So, last year, I got to return to a city I've loved for a long time, but hadn't been to in decades: Toronto. I almost immediately lost my wallet, but managed to have a good time anyway, including actually enjoying and appreciating the conference I was attending. The conference I attended was so worth-it that …
Catching Up
Christ on a sidecar, I'm so far behind in blogging - mostly because a string of things all happened over the course of several weekends, and I was too busy living life to write about it. So I'm just going to do some bullet points. Grand Duke: a few weeks ago, my old theater group, …
Crappy First Draft
When I was in fourth grade or so, I wrote an essay about the model airplanes I built. And it pretty much read like, "first I did an American Airlines DC-10. And then I did a Pan AM 747. And then I did a Delta 727. And then...." And I got it back from the …
That happy sound rolls over you…
My flurry of spring gigs is over. In addition to March's Jesus Christ Superstar, I've sung in a concert, played horn in another, and music-directed another (those last two over the last two weekends). They all went really well and, most importantly, they were fun. I'd sorta kinda steered away from performing last year, as …
A Little More Night Music
I love A Little Night Music. It took this musical theater queen longer to get to know it than it should have, but, in my mid '20's, I saw a very good community theater production of it in Philadelphia. And then, not long after, PBS broadcast the new New York City Opera production. https://youtu.be/2mwRammv30Q?si=lBV5vYZFvcix4-kv This …
Three Years
Not quite yet, it'll be the 20th. But I woke up at 3:45 this morning, and trying to fall back asleep, I wrote this. I can't remember the last time I wrote a poem. Three Years I fetch socks from your dresserMy dresser nowStanding where you laySurrounded by strangersWorking quickly and professionallyTo try to save …
Knoebel Effort
A nice couple of weekends! The day after seeing Barbiere at the Met, it was Easter Sunday. I don't celebrate Easter myself, and it took me a while to realize that other people do (adults, I mean) and take it quite seriously. Like, Charles would give me an Easter card each year. I was delighted, …
Figaro at the Seville Zoo
A week of comic opera, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Quick background for those who don't know: Beaumarchais was a French playwright in the 18th century who wrote a trilogy of plays about wily barber and manservant Figaro. Mozart turned the second of these, The Marriage of Figaro, into a masterpiece of an opera. …
Dichotomy
One of the big lessons I learned from the thing, picked up from grief counseling, is that it's OK to feel more than one emotion at the same time. Grief itself is a snarled ball of sadness, rage, relief, frustration, etc. and that's OK. And I bring this up because 2025 so far has been …
Florida Keys, Day 6: Heading Home
Hookay, vacation almost over. My flight wasn't for a while, I had plenty of time - in fact, if I checked out at checkout time, I'd have more than enough time to tank up the car and get to the airport. I'd vaguely thought about getting up early enough to take a swim - although …
The Toast Point Page 