stores have also marked their narrow aisles for one-way traffic flow. I'm afraid not a lot of people are paying much attention to it, though, and there are a lot of salmoning against traffic.
It's also curious to observe that a lot of people seem to think that the virus can only go forward or backward, but not sideways, since they aren't staying 6 ft away from the people on their left or right... just in front and behind.
The paper products and the disinfectants shelves are still mostly empty all the time, of course. But now, so are the ones for pasta, rice, flour, and even eggs.
I'm grateful that I had a haircut in March, just before all the salons were shut down. It is now mid-April, and my hair is still short enough to not be too annoying during our first heat-wave of the year. Most of us are growing quite a mop over our head, though. I've really got to remember to beat everyone to the phone to schedule a haircut when salons are allowed to open again. Everybody will be wanting a hair cut at the same time!
It's been raining on and off the last few days, a late season storm that somehow arrived to town just as I finally stopped coughing after 3 weeks of quarantine.
We are in the middle of the COVID19 pandemic, of course, so when I started having sore throat - the usual first-sign-of-the-flu for me - back on March 20th, I went to the doctor and tested positive for influenza B. COVID19 test wasn't available then, as test kits were in severely short supply, and they were only testing people sick enough to require hospitalization.
It was a very strange 'flu', though. Usually I'd go down hard the first 3 days or so, and then get better once the fever breaks. This one just stayed a sore-throat bug with hardly anything else for 3 days, and then it went boom in my lungs and I became a lean and mean cough-'til-you-drop machine for 14 days. No fever, not much aching, but pretty hypoxic. Somehow, tho, it didn't manage to turn into another pneumonia (I had one from a true flu back in January, so I really wasn't keen on a repeat). I spent the entire 3 weeks mostly in my room and only came out to use the kitchen and the restroom when my roommates weren't in. A few doctor friends were keeping tab of me via email and private messages, though, so I was pretty well looked after.
Paper product and cleaning supply are still flying off the shelves, 3 weeks into CA shelter-in-place.
Anyhow, California seems to be doing quite well in sheltering in place and social distancing early on, so hopefully we'll avoid the sort of medical system overload like those that have been taking place in Italy or Spain or New York. Hopefully the many small businesses that have been mostly shut down (or scaled down more to doing only 30% or so of their normal business volume, like a lot of the restaurants are, can somehow survive the length of the shut down.
Special thank you to all the essential workers that are keeping the rest of us safe and fed and able to survive (the medical professionals, for sure, but also the sanitation workers, public transport operators, delivery folks, etc), and to everyone who are doing their part, and encouraging others to do the same, rather than indulging in paranoid conspiracy theories spreading and politicizing the shut down. It's times like this that we get to see how people act under pressure. I'm very lucky that most of my friends have been wonderful!
Oh, I've been asymptomatic for 3 days now, of course, and finally ventured outside for a short hike today, in between bouts of rain. Will hopefully get COVID19 antibody tested when it becomes available (I sure hope that this 'flu' was it, 'cause I really don't want to get another lung bug in a long long while). In the meanwhile, I'll keep operating as if I'm a carrier until proven otherwise.
Well, folks, even if you are super macho, have an impenetrable immune system, and don't care about spreading an infectious disease that can kill others (either because they have compromised immune system, or because they can't get access to life-saving medical procedure because all the ICUs are full and all the ventilators are already being used by critical patients) you still should practice social isolation now if only out of pure self-interest.
See, this is nothing like ebola zaire. Ebola has a hugely higher death rate, yes, but it is far easier to contain ebola than to contain this novel coronavirus. You can walk around with ebola in your system for up to 21 days before you show symptom, but during that period, you are not contagious and can't pass it to others. (I do hope you don't catch ebola, tho, that thing kills anywhere from 25-90% of the people that contracts it, depending on which strain you get). And, once you show symptom of ebola, everybody knows it and don't need to be told to run the heck away from you.
With this new coronovirus we're dealing with, people have had it and are now done with it without even knowing. You can walk around for up to 14 days being very contagious to others while feeling and looking completely normal. But, did you give it to someone who hasn't got the robust immune system to fight it in the meanwhile?
So, the self-interest part has to do with... getting this shut down over with as soon as possible. Because as long as new case of community spread of this thing keeps showing up, they're going to have to keep extending the shut down another two weeks... to be sure there's no asymptomatic coronavirus-thyphoid-mary's still walking around spreading the disease. The longer you keep not being helpful about avoiding contact with others so it can no longer spread and just run out of host, so to speak, the longer the shut down goes on.
We all want to go back to our normal social life. Help us all get it back soon (unless you fancy spending months rather than just a couple of weeks without concert, sport, shows, dine in dinners, bar scene, big wedding, yummy buffet, casino, library, etc).
It's the last Thursday in November, and the one holiday I really quite like in the USA - Thanksgiving Day. Being grateful for what one's got should be a daily rather than an annual thing, of course, but it is nice to have a full day off work to really reflect on how not so empty my glass is, even without comparing it with ones belonging to others.
It wasn't so many years ago that good health was not something I could take for granted. I still remember not being able to walk a city block without stopping to lean on my cane and gasp for air, having all the joints going thermonuclear at all hours of the day, and being so tired that getting to the safety of the opposite sidewalk while crossing the street felt like the last mile of an ultra-marathon in the waterless Sahara.
My health isn't perfect now, and I have to really force myself to exercise when I don't want to (and that is more often than not). But I've finished two consecutive Belgian Wafer Rides, ridden 4 solo rando permanents, commute everywhere almost exclusively by bike, cycled up both the highest and the steepest paved roads in the county, hiked many rugged miles with my buddy, and even given a good impression of an Energizer Bunny at my workplace. It's all a lot of work that isn't always even slightly pleasant, but every bit of it is worth it.
Use it or lose it, my oncologist mom used to say. And, darn if she isn't right. I may bitch about things, still, but at least I do have the energy left to bitch - for which I am very grateful!
Luck, has also been on my side so far. No, I haven't won the lottery or anything. But, to be on foot or on bicycle in traffic almost everyday in the USA for 8 years now and still haven't gotten hit by any car yet takes just about as much luck as it does constant vigilance and skills. 2019 has been a terrible year in my cycling family accident-wise. You can do all the right thing, and still get broadsided by inattentive driver. A few of my friends separately ran out of luck this year. Now one is dead, one paralyzed, and another still recovering from spinal fracture.
When people take their eye off the road while going 55 mph, they cover just over 80 feet every second completely blind to where their car is heading. That's over half a football field every 3 seconds. There isn't much I would be able to do if a driver drifts into me at that speed, even if I see them coming in my helmet-mounted rear-view mirror.
Needless to say, though, being situationally aware and taking all possible caution decreases one's chance of being hit, or hitting something on the road. But sometimes it is just down to luck to not be in the path of a car that isn't being carefully driven, or to not have a suicidal squirrel squirrels into your front wheel and sends you flying off to who-knows-where when it locks up and does an impromptu endo.
There were also a lot of luck involved in running into these lovelies with the camera ready to shoot.
I'm also very grateful for all my friends and family, and even to people I'm not friendly with. The former are amazing support in good and bad times. The latter keep me humble and challenge me to consider different viewpoints, and, in some extreme cases, really increases my appreciation of the more ethical human beings. Contrast is important in life. As Satan/Woland says in one of my all time favorite books;
What would your good do if evil didn't exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared? After all, shadows also come from trees and from living beings. Do you want to strip the earth of all trees and living things just because of your fantasy of enjoying naked light? - Mikhail Bulgakov, Master and Margarita
There are many mundane little things, and many more substantial things that I am grateful of, of course, but who has time to read this when there are turkeys and green beans and stuffing and many other things in the oven and on the stoves to keep an eye on today? This has already gone on long enough, so I'll just stop now and wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving with many things to be grateful of all year long.
A couple of weeks ago my roommate's dog and I ran into a mom and daughter pair of local artists out painting an electrical box nearby on our morning walk.
We stopped to say hello and admired their work a bit before resuming our search for more hills to burn some energy off.
I didn't see them last week, but passed by again yesterday, and here is the finished work.
It's amazing what a touch of artistry can do to a formerly dull street corner. Thanks a bunch to the volunteers out cleaning up and beautifying the town. They're like a quiet army of real life fairies that makes good things happen for everyone!
Consider this, Americans had worked up enough political will to repeal a constitution amendment once... so that they can legally drink
alcohols again.
How many innocent people have died from gun violence compared to mob hits?
Shootings in malls, in theaters, in school, college, daycare,
festivals, concerts, workplace, night clubs, restaurants, etc. But, no,
no amount of innocent deaths everyday of the year is suffice for our
politicians to summon the will to repeal the 2nd and pass meaningful gun control laws. It is way too easy for just about anyone to obtain and keep assault weapons here. They may think they are the good guys, but then when they get upset, there's the automatic weapon there for them to use to vent their anger on other people.
There is no safe place in the USA. Even the cops are living in constant
fear of getting shot, that a whole lot of them seems to have gone to
the shoot first policy. Hand on the gun all the time. In every other
civilized country, cops are good at de-escalation. Here, it's escalation
all the time, pulling the gun out like crazy at every little thing.
There has been 251 mass shootings since January 1st, 2019. Today is only the year's 216th day. My goodness me, I might be safer living in Columbia than here.
We have a problem. A fixable problem. A fixable problem that other developed countries have fixed. Why the heck can't we?
I consider myself lucky to have grown up before the age of the smart phones. It's amazing how many people I know here would sit indoor and stare at pictures like these on their smart phone screen, when the place the photos are from is only a mile and a bit away.
My friend Cornelia and I have been hiking all over the preserve once a week for the past year or so. It's a cherished active decompression time from work and other not-so-uplifting news we hear daily. It isn't always a pleasure hike. The terrains here can be very gnarly, the overgrown vegetation gives cover to many stingy insects and sometimes moody snakes (though, luckily, we somehow haven't come face to face with those legless critters this year), and the summer heat this year seems more humid than ever.
But, there is also nothing quite as therapeutic as a good and strenuous nature hike with a cheerful pal where we regularly run into wild critters doing all sorts of crittery antics.
Huffing and puffing in the clean air under a big sky while dodging the many manifestations of the ubiquitous poison oaks, loose rocks, and sweat-loving gnats (tho the latter mostly avoid me, thanks to my Picaridin bug repellent lotion) is a great way of keeping the pudge off while gaining time to put things in perspectives.
It's great to be able to see pictures and watch videos of people and places on the other side of the oceans. But it's even better going out into the nearest wild and experiencing first hand the non-digitized landscape around you. Then, you know what you have to lose, if you don't take care of your own surroundings.
Sep 4th, 2019: Edit to add - another upside to going hiking; nature preserves are among the very few places left in the USA that hasn't been shot up by an American gun nut... I mean, they've done malls, concerts, all sorts of school, churches, synagogues, mosques, and even daycare. You're much safer going hanging with rattlesnakes than with gun-packing assholes.
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