Phantom voices return to the Paris Opera

Here's a delightful story that takes us far from the ambient gloom. With snow falling outside, I spent the afternoon yesterday in a salon in the Palais Garnier -- the Opéra -- enjoying an eery trip back in time.

They were playing for the first time a trove of recordings that had been sealed for posterity a century ago. And -- I'm not making this up -- they were extracted from the exact spot deep in the Opera vaults where, in the novel, they found the remains of the dead Phantom.

We heard Nellie Melba, the Australian soprano and Enrico Caruso, the tenor, and other long-dead stars crackling from 36 pristine Gramophone records that had been locked away for posterity.[listen to Melba's Verdi here].

The tale of the Opera's "buried voices", as they are known, began on Christmas Eve 1907 with a strange and solemn ceremony. In the deep labyrinth below the Garnier, Aristide Briand, a statesman of the era, dedicated two leaden urns in which 24 records were packed in glass and asbestos [top picture].

"This will teach men (100 years from now) about the state of our talking machines and the voices of the principal singers of our times," said the message with the urns. The idea of leaving voices in a time capsule came from Alfred Clark, the American head of the French branch of Gramophone, the British company that became His Master's Voice and later EMI.

According to Gaston Leroux, who wrote Le Fantôme de l'Opéra in 1909, workers unearthed the skeleton of Erik, his disfigured "angel of music", as they were installing the buried voices. Leroux's story opens and closes at the sound vault. "I prayed beside his body the other day, when they took it from the spot where they were burying the living voices," says the epilogue

The voices, with their rather fruity period renditions of Wagner, Beethoven, Verdi, Bizet and lesser known composers, were kept under seal for the prescribed century. They were transferred to the Bibliothèque Nationale for safe-keeping in 1989 but only opened last Christmas. Also opened were two more urns which were deposited in 1912. One of these was damaged beyond repair. Technicians of the National Library spent the year extracting the fragile records from the glass plates and asbestos inside which they had been packed.

[Picture: Nellie Melba, the great Australian diva and dessert fan]

 

The collection was put on the internet yesterday. We heard extracts at a conference that included readings from the Phantom and a lecture on the dark legends around Napoleon III's epic pile on the Right Bank (like the secret lake deep below, the ghosts of dead workmen and the passages where government troops executed communards in 1871). 

Most of the recordings were commercial and have survived in less fine condition elsewhere, but the choice of repertoire and performers offers an unmatched window on the sound-track of the Belle Epoque. François Le Roux, a baritone and teacher, explained why the old opera technique grates on modern ears. Singers belted it out, indulging in showy flourishes and fast vibrato that sound odd now, he said. "The sopranos were generally nasal. The timbre is pinched. Most of them would not get past the quarter-finals in a contest nowadays," he said. "Our ears have really changed."

"The bass voices are clear and relatively high," said Le Roux as he played Pol Planson singing Gounod's Faust in 1906 and then José Van Dam on the same song in 1991. He also noted the way that singers in those pre-microphone days focused on projecting their voices and enunciating the words in a way that even in opera they no longer do. "The point was to be understood. They didn't make much effort to dramatise the characters they were playing."

Maybe Le Roux (apparently no relation to the Phantom's author) was being a little unfair. The odd sound of the old singers was partly a function of the primitive recording equipment. You can get a clearer idea of Melba's voice from a revived master disc from 1904 which, coincidentally, was released this month in Melbourne (her home down, from which she took her stage name).

Le Roux joked about the astonishing tempo of some of the singers, a feature imposed by the brief 78 RPM record. "They sang fast, sometimes really fast. Sometimes you get the impression that the orchestra is struggling to follow the singer."

The urns include some big names of the time who are long forgotten, such as Adolphe Adam and his opera, le Chalet. But it is remarkable that this showcase repertoire of 1907 and 1912 is so similar to the Verdi, Mozart and Wagner that pulls in the crowds in 2008.

Vintage recording experts marvelled not only at the sound, but at the colourful, perfectly preserved labels of the discs from what are known as Gramphone's "pre-dog" period -- before the logo of the listening dog. EMI is bringing out a CD from the contents of the urns in January. The Opera also plans to install a new time capsule with the best early 21st century music. That choice should prove interesting.

Perhaps the eeriest of all the old records was not a song. It was the 1912 disc in which Firmin Gemier, an actor-director, can be heard at the ceremony dedicating "this fatal urn from the catacombs of the Opera.". The records were "a miracle in which we preserve for our great grand-children the most fugitive thing in the world... the voice of the master." he said. "Like the painter and the writer... the lyrical artist will henceforward leave other testimony to his talent that the memory of his reputation."

A footnote: Leroux's Phantom is less famous in France than in the Anglo-Saxon world where it  has been staged as theatre and film from the 1920s through to Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1980s musical. His Mystère de la Chambre Jaune is probably better known in France.

      
    

Comments

[dot king]

How wonderful!

[valerie]

Fabulous!

[Blendi]

I found Le Roux explonation v.interesting.

[PAUL 1st]

A fascinating story. I hope they will be transferred to CD eventually - usually companies specializing in remastering this type of recording have to deal with originals in less than mint condition.

[Romain]

Splendid, Charles !

The pêche Melba was in fashion in the fifties, basically peaches in syrup topped with crème Chantilly.
In the seventies, I was working close to Opera house, and having lunch at the Opera's cantine. Have you experienced that ? Quite a nice experience to have lunch amongst "petits rats", and danseurs étoiles, and musicians technicians etc. Another nice cantine is conservatoire Rachmaninov, quai Kennedy, russian food znd vodka of all colours. I believe there are numerous recordings of Feodor Chaliapin too.
Coming back to Melba, I heard a story in Melbourne about an american firetruck she donated to the town, and people restored. I can't quite recollect the whole story; any Melbournite would like to help ?

[Romain]

This Greek turmoil looks pretty bad, any news from Richard Jones ?

p.s. Charles, you had to pick that rosbif Rugby team anthem to illustrate Melba's voice...

[John O'D]

Curse of the Phantom?
The technicians from the National Library who "spent the year extracting the fragile records from the glass plates and asbestos inside which they had been packed" should watch out. Prolonged exposure to that asbestos dust can kill just like the spores believed to be behind the Curse of the Mummy.

[Rick]

Forgive my presumption, ROMAIN, but isn't peach Melba made of vanilla ice cream, rather than whipped cream? But without the toast of course...

The last bit's a tease for the statuesque Oz lady also designed a low-carb 'pain grillé'.

[Blendi]

Romain,

I been looking for Richard from two days, no news yet. Either he is enjoying the riots too much to care that we care about him, or he could be in real trouble (organising anarchists-as only he could, lol, what a term org. anarchos..., or being in prison etc... worse still doing X-mas shopping) Richard, is too unpredictable to fit even in the wildest hypothesis.

Greece seem pretty bad, biggest crisis (from the smoke of it) since the time of black colonels. I got a feeling though that Mr Jones, will survive this one too. :)
---

--------
Back on topic, My favourite soprano is nelly furtado. My fav tenor is Joey Cocker (this time not half naked, singing bearded nevertheless)watch him out-paving Pavarotti.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=29zQGhnKQck&feature=related
____

I forgot to mention (truthfully, I didnt, but I cant tell everyone that and risk losing tonigh) that today's lotto is a rollover of nearly 8 Milion Pound. very rare for Wednesdays) and I plan to win it... if you folks dont mind.

...at the very least go as close to winning it as possible. What has this do with this venerable blog?!Well, if I win, you win. Is simple.

I plan to pay for a dinner in Parii, for everyone of the blog regulars (all 175 of them) if I win the Lotto.

The plan is good up to now; I got the Will, I got the Formula and I got a back up idea ( the Idea is -to try it once more in Saturday) all I need now is a lotto ticket*.

There's a saying in UK:
To win the Lotto, 1-st buy the ticket!

(they say that in few other countries quite the same expression is used, in diff. variations though)

Off I go to buy that ticket. Pray for me! I'll keep my word anyhow, even if I win in merit, but prayers never harmed anyone. 'We' got 1 hour and 15.

* Bar for the ticket, I nearly have the winnings at my bank.
Now that I meantions Banks...the headaches start. Bank, recession, where to deposit my Winnings, what Bank is safe. Uk or abroad? Europe, Dubai, America? Hmm.
I am going mad with worry...am not sure to buy that ticket or not, being £8M richer than I am right now, seems a constant bother.

Will my family continue to love me for who I am...or will they love the money more???
(it doesnt bear thinking about)

I need to sit on this and ponder for about 1 h. Please ponder with me, but do not stop praying.

[Leo...]

Charles, you are right to point out that Leroux's favourite book in France is Le Mystère de la chambre jaune.
Its lead character is Rouletabille, the journalist turned investigator who uttered the now famous:

"Cette affaire est mystérieuse, feignons d'en être l'organisateur".

I guess Sarkozy must have read the book.

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Melba toast was invented the night the Fat Lady sang, then dined and complained once again that the toast at the Savoy was too thick. Worried about her figure after too many Peach Melbas, she was delighted when the waiter returned with the slice of toast split sideways, making two thin slices. This was still served last time I ate there (the split doorstep wrapped a warm crisp white towel: Pate de foie gras sur Melba toast!

[Romain]

Blendi,

Agree with you, Joe Cocker outperforms Pavarotti in this instance. I revere opera singers, I find them out of line when they try and attack the pop/rock/jazz, and even gospel repertoire. Joe Cocker's revelation was his version of "with little help from my friends", was it Woodstock ?
Dr. Jones probably is the master and commander of the Greek revolution, let's see if he is going to be uncovered...

[Romain]

Rick,

Right, there is vanilla ice cream in the original recipee by Escoffier, then chef at the Savoy :

http://www.linternaute.com/femmes/cuisine/recette/311745/1164964347/peche_melba.shtml

What culture opportunity to attend this blog.
I did not know that "pêche melba" had an opera origin from an Australian cantatrice.

Does policeman responsible for traffic, place de l'Opera, know that? I doubt. He should.

This air was popularised by Henri Salvador .. who does not sing so bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gl-7fbIrpQ

Sorry for opera puritans, but I prefer to see a video like than to eat a Prozac pill.

More seriously, the excellent "radio classic" organized elections on opera arias, last November (20 000 votings). This is link where you may see classement from n°1 (Mozart, the magic flute) to the 50th. Rigoletto was the 13th.
Last year for compositors election, Schubert (with Trio 2) was the surprise winner.

http://www.radioclassique.fr/index.php?id=452

The first 30 are recorded on an (EMI) CD produced by the radio station that I hears since 'en boucle" when I am in my car.

[Maggie]

"Right, there is vanilla ice cream in the original recipee by Escoffier, then chef at the Savoy". (Romain)

Auguste Escoffier came from Villeneuve Loubet, and his famous pêche melba is the star attraction at our annual "fête gourmand".

I didn't know it was named after an Australian opera singer. Amazing, the things you learn on this blog.

[Maggie]

Forgot to say -- Blendi, that's very gracious of you to say you'll have us all for dinner in Paris if you win the lotto.

Did you buy the ticket?

[Fernandez]

For AZLOON -

Of topic, but you might have a laugh at this Sarko 'King of Bling' video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-F7eMw8ra0

[Christopher Muir]

Melba certainly lives on in the Australian psyche. It's really quite surprising as such long-lasting fame is usually restricted to sporting champions like Donald Bradman (and not to forget the outlaw Ned Kelly). But Melba had a long innings at the crease and became a legend in her home country. Her regard for the nation's artistic appreciation is in doubt; she reportedly told a visiting performer to “sing them muck”. Her constant travel was to be admired - London, New York, Paris, Melbourne and other major cities. (Sarah Bernhardt, with a troupe of French actors, made the long sea voyage to Australia in 1891. La Dame aux Camelia was among the offerings.)

Melba stopped performing at the age of sixty-five. In Australian parlance, “doing a Melba” means making an unexpected comeback
after retirement. It seems that she relished the massive fees.

[christopher muir]

I should have added the letter s to Camelia in my last post. Dame aux Camelias. Poor proof reading on my part.

I'm also wondering about Richard Jones in Greece.

[Romain]

Feodor Chaliapin made his first recording in 1901. He is remembered as the most famous base voice of the early 20th century. He had a villa on the heighths of Saint Jean de luz, with a beautiful view on the bay.
Here is one of my favourite opera numbers : the calomny (very much in the news) in the Barber of Seville :

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=kTkiTbaayBU

(In the Malacca straits they pronounce the Baba of Seville, for some reason.)

[John Gregory Flinn]

"...the colourful, perfectly preserved labels of the discs..."

The artwork is indeed charming and quite unique, and evokes the spirit of that era - La Belle Epoque'!
I remember buying some 'repro' posters of that period in the flea market in Buenos Aires, where anything french is very chic.

Yes RICHARD - give us the low-down from Athens!

[azloon]

Blendi

a well-known u.s. economist has called state lotteries 'a tax on stupidity.' but don't take it personally. :)

in the u.s., 14% of the disposable income of those making $15,000/yr or less (a paltry sum) is spent on lottery tickets, hence this guy's conclusion.

my brokerage office used to take up a collection each friday to buy lottery tickets. $5 from each person, i remember.

i used to offer an alternative: give me $5, and on monday, after the saturday night drawing, i would return $4, guaranteed. i always thought my lottery made more sense.

[Blendi progri]

Romain, lol @ Dr.Jones. So he is Dr J now? Ehhh.
Pope Jones, classical scholar, welsh nationalist, anarchist organiser, ex- SEO member,founder of the sign language in greek, I wouldn’t be surprised one day when he will say: listen guys I am a college pupil from Wales, 17 y/o.
Bored at school and wanted to have some fun with you, hope you’ll appreciate the power of the google and my grandpa’s great diaries.
.
Yours Sarah B.

(aka Richard Jones)
I started this when Jared dumped me and wanted to get back at Priscilla, the history teacher’s daughter. The slut. Btw he isnt her real dad, but she doesnt know.

Oh, and I have no grandkids- so to let you know…yeah…
---

As per Joey, what can I say. Anglos though do not like him a lot (they say) so good ol Joe emigrated. I think that turned out for good, if he was loved he would have drunk less (also had less smoke, drugs, cough medicine etc) and his voice would have been poorer. I know few other singers, that, need a little more hate in their lives.
---

Maggie, I didn’t win yesterday. The ticket was bought in a supermarket, (turned out to be a great tactical error) this Saturday I need a ticket with a bit more individuality, i.e newsagents.

Will let you know how it goes.
BTW, My ticket is always lucky dip (it confuses the computer) 1 Wed, 1 Fri (euro-millions) 1 for Sat. £3.50. The ticket accumulate inside my inside-jacket-pocket and I check them once a month. Very forgetful, but the more ticket there are in the pocket-the more chance I have.

If I win, all you guys will have fun, dinner and a rollercoaster ride. : )
_________________

[Blendi
a well-known u.s. economist has called state lotteries 'a tax on stupidity.' but don't take it personally. :) ]

Azloon Dear (that doesn’t mean we must hug) here I am, thinking that you always are near-by, or by-the-edge-of-reason, and you quote me an economist!!!!
Here’s one more…

!

Especially on these hard-cold times (I mean on Thursdays) and ah am supposed to get offended, Lmao.

No Ma’am!

Economists as a whole are (half of them) mad, the other half of them is bad, and the 3-rd half dangerous. Someone more picky than me would say:
Well known US economist …hmm how well known? In his floor? Block? Kids School or local deli? Who knows him? And how Well?
Why no names are mentioned? Is his identity a closely guarded secret?Tell us who is he.( so we can write him a letter pleading for the formula of how-to-solve-the-credit-munch)

To be more technical, further (in keeping with the stupidity subject) I have to say that saying is not accurate.The guy is in US.

He talked about state lotteries ( you got cowboys, corruption, lotteries given over 25 years, win a lotto and get a tractor free, buy a ticket and get a gun in your mail tomorrow, collect 45 snakes and get a free ticket, my name is Earl etc.. etc…etc…etc so many variations.) here we got another ticket.

It is called a National (not state lottery) lotto so, you see…I can play and not be thought as dumb- as long as National and State are kept separate. I will keep in mind the saying though next time I am in Cal.

On a serious note, you are right many folks spend a lot of money on something as ‘guessy’ as a lotto. I got a tired of the main subject, so I had to write about something else, it happened to be lotto, but I aint an addict.How many variation can one do on a PEACH and on a mELBA TOast. Is good, is yummy, but one can;t dine on it the whole week.##

So I had to branch out...I have problem with focusing in one subject the whole month!
(next week-is the x-mas season in london- brace up lol)

BTW are you concerned about troubles in Grece?

(p.s I am not asking you how to fix them, a simple analysis will do)
p.s.s. I read the description about corrupt politicos, very funny one. Despite nationality all politicos are the same, slippery and mostly conmen.
p.s.s – n. I think there only one way to clear the politics, bring in more women.
See how the corruption will go down by 50% inside a week.
__________?
Now on the serious business. today Woolworth is supossed to have its last day sale. Bargains to be had - they say, as it goes in liquidation.
I am so happy. One less store to waste my family's money with toys that kids don't need and trinkets that adults can live without.

A good friday to you all. A Great one INDEED.

(I find that lately am using INDEED a lot, not to sound posh,noooh indeed, it could be as one ages indeed, it precludes ones maturity)

[azloon]

BP

would it be easier if i had attributed that quote about lotteries being a tax on stupidity to myself? obviously putting my own opinion into the mouth of an economist didn't impress you. :)

re women making more honest politicians

yeah, but then you run a greater risk of a sego or a sarah p. (it's a joke, all you pre-post feminists)

re greece

sounds bad there. if Richard returns with a full account of this whole thing, CB will have to dedicate an entire string or maybe two to a somewhat less-than-surgically precise, but incredibly well-informed and entertaining, analysis. or maybe a book, published by the times.

nothing in greece would surprise me. my lasting memory of the place is hurling plates, glasses and silverware into the fireplace in various restaurants, less than sober, laughing hysterically, and demanding more retsina. so, in effect, creating my own private riot. you can imagine what it might look like if enough people decided to do that at the same time. i think rioting comes easily to the greeks as demonstrating does to the french (and queing up to the brits).

let's see, can i offend anyone else?

[azloon]

BP

From TimesOnline, today: "Rolling Stone magazine assembled a panel of 179 judges from the ranks of musicians and singers, record company executives and music industry insiders, journalists and Rolling Stone staff. Each voter was asked to list his or her 20 favourite vocalists from the rock era, in order of their importance...."

and guess who Rolling Stone came up as numero uno? might that be AF? (you must have been out at the Woolies close out sale with your profligate wife when they called for your opinion). :)

a hundred years from now, r&b afficionados will gather in the musty, abandoned studios of Atlantic Records and listen to old, non-released tracks of Aretha's music with same reverence shown for Melba and Caruso.

Aretha certainly is a 'peach' worthy of her own dessert. and obviously has enjoyed a few herself.

[Blendi Progri]

[creating my own private riot] LOL.
Its on phrases like this that I think that I am not wasting my time talking to you, and even think that educating you in some fields is worth it.

This ranks up, up there, with the other one:
I can’t promise! (referring to pe*ing in the floor) : ) that nearly choked me on my olives. Even in public I laugh when I remember it.
-----
Pitty that the blog doesn’t do a X-mas party and to give some prizes along the lines off:
• the best repartee goes to XXYYY
• The longest post goes too BPBPBPB
• The classiest joke was said by jjjg JJJ
• Best anecdote was brought by hhfhfg HHH
• Most popular member is ( is a close call between a Cardinal and a Pope) etc
__________________.

[let's see, can i offend anyone else?] AZ

This is where most go:
Nooo, you didn’t, you couldn’t even if you tried. Cheese* wouldn’t melt in yer mouth. (Please note, cheese comes with an *, do not fall for it, again)

Greece, UK, France, that’s nearly 1/3 of EU, in one stroke you offend a 3-rd of a continent. :)

Richard will return, he will, sooner or later, maybe he is busy ‘doing’ X-mas and we speculate about his total wellbeing. As long as he is safe, Greece is safer.

Greece is suffering the same that most countries have gone through, i.e France not long ago, UK in the 80 etc, a disparity and dislocation between the Government and the governed. Some call it disquiet, others use the word riot. Whatever it is, the Greeks will find out ( like most do) that it is fun, exhilarating and something to tell your grandkids, but it will hardly change anything. Evolution work in millions of years, we kid ourselves that few 000 will make a difference. That isn’t enough to change a radical in digestive enzyme let alone radicalise human behaviour or expect us to be more rational.

Now to AF. You had to drag me back to that, didn’t you?

I say 2, Aretha fills the screen with her presence, and more but there are people who wouldn’t accept that, or challenge it. These people are the people you need. Instead of giving you high 5 and praising your taste (that is not bad, but needs further education, yes, even at your age!) tell you that the world, is a little bigger than you previously though.

Let me tell you an example. Most folks, if asked about the most realistic war scenes in modern movies, will say they are made by Steven Spielberg. Nothing wrong with that, I would say the same (or move my head approvingly) if I do not have the time (to educate people) for arguments. BUT, If in the mood I’ll say, well and good, BRAVO to Stevie (I like his work- BTW) but I seen a movie that its as near to a real war as it looks like a documentary, better still, looks like war itself. Not concerned about the plot, sometimes overacting and over dramatisation (usually normal in Asiatic movies) but the scenes from/of War.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386064/
(no, I haven’t ‘seen’ it in google, but for real)
About two Korean brother who fight in the same side, then the older brotehr defects to the North then he becames a decorated platton comander there, then he meets his young brother in middle of the battle and starts to kill commies to protect his bro etc.
Try to find it out and you won’t be disappointed.
If feeling adventurous try this other one.( 9-th company) a Russian war movie, (true story) as good as it gets. By all means, continue to love Stevie S. but then you’ll know what better, higher and faster means. No, that’s not the Olympic motto-stay with me!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417397/

(both have described war Scenes more realistically that Private Ryan, IMHO)

A big budged, loads of blood the best technology doesn’t mean that you can make the best movie, song or whatever. It is the ingenuity.
Talking to a guy who sings (to himself, I don’t do public singing, lol) ‘counting flowers on the wall, little green bag, or who likes Roy Orbison, CB and few other choices far and wide, means that he has an opinion too, (who even likes country music, lol,) A good one, usually I am rarely wrong.

Why does this come about? (for some reason you bring out the analyst on me)

-1st it has little to do with you.
(In Amer. Jargon you say it, It aint yer fault!)

You come from a country (don’t get offended, and if you do, it matters little, lol, as I am as pro amerigo, as one can get, but..) where you think you are ALONE, In this country. It is exhibited in few others too, sporadically (last week) newspapers in UK were falling over themselves PRAISING the brave cricketers for their BRAVE decision to go and play in India Despite security fears.

All the worlds eyes are in our lads; the world praises their bravery. You see the key world is the WORLD (not Bravery, lol) most of these people forget that the WORLD Doesn’t play cricket. Doesn’t care about it, less so bitting its nails and praising cricket players about UK. Boldly nearly 80% of the world doesn’t know what cricket is. Not can they name a cricket player or get impressed with their Bravery.

A world – (minus) 80% of the world, is hardly the world!

You can hit any Chinesse with a cricket bat, and he wont know what hit him. So 4/5 of the world ( bar Pakistan/ india and few lil countries) do Not know Cricket, the WORLD Is a bigger concept . EASIER to say it lol.

BACK To USA. You guys think the world is YOU.
Can I persuade you otherwise. AM I Mad to try? Not really, constant education will achieve something, In the end. It is not the snob European telling you a new idea, is the nice guy trying to enlarge your window of the world (read –concept) is it do-able…Well. Lemme try.

A country that ‘holds’ its own WORLD SERIES has trouble of getting the concept of series as a term, furthermore the World.

People who go to watch a ‘World Championship’ minus the World are either :
- too close minded
- not really bothered about minimal terminology and excel in egocentrism
- are armed with nukes, and one can’t argue with.
d- think that geography is unecessary as a science. We can make up any notion as we go along.
(who can stop me -for example- from calling my enighbourhood A Continent?)

I imagine an America, where folks wake up one day and say:
Guys, guys…wait, where is the World? World includes china, germany, uk , france, india, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Ukraine, Brazil, Mexico, heck even Haiti, and we haven’t invited them…so shall we give them a ring and ask if they wanna play ball. LOL.

In many places these ideas/ concept can be called eccentric, exaggerations, anomalies etc…but in USA, It’s a way of LIFE.

That is why, it is hard for you (yes, you 2 individually) to accept another way of thinking. Your way is set. AF is for this. Maria that / Celine for the other and Elvis is the king (no he aint, nor frank) what will it take to make someone realise that ‘set ways’ are good in the tradition sense for they may not correspond with the way the world moves. That is the real World.
As Boccaccio said to the bad guys ‘Eppur si muove’ .To you that means (to me 2) still it moves, with or without your permition.

There are even better ‘blues/ soul’ singers outside of USA, even people who are not black (I know a hard concept for most to grasp…but think about it for a while…just think) nor seen N.Orliins in their lives.

As for 179 Judges I am severely not-impressed.

The founding fathers had more sense when they called it a ‘jury of your peers’ (you took it too literally, In that R. Stones of yours) they didn’t mean in your narrow profession, but peers as in simply the butcher, the baker, the greengrocer and a carpenter or two.
That is a jury of your peers, I doubt it they will even choose Areta. Lol. Or unless they want to pander to the PC tokenism that this world suffers today.
So they say Areta, and people sleep soundly having it confirmed that they were right all along. When all clever people know that masses aren’t always right.

Who kicks ass? Who else but Chuck Norris (as an example – of deeply ruted preconception)
(WOOong, Jackie Chan, kicks them more, and is bloodless too! Beat that Chuck!)
Who is the best country for martial arts? Japan.
Wrong again. Its Korea, or phillipines, or brazil or …Thailand etc..
Who is…
_________________

BTW, I saw the brolin discrepancy the-1st time, but didn’t think it needed to be pointed out, that was the illustrating Object, it didn’t need to become the subject. Neither affected your point/ link or your excellent communication abilities and so on…

It takes some discipline not to point out things ‘that stand out so grossly’ that we feel superior or think that others expect us to correct them. Nope. Clever, wise and mature folks, just walk by.

Chehov said somewhere:
Its not good manners not to spill the sauce at the table, but to pretend not to have noticed it when others do’ You know Ch. who wrote Bruthas Karamazov.

It’s the same with the elephant, one puts In the corner, someone else feels the need to bring in the middle : ) So I go along and do little (silly and naughty lol) things such as calling RJ. an ex-SEO and wait for the 'daily-mailer' audience to ‘teach me and patronise me to death ‘ it makes them feel superior in their misery, after all ‘knowledge is their own personal property’ I love it.They can;t wait to 'explain to me' that SEO In fact used to be called SOE and how during the war this and that, and how Churchill told the arsonists during a AA meeting to go and light fires wherever they pleased etc…etc… while in fact I din’t mean that.
Even going as far as telling us that there was a WW2.
I just mean that RJ was a great ex-Search Engine Optimiser. Back to Chehov. My name fits a preconception, to the narrowest of minds’ someone called Blendi…hmmm lets stay with the Irish analogy for a while---hmm is he irish (he aint, but lets say…) he must be a Poet. So Blendi, drop us a rhyme, go on…but stay away from other subjects i.e molecular geography, cos you know chit..and that’s how it goes till prejudice-ity.

Anyhow, I LOVE to stay and chat more, but really do not have the time (no, really, lol) btw as you well know it isn’t me who said this -1st. It was Pascal.

Antoine Laurent de Pascal. He calculated that writing a shorter letter takes Longer. Go figure. But is true.
___

Back to the topic.

Permition to conduct a simple Poll, How many of you folks did google ‘nude photos of Melba’ (not judging anyone, lol) for research purposes?

Was it only me?

Hm…that is what happens when one doesn’t know what to say on a subject…we google it! We all do it. And then we google it some-more. I know I am not wrong.

Who hasnt done it, dont bother there are no Nude pictures of Dame n. melba.

P.S but if there are please drop us the link, so we can judge for ourselves (and compare) the obesity levels from 100 years ago, to today, on female opera singers.

[Gill]

Blendi, All I can say after your last post is "WOW". I am worried that if you win the lottery you will no longer feel able to grace us with your (?random) and hugely entertaining thoughts on the Universe :)

[azloon]

Blendi --

your posts leave me breathless. you too? :)

some observations:

it would have taken REAL restraint (as Chekov reminds us in 'war 'n piece') to have NOT told me you noticed my error about that Josh fellow after Dot had pointed it out. that indeed would have been in the spirit of Chekov -- but you squandered that opportunity by making sure that i knew about you knowing without immediately (but then later) telling me that you knew. oh well, next time, perhaps, you can live up to your own obviously high standard of self-discipline. :)

(suggestion: try giving a pretty good amount of money to a homeless person this christmas without expecting anything in return, and then not telling ANYONE about it -- chekov would approve, i'm sure).

about american ethnocentrism:

personally, i don't believe that my believing AF is the best singer i've ever heard is evidence of my parochialism. i may be parochial but that isn't evidence of it, imo. those weren't just americans who voted in that poll -- probably many of your fellow twitty brits since it was a timesonline story. :)

not every american is an ethnocentric dunce. you can certainly make a case there are a few such sorts over here (many?) but that doesn't mean all of us are. as far as music is concerned, if there is one area of culture where an american can rightfully believe that the u.s. has contributed disproportionately compared to the rest of the world, it is in the area of popular music. JMO.

btw, how about a list of non-american blues singers who are better than the original blues singers, besides the commitments and joss stone :). have there been any great Albanian blues singers? i would love to discover there have been. i'm serious.

re the world series

yes, calling it that is absurd. i watched the entire "World Baseball Classic' in 2007 and will watch again next year. it was awesome, a real world series. japan won last year, but korea and the dominican republic were incredibly talented. i wasn't that interested in how well the u.s. did, and can't even tell you. but i know they didn't win in a sports contest which is 'america's national pastime.' here's a link if you, by chance, are a baseball fan:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081210&content_id=3711427&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

about war movies:

i hate them, won't go to them, spielberg's or any korean/japanese director's. i didn't see saving private ryan, or clint eastwood's two ww2 flicks. i don't like realistic violence portrayed in film. i don't like to see fluid oozing out of someone's eye after it has been punctured by an ice pick or a bayonet. i have to constantly close my eyes, which makes paying to see the movie a waste of money. i can tolerate stylized violence, a la james bond or the bourne series, but those movies are mostly caca, so what's the point of going.

ok, before we go, let's all bow our heads and listen the voice of god:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE9AwR0awVQ

:)

p.s. welcome back, RJones. did you see anything from your window you might want to tell us about?

[dot king]

I must protest !
I wasn't "correcting" any "error" - I was asking if I'd missed something as I thought the singer in the clip was called Groban.

Blendi is the blog's Popeck :)

[Blendi Progri]

GILL, winning the lottery wont change me. The biggest change will be that I will write an e-book and sell it on e-bay, telling people ‘my system’.
Lol, really, if I win I wont be able to keep my winnings mah wife says that ‘I’ll want to help everyone and give away till I lose it all’ let me ‘govern it’ but I know that leaving money to a woman will mean that it will be spent/ anyhow/ on shopping.

So am thinking of savings to be made if I do not play it at all.
£3.50-per-week. In a year thats nearly £160.
In 10 years = £1600.
In 30 years, that is £4800.
So why don’t I save? Keep the money not waste it in Lottos. Then invest the Lump Sum, or better have a broker do it for me and make more money on stock market, and …well investments are lottery, wait…darn it…lemme go and buy that ticket : ), invest it myself.
______________________

Vecchio
(@ Azloon ) keep up with me. If I had more time, I’d chat more, but not so much time as to make it a short one.Rest assured about restrain, I have it and am a nice guy too, so can do it. But since you give me permission, whenever you write a factual mistake I’ll point it out. To you only. BTW I know my Barbaras.

The homeless analogy isn’t a good one. I give to the homeless as it makes me feel good about myself, not to make a song and dance about it (though some, many do) empathy is a valuable human feeling, but all do it firstly to feel good about themselves. How it is demonstrated publically or privately, depends on the individual. Please do not generalise! Altruism has many forms, and why shouldn’t it be that there are quite Altro-s that do it quietly.

You couldn’t be parochial if you tried and your ‘worshiping of AF’ doesn’t prove anything bad, either way, where it gets ‘bad’ is your inability to accept that ‘others’ may not like what you do, or even object loudly.

War movies was just an example, to prove that, going with ‘the general’ taste, some times get you nowhere. ( here I was thinking you were a tough guy, and you can’t bear blood and guts and gore…hmmm) but I can get another example too.

I have a friend that goes around saying he is a Luis Prima fan and listens to his works etc…just to impress people. Some don’t know who LP is, if others know (if you point it out to them, that he sang it) Just a Gigolo, I ain’t got nobody …that’s basically it…for many.

What happens is that he listens in my car ‘Mac the knife’ likes it so much asks for the singer’s name ( I have given up telling him that is pronounced Luiii, not Luis, or Luiz, and it takes two Luigi’s to sing it, not one) and I give him some background.
Few girls at work think him as a romantic, whistling about catchy songs from ‘da past’

A real L.Prima fan knows a little more. And that LP is much more than two catchy songs. I may know that he sang ‘for’ King Lui ( the monkey king’ that took Mogli away but the accidental fan doesn’t. If asked who was the greatest it-American singer in in USA he will say Luis P. Woong again. The difference in snobbery, following the ‘general preconceptions’ and fixed ideas, couldn’t be greater.

I am not saying that you don’t know AF, only that, she aint the best.
Did any Albo sing blues. Well, pal, when I was growing up ‘Blues’ was only a colour in Albania. And those who tried to imitate few blues bars or watch them sneakily ( in It/Yugoslav tv) risked a lot more than heckling.

It was a regime that could make you black (literally, in every sense) so in prison one could sing it in his head, feeling black too. Since we are at Blue, BTW, In my lingua there is a term /colour called Blu Saks ( as is Blue Sax) ( means light/striking blue, a tad more pronounced that sky blue, in density) and I do not know where it came from or from what lingua is borrowed ( as we have no word like that) if anyone recognises it, let me know.

[[[if there is one area of culture where an american can rightfully believe that the u.s. has contributed disproportionately compared to the rest of the world, it is in the area of popular music. JMO]]] AZLOON

Sorry to hammer this down, I know is an opinion, it is your opinion but it is an arrogant opinion. I do not dare to guess any other nationality that would have been able to do that!

How did you quantify it?

Do you have an idea about the ‘compared-to-the-rest-of-the-world’?
I do not know about your ( usa) contribution to the Slavic popular music ( Serbian, Russian, Ukraine etc) lets say 2-300 m. people.or more.

As I am not aware of USA song-writers having an effect on their Turkish brethrens ( and Turkish-style music in few other countries) that’s 120.140 m.folks.

Maybe USA has contributed to Arabic popular music ( I doubt it in a good way, only to swear at amerigi, perhaps, lol) and other Muslim countries and they ungratefully do not give the credit back. There go few hundred millions. Maybe 5-6-700m.

Well, what about China, or lets go to India with a huge tradition in popular music ( a music that I love to hear, btw) or…
Az, contributing to the world music, isn’t throwing at us two Britneys, 3 Christina, shaving us with a Justin or a Michael, and expecting us to say, yep guys you got it. This is music. It ain’t. You can throw at us (read- rest-of-da-world) the best you have right now, but the botty-shaking of Beyonce and Jenny from the hood won’t win the world over.

There are few folks in the world that will say this is Crap. USA has made some good music, but not always. And if we say ‘your music’ is good, what other music do you know, to compare it?

As for good blues groups around the world, I’m not going to tell you right now.
You are still learning thermodynamics…( digest these first) and you want to talk quantum straight away. I know the desire, but it can’t be done. Patient.

The concept that a ‘white singer can do better blues than a black one, takes an open minded person, you aren’t that open right now, and are too minded at present.
Some Russian groups do mean blues, I heard, but do not concern yourself with that.

If black people sing blues, why can’t white people sing blues? Are you trying to discriminate…or just saying that white folks can’t sing. Cos that racist!

One Albanian connected with blues ( since you ask) is for me to be blamed, more than most, for this ‘popular liking’ of blues and soul. Yep the drugged guy and why not Dan too, Dan Acroyd. The director 2. Shoot him.

That movie ( and while movies help to popularise music) has made more folks ignorant about the blues, that if they haven’t never heard the Term- blues/jazz/soul
Little knowledge is dangerous, that’s what the movie did. It may have spurned few to research more, but not many. It was too intense and superficial to let anyone time to think. The same as if one sees ( and if they lived at the same time) ONCE, for 30 minutes, Pele, Maradona, Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore, di Stefano, Puskas, Platini, etc playing together and having fun.

It will be crazy, psychedelic, totally mad and folks won’t know what hit them. As each one on its own can carry a team and give people spectacle.
Is not normal and totally unnatural. So much talent in one movie seems un-real. Soviet Propaganda would have balked at that. No agit-prop commissar would have certified such kitch. Say what you like about commissars but they knew their blues.

Bringing so much talent in one place only confuses people. There si No Time fro folks to ‘see’ ‘hear’ and ‘get it’ .They even tried a war movie with ‘my name is Michael cane’ and some good footballers and it didn’t work.
I know these names speak little to you, if at all, but they come from a sport that the World plays, the real world. With a real world cup. We call it football.
That is what Blues Brothers did…untold damage ( IMHO, h- is always honest) to the field of blues/ soul. People sing ‘everybody loves somebody’ and have no idea about the real blues that comes deep from within.
Anyhow…
All in all a good movie, a great movie, if one counts the number of cars destroyed and it was nice of them give cab Callaway a 23 seconds slot. What can I say about that movie.

So in ‘the world series’ you invite the Dominican Republic ( I take it as a given that the good Dominicans do not refuse the invitation, please confirm - if other ways) ohh…Korea also, you kidding me…I didn’t know that.
By educating you, I educate myself a little, hmm Korea too…that’s ok then.lol
___.
Your link about R.O. is much appreciated and it put me in a pensive mode, it goes to show that you got an inner world, even if you are an American. I feel grateful (and a little teaful in appreciation) that you spared me Pretty Woman link ( I call that a mark of respect) or that you didn’t send me Johnny Cash. Thank you, and I mean it. ; )

I love to illustrate things, or tell ( and listen too) stories. So here’s one last one, about the ‘real world’ . if you wanna read it.
In UK we have a programme called Question Time, I watch it every single week wherever I am in the world ( I use a programme called joost –pronounced Juice- that gives me access to my tv at home) and I like it, generally. The format is simple, the programme moves from city-to-city, yes you said it, like a travelling circus.
They invite 5-6 people, journalists, MP-s, ministers and a famous writer or analysts etc.

The panel answers questions form the public, the chair is David Bumbleby ( his real surname is Dimbleby) who has some style, and sound like a good guy. Btw, I like him.

It used to be that the Party in Power send often 2- class ministers and the opposition its biggest guns up to the party leader.
Later it slipped to the point where Government sends a 3-rd rate junior minister or even an obscure MP and the opposition sends …only bothers to send a Woman MP, or someone from minorities to show they are working on it’ rarely managing to send a Woman and a minority.
Tories had it harder though, till they found someone called Baroness Warsi, poor woman, how she gets the time to sleep all that media work.
What a woman, a woman, an MP, a minority woman. Great woman. They gave her a baronetcy too she parrots Tory propaganda e.i we like minorities and people who aren’t that white.
( coming back to General Ideas, preconceived popular preconceptions and so on…)

Back to Mr. Bumbleby.

Last week in UK, the Government proposed to sell cigarettes under the counter ( for real) to protect the public. Difference being with Soviet Union that under the counter wasn’t officially condoned by the government, but here it will be. To protect the public they say, don’t ask me how/why all gov are a bit Mad.

Anyhow the public got a bit livid, jumpy and asking and debating: why should cigarettes be sold under the counter. Bumbley turned to a minister and asked Why?

-James Purnell-minister- Lab, said :
To protect the public, as cigarettes do much damage etc…

-Bumbleby did an another ( sic ) 75 degree turn:
- why don’t we ban Butter, as it will save us from heart attacks!

And smiling knowingly. Shamelessly pandering ( and savouring) the audience/aundience’s reaction. Everybody smiled, being ‘in’. In the know.

We all know that eating butter, increases cholesterol and it clogs the arteries and it results in heart attack!

Right?

No.
Rong.

Very Wrong.

What Bumbleby doesn’t know, and how could he is that the ‘butter analogy’ is neither here nor there. If you know that, you feel bad for humans that take many things for granted and as if set in stone. There is no real conclusive scientific evidence that says cholesterol/fat is bad! ( btw if there is, I love to hear it) but everyone says what they hear from others ( its CHO’s that are bad, not fat/ protein, but anyhow)

Mr Bumbleby, in fact says what most (not all) believe, that fat is Bad for you.
How could he know that dietary fat/ lets call it cholesterol ( to make it more visible) has no effect on the body’s cholesterol. How could he know that the so called wonder drugs ( i.e statins) are doing so much harm trying to reduce something that the body naturally produces and needs and can even lower it to dangerous levels?

He cant know that. Bumbleby doesn’t even know that it isn’t cholesterol that does this massive damage, but its homocysteine the main factor that bring-is the precursor-can effect an heart attack. Not to get too technical but its mainly like the history of the spinach. WE THINK WE KNOW, WHEN WE DON’T or are wrong all along.

100 years ago a tired clerk moved a comma two decimal places and folks started to scream ‘Spinach is good for you. It has iron, a LOT’ So much so that mums around the world where pushing their kids to eat Spinach.

Dreaming at night (instead of having sex, .relaxing, being more chilled and making our dad’s lives a little easier) methods of cooking SPINACH, TO MAKE IT MORE PALATABLE.

Spinach is Spinach, no matter how you cook it. Boiled, salad it, add rice, add meat, roll it, fill it, hang it, fry it, lick it, kick it…..is Damn Spinach. Only for Popey works.
Not for kids.

Many a mum failed, but did they give up?

Nope, mine didn’t. Eat the damn thing she would say, as ‘mild’ a woman as they come, and then would display her sacrifices of past 4 decades to make you feel guilty to the point where you really believed the eating that damn spinach, would ‘cure’ mum.
( no she wasn’t mad, just like most mums) So we ate the damn thing. And dreaded the time where she would cook it again.

My son would not eat it, what can I do? One mum would say to another meeting in the landings of our building.
Well mine too…the other concerned mum would reply.
What are we going to do. The iron they are missing.Ehh they are shortening our lives with this spoiled attitude to food.

We, the little devils would pip our ears, listen and think that aint fair, spinach is soo good and tastes vile. Why? Some kids were persuaded to the point where they expected it to see the spinach in the form of nails in their plates.

Now the mistake is rectified, someone else did another measurement ( is hard to break a habit, the same with vitamins, we know as much about Vit. as we did in 30-40-50-ties, once its written people take it with no questions-that is it) and said :
Wheyeye.Hoyaaaa. Guys, Spinach has 0.00005 % iron on raw weight, compared to what we previously though 0.005, so the amount is negligible and there’s no need to torture little children.

Will mums get it? No. Why, cos it will take another 200 years to break that spell/ That is how most humans think, led like buffalos to the water, once jumps in the whole herd goes after.
_________/

Well, I wish I could stay more, ( I say this politely, don’t take it literally,, as if when inside a house/ or someone you like to chat/ be/drink etc with, one says I wish I could stay more…) and continue my convo, but can’t, as I have something bothering me right now…but since its in global level, will leave it for another day. There’s as many topics one can do in one sitting, even for me that’s not an easy task. So global has to wait…for now.

g.night.
p.s Wonder if you can help

When I put this song to people who have never heard it before, you see Human Reaction as ‘it is supposed to be’.
People start to grove, move with the rhyme, wait…wait..wait…to get in the spirit…this is it they think, perfect,,,just now few words, humming…humming…hmm it’s a tad long this opening and then the doubts starts: Hmm is this a song with no words, who is ‘singing it’ what is happening, maybe after this next crescendo it will come…it never does…a human voice comes in to confuse them more with some sounds…lmao…and that’s how it goes.

Our brain doesn’t ‘get it’ that a song can be a song without the need to be a song, as we know it. Check this out and tell me, you are wrong. Do you have the heart too? ZZ top.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_MKPby9D8MQ&feature=related

Can you tell me that despite this ‘unusual song’, people love to hear it a 2-nd time and actively seek to hear it.
( I despair, often, at what this generation of under 40 is missing, I am an exception, but what about others, I often feel sad who will educate them when we’re gone)

I am sure that you are au fait with the work that Kozlov did on human reflexes. When folks are conditioned, they can’t change a habit, it proves too hard, and they don’t even open a book, now that Google is here they are lulled in an even deeper sense of ‘security’ so we have masses of people walking around thinking (or not) and believing that they know…about things that are completely different from what we ‘know.

p.s its 11.55 pm and tomorrow must be Sunday, in UK at least. : )

[azloon]

Blendi

as usual, your contribution is herculean ! and lol funny/smart.

i would hate to be an idea competing for space in your brain. :)

NOW

unable to stream my consciousness as you seem to be able to do so easily, i resort to a boring, linear recounting of my reactions/mental processes.

re spinach

my mother forced it on me too, along with cod liver oil. i was able to swallow the cod liver oil but had to excuse myself from the dinner table, mouth full of barely-masticated spinach, for a trip to the loo where i would spit it into the toilet. i'm sure she knew what i was doing, but like many other of my activities, like jacking off, she didn't confront me about it. (did you know that as a man gets much older there is much more 'jacking' than 'off'?

yes, people think they know a lot of things that they don't know shit about, like the nutritional value of spinach. so, the human race is misinformed/delusional. what's new? what would you have to complain about if this weren't so. :)

btw, you don't know everything about spinach either. quite a bit, more than almost anyone else,, but not everything. thinking you know so much more than the average slob can be dangerous as well. n'est-ce pas?

re Music

i wasn't referring to brittany spears, beyoncee or other contemporary performers. they are mostly caca. i meant big mama thornton, john lee hooker, muddy waters, bobbie 'blue' bland, sonny boy williamson. what were they singing in albania, france, slovenia, outer mongolia when there people were beginning to express themselves muscially? this isn't cultural imperialism, ethonocentrism. it's fact. btw, how much arab or turkish music do you listen to every day? how many estonian folk songs do you have on your ipod? this is mostly a european blog and so most folks are most familiar with western forms of music. god bless chinese harps, indian sitars (indian music increasingly has western influence), and american indian flute playing. much of it is wonderful. but i prefer so-called world music, which has universal appeal, the ry cooder collaberation with ali farka toure being an example. i don't think a person is more cosmically aware because he or she knows tibetan chanting and listens to it once a year.

re lottery

my lottery is open to you. you get four pounds back for every five you put in. guaranteed.

so what the hell is this bumbleby show about, the one you seem to enjoy so much? i couldn't tell from your description.

re statins

i take two capsules of red yeast rice each day, a natural statin i get from the health food store. my doc recommended it. i don't know if it will help me avoid a heart attack but it does lower my HDL cholesterol. my father almost died at age 49 of a massive coronary attack, so i am superstitious. i don't care about endless studies showing this and that. i've only got so much time in the day to devote to understanding blood. btw, my doc, a bright guy who reads medical journals, takes a daily statin prophylactically. maybe we'll both die prematurely from being mistaken. as i said before, "diet, exercise, die anyway.'

zz top

tres hombres rocks/rules, is bad ass chit. add them to the white blues list. yes, even an occasional white (european?) can play/sing passable blues. :)

shopping

you're wife must be world-class shopper. you can't seem to avoid mentioning her proclivities in each of your posts. do you think world-wide depression a la post ww2 germany will slow her up? if there were nothing to buy, what would she buy?

to conclude, i think i know (je pense donc je suis), and that's enough for me, until not actually knowing is about to kill me. color me delusional.

well, i hate to eat 'n run, but....i'm outta here