Gorgeous Song Thing - John Ireland's "Sea Fever"

"And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by . . ."

~ John Masefield












I'm watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory tonight (the original one with Gene Wilder) and just saw something that made me rush to YouTube during a commercial and listen to this song.

When the boat arrives to take the visitors deeper into the factory, Mr. Wonka says, "and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to sail her by." It's a (slightly incorrect) quote of John Masefield's poem "Sea Fever", the poem composer John Ireland used for his song of the same name. I love Ireland's interpretation of the poetry, and goodness do I love a good baritone singing it! The video I've posted is a great rendition by Sir Thomas Allen.

Metropolitan Opera Thing

"When in doubt, sing loud”"

~ Robert Merrill

If you've never been to an HD broadcast from the Met, you are missing out! Although nothing can compete with seeing live opera in a hall, most of us are too poor and too far away from a major house to indulge often, if at all.  Fortunately for the last few years the Metropolitan Opera has been showing operas, often live, in movie theaters across the country and around the world.

If you've never had the chance to see an opera, this is a great way to do so on a budget. Subtitles are used if the music is in a foreign language so there's no need to brush up on your German or Italian. Out of the 2010-2011 season, I would probably recommend Donizetti's Don Pasquale as the best option for first-timers.

Once the season kicks off, you'll be able to find theaters showing the broadcasts on the Met's HD site at http://www.metopera.org/Hdlive . You can also look up your local theaters to see if they are showing any or all of the series.

If I get enough interest, I may try and run a tickets giveaway....anyone?

Free Cookies! Thing

"C is for cookie; that's good enough for me!"

~ Cookie Monster (and MaHo)

This video always makes me smile! The lady is Marilyn Horne, one of the greatest living legends of opera. I've been lucky enough to take lessons from her (as well as attend dozens of master classes) and she has an incredibly sharp sense of humor. I love her headdress in this!

In cookie news, Mrs. Fields is now running a promotion where you can earn $20 of free cookies just for getting three people to sign up for their email newsletter! Nobody has to buy anything, not even you. Pretty sweet, huh? If you get even more people to sign up, you get even more cookies. Click below to go to the site.

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