What Kind of Rapper Name is Steve?

Ok. I've deflated my soapbox for the weekend. Which is why I will now share this:


I'm sure it's not new to most of you, but it's new to me (since I don't have cable and all). Whether or not it's new, it's DANG funny. Everytime I watch this something different strikes me as funny. Current fave? "Sometimes when I freestyle I lose my confidence..."
Happy Weekend!

Callas, Come Back

I had a very snarky opening paragraph to this entry, but I decided to delete it. Just didn’t feel right. I guess I’m a marshmallow at heart.

I would like to propose a new type of singing artist. This artist would strive for musical integrity, a warm and clear sound, natural projection, and most importantly, honesty and humanity in the voice and performance. The story should be told with musical expression, not a bunch of perfect pitches and vowels strung together in an emotionless void. I’m not saying that we should abandon mastery of the notes and the languages; I just think that when we are on stage, we should commit ourselves to the character, to the music that we have been given, and to the story itself.

I don't understand many of these actresses today who seem so dull on stage or who tell me that they just ‘can't get into the character.’ What is that?? The best actresses are the ones who inhabit the characters that they've been given. When it comes to lines and choices, it is not "what would so-and-so do?" but rather "what would have brought me to this decision in my life? What would I have to experience or think to come to this decision?" It may seem like a slight adjustment, but it makes a world of difference.

The experiences that I have had make it possible for me to access emotions and see things in different ways. We are not so very different from each other - stray a bit here or make a left turn instead of a right there, and we might all end up somewhere new. That’s what acting is - putting yourself in a situation that someone else has created and then figuring out how you would have ended up there. And of course I could be totally off-base here. This is just how I see it.

Don’t get me wrong: this is absolutely terrifying. You are never more vulnerable than when you explore the choices that you could have made, but didn’t. I just think that as singing artists, we have been given the most expressive of tools and it is our calling to create living scenarios.

Now who wants a s’more?

SYTYCD v. AI

It was just a matter of time before I figured out why “So You Think You Can Dance” made me giddy in my shoes while “American Idol” made me want to throw things at the television.

At some fork in the Road of Objectivity, America took a sharp left and ended up in that no man’s land of “of course you can, honey.” Shower-singers started to fancy themselves the love child of Mariah Carey and Frank Sinatra. Karaoke fanatics in dark smoky bars started to envision a life of Grammy Awards and sold-out tours. All you need is this DVD from Randy and Paula...

Before I go further, let me just say that I think Kelly Clarkson can rock. I enjoy her CDs and the way she’s banking the whole Janis Joplin-scratchy voice thing and I think she benefited fully from the fact that she was on the first season, before AI started gorging on its own success. I have no problem acknowledging talent in others. But if Kelly Clarkson had tried out for subsequent seasons, I truly don’t think she would have made it to the top two. I mean, Justin Guarini was the runner-up? YEESH. I watched “From Justin to Kelly” and it made me do two things: (i) throw away my crimping iron, and (ii) thank the stars above that KC had managed to avoid the Rachel Zoes of the world.

So now I come to SYTYCDDR (<3 beckyloo) and it’s like walking out of an airport into the most gorgeous weather you can possibly imagine.

I didn’t want to like it. I love dancing and watching dance and I thought the powers-at-work were going to muck it up just like they had AI. I was so, so, SO wrong. Because you can’t fake dance. You might not be good at all the different styles, but when it comes down to it, your feet either work or they don’t. You don’t get into the top 20, let alone the top 10, if you don’t have some serious chops. And this is where my biggest problem lies with AI: where is the challenge in singing a BeeGees song one week and a Bon Jovi song the next? Is this a singing competition? Or is it a makeover/popstar competition, What Not to Wear meets Grease? If they were to just come out and say that it was the latter, I’d be fine. Truly! I would take it at face value and leave it be, perhaps checking it out every once in a while for some snarktastic fun. It’s just that they label it as a singing competition. As if they’re challenging these singers on some extremely high level. Please. Half of being a singer is being a musician. SYTYCDDR recognizes that dancing has different facets. That’s why they do partner work and solo work. Goodness knows what would happen if AI made its recruits Sing for Their Lives!

One of the things that I enjoy so much about SYTYCDDR is that artistic growth is encouraged. We were all rooting for Danny to get Mia. We recognize that in this magnificent and accomplished dancer there is a man who is still coming to grips with his talent. Sara wore heels for the first time, Dominic danced a samba, Sabra's only been dancing for four years, Pasha danced a solo…the list goes on. I just have a hard time believing that there were any ‘firsts’ on AI this season.

Maybe that’s just the nature of AI. Maybe I should just get over it. I just wonder what would happen if they handed out Elizabethan art songs one week. Or duets. And no, hamming it up for a Ford Focus commercial doesn’t count.

“So what do you do, dear?” “I’m a musician.” “That’s nice. Do you play an instrument?” “I sing.” “OH! You should audition for American Idol!” “I really don’t think they’re going to want me.” “Why not?” “Because you have to either be hot or wear a crazy costume to get on the show.” “Well, I’m sure we could find you a hat or something...”

I'd have pulled Joan Sutherland's hair. (Updated)

Two years ago I graduated with my Masters Degree in Voice/Opera from a top-five school. For the past two years I’ve been working as a legal assistant.

O_o
(International symbol for mind-boggled eyes. Duh. )

I’ve been unmotivated when it comes to auditions because I feel somewhat trapped by my degrees. For example, let’s say someone graduates from law school and takes a job in a law firm somewhere. The pinnacle of having a law degree would be to make partner in a firm, right? (Yes, I know there are holes in this theory. Work with me.) So, said lawyer would work X amount of years knowing that the probability of making partner is directly related to the number of cases won/handled. It may be a somewhat long journey but it is reasonably predictable as long as you don’t lose someone else’s millions/sleep with a client/become an alcoholic/sleep in your office/yell at the plants.

The world of opera, however, provides no such guarantees. You might graduate from the best schools, do all the young artist programs, have super-smokin’ headshots and be friends with Jimmy Levine’s cousin’s granddaughter’s manicurist, but that doesn’t mean diddly squat when it comes to having a lasting and viable career.

So. Back to being motivated. I am prepping for an audition at the end of October, and wanted to find a new (to me) recording of an aria. So off to itunes I went and then BAM! I found her. I had heard mention of her (only because I had expressed interest in other Wagnerian sopranos not because my teachers ever really gave me listening assignments, not that I’m bitter). I knew only that she was a farm girl who happened to have pipes of steel. Well holy mother of things big and beautiful. This woman is officially my heroine of the day.

Reading back through her many interviews and the hundreds of obits that were written upon her death in 2005, I found that this was a woman I could totally look up to. She was hale, she was hearty, she sang what she wanted to, and she paced herself. Married at 30. Met debut at 40. Singing Strauss and Wagner well into her 70’s. Plus, the woman had a badass sense of humor. If I can’t find motivation in that, then schwarz ist meine brust.

Here she is, singing one of the most beautiful arias ever written: "Mild und leise" (aka the "Liebestod") from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

Kupka, not Kafka

Ten minutes looking at this and I'm totally at peace.