Robert St. John, Jr

I want to let everyone know that we sat out Hurricane Irma at our home in Tampa Bay. All is fine, we have power, only a few tree branches in the yard to gather for disposal. The only issue was the wind last night as the storm went over us.

Margery Erhardt (Schrader)

Stephen - loved the link. Funny that you mention Lizzie as I was just reading an article last week about THE murder and they still have no idea if she actually did the dastardly deed or perhaps another close relative. Still working on it!

Richard Montague

All is well in Inglis Florida. We never had the 4 to 6 ft surge they were calling for. We are five miles from the Gulf and 7 miles up the river.The storm sucked the water out of all the bays and the Withlacoochee was the lowest we have ever seen it. We never lost power and only had some damaged from downed trees. 

Hope Nelson is OK as the Keys took the worst of the storm.

Nelson Abanto

Hey Rick,

We completely lucked out.  No damage whatsoever but we are also still out of power in the Keys.  We are in Jupiter and have had power the whole time.  A lot of our friends lost power here and have moved in with us.  It has turned into a party 24/7.

Philip Spiess

Nelson:  Thank God you and your family are safe, and that there's no damage to speak of.  I was trying to think of operas that would relate to hurricanes, and so far all I've come up with is Wagner's Der Fliegende Hollander.  However, I still think the greatest storm music is from Rossini's Guillaume Tell.  (I think the storm music from Rossini's La Cenerentola is silly, but then I think it's meant to be.)

As for your current situation, just keep thinking of the late 1960s slogan, "All power to the people!"

Nelson Abanto

Thanks, Phil and everyone for your prayers and good wishes.

As to storm music, a few others come to mind.  Otello and Idomeneo have great scenes and Rigoletto has the final act.  Who can forget the storm scene in "Young Frankenstein " with Marty Feldman and Frau  Blücher?  All the Frankenstein movies had great storm scenes.

Otello is particularly dear to me as I made my Debut with the Metropolitan Opera in the storm scene as an extra.  The Met was visiting Boston and they rounded up extras at the local Universities.  Not only were we on the stage with the likes of Robert Merril and Richard Tucker but we were paid $5 to boot.  Alas, my Opera career ended there.  

Ed Seykota

Extension of

Govopoly

Theory

I wish to thank my classmates for sharing their views with me.
 

Dr. Henry Cohen
specializes in management skills enhancement training workshops,
team building, leadership and effective communications.

In particular, I wish to thank Dr. Henry Cohen for helping me to formulate an extension to my Govopoly Theory, namely: Cohen's Koan. See:  http://www.eseykota.com/cohen/ 

Henry Cohen

Ed nothing gives me better pleasure than helping you to advance your various theories. Obviously I was trying to comply with keeping things away from the more public forum and address them specifically to you. Sorry you decided to not follow that lead. Political views are owned by individuals and the main thing to espouse is thoughtfulness and consistency of thought.  May you enjoy your life to the fullest and I hope that extends to the celebration of Covfefe.

Stephen Collett

On storm scenes in operas, I think of Henry Purcell´s Dido and Aeneas (1688). While out on their first hunt, a storm arises that chases the protaganists into a cave, losing the others and their inhibitions. The music makes great claps of thunder.

Paul Simons

Another storm, named Maria, approaches. My feelings are with those who have already suffered, in some cases lost everything, and are in line to be hurt again. Storms of increasing magnitude and intensity are exactly what climate science predicts. It is outrageous that it, along with the validity of science in general, are political issues in this country. Having gone to WHHS should mean objectivity, lack of prejudice and superstition, and respect for the accomplishments of the human mind.

Nelson Abanto

OK Phil and Steve and everyone, I did a little homework and came up with a few more that we missed:

Jerry Ochs

TIL

Philip Spiess

Just loved the picture Mary Benjamin left on "What's New" of her mother and Rick Steiner.  And just loved to hear about Plum Street Temple, one of the two or three greatest architectural triumphs in the history of Cincinnati!

Mary Benjamin

So glad you enjoyed the picture, Phil. And yes I love Plum Street Temple too. It's still very beautiful and I believe it's gotten a facelift recently and is being well maintainted, which is great.

Philip Spiess

Nelson, Steve Collett, et al.:  Good digging on operatic storm scenes!  Yes, Nelson, we should have remembered those first three.  But how could we all forget the storm in the "Wolf's Glen" scene in Weber's Der Freischutz?  Yes, it is a supernatural storm, not a natural one, but it has winds, lightning, fireballs, tornadoes, etc. -- a devil of a storm!  And I'm sure there are others, if we keep looking.

Then there are the symphonic storms:  the one in Vivaldi's The Seasons; the one in the 3rd Movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F Major (cf., Walt Disney's Fantasia); the one in Ferde Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite ("Johnny's 'Call for Philip Morris'" theme).  I'm sure we can find some more (Becky Payne, are you there?).

But what I'd now like to inquire about musically is this:  Is anyone besides me interested in 19th-Century through the 1920s popular music, particularly songs?  For years I've been collecting sheet music and recordings (I have an Edison cylinder phonograph, remember; see my picture on my "Profiles" section of this site) of such, and also collect 78 r.p.m. records -- not just Stephen Foster (though he is a Cincinnati composer), but also Henry Clay Work; band music (Sousa, of course, but including Henry Fillmore, another Cincinnati composer); operettas of the period (including The Prince of Pilsen, with its famous stock line, "Vas you efer in Zinzinnati?"); both temperance and drinking songs (the temperance songs are hilarious -- "Oh, Father, Dear Father, Come Home with Me Now"); minstrel show music ("Jump, Jim Crow" and "Old Dan Tucker"); Civil War ballads (North and South); spirituals and songs of the Underground Railroad; political campaign tunes (including "Ma, Ma, Where's My Pa?  Up in the White House, darling!" -- about Grover Cleveland, who had an illegitimate child); songs about "fallen" women (my favorites -- "Midnight Rose" and "You Made Me What I Am Today, I Hope You're Satisfied"); vaudeville pieces (Sophie Tucker, Bert Williams, Fanny Brice); Tin Pan Alley ditties (my favorite, by Harry von Tiltzer, "She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage"); early Broadway show tunes (such as those of The Black Crook and Victor Herbert); ragtime (Scott Joplin and others); World War I anthems (the best war for great songs); "Dixie" melodies (such as those sung by Al Jolson); early jazz, crooning, and early Big Band music ("Doin' the Raccoon"); etc., etc., etc.

Anybody else interested in this stuff?

Richard Winter (Winter)

A favorite of mine from that era is “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”.

Philip Spiess

And Richard, don't forget the French gourmand's lament, "Nobody knows the truffles I've seen; nobody knows my sorrow."

Nancy Messer

I love Al Jolson.   I have some of his albums and would sing along with him.  Whenever I did my cats would look at me and leave the room!!

Philip Spiess

Nancy:  When I was at Hanover College, we had a classic film series; twice a year was comedy night, and, one of my good friends being adept on the theater organ, he and I would perform a number or two while the film reels were being changed.  Early on, I did my imitation of Al Jolson singing "My Mammy," complete with strutting cakewalk conclusion -- though I had the good sense not to do it in Jolsonian blackface!

Chuck Cole

When I was growing up, we had a substantial number of 78s by Al Jolson, the Dorseys, early Sinatra, and others of that era.  I kick myself and regret getting rid of them.

I remember when stereo records came out while we were growing up.  I tended to buy the monoraul versions since they were $1 cheaper.  Of course, I also wish I'd kept those.  It turns out that today, the mono versions are often considerably more valuable because so many fewer were made due to lower demand.  

Philip Spiess

Chuck:  So there I was (as I guess we all were) growing up with 78 rpms:  the standards were what -- 8"? 9"? in diameter?  But there were the big ones, much larger in diameter -- and then there were the "kiddie records," about 6" in diameter, in colorful plastic and usually played on a rather dubious child's phonograph.  (I've got examples of all of these in the house, but I'm not going to measure them at this hour of the night!)

Then suddenly, somewhere about 1954 or 1955, two new styles of record appeared at the same time -- 45 rpm records (with the big donut hole in the middle for enlarged turntable spindles) for single-hit popular tunes, and 33 1/3 rpm records for long-playing (LP) albums and such.  These were in vinyl, rather than the old hardened wax (which could be melted over heat, which is why "hippies" made potato chip bowls out of them in the late 1960s).

Then came in monaural versus stereo records and systems ("tweeters" -- not Donald Trump --and "whoofers," slang terms for the treble and bass stereo speakers, I believe).  And, Chuck, I bought monaural records well into my graduate school days -- including complete operas -- because they were much cheaper.  I built a vast collection -- and then came in tapes, and CDs, and god-knows-what-else, each new system requiring its own type of hardware technology to play it on.  I cringed and I cried; I couldn't handle it all!  So "today" (to paraphrase Carl Sandburg) "I worship the kazoo" (a "membranophone" of the "merliton" type, I discovered, when I had to answer a national inquiry about it in the 1970s when I was head of Research at the National Trust for Historic Preservation).

Gail Weintraub (Stern)

 In the WHHS sports world: Larry Klein coached his last golf "team" event today in the Boys' Sectional.  Also this week, his Girl's Golf star, Katie, won her Sectional Champion for the third year running. Larry will now coach Katie through the district and, hopefully, state championships. 

Additionally, Larry just learned from the conference coordinator that he was named Men's Golf "Coach of the Year".  What a way to retire (again)! 

CONGRATULATIONS, LARRY! 

Stephen Collett

Congratulations Larry!!  Great job you have done.

Laura Reid (Pease)

I have had the honor and the privilege to spend lots of time with Larry these past few months.  Our grandson, Reid, who has moved from Denver, is a 7th grader on the WHHS golf team.  Larry has filled in at this level several times and what fun it has been.  Larry is well loved and highly respected by ALL who have been involved with these young golfers.  I have tried on several occasions to encourage him to stay on because I, selfishly, would love to spend more time with him "on the links".  But his retirement is well deserved as he has given his time unselfishly, as well as being very successful coaching Katie and being named "Coach of the Year".  We love you Larry, and as you say every day:  GO EAGLES!

Ira Goldberg

Larry, I'm proud of you! This role was "on par" with every other one you've done that I'm aware of, buddy. From military obligation, to work career, to parent caregiver, to family stock manager, to high stakes bridge player, to friend. You've Sursum ad Summumed the heck out of life. I appreciate you. What's next?