R.I.P.

I received word this morning that the wonderful and insightful skywardprodigal has passed away. This post is as much as I know. She was a pretty fantastic person, and a voice the world is lessened without.

Folks are suggesting donations to Haïti in her memory. Here's some of the organizations she supported.

Aida

The COC's production of Aida had me at the skeletal women in gold lamé dresses dry-humping death-masked Egyptian soldiers in a field of corpses.

Aida has a special place in my heart in that it is the first opera I ever saw. We went on a class trip when I was in grade school. I was very excited, because Grand Spectacle! With Elephants! And I had listened to the music and found myself enjoying it, despite my aversion at that age to anything that didn't have an electric guitar in it. Unfortunately, the production I saw as a kid was godawful. It was at the Skydome, so that music that I'd loved was practically inaudible. It was a special rehearsal for the children, so they cut out quite a bit and it made no sense. Also there was not an elephant.

So when chickenfeet2003 had an extra ticket, I jumped at the opportunity to see a production that was deemed "controversial" and thus was probably pretty good. It was fantastic. Strong singing all around, particularly from Sandra Radvanovsky, and near-flawless staging. (As chickenfeet2003 mentions in his review, the Temple of Vulcan scene didn't quite work, and they could have done fun things with the religious aspect but didn't.

Apparently the set designer was booed on opening night, which I didn't even think happened anymore. (The reception was enthusiastically positive when we saw it.) The choice to put the title character in the costume of a cleaning lady (as opposed to the more glamourous outfits typically worn by slaves in Egypt? I got nothing) was none too popular with a certain segment of the audience. I thought it was brilliant. As chickenfeet2003 said as we were leaving, "art's about asking thought-provoking questions, not taxidermy."

All in all, a fine evening.

Spooky music for creepy people

thegiantkiller posted a sweet apocalyptic music mix, which I happily downloaded.

But, you know, you can never have too much post/apocalyptic music, so without further ado, allow me to present:


Post-Apocalypso: A Spooky October Music Mixtape

Download all 32 songs here!

( track list under the cut )