Heart on a Stick
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No Football This Sunday? Try Opera.
posted 01/26/2007
The most awesome musical thing Wednesday didn’t happen at an intimate Chatter Yr Teeth Say Brrrr show; the best lo-art caterwaulin' on television didn’t spew outta FOX. P to the BS: The premiere edition of Great Performances at the Met made wannabe local color look like wilted wallflowers.
No, I don’t like opera, either. But this – an abbreviated version of Julie Taymor’s 2004 production of Mozart’s Magic Flute – wasn’t made for opera lovers. This one was made for you and me. Taymor (who designed the Broadway version of The Lion King and directed the films Titus and Frida) has this incredible, informed visual imagination; there are puppets and dancers on stilts and a set that seems at once spare and overflowing with ideas. There are all these brilliant colors, everywhere. It’s eye candy (and it's sort of a crime there's not a huge gallery of images online).
And though I’m not a Mozart fan, his music is always accessible; at its most complicated, it’s just deceptively simple. So if you want, it’s ear candy.
Candy all round. The story has something to do with Freemasonry and Egyptian gods, slapstick and floating lobsters. And a flute. But there's so much sugar to be had, who’s going to worry about plot?
You know some of the music, already. Here’s one of the most famous arias, Der Hölle Rache (The full title apparently translates to “Hell’s vengeance boils in my heart” – O, those wacky Austrians).That’s Erika Miklósa, who plays the “Queen of the Night” with big butterfly wings and clickity-clackity fingernails. The recording, though, isn’t from the Met performance. The Met performance is in English (because it’s Opera Singer English, there are still subtitles). The show’s been cut from three hours to two. It’s like they know me.
Purists may balk, but purists would also hiss at me for saying “Neat!” every minute and a half. It’s a good thing it’s on the TeeVee.
And it’s on again: In the NYC area, it’s going to be rerun on Channel 13 this Sunday afternoon at 2:30. Watch it! If you want more info (including a plot synopsis) or want to find when it’s airing in your area, go here.
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I’m a huge Local H fan – you all know this – but one of the few positive musical surprises of this young year is just how much I love their new song “Michelle.” I’ll nod along to anything they put out, but this one – a bouncy bit of powergrungepop that comes with a heavy dose of Rick Springfield – would, were the universe a fair place, be huge. HUUUUUUGE.
I can’t in good conscience put an mp3 up, yet; there’s no word on an album release date, and this is the sort of song that should sell albums. But if you want to make your life a better place, get to their myspace page and stream the song three thousand times a day.
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They did play “Michelle” at their New Year’s Eve show, so I’ve been waiting for a recording to surface on archive.org. Well, it’s up... and Scott’s voice is pretty awful throughout. Wouldn’t do them, or you, any favors to put that version up...
...but the live cover of TV on the Radio's “Wolf Like Me” they play is good enough to share. I said what I needed to about their studio track a while ago (and had a useless m4a file of that). This is live (and muddy-sounding), this is New Year’s Eve. I love the crowd’s noisemakers at the top, I love that it’s just two people playing this music (and that there are no fucking wind chimes), I love how my head just starts banging doubletime at the three minute mark.
Put that in your iPod, bounce around to it. It’ll keep you warm.
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I must have missed the news somewhere but: There's a new Stooges song on their myspace. It's okay.
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Sure Juror (myspace... some have taken to calling them Rural Juror; I’m thinking Zsa Zsa Juror has possibilities...) is set to start a big bloggy residency Saturday night. This gig’s via the Underrated folk, at Sin-é; advance tix are here. Get there early. Their set time is tea time.
Then it turns into a round-robin between organizers (I Rock I Roll, Exitfare, Battering Room) and venues (Pianos, Union Hall). Beev has deets on dates.
I think there are 457 people in the band, now. And I’m not sure they have a drummer. Could be interesting.
Sure Juror - Smut (mp3) (from their sophomore album, Smut - buy)
Sure Juror - Ex-Cuties (mp3) (from their self-titled debut - full album download)
YES? YOU THERE IN THE BACK? (5)
1. Mo Diggs left...
01/26/2007 3:14 pm :: http://mocomedy.blogspot.com/
Wow an awesome individual admits love for Local H and opera. I swear to
Vishnu you should do stand-up comedy. Hilarious AND honest. Most bloggers
worry about what hipsters think, you worry about what opera purists think.
Well done. Sincerely.
2. mjrc left...
01/26/2007 6:16 pm :: http://lostinyourinbox.blog-city.com
you should watch more opera and listen to more mozart--it really put you in
a good mood. Ha! but wait--what am i saying? who wants j in a good mood?
where's the furor? where's the disgust? aahhhh, my world is out of
whack!!!!!!!
3. jerry left...
01/29/2007 9:36 am :: http://noyetidance.blogspot.com
I've been listening to a ton of "Le Noze di Figaro" lately, and rewatched
"Amadeus" for the upteenth time over the weekend.
4. d left...
01/29/2007 10:30 am :: http://www.softcommunication.blogspot.co
If you haven't seen it already you should check out Ingmar Bergman's film
version of The Magic Flute. Also a purist's semi-nightmare (it's in
Swedish) but a fantastic Papageno and Queen of the Night.
5. J____ left...
01/29/2007 4:29 pm :: http://heartonastick.blog-city.com/
The Bergman version's already on its way to me in a little red envelope, d.
I'm hoping it's downright impure.