To a splendidly melancholic Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day to the lovers. To the loners, though, I hope it isn't as bad for you as it is for Ariodante as he sings this disturbingly beautiful aria during the Handel opera (Ariodante).

Our hero has been fooled into believing that his fiancee, Princess Ginevra (Guinevere), had been having a tryst with his rival, Polinesso. And, being a stupendously sensitive warrior, Ariodante finds the offense very hard to live with.


This is sung by Vesselina Kasarova, the Bulgarian mezzo-soprano who can condense tears out of musical notes, at a concert in Weimar in 2008. She is accompanied by Harry Bicket and the period instruments of The English Concert chamber orchestra.

If this catches your imagination and shakes your notion that opera is only for the high brow snobs, check out Kasarova's latest CD 'Sento Brillar' on the RCA Red Seal label. Baroque music can be a rockingly soulful thing to listen to when done by an artist like this rather than just by a singer!

The state of our economy is.... cracked.

But really... as much as I'd like to see the City of San Diego having the money to fix up such vital infrastructures like its water and sewage system and the surface of many main roads that go right by tourist attractions like this potholed intersection of Harbor Drive and Ash Street on the Embarcadero (right by the Star of India, for Pete's sake!), it is with horror that I read of how the senate had voted to specifically exclude the arts (museums included) from benefiting from the stimulus bill with the 'it isn't stimulative to the economy' rationale.

The last time I checked, performance arts institutions and museums are major employers and drive nearby local business! People who go to the opera have to get there and park ($) and eat ($) and even shop ($)... if not at the opera house, then at the restaurants and shops nearby ($). The art is a sort of cultural heritage that doesn't usually regenerate properly if let die. We stand to lose a lot with all these ballets and symphonies and opera companies (etc) going under. These companies hire skilled workers! Just because it is 'high art' doesn't mean that it doesn't require real people to operate rather than imaginary ones!

A drizzly weekend in downtown San Diego

This was a more outdoorsy weekend than I expected. The San Diego Chinese Center put on their festive Chinese New Year celebration in old China Town (the little area between the Gaslamp Quarters and the Marina District) all weekend. A few neighbors and I got to roam around a bit, checking out the shows they put on at the main stage at the corner of J Street and 3rd Avenue.
It was rather good. They had quite a big turn out despite of on and off rain (well... more like sprinkle, really). We saw the lucky lions and dragon parade twice (I think they were on 3 times a day), lots of traditional dancing from various parts of China and Mongolia, a couple of Chinese theater plays (I think one was actually a Vietnamese play, though; 'Dr Quinn and the Stone Sprout'), some Chinese music performed on traditional instruments, a really good contortionist acrobat who doesn't seem to have any bone in her body (my back hurt just watching her!), a lantern parade... For the life of me I can't seem to remember any performer's name (nor could I manage to remember how to say 'Happy New Year' in Chinese despite of the host's repeated efforts to teach us. I must really be growing tone-deaf with age).
Then... on Sunday I went out for a walk along the Embarcadero Promenade just to get away from my noisy next door neighbor shouting at his tv. It was rather cool and windy, so I kept moving to keep warm... and somehow got all the way up to the outskirt of Lindberg Field (San Diego International Airport). So I naturally snapped a few plane photos simply because I couldn't help myself. I don't know what it is with planes and trains and ships... I can't get enough of 'em.
Talking about ships, the Californian was out roaming the bay today. I thought she was just taking a few visitors out for a peaceful cruise.... until the brat of a ship fired off two smoke cannon shots right at the Carnival Spirit cruise ship before folding her sails and coming back to port. What a loveable floating terror she is!

A semi-wet day in San Diego

Ah, so it's still winter after! I could hardly tell considering how warm January had been here in San Diego, California. Our high temperature was up in the mid 70's and even low 80's in some places. This week has cooled down a bit, though. It actually rained a bit last night and on and off through out Friday. I guess I won't make it out to Shelter Island again until at least Tuesday.... I'm second only to opera singers when it comes to being germ-phobic during the winter months.
San Diego's drainage system sucks. I'm sorry, it rained hardly half an inch and they've got some flooding at street corners? I'd hate to know how bad it'd be if they are visited by a single normal rainy day a la Missouri...

A visitation from Nina: More historic sail ship in San Diego

There is another truly historic ship in town this month here in San Diego. The Nina, built by the Columbus Foundation in 1990, is now in port at Kona Kai Marina on Shelter Island for 13 days (she's leaving on Feb 16th).This is supposedly the most historically accurate replica of Christopher Columbus' Nina (of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria fame). The original ship made the complete round trip with him from Genoa to the New World (actually they landed on Hispaniola in the Caribbean) and back. Then on Columbus' 2nd trip, he made her his flag ship. Reportedly they were so dedicated on getting this replica right they actually used the original 15th century building method.... all done by hand! That makes this Nina a truly fascinating floating museum! She's open to the public from tomorrow until February 15th from 9AM - 5PM (fee is $5 per adult, $4 per senior, $3 per student, free for kids 4 yrs old and under).