Tawdry Talk

Happy Birthday, !

recently recommended M&L Market on 14th Street at Market for their amazing sandwiches. Well, and I went there to grab a quick bite, and man, was right! Those sandwiches are hella meaty and inexpensive. We had two sandwiches, a cup of macaroni salad, a bowl of incredible soup, four cookies, and two pops for around $15.00 - it’s a total bargain. And the turkey and pastrami sandwich was splendid, and the veggie chili soup was decadent.

Playing the role of at this evening’s showing of City Arts and Lectures interview with Terry Gross will be . will be performed by .

We now return you to our regularly scheduled blogcast.

So, just so you all know: is coming to visit me (and San Francisco) this Saturday through Tuesday. He’s the one and only Jeff Stoner: friend, lover, daddy, bear, astronomer, and all-around good guy.

Thank you, , for taking me to the Amy Sedaris interview for City Arts and Lectures and dinner tonight!

Fun, fun, fun was had by all, and listen for my voice asking a question during the audience question period at the end of the interview!

wow, black tea with soy milk in it is really good! who’da thought?

After my 2pm massage today, I was going to go down to the fair, but was already home and he told me it was really hot and more crowded than he’s seen it before. That was enough for me to decide to stay home. I’m cursed to not go to Folsom St. Fair ever again, or so it seems. The past few years have seen me not attending the fair.

I’ve been really busy, though, so even with my desire to go, there seems to be stuff to do. I want to really clean my massage room - I’ve been vaccuming and dusting, but it’s time to take as much out of the room as possible and really clean it. I think I’ll do that tomorrow morning, though.

Herman made dinner tonight for the usual Sunday Dinner™ gang: , , , , , and myself. John had already taken Phideaux back to the airport, so he missed out on Herman’s tasty cooking.

will be here this coming Saturday - hooray!

and I attended the SF Opera’s production of “Cosi Fan Tutte” (Women Are Like That) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart last night at the War Memorial Opera House. Earlier, , Phideaux, Herman, and I had dinner at Hanabi on Haight near Fillmore. I had the Chicken Teriyaki Donburi and a Spicy Yellowtail Roll, which is what I had the last time I was there. That Donburi is just so small and yummy. Albadger was supposed to join us there for dinner, but by the time he got there, we were finished with dinner, so we all headed in our respective directions. John and Phideaux headed down Fillmore Street toward the N-Judah Muni link to see Dame Edna, Herman ducked into the natural food store before heading back to UGH, and Albadger and I got in his car and headed over to the opera house.

The production was set in 1914 and was made to look like a French Grand Hotel. The costumes were wonderfully reflective of the era, and let the movements of the singers show well. Contemporary costumes would have been too bulky, I think, and not seductive enough.

In a twist, Frederica Von Stade played Despina, the maid. The twist of course is because Flicka has been singing for over 30 years, and her more mature treatment of what is normally a young woman’s part was world-weary and knowing, and a delight to hear. The entire cast was very good, but especially noteworthy, besides Van Stade, who is always wonderful to hear, was Tenor Paul Groves as Ferrando and Soprano Alexandra Deshorties as Fiordiligi. The sextet also included Mezzo-soprano Claudia Mahnke as Dorabella (Von Stade premiered at SF Opera in this role in 1973), Baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann as Guglielmo, and veteran Bass-baritone Richard Stillwell as Don Alfonso.

The story is that Don Alfonso bets the young soldiers that their fiancées cannot be faithful - indeed, no women can be faithful - and proposes to test his truth. He has the men pretend to be shipped off to war, and they return in disguise to test their women’s fidelity - the only problem being that the women fall in love with the other’s disguised lover, and hilarity ensues.

The orchestra, conducted by Michael Gielen, was nimble and airy, and nearly flawlessly matched the singers’ witty and delicate singing. While the show lasts almost three hours, it was an excellent introduction to Mozart, and opera in general. There were a number of children in attendance with grandparents (including the inquisitive one sitting right behind me for the first act! shhh!)

If you can, go see this show - it’s considered by many to be Mozart’s finest opera - and one of the old warhorses of opera rep.

“John Kerry has approved you for a home equity loan”

Sometimes these spam subject lines make me snort my coffee out my nose.