le jardin

[LaurieAK]

linda-lizzy-bee-etc-

i feel like i am drowning in infooooooooo....hehe

i'll glom onto the gossipy stuff

bee- your neighborhood sounds full of creative energy...i know they're just people, but it is a bit of a thrill to run into those 'well known.' Sounds like they are part of the scenery where you are...and that very close encounter with Rod Steiger-what great memory. Makes me smile to read what you have to say about jlo...not for the problems she causes others, but hearing she is an obnoxious diva.

a couple of years ago when i was visiting the Met museum, i kept running into Dustin Hoffman and his family amongst the maze of paintings...i didn't bother him or anything it was just funny how i'd turn a corner and there he'd be, i swear i wasn't stalking i've met a few opera folks...Andrea several times. I sat through Werther in Detroit still smelling his aftershave on my hands and cheeks from meeting in him the street shortly before the opera...i was pathetically ecstatic about it

Linda-ouch-even Quebec is tiring of Celine. That's pretty funny. I think she is a citizen of Vegas now...

Lizzy-excellent job catching up..thanks!

i'm running outta ink......

later,
L

[bee]

Hello Lizzy, Linda, Laurie- LLL The big 3L
Why don't we open the harem here on this thread where only Kush can enter as a Sultan, and we'll be Sultanas?
I went there (as I promised to Sultan-Kush) and I bought the red shirt CD,($16.95) because there were only 2 more, very one in gray shirt and one in black shirt. Sure, I was wrong - the one with the red shirt was not were Celine is on, so I bought that one and I am listening to that right now. So far I liked liked #5-Caruso, #7-Le Tue Parole is kinda nice too. Will see what's gonna happen next.
Lizzy you getting better, are you? I think so.
Laurie, the painting -Elizabeth is dedicated to Elizabeth- this one - the Lizzytish, and also my mon- she is Elizabeth too. She is letting birds to go outta room, sending somewhere. There is a bit too strong contrast there between light and shadow, so on the photo the shadowy part is almost completly dark, but is not so in nature. I have to try to take photo on this in a daylight.
It is so sweet you've met Andreas, lovely. I can understand you are listening to him very differently after that.
About Rod Staiger it was really so strange to meet him and talk to him and spend almost an hour just 2 of us. His wife ( with an awful plastic surgery) but ok lady, she was shopping at the gift shop and than sitting in the Basilica. Staigers feet were hurting, so he had to sit down over and over. But I always adored him, his piercing eyes, just always. And here I met him shortly before he was gone forever.
Yes, Linda what is it with that Celine, that she drives people nuts and they hate her even without good reason, because it is so commercial?
Dustin Hofman must be a very smart guy, isn't he?
At that Streetlight shop Celine's CD were on sale for $2.99 a piece.
Linda, it is funny about your jazz colection, but perhaps is better now, because now you know more or less what do you really want.
I have to admitt( perhaps it is a sin on LC forum) but I very much like Laurien Hill- hip hop and some other rap things, the ritm and the beat very much wakes me up and energizes. As older i get as less I like too much drama- in literature or poetry, everywhere.
see you later- Sultanas!

[LaurieAK]

bee-all-

Thanks for the info on 'elizabeth'... i did not see the birds, like you say. Lizzy, what a sweet privilege to have this dedication. Bee, like i said before, i am very interesting in seeing extended captions regarding your paintings on a website. I know there is so much i do not know...

And bee, thanks for making the effort to get that cd. I hope you like Rapsodia I know i HAVE to be in the mood for easy listening to hear it, otherwise it is irritating...grates against my aura or somthing along those lines (haha). I'm not real keen on hiphop, but love hard rock and even some techno can be very energizing.

Yes, Linda, you are now the keeper of Celine. You must be accountable to us for her being so damned irritating (hehe) ...it's a crappy job but someone has to do it. Please tell her to stop. thanks

As for meeting Andrea. I went into 'it' having discovered his voice, which in turn let me discover the beauty of opera, italy, new acquaintances and travel in general. It was a ballooning thing. But meeting the guy never changed my original awe for his voice; that is something unexplainable...it did increase the terrible crush i 'had' on the guy for a bit. He is gorgeous, sweet and smells wonderful. He has also put out some cd's that i do not like at all...so i am not so overpowered in meeting him that i adore all he does. I keep perspective.

ciao for now,
L

[bee]

Laurie- I was so amused imagining Linda as Celin's keeper in Las Vegas- still laughing, what a picture, don't know though how Linda herself is feeling about it- can she hold the office? Perhaps she should put some of LC CD's very loud for Celin to listen at breakfest time, so Celin would start meditating about Zen or Kabbala and soon enough she forgets the singing carrier. She joins Madonna at the Kabbala center drinking kabbala water and serving lamb stew to the believers. Linda comes back to us and tells- mission accomplished. Linda, are you up to the task?
Laurie, I find that so delightful that you had a crash on Andreas, it is so tremendously sweet- the path it led you to- opera- art so complex.
Andreas CD- I am still not sure, tommorow I'll be home all day painting,- I'll try to listen to it again, loud and clear, let's see what will happen- it did grate a bit my aura, just as you said
Yes, and hard rock too, it just goes so well with me sometimes, many times, even techno
off to bed, later

[lizzytysh]

Boy, I'll say on being and feeling honoured ~ ! Such good company, too, being with the painter's mother ! Perhaps, those birds are my lost friends' spirits in the freedom of flight . I love that thought. The least I could do, now, is view the painting itself!?! BIIIIIIIIIII??????????? Thank you, my friend, for such an incredibly lovely gesture.

I'm with you on the hip-hop, Bee . Something about the syncopation of voices that fascinates me. Enjoy the way the male singers move across the stage, too. I still admire Tupac ~ and wish he'd had the chance to live out his potential on a social-conscience-and-change level. I don't listen to it like I once did, however.

Yes, I'm getting better. Still cry unexpectedly with the 'least' provocation, but I'm beginning to feel more 'whole' again.

Love,
Elizabeth

[Kush]

Lizzytysh....

Kush ~ "He sings as a bird does: in total response to being alive". I love that. Such a high compliment for the truth within the singer.

linda_lakeside

Interesting comment about Kush. I know there are many talented people in this Forum, I just wish I had the opportunity to somehow read, see, hear or watch whatever art form they are involved in!

linda....I think you have misunderstood. I can assure you I do not sing anything like a bird...the only time I sing is in my car (very occasionally and only if I'm alone) and a cow mooing would be more like it.
Lizzytysh was quoting my quote of Madine Gordimer's comment on South African singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela. kinda confusing.


Laurie..I think the big thing about Bocelli is he is the only one who understands the pop music idiom very well unlike other opera singers who try to sing pop. He really understands just what it is about pop music that makes it click. In his own way he has really popularized or shall we say democratized opera.

[bee]

Elizabeth- you'll get to view the painting today, I just have to take a better photo on it in the daylight, because it turned out very dark in the shadow part.
Kush- in that in mind what you said about Bocelli- I wil listen to CD again today.

[LaurieAK]

Kush- the irony is that he does not like 'pop' music. His managment team is aware it is necessary, after all music is business. If he had his way, all he'd sing is opera...but there is not big bucks in that. And (i think) he is forever indebted to what Romanza did to bring his voice to America and the world. So is "opera" if they'd stop, think and quit being pissed about him

Three years ago (this month) i had the privilege of being interviewed briefly for a NYTimes article by Matthew Gurewitsch regarding the 3 new 'crossover' tenors: Bocelli-Safina-Watson. The article is an interesting look at how these newcomers are effecting opera; the types of folks attending, etc. It's actually pretty interesting, despite the quotes from me.

Wait! i am not a total hiphop reject. I do have a couple of eminem cd's!! & Outkast! See! I'm hip....(hahaha) No reeeeeaally.

later, L

p.s. Bee-Rapsodia. It does not melt your socks off?!?

[bee]

Laurie, you! giving interviews great! can you post the article here?
I also have the eminem Cd.
Just a bit off the subject of Bocelli- I was watching a movie last night on the Sundance chanal- "Osama"
It is so shocking . It is about a 12 year old girl living under Taliban
Her mother is a doctor, her father was killed in Kabul war, her grandfather was killed in the russian war. What is left is her mother in grandmother, but they are in a situation where these 3 women have to starve to death because the mother is not aloud to work as a doctor or go out on the street without a male escort. She is sneeking out risking her life anyhow, to give help to some patients. The grandmother comes up with the idea that they can dress up the girl as a boy that way she could get a job at some friends little shop. They do that , the girl becomes Osama. Even more horror starts when she as a boy is taken to school, military training and Koran studies. Soon she is unmasked as being a girl, tortured and sent to jail. Mulla-judge is sentencing her to death. Other mulla makes a deal with the judge and he buys her out to be married to him- (he already has several little girls as wives)
Mulla takes her away to his home and she is to be raped by this 70 year old pedophile, (under pretensy of marriage)
After seeing it I was wandering- is there any big idea of God or something else in the world worth following, if it turns people so insane that they loose all humanity?
It was the most horror movie I've ever seen, because it was a true story.

[LaurieAK]

addendum: i took this question to be directed at me because of bee's wording in her post. in hindsight of course it can be directed to and answered by anyone...in fact, i hope someone(s) else chimes in. L

bee-

Tragic story.
They are endless. Just this morning i heard on my radio about a couple in Alaska who were piloting their own small plane in a snow storm. Tragedy struck, the plane went down into a lake. The parents survived, swimming to shore. Their 3 young daughters are dead. Their family gone in a moment in which we all continue living as usual.

I'm not sure what you are asking of me. So i will go on instinct. My feeling is that a person needs to find a spiritual (i don't want to use the word religious) 'safety net' that explains what we cannot comprehend on the small picture...one that explains the big picture. I cannot comprehend a 'god' in the christian sense that 'allows' one thing and not another. Who would choose? Why choose? There is too much prejudice in that and no comfort for those who are on what feels like the loosing end...touched by seemingly senseless tragedy.
My personal beliefs were tested in the worse way. I can say without them being there to catch me, i wouldn't be speaking to you. So i say, find that which explains without blame. Most difficult, but necessary. No blaming god. No blaming the perpetrators. No blaming recipients. Otherwise, it is a chaotic world, with no purpose. That to me is tragic, you must embrace everything, the good, the bad and the ugly.

L

[LaurieAK]

me again-

Laurie, you! giving interviews great! can you post the article here?

It was just a one time shot. I'll see if i can pull it off line and i'll email it to you. I don't want to take up the space here.

later,
L

[bee]

But ask Laurie Eckhout, a data processor recently turned on to opera. ''I couldn't stand opera before I heard Bocelli,'' Ms. Eckhout said from her home in Juneau, Alaska. ''He made me into a great opera fan. Now I've been to three operas at the Met, and they were wonderful. And I went to Los Angeles to hear Domingo sing Wagner with Gergiev, which really broadened my horizons. I watch operas on videotape. But I'm still very much a fan of Bocelli and Safina. I've only heard Safina sing pop, and I love that, but I'd love to hear him do opera, too. Absolutely.''

Laurie- wow- how good is that!!!
Thank you for giving me to read the article, it is very good.
How did they get on to you? It is just great that you contributed to this, I suppose Andrea has read it too, has he called you ?:oops:

[LaurieAK]

Laurie- wow- how good is that!!!
Thank you for giving me to read the article, it is very good.
How did they get on to you? It is just great that you contributed to this, I suppose Andrea has read it too, has he called you ?

bee-

Glad you enjoyed the article. I thought it was pretty interesting. M.G. knows his stuff.

"How did they get onto me?"

Well, i could tell you, but then i'd have to kill you. (hahahah) It was a case of someone knowing someone who suggested the writer call me. For me, a lowly Alaskan, it was pretty cool.

I don't know if Andrea ever got ahold of this article. He never calls or writes

It's all good!

L

[bee]

Laurie- hilarious

Well, i could tell you, but then i'd have to kill you. (hahahah

Jeez- you are a bit of a fanatical nature and I like it.

[linda_lakeside]

Hello All,

I've just got a few minutes here, so I'd like to say a few things before I have to take off again.

First, as the new 'Keeper of Celine', I hereby declare that she will be made to eat 3 squares a day. I hate looking at a woman who is a size -0. Now that I'm on her staff, I guess I'm entitled to my 10-20% of her income - so, my time will be very limited as I'll be doing quite a bit of shopping.

One thing I'm going to shop for is Andrea. I've heard so much I've got to give it a shot. Maybe when I go down to Vancovuer in cripes! a couple of weeks, I'll see if my Dad has some or I'll just pick one up. I'd like to get opera as opposed to pop so I'll re-read the pages and go on one of Laurie's recommendations.

Bee, thanks for sending me the lovely photos! I'm saving them all to my computer - hope you don't mind. Very nice gesture to dedictate to Lizzy~ quite a gal, our Lizzy.

Kush, well for a while, at least, you were elevated in my eyes (ears) as something close to Andrea, I guess. Now, you've come down to my
level, as I moo in the car, too. I'm never going to correct an accidental rhyme ever again. Oh, Kush? How does it feel to be a Sultan? I've always wondered.

Well, I've got the rest of the board to read before I have to go out again. Nice chatting with you folks. The big 3L - I love it!

See you all later. Hang in there.
Laurie - thanks for all the info on Andrea.

Ciao for now,
Linda.