le jardin

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 3:08 am

the poets kitchen

bee-that term is priceless

tom- i have now had the great opportunity to view bee's paintings, including this one. Wow. Beyond spectacular, aren't they?

And it gave me a greater respect for your poem on EVE. You really captured it...and of course bee was delighted which is your greatest compliment

I've just read your 2nd version and need to ask what XANTHOUS means. It is not in my little paper back dictionary nor my beady little head...

My compliments to you both.

L

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 3:22 am

I would go so far as to guess that Xanthous is yellow. Rather a yellow dye. Something along those lines.

It seems, Laurie, that this is not the first time you and I have sat wondering on a word from tom.

Linda.

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 3:49 am

Oh gawd, Linda- i never considered a colour...i was thinking along the lines of something seminal. Your idea sounds more reasonable.

L

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 4:17 am

Well, he did say he didn't want to fall into the trap of the cliche of 'red lips' so who knows? I'm the one who had the brainwave about Imolc

You got the Groundhoud Day part right from the start.

Linda.

tom.d.stiller · Post by **tom.d.stiller** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 5:58 am

Dear friends,

"xanthous" indeed means "yellow", "yellowish", the kind of yellow, usually, of an egg yolk. I relished this additional reference to "fruitfulness"...

And I preferred "cerise" over "cherry" both for sound reasons and to reinforce the frenchness of the title. Does anybody of you know the chanson "Le temps des cérises"?

By the way, I very consciously work with dictionaries and thesauruses. I jot down the first draft dylan-quickly, but on revising I draw on all sources available.

This, of course, just serves the general purposes of hiding how poor of words I really am...

Cheers
tom

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 6:11 am

Come now, tom, no false modesty here. Poor of words? Non, non.

Linda.

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 6:24 am

"xanthous" indeed means "yellow", "yellowish", the kind of yellow, usually, of an egg yolk. I relished this additional reference to "fruitfulness"...

in a very tangental way, this could be stretched to 'seminal'

thanks for enlightening me/us.

And I preferred "cerise" over "cherry" both for sound reasons and to reinforce the frenchness of the title. Does anybody of you know the chanson "Le temps des cérises"?

hmm, maybe the dress could be 'rouge' instead of red?
i know, time for a dunce slap and a 'leave my poem alone!'

as for cherries, my only foreign cherry story is a few years ago i went to see Bocelli perform "L'Amico Fritz" in Verona. There is a "Cherry" aria in the opera. My friends and i had taken a train to Venice during this time and hit upon buying some murano glass cherries (they look, and feel real) and made of gift of them for Andrea. I have a few here at home as momentos....but i digress.............

I too work with dictionary and thesaurus (my cooking utensils)!!

L

tom.d.stiller · Post by **tom.d.stiller** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 6:29 am

Linda, I'm shocked

You really intend to accuse me of being a fisher for compliments?

You are right. I am. Just what I am...

tom.d.stiller · Post by **tom.d.stiller** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 6:42 am

LaurieAK wrote:hmm, maybe the dress could be 'rouge' instead of red?
i know, time for a dunce slap and a 'leave my poem alone!'

LOL, Laurie, but "rouge" would be rather overdrawing the point. Commonly applied to those means used to redden the cheek, I wouldn't use it for the dress - unless I'm really in need of a foreign sounding word, but "cerise" is quite common, and even "xanthous" is in every dictionary I looked at. Somewhere else I used a hidden pun referring to "nostalgia" / "notalgia" - in the line of "my nostalgia wasn't missing an s" - and no one recognized - well maybe it was too far-fetched.

I agree: dictionaries are the tools of the trade.

Thanks again by the way for the "salt-grained words"... (This instead of a "dunce slap".)

Cheers
tom

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:28 am

And thus concludes the finale of another tom poem spectacular. Thank you, tom. I am not being facetious, I truly mean it. Watching you write and revise is, like I said, poetry in motion.

Oh! Hark! On the radio. Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit". Gotta go.

Linda.

bee · Post by **bee** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:49 am

Linda- I think we really are priviliged to watch how the poets cook- I am fascinated.
Laurie- Please tell us more about the Bocelli's concert> What was your impression and how you feel about him?
I have mixed feelings, that is why I would very much appreciate your insight to this. I have not seen him in concert, just CD and of course, one can not compare that.

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 8:12 pm

HI bee-

About Bocelli...If i am giving you TOO much info from what your question asks, please bear with me

or just stop reading part way through...

As for OPERA, amongst the cognescenti he is pretty much despised for his success along with what they perceive is no or little talent.

If you have any of his opera cd's, they speak for themselves, as do his 'pop' cd's.

His live opera performances are something different from a cd. He is accused of having a 'small' voice, too small for opera venues. Having heard him do opera live (he is always UN-miked) i can say he is not as powerful as the other performers, but the beauty of his voice makes up (for me) any power he is lacking.

As a sidebar to live opera, having a blind man up there on stage acting, interacting, singing...well there is a great sense of respect and awe on one hand of his talents and abilities...on the other hand, it is a bit of a tight rope, edge of seat experience, hoping that no mis-steps are taken or prop mishaps. You want everything to go perfectly for him, but know there are so many things that could go wrong. He also has terrible stage fright...all things considered the man overcomes huge obstacles and still comes through singing beautifully. i have tons of respect for the guy.

In concert he is heavily miked, in those huge venues. He sings mostly arias in concert, peppered with a few of what are considered 'pop' songs...like from Romanza, Sogno, etc. The sound systems in these place can be awful. I always got as close to front row as i could.

I recommend seeing him live if you like him/him voice. If you adore him, try to see him in a live opera. He does not do very many and always in very short runs.

I have some pictures of the guy that i shared with the folks at bocelli.de. They have a german/english site.
If you are interested in viewing a short list is:
1999 Werther, Detroit the after opening dinner.
2000 the statue of liberty concert, i have some nice photos.
2001 (?) i have some Hyde Park photos and some from Dublin the next day. i was in front row of both these outdoor concerts and got some pretty good shots.

A funny thing came of my attending those concerts. A couple of years ago, Bocelli release a dvd called "cieli di toscana" (tuscan skies). It was released in Europe before the U.S. I got an email from a friend in europe saying my concert bud and i were in the dvd. We are in the opening shots of the dvd which were shot at the Hyde Park concert. Clear enough to be recognized. My little claim to fame

regards,
L

Kush · Post by **Kush** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 8:22 pm

Laurie...have you heard the new album 'Andrea'...its his most pop album to date and a return back to the pop style of Romanza. No more of trhe new agey stuff of Sogno (although there are some good songs on it). That's his strongest suit and he should stick to it - no one does the pop/opera mix like he does. The voice glides smoothly from "coarse" pop to "pure" opera and back. Different horses for different.....

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 9:26 pm

Hi Kush-

I have hesitated getting ANDREA, because i so did not like 'tuscan skies.'

I will take your recommendation seriously. ROMANZA is still my favorite of his cd's...including the opera ones. Although his LaBoheme is worth the price (to me) for the just arias, O Suave fanciulla and Che gelida...crank up the volume....

L

Kush · Post by **Kush** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 1:28 am

The only complaint that could be said of 'Andrea' is that it is way too pop, more so than Romanza. I would have liked a few more of 'highs'. Nevertheless, I have it just below Romanza as my top Bocelli CDs. I don't have the Tuscany one. The classical CD (I think Aria is the name) is very good. Sometimes a lighter voice (literally and figuratively) can be drowned by greater heavyweights and needs to be heard in isolation to feel its beauty.
In a different realm - same goes for Willie Nelson in my opinion but we'll let that go now.

South African genius Vusi Mahlasela is another light/small voice that is very beautiful to my ears.