Yesterday I went on a musical extra-inning double-header. In the afternoon I saw Lohengrin with Carey, Barbara, and Charles. Do all of my Gentle Readers know that I love opera and especially love Wagner? It has not been an active part of my life for a while but my love for it never goes on hiatus. I’ve had it since childhood. There is nothing grander than grand opera. The most spectacular Broadway show pales before a production at the Metropolitan Opera. The show runs from noon until 5 PM; I told you it was extra innings. I met the rest of the gang at our seats.
By my internal clock noon is early. The fact that I’ve been waking up every school day at 5:30 doesn’t change that. I felt that I had to rush to eat and get out of the house in time for the show. That did not stop me from making one of my favorite meals, a peanut butter omelet. I take advantage of having more time to cook on the weekends. Fortunately Lincoln Center the home of the Metropolitan Opera is easy for me to get to as long as the D train is running. It ran local which made the trip longer but I could still make it in 45 minutes. At least I could have if the train didn’t keep stopping between stations. I started getting afraid that I’d be late. I shouldn’t have feared, I got there at 11:45. I provided myself with a cushion.
Lohengrin is not one of my favorites by Wagner. I saw a production of it on PBS in the 70s and that’s it for me. It’s not one that I have listened to many times. There is one piece from it that everyone in America knows, The Wedding March that’s played at just about every American wedding. The overture to the third act gets some radio play so I’m familiar with that. I also knew the surprise ending. The McGuffin of the story is the protagonist’s identity. Sure the entire audience knows that he’s Lohengrin, the name is right there in the title, but the characters don’t know that, and what was more important to people to people in the feudal era, they don’t know his ancestry. I remembered that. It’s part of what I think of as Wagner’s Knight Cycle. We all know the Ring Cycle but as Lohengrin, Tristan and Isolde, Parsifal, and Tannhauser all focus on the adventures of knights I lump them together. They are all what we think of as typical Wagner, tales of gods and heroes, the opposite of Verdi’s intimate contemporary human operas like La Traviata.
Lohengrin is also the archetype of the most common complaint about Wagner, for all their heroic settings most of the action is too people standing and talking to each other. They talk about the action, we don’t for the most part see it. That’s all true, but the music is so glorious and the stories so compelling that I don’t notice.
The production was the Met at the finest with dramatic sets and what looked like a planetarium show going on in the rear. The costumes were in some ways characters and in others part of the set. Most of the characters, everyone but the principals, were dressed in magical robes. Why magical? The outside was black but the inside switched from white to red to green. We couldn’t see how they did it. They would open up the robe turning the inside into pieces of set that the heads would appear above. They sometimes reminded Barbara of swans, which is appropriate as Lohengrin is the Swan Knight. I saw them as rays, cephalopods, and penguins.
There was one detail I didn’t get at all. The second act is particularly static, a series of conversations. Behind the principals the set looked like a cave. In a nook in the wall above the stage level was a creature that I thought of as Gollum. We were up in the balcony and I could not make out clearly what it looked like. It seemed to have Gollum’s large eyes adapted to living in a cave. Nobody in the show ever refers to it. Carey didn’t even notice it. If anyone knows its provenance, please let me know.
Aft the opera Carey, Barbara, and Charles headed out to dinner at a nearby diner that I know they frequent. As I said in my last entry there are few things I enjoy more than post-concert diners. As I couldn’t join them you know that it had to be for something important. It was, seeing ilyAIMY for the first time in years. They are not only one of my favorite bands but three of my favorite people, Rob, Heather, and Kristen. They usually perform as a three piece when they tour but they were joined by Rowan this time. I don’t know him as well, but he would be one of my favorite people if I did. They are a nerd’s dream crew. Kristen was entertained by watching me with Rob. We had a great discussion of Dune and Star Trek franchises. I talked to Heather about teaching special ed Math. We enjoyed each other’s company. We had no time before or after the show to socialize; the reason I eschewed the dinner was that I spent the time before the show in the green room with ilyAIMY while K.J. Denhert sound checked. I had just seen her two weeks ago on a bill with Deni Bonet. She’s going to think I’m a stalker.
The venue was Voices in the Heights, a marvelous series run by Dan. It is in the first Unitarian Church of Brooklyn, which was formerly the home of Coco’s First Acoustics series. ilyAIMY didn’t realize that they had played in the building until they went to the beautiful green room which brought back memories. I used to volunteer at First Acoustics and so often knew the artists, that I spent a lot of time in that green room.
Out in the audience I sat as I so often do with Fred. There was also Chris, Perry & Beth, and Jeff & Carol. They also volunteered at First Acoustics back in the day. Jeremy was there doing sound as he always does, he’s Dan’s son and I’ve known him longer. He’s a musician that I met at NERFA, he played with Spuyten Duyvil, and lives right by the subway station where I get off for work. It’s a tiny world.
K.J. performed solo with Deni but last night she was part of a trio, there was joined by electric guitar and bass. All three of them are brilliant instrumentalists. Rob was very fan boy.
This entire show was more driven by instruments than most folk shows. The thing that makes ilyAIMY folk is the world they inhabit and their instruments, not their music. Fred called them folk-rock. I can see that but as I always have to point out they are more primal than that. There’s a lot of percussion. Rowan plays bones, djembe, bodhran and Cajon. Heather plays Djembe and Cajon. Rob not only plays his guitar percussively, he somehow manages to sing percussively. The only legato comes from Kristen’s cello and Heather’s singing. When they are performing there are always a lot of moving parts; they would be entertaining for a deaf person to watch. If you can hear they will set your heart racing. Nobody performs with more passion and energy than them, and they can all really play their instruments. Heather is one of the most powerful singers I’ve heard. Her voice is beautiful but more importantly expressive. She always commands your attention. They are also still really nerdy and fun and will make you laugh between songs.
They had to run after the show but that didn’t stop them from socializing as they packed up, I even danced with Rob. I wish someone had caught a picture of that. Somebody did, Chris.
I got to hug them all and all my friends in the audience. Yesterday was me living my best life even though dinner wasn’t special. I grabbed a few slices of pizza that I ate while walking from the subway to the church.
This is my second long entry in a row. That would normally count as me being productive, but I have a Gord’s Gold to put out and I’m way behind. I am normally ready to start recording by this time on Sunday. I haven’t even finished finding the songs I’m going to play. I better make breakfast than get started on that. I think there’s French toast on the menu.
Wise Madness 