Ahm just lettin it wash all over me, or wash through me clean me oot fae the inside.
This internal sea. The problem is that this beautiful ocean carries with it loads ay poisonous flotsam and jetsam that poison is diluted by the sea, but once the ocean rolls out, it leaves the shite behind, inside ma bonds. It takes as well as gives, it washes away ma pain resistance centres, ma pride in what ah dae; they take a long time tae come back.
The wallpaper is horrific in this shite-pit ay a room. It terrorizes me. Some coffin-dodger must have put it up years ago appropriate, because thats what ah am, a coffin-dodger, and ma reflexes are not getting any better but its all here, all within ma sweaty grasp. 620 FICO, piggyback, 2/28, lack ay any sort ay income verification. Its all okay, its all beautiful; but ah fear that this internal sea is gaunnae subside soon, leaving this poisonous shite washed up, stranded up in ma bonds.
Ah start tae cook up another deal. As ah shakily haud the spoon ower the candle, crackin the tape, waitin for the junk tae dissolve, ah think; more short-term sea, more long-term poison. This thought though, is naewhere near sufficient tae stop us fae daein what ah huv tae dae.
Umm that was NOT one of my mother's favorite tunes though she heard it more than she would have liked (I wore out the album in the early 70s)... Although to her credit she did like 'Nashville Skyline' & 'Blood on the Tracks'...
There's a consequence of this housing/economic downturn that's never happened in a U.S. down cycle before and nobody's writing about. So, I will.
It's the impact of the downturn on social services delivery networks, especially state/local. Due to personal family reasons, I've become intimately aware of social services and their enormous cost to state/local governments.
They cover alcohol/drug rehab, repeat non-incarcerated criminal offenders (especially youth), marriage and family counseling, disabilities, mental illness, and the homeless. In many parts of our country today (especially urban/suburban), if you have a serious personal problem and can't afford to pay for help, the government will pay for you, at huge and rising cost.
We are heading into a period of angst and dislocation for many people who need help and lack liquid assets. It's hard to governments to turn people away or hold the line on budgets in times of crisis, so costs will explode. Taxes will have to increase, especially sales taxes. I can easily see 10-15% sales taxes soon.
Social services employment will rise, but government spending and employment in many other areas will be cut. Many municipal revenue bonds and some GO bonds eventually will default. State/local government is already a shaky financial infrastucture. Now, much worse.
In no previous downturn has there been such a huge social services network for taxpayers to support. The network is so huge that you can't even get a handle on its cost as a % of GDP.
Cute choice, kinda like Bill Shatner singing Rocket Man (my friend once had it on LP) but with slightly wider appeal. Now by some freak process of association I found the ultimate "Paean of the Pig Men." So, without further adieu, enjoy! YouTube -
what, nobody else ever thinks of subprime as the heroin of wall st? weirdos...
ah'm gaunnae have a pint ay Tennants, ah've ne'er been struck down in ma puff...and if that doesnae dae the job, ah'm goin in search ay some reverse mortgages...
Pavarotti had a very good voice but the Peruvian tenor, Juan Diego Florez's, is better and he is much better looking. He was the first person to be allowed to sing an encore, mid-opera, at La Scala since 1933. It was the "Ah Mes Amis, Quel Jour de Fete" aria from Donzetti's Daughter of the Regiment with nine high C's in rapid succession. He did it once, and then turned around and did it all over again. That produced delirious applause and near hysteria from the audience.
With everyone begging the Shrub-Boy Mal-administration to bail us out of the credit meltdown, and themes of rivers, I had to share this. It's of another disaster shrub-boy and his key stone cop fascist idiots had to bail.
I should have added that Pavarotti thought the Donizetti aria was perhaps the most difficult in all opera. And he was never known to be able to sing it more than once at a time. He always complained about how taxing it was. Florez tosses it off effortlessly.
Ever since Arturo Toscanini himself held the podium there, Milan's Teatro alla Scala has had a strict rule: no encores. The continuity and integrity of the score, the music and drama as a unit, must be respected. (Today many other houses follow the same practice, most famously the Metropolitan Opera.)
no soloist has sung an encore at La Scala since the legendary bass Fyodor Chaliapin did it once in 1933 (while Toscanini was out of town).
Until the night before last, that is. At opening night of La Scala's current production of Donizetti's La Fille du régiment, superstar tenor Juan Diego Flórez so impressed his audience and colleagues with his big showstopper aria that he really did stop the show and sing it one more time, the first star to do so in 74 years.
The aria, "Ah! mes amis," is a starmaker: it earned Luciano Pavarotti the nickname "King of the High Cs" because it has nine of them. Flórez, as he always seems to do, hit each of those top notes perfectly and with ease, as if they were so many bowling pins. And then he did it again. (The blog Opera Chic has links to audio files of the performance.)
It is with the deepest, most heartfelt thanks to Juan Diego Florez and maestro Ernesto Palacio that Opera Chic publishes JDF's thoughts on his friend and mentor's Luciano Pavarotti's passing.
Translation from Spanish by operachic.typepad.com
"Luciano Pavarotti's death fills me deeply with sadness. I received the news from his assistant, my compatriot Edwin Tinoco, a few minutes after the fact. I had met Pavarotti on July 31, in his Pesaro home, the last time he ever hosted a dinner party, because shortly thereafter he got hospitalised in Modena. I called him at the hospital and he told me to come visit him with my wife, who had impressed him much. I told him yes, we would come, but unfortunately it wasn't possible."
"Luciano Pavarotti has always been my idol and when il Maestro named me as his successor I received the news with much pride but also with great responsibility. Responsibility that is now even greater, I hope to be up to the task. An immense personality has left us, he will always be remembered as a giant of opera, and those of us who have met him in person have appreciated his frankness, his wit, his love for music, his wise but simple mode of seeing things, his sweetness, his generosity; his absence will be truly difficult to overcome."
This stuff from the Kingsland report, originally from Some Blog:
"This meltdown is having much further reaching consequences than just homeowners. I was rudely informed this week that my bank, Old National Bank in Indiana, is calling all of my business loans. I have never missed a payment, always paid more than the minimum, and have been a loyal customer for nearly 10 years. Now they are wanting me to come up with nearly half a million dollars in 4 months. And I'm not the only in this town. I know of at least two other business owners that they have called their loans on also. Both have successful businesses and always pay their bills, but because Old National's lending department is getting killed by the meltdown, they are trying to get money from wherever they think they can. But now, I may have to close my businesses and possibly go into bankruptcy because they can't pay THEIR bills. Just a matter of time before they call my car loan..."
I symphathize with your plight in regard to small business loans. There may be a way you can fight Old National, if you have a stomach for it.
First, take as much cash out of the business as you can, without making it too obvious. Then, put on a suit and tie and go to see your banker. Lay a copy of a filled out bankruptcy filing petition on the table and say that you will be filing bankruptcy in two weeks unless the bank agrees to negotiate an extension of at least some credit. Don't talk and don't blink.
If Pavarotti can do a tune with a guitar and other singers...lets see if two of my favorite metal singers can do it as well.
Not a river song , I know...but LOTS of water...four great rock guitarists, 2 great bassists, two great drummers, a symphony orchestra, and the two best metal singers around (IMHO).
Sorry to throw some Fed musings on this thread, but does anyone believe those employment numbers? This administration has used fudged data to promote its agenda on everything from Social Security reform to the yellowcake to the Kerry riverboat. The Bush family is investment banker money. George HW had a daddy and maternal granddaddy as investment bankers. Bushies are nearly purebred bankers. The investment bankers want a rate cut.
Suddenly the payroll numbers are terrible beyond every single prediction, and people are acting as if the numbers are legit.
Bush wants a bailout for his enablers, the bankers. The Fed has indicated it won't cut unless other economic indicators are terrible. Suddenly the payroll sucks.
Coincidence? No. Were the previous employment numbers suspect? Yes. Why are these suddenly being accepted by suspicious bloggers? I don't know. But they shouldn't be accepted. The payroll numbers are a lie to push the Fed into a corner to cut rates.
The Fed shouldn't bite into that suspect data. Don't let the Bushies destroy the USD.
I thought you were wiser than that. There's no way, short of a TOTAL GOVERNMENT COLLAPSE, that the U.S. dollar can be destoryed. All developed nations' currencies have a stake in no individual currency collapsing, esp. $$$.
Admittedly I'm a supercaliangriliciousuber housing bear, but even I recongnize that these houses aren't "worthless", as would be implied by a collpased dollar.
No, the deflation will take a wee bit longer to arrive, but it is our des-ti-ny.
Events could change, though it's remote, to make things better than we anticipate,'' Mozilo said.Hopefully at the end of the day we won't have to cut as many as we've proposed. There's a potential for a refinance boom if rates come down.''
That version of Moon River leaves me speechless, but not in a good way. I was half expecting Frank Drebin to stumble on stage.
*As usual, the B/D numbers queer things out. B/D adds 15k construction and 11k financial jobs. I'll grant them half the jobs due to CRE, but the financial number is an utter joke. Those jobs when POOF! and nobody is hiring in those sectors. It's still small beer at this point, but the pain hasn't even started. in Financials alone for Sept. the job loss is already 45k.
as for the above question on the impact of social services; Yes it's happened before. It's happened in New Jersey twice in the last 25 years. Once after Tom Kean spent money like a drunken sailor during the good times, then after Christie Whitman spent money like a drunken sailor during the good times(notice the elephant in the room?)
It was absolutely brutal both times, but democratic governors(with help from the suddenly miserly GOP legislature) bit the bullet and brought the budget in line by cutting spending and raising taxes.
Alexis ought to know that Pavarotti's and Florez's voices are not exactly alike. Pavarotti was a lyric tenor and Florez is a light lyric, more like Alfredo Kraus. A good comparison of the two is here:
However there is no question but that Florez is a far better actor on stage and much better looking. Pavarotti in his later career had to squat on a stool at the Met when he sang since he was too heavy to stand up for long.
rich "It's the impact of the downturn on social services delivery networks, especially state/local. Due to personal family reasons, I've become intimately aware of social services and their enormous cost to state/local governments."
I am afraid that will be the least of the worries of local governments. Housing collapse will bring with it blight on a large scale and with it, a lot of crime, and raises the likelihood of massive riots. The LA riots in the early '90s were probably largely due to severe economic declines and hopelessness blamed in large part to housing collapse in the less well heeled neighborhoods. I expect a repeat.
I am not particularly an opera or Pavorotti fan, and I rather dislike that song. But when I listened without the video and pretended it was CR and Tanta in a reflective and wistful mood, it was rather sweet.
"I am afraid that will be the least of the worries of local governments. Housing collapse will bring with it blight on a large scale and with it, a lot of crime, and raises the likelihood of massive riots. The LA riots in the early '90s were probably largely due to severe economic declines and hopelessness blamed in large part to housing collapse in the less well heeled neighborhoods. I expect a repeat."
Barely,
I respectfully disagree. I think the coming fiscal problems of state/local governments, due to their heavy social services delivery cost burdens, made worse by the housing/economic downturn, is a bigger problem than crime and violence.
Crime and violence are everyone's problem, and we can only expect so much help from government entities. Yes, crime and violence will increase. And there will be less government money to spend on qualified and fully staffed local police, state police and troopers and National Guard.
The overlap between social services and police/safety service is great. So, your point is well taken. But I am basically talking about the ability of these government entities to survive as viable economic entities and repay their debts without giant tax increases. I'm skeptical that all can.
Chris, the "point" probably was that we don't have to displace one great tenor from the pantheon to make room for another one. As for acting ability, it has always been subordinated to singing in operatic performance.
Instead be sad for the silencing of another great voice. He wasn't always my favorite tenor either (you should have heard Richard Tucker!), but at his best Pavarotti was spectacular (e.g., the Sutherland/Mehta "Turandot").
Publius: Who said I was "replacing" one tenor with another? I lament the passing of Pavarotti as much as anyone. But I also wanted to compare him to the tenor he named as his "successor." Anything wrong with that? And I must confess I prefer Florez's voice to Pavarotti. As I explained, in fact the voices are somewhat different. Pavarotti's voice is heavier and less agile. He also took the risk of singing heavier roles early. Florez on the other hand is very careful to sing mainly Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini and a bit of Verdi and Mozart, all suited to his rapid super-flexible voice. He is now trying out, carefully, the role of the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, a role a bit heavier than what he normally does. I don't see why I must apologize for comparing him to Pavarotti. And the fact that he acts better and looks better is hardly something to hold against him or me. Richard Tucker is a different fish altogether with a very different type of voice and not to be compared to either Pavarotti or Florez. You ought to know that.
In a tribute I heard yesterday, Luciano was praised as as an opera singer who crossed over into popular music. I wonder how many music lovers were introduced to opera by hearing Pavarotti singing a memorable Puccini melody after hearing him sing something like the popular selection of today's Rock Blog.
Here is a review of The Daughter of the Regiment that appeared in January in the London Independent. It dares to compare Pavarotti's performace with that of Florez. Publius will be shocked:
La Fille Du Regiment, Royal Opera House, London fivestar
By Edward Seckerson
Published: 15 January 2007
Things have come on a little in the 40 years since Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti strutted their ample stuff in the last Royal Opera staging of Donizetti's Frenchified charmer.
In another 40 years someone will be talking about the night their successors - Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez - showed everyone how the piece should really be done. It's hard to imagine how this adorable, pint-sized, pairing could ever be bettered. But the same goes for the entire cast - as good as you could now muster from anywhere on the planet.
..............
The local boy Tonio - Juan Diego Florez in lederhosen - is from the wrong side of the barricades. Of course, everyone is waiting for the succession of high Cs in his first-act clincher, and Florez pops them like shrugs of his elegant shoulders, bringing the house down in the process. The naturally high tessitura of his voice makes it all sound utterly effortless. We know better. But what makes Florez special, the tenore di grazia of his generation, are not the high notes, but the exquisitely fluid line, the way in which he is always seeking out and finessing the next elegant turn in the phrasing. When he pleads for Marie at the close of the show, it is the artistry and the grace of it that stops you in your tracks.
"how the piece should really be done" oh that is so wicked, so wicked. LOL.
Here is another account of a Florez performance in Berlin in which the orchestra had to stop playing because the conductor dropped his baton "bewitched" by Florez's singing in order to join the audience in delirious applause:
Tras el primer acto, Flórez tuvo que salir a escena ante la insistencia del público, y, al concluir su largo lamento en el segundo acto, la orquesta incluso dejó de tocar porque el director, Daniel Oren, hechizado por el timbre del tenor, soltó decidido la batuta y se sumó hechizado a la ovación del público.
Mortgage Dilemmas No. 63
Ahm just lettin it wash all over me, or wash through me clean me oot fae the inside.
This internal sea. The problem is that this beautiful ocean carries with it loads ay poisonous flotsam and jetsam that poison is diluted by the sea, but once the ocean rolls out, it leaves the shite behind, inside ma bonds. It takes as well as gives, it washes away ma pain resistance centres, ma pride in what ah dae; they take a long time tae come back.
The wallpaper is horrific in this shite-pit ay a room. It terrorizes me. Some coffin-dodger must have put it up years ago appropriate, because thats what ah am, a coffin-dodger, and ma reflexes are not getting any better but its all here, all within ma sweaty grasp. 620 FICO, piggyback, 2/28, lack ay any sort ay income verification. Its all okay, its all beautiful; but ah fear that this internal sea is gaunnae subside soon, leaving this poisonous shite washed up, stranded up in ma bonds.
Ah start tae cook up another deal. As ah shakily haud the spoon ower the candle, crackin the tape, waitin for the junk tae dissolve, ah think; more short-term sea, more long-term poison. This thought though, is naewhere near sufficient tae stop us fae daein what ah huv tae dae.
Check this out:
CareerBuilder Monk-e-Mail
apologies to Irvine Welsh, of course...
Thank you Tanta... that was one of my mother's favorite tunes.
And while we are on a 'river theme'... we can't forget this one:
'Watchin' the River Flow'...
Umm that was NOT one of my mother's favorite tunes though she heard it more than she would have liked (I wore out the album in the early 70s)... Although to her credit she did like 'Nashville Skyline' & 'Blood on the Tracks'...
There's a consequence of this housing/economic downturn that's never happened in a U.S. down cycle before and nobody's writing about. So, I will.
It's the impact of the downturn on social services delivery networks, especially state/local. Due to personal family reasons, I've become intimately aware of social services and their enormous cost to state/local governments.
They cover alcohol/drug rehab, repeat non-incarcerated criminal offenders (especially youth), marriage and family counseling, disabilities, mental illness, and the homeless. In many parts of our country today (especially urban/suburban), if you have a serious personal problem and can't afford to pay for help, the government will pay for you, at huge and rising cost.
We are heading into a period of angst and dislocation for many people who need help and lack liquid assets. It's hard to governments to turn people away or hold the line on budgets in times of crisis, so costs will explode. Taxes will have to increase, especially sales taxes. I can easily see 10-15% sales taxes soon.
Social services employment will rise, but government spending and employment in many other areas will be cut. Many municipal revenue bonds and some GO bonds eventually will default. State/local government is already a shaky financial infrastucture. Now, much worse.
In no previous downturn has there been such a huge social services network for taxpayers to support. The network is so huge that you can't even get a handle on its cost as a % of GDP.
Cute choice, kinda like Bill Shatner singing Rocket Man (my friend once had it on LP) but with slightly wider appeal. Now by some freak process of association I found the ultimate "Paean of the Pig Men." So, without further adieu, enjoy! YouTube -
what, nobody else ever thinks of subprime as the heroin of wall st? weirdos...
ah'm gaunnae have a pint ay Tennants, ah've ne'er been struck down in ma puff...and if that doesnae dae the job, ah'm goin in search ay some reverse mortgages...
Pavarotti had a very good voice but the Peruvian tenor, Juan Diego Florez's, is better and he is much better looking. He was the first person to be allowed to sing an encore, mid-opera, at La Scala since 1933. It was the "Ah Mes Amis, Quel Jour de Fete" aria from Donzetti's Daughter of the Regiment with nine high C's in rapid succession. He did it once, and then turned around and did it all over again. That produced delirious applause and near hysteria from the audience.
With everyone begging the Shrub-Boy Mal-administration to bail us out of the credit meltdown, and themes of rivers, I had to share this. It's of another disaster shrub-boy and his key stone cop fascist idiots had to bail.
Rob: Hey Keith how do you think it'll go over?
Keith: Like a Led Zeppelin.
YouTube -
Cheers,
I should have added that Pavarotti thought the Donizetti aria was perhaps the most difficult in all opera. And he was never known to be able to sing it more than once at a time. He always complained about how taxing it was. Florez tosses it off effortlessly.
This one's for bacon.
There's a river in the vid somewhere...
YouTube - Rock Beer Club Inc.
Cheers,
By Matthew Westphal
22 Feb 2007
Ever since Arturo Toscanini himself held the podium there, Milan's Teatro alla Scala has had a strict rule: no encores. The continuity and integrity of the score, the music and drama as a unit, must be respected. (Today many other houses follow the same practice, most famously the Metropolitan Opera.)
no soloist has sung an encore at La Scala since the legendary bass Fyodor Chaliapin did it once in 1933 (while Toscanini was out of town).
Until the night before last, that is. At opening night of La Scala's current production of Donizetti's La Fille du régiment, superstar tenor Juan Diego Flórez so impressed his audience and colleagues with his big showstopper aria that he really did stop the show and sing it one more time, the first star to do so in 74 years.
The aria, "Ah! mes amis," is a starmaker: it earned Luciano Pavarotti the nickname "King of the High Cs" because it has nine of them. Flórez, as he always seems to do, hit each of those top notes perfectly and with ease, as if they were so many bowling pins. And then he did it again. (The blog Opera Chic has links to audio files of the performance.)
Florez statement on the death of Pavarotti:
It is with the deepest, most heartfelt thanks to Juan Diego Florez and maestro Ernesto Palacio that Opera Chic publishes JDF's thoughts on his friend and mentor's Luciano Pavarotti's passing.
Translation from Spanish by operachic.typepad.com
"Luciano Pavarotti's death fills me deeply with sadness. I received the news from his assistant, my compatriot Edwin Tinoco, a few minutes after the fact. I had met Pavarotti on July 31, in his Pesaro home, the last time he ever hosted a dinner party, because shortly thereafter he got hospitalised in Modena. I called him at the hospital and he told me to come visit him with my wife, who had impressed him much. I told him yes, we would come, but unfortunately it wasn't possible."
"Luciano Pavarotti has always been my idol and when il Maestro named me as his successor I received the news with much pride but also with great responsibility. Responsibility that is now even greater, I hope to be up to the task. An immense personality has left us, he will always be remembered as a giant of opera, and those of us who have met him in person have appreciated his frankness, his wit, his love for music, his wise but simple mode of seeing things, his sweetness, his generosity; his absence will be truly difficult to overcome."
my saturday rock. maybe too optimistic?
YouTube -
This stuff from the Kingsland report, originally from Some Blog:
"This meltdown is having much further reaching consequences than just homeowners. I was rudely informed this week that my bank, Old National Bank in Indiana, is calling all of my business loans. I have never missed a payment, always paid more than the minimum, and have been a loyal customer for nearly 10 years. Now they are wanting me to come up with nearly half a million dollars in 4 months. And I'm not the only in this town. I know of at least two other business owners that they have called their loans on also. Both have successful businesses and always pay their bills, but because Old National's lending department is getting killed by the meltdown, they are trying to get money from wherever they think they can. But now, I may have to close my businesses and possibly go into bankruptcy because they can't pay THEIR bills. Just a matter of time before they call my car loan..."
That's going to rock the house, if it spreads.
The news of Pavarotti's passing caused me to forget about Housing for a while. I can't say that of many other things.
His was the greatest voice that I have ever heard. And now the Earth doesn't sing as beautifully.
Foreigner,
I symphathize with your plight in regard to small business loans. There may be a way you can fight Old National, if you have a stomach for it.
First, take as much cash out of the business as you can, without making it too obvious. Then, put on a suit and tie and go to see your banker. Lay a copy of a filled out bankruptcy filing petition on the table and say that you will be filing bankruptcy in two weeks unless the bank agrees to negotiate an extension of at least some credit. Don't talk and don't blink.
wm:
Nope...we're all definately skating on thin ice.
But of course I would be remiss to bring up a short but sweet river tune...CCR anyone?
YouTube -
Peterbob:
Get a few of Florez's recordings; they may help you get over the loss of Pavarotti. Especially the Ah Mes Amis aria.
This is a fun one Tanta...the theme...
Brings back my youth dj'ing.
Is this coming meltdown taking us here?
Tin foil hat tip to slowhand.
YouTube -
Cheers,
If Pavarotti can do a tune with a guitar and other singers...lets see if two of my favorite metal singers can do it as well.
Not a river song , I know...but LOTS of water...four great rock guitarists, 2 great bassists, two great drummers, a symphony orchestra, and the two best metal singers around (IMHO).
Is that mist or smoke over the lake?
Where's my bong?
YouTube - Smoke on the water
Cheers,
Bravo,Luciano!
Yes,indeed, Pavarotti was a great tenor.
Chris, grow up and get a clue---
If another great tenor has come along that adds more to ...
Sorry to throw some Fed musings on this thread, but does anyone believe those employment numbers? This administration has used fudged data to promote its agenda on everything from Social Security reform to the yellowcake to the Kerry riverboat. The Bush family is investment banker money. George HW had a daddy and maternal granddaddy as investment bankers. Bushies are nearly purebred bankers. The investment bankers want a rate cut.
Suddenly the payroll numbers are terrible beyond every single prediction, and people are acting as if the numbers are legit.
Bush wants a bailout for his enablers, the bankers. The Fed has indicated it won't cut unless other economic indicators are terrible. Suddenly the payroll sucks.
Coincidence? No. Were the previous employment numbers suspect? Yes. Why are these suddenly being accepted by suspicious bloggers? I don't know. But they shouldn't be accepted. The payroll numbers are a lie to push the Fed into a corner to cut rates.
The Fed shouldn't bite into that suspect data. Don't let the Bushies destroy the USD.
"Don't let the Bushies destroy the USD."
I thought you were wiser than that. There's no way, short of a TOTAL GOVERNMENT COLLAPSE, that the U.S. dollar can be destoryed. All developed nations' currencies have a stake in no individual currency collapsing, esp. $$$.
Admittedly I'm a supercaliangriliciousuber housing bear, but even I recongnize that these houses aren't "worthless", as would be implied by a collpased dollar.
No, the deflation will take a wee bit longer to arrive, but it is our des-ti-ny.
Speaking of being pushed into a corner...
Countrywide May Fire as Many as 12,000 as Mortgage Demand Wanes - Bloomberg.com
Events could change, though it's remote, to make things better than we anticipate,'' Mozilo said.Hopefully at the end of the day we won't have to cut as many as we've proposed. There's a potential for a refinance boom if rates come down.''
Gimme a rate cut or the employees get it !
Chris, grow up and get a clue---
If another great tenor has come along that adds more to ...
Alexis | 09.08.07 - 3:44 pm | #
?????? What clue?
More to what?
Something wrong with praising a new great tenor whom Pavarotti named his "successor"?
That version of Moon River leaves me speechless, but not in a good way. I was half expecting Frank Drebin to stumble on stage.
*As usual, the B/D numbers queer things out. B/D adds 15k construction and 11k financial jobs. I'll grant them half the jobs due to CRE, but the financial number is an utter joke. Those jobs when POOF! and nobody is hiring in those sectors. It's still small beer at this point, but the pain hasn't even started. in Financials alone for Sept. the job loss is already 45k.
It was absolutely brutal both times, but democratic governors(with help from the suddenly miserly GOP legislature) bit the bullet and brought the budget in line by cutting spending and raising taxes.
Alexis ought to know that Pavarotti's and Florez's voices are not exactly alike. Pavarotti was a lyric tenor and Florez is a light lyric, more like Alfredo Kraus. A good comparison of the two is here:
404 File Not Found | Find Articles at Bnet
However there is no question but that Florez is a far better actor on stage and much better looking. Pavarotti in his later career had to squat on a stool at the Met when he sang since he was too heavy to stand up for long.
rich "It's the impact of the downturn on social services delivery networks, especially state/local. Due to personal family reasons, I've become intimately aware of social services and their enormous cost to state/local governments."
I am afraid that will be the least of the worries of local governments. Housing collapse will bring with it blight on a large scale and with it, a lot of crime, and raises the likelihood of massive riots. The LA riots in the early '90s were probably largely due to severe economic declines and hopelessness blamed in large part to housing collapse in the less well heeled neighborhoods. I expect a repeat.
I am not particularly an opera or Pavorotti fan, and I rather dislike that song. But when I listened without the video and pretended it was CR and Tanta in a reflective and wistful mood, it was rather sweet.
"I am afraid that will be the least of the worries of local governments. Housing collapse will bring with it blight on a large scale and with it, a lot of crime, and raises the likelihood of massive riots. The LA riots in the early '90s were probably largely due to severe economic declines and hopelessness blamed in large part to housing collapse in the less well heeled neighborhoods. I expect a repeat."
Barely,
I respectfully disagree. I think the coming fiscal problems of state/local governments, due to their heavy social services delivery cost burdens, made worse by the housing/economic downturn, is a bigger problem than crime and violence.
Crime and violence are everyone's problem, and we can only expect so much help from government entities. Yes, crime and violence will increase. And there will be less government money to spend on qualified and fully staffed local police, state police and troopers and National Guard.
The overlap between social services and police/safety service is great. So, your point is well taken. But I am basically talking about the ability of these government entities to survive as viable economic entities and repay their debts without giant tax increases. I'm skeptical that all can.
Chris, the "point" probably was that we don't have to displace one great tenor from the pantheon to make room for another one. As for acting ability, it has always been subordinated to singing in operatic performance.
Instead be sad for the silencing of another great voice. He wasn't always my favorite tenor either (you should have heard Richard Tucker!), but at his best Pavarotti was spectacular (e.g., the Sutherland/Mehta "Turandot").
Luciano
Descansa en Paz +
YouTube -
Publius: Who said I was "replacing" one tenor with another? I lament the passing of Pavarotti as much as anyone. But I also wanted to compare him to the tenor he named as his "successor." Anything wrong with that? And I must confess I prefer Florez's voice to Pavarotti. As I explained, in fact the voices are somewhat different. Pavarotti's voice is heavier and less agile. He also took the risk of singing heavier roles early. Florez on the other hand is very careful to sing mainly Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini and a bit of Verdi and Mozart, all suited to his rapid super-flexible voice. He is now trying out, carefully, the role of the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, a role a bit heavier than what he normally does. I don't see why I must apologize for comparing him to Pavarotti. And the fact that he acts better and looks better is hardly something to hold against him or me. Richard Tucker is a different fish altogether with a very different type of voice and not to be compared to either Pavarotti or Florez. You ought to know that.
Jeez, enough opera already. Get your sin on with Miss Tina.
Tina Turner - River Deep Mountain High
YouTube
- Tina Turner - river deep mountain high - Live from Amsterdam
In a tribute I heard yesterday, Luciano was praised as as an opera singer who crossed over into popular music. I wonder how many music lovers were introduced to opera by hearing Pavarotti singing a memorable Puccini melody after hearing him sing something like the popular selection of today's Rock Blog.
You did it again, Tanta.
There you go Pope - now that's art! And Von Misean, please... if you're gonna do Proud Mary, for Chirstsake do it right, do it ROUGH!...
Here is a review of The Daughter of the Regiment that appeared in January in the London Independent. It dares to compare Pavarotti's performace with that of Florez. Publius will be shocked:
La Fille Du Regiment, Royal Opera House, London fivestar
By Edward Seckerson
Published: 15 January 2007
Things have come on a little in the 40 years since Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti strutted their ample stuff in the last Royal Opera staging of Donizetti's Frenchified charmer.
In another 40 years someone will be talking about the night their successors - Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez - showed everyone how the piece should really be done. It's hard to imagine how this adorable, pint-sized, pairing could ever be bettered. But the same goes for the entire cast - as good as you could now muster from anywhere on the planet.
..............
The local boy Tonio - Juan Diego Florez in lederhosen - is from the wrong side of the barricades. Of course, everyone is waiting for the succession of high Cs in his first-act clincher, and Florez pops them like shrugs of his elegant shoulders, bringing the house down in the process. The naturally high tessitura of his voice makes it all sound utterly effortless. We know better. But what makes Florez special, the tenore di grazia of his generation, are not the high notes, but the exquisitely fluid line, the way in which he is always seeking out and finessing the next elegant turn in the phrasing. When he pleads for Marie at the close of the show, it is the artistry and the grace of it that stops you in your tracks.
"how the piece should really be done" oh that is so wicked, so wicked. LOL.
Fuck opera.
The River
YouTube
- Broadcast Yourself.
Here is another account of a Florez performance in Berlin in which the orchestra had to stop playing because the conductor dropped his baton "bewitched" by Florez's singing in order to join the audience in delirious applause:
Tras el primer acto, Flórez tuvo que salir a escena ante la insistencia del público, y, al concluir su largo lamento en el segundo acto, la orquesta incluso dejó de tocar porque el director, Daniel Oren, hechizado por el timbre del tenor, soltó decidido la batuta y se sumó hechizado a la ovación del público.