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Inside the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.
This week has been full of music. I started on Monday with the free dress rehearsal of Les Contes d’Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach at the Metropolitan Opera. Our seats were way up at the top balcony, but how can I complain about seeing one of the best opera companies in the world at no charge? And it was an incredible show, although it turned out to be a four hour commitment. Most of the other people there were retirees that had brought miniature bottles of red wine and sandwiches for the two intermissions, whereas Sean and I just had one scone to sustain us. The production itself was stunning and half the fun was seeing what new set and costumes were going to be unveiled next. There was a giant rotating dragon, a gondola rowing across the stage, a horde of umbrellas decorated with giant eyes, even a skeleton dressed in a top hat that wandered in the background. The details were incredible, even from the top balcony. The lead, Joseph Calleja, took a break after the first act due to a cold (saving himself for this week’s premiere), but even in one act his voice got ingrained in my head. The understudy wasn’t bad, but it was unfortunate that there was a reprise of one of the first songs at the end for comparison.The whole thing was in French, although I wasn’t able to understand anything as this was opera, but there were cool subtitle screens on the seats that made it easy to follow.
The plot was a little insane, but I’ll try to sum it up. As the translation of the French title is The Tales of Hoffmann, the plot is the story of Hoffmann’s three loves. Or rather, people he loves, as none of the women reciprocates. And each is more tragic for Hoffmann than the last. The first, Olympia, turns out to be a robot. The second, Antonia, is an artist with a bad heart and dies when the ghost of her mother comes and encourages her to sing. The third, Giulietta, is a prostitute who steals Hoffmann’s reflection. And throughout all these stories, Hoffmann is accompanied by his muse in disguise and is followed by a nemesis who is played by the same actor in different characters. The villain was my favorite. Played by Alan Held, he had this ridiculously evil laugh each time he entered the stage. But the whole cast was really incredible. I don’t know much about opera, and honestly hadn’t much enjoyed my previous opera experiences, but I would totally see this again. I’m going to have to keep my eye out for future free dress rehearsal tickets. You can see some clips from Les Contes d’Hoffmann in this YouTube interview with the director, Bartlett Sher.
Live floral arranging at Japan Brand.
That evening, after packing up my apartment, we visited the holiday market in Union Square and had apple cider before going to a Japan Brand event at Felissimo. There were tons of products made in Japan, as well as sake and various Japanese appetizers. The entertainment was live floral arranging that represented the seasons. That’s right, we watched someone arrange flowers and it was actually quite entertaining.
Ticket to the Mountain Goats/Final Fantasy concert.
Tuesday was moving day, which went relatively smooth. I got all my things packed into the van and we made it quickly to my new place, only to find that the girl who was moving out was still there. So, we had to move my things temporarily into the living room, but I don’t have many possessions so it wasn’t a big deal.
That night I went to see the Mountain Goats play at Webster Hall. I had actually seen them once before at Webster Hall, back in March 2008 when I came to visit Elizabeth. It’s not exactly an intimate venue, but they always put on a great show regardless of the space, even if I think the more delicate John Darnielle songs work better in small venues like the Opolis in Norman. I really miss the Opolis sometimes, where people were unfailingly polite, while crammed in a space the size of my current apartment. The crowd was horrible at Webster Hall, or at least the three people I was standing in front of. The whole time they were complaining that they “didn’t sign up for this” and that there wasn’t enough music to dance to and they didn’t recognize the songs. And I was just thinking, why the hell would you pay $25 for a concert for a band you’re not familiar with if you’re not willing to be surprised? And then ruin the experience for everyone around you? It was a much better experience after I moved further back.
Well, back to the music. Final Fantasy was the opener and I was blown away. I was familiar with his music, but hadn’t really thought about how it would be performed live. He recorded each violin part himself, then played them back while adding new strings over them. It was one of the coolest sets I’ve ever seen. This video of “The Butcher” should give you a good idea of his live presence (video is from another concert, not the one I went to).
The Mountain Goats were great as always. I think this was my fourth time seeing them. And it was a nice to surprise to see that they were joined by Perry Owen Wright of the Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers. I still regularly listen to The Mother Of Love Emulates The Shapes Of Cynthia and think he is a wonderful musician. I awkwardly interviewed him for a story I wrote for the OU paper way back when I was a young journalism student and the Mountain Goats were doing a show with Prayers and Tears in Norman. I hope he creates a new album and tours again soon.
The Mountain Goats set included tracks from the new album, The Life of the World to Come, as well as older songs like “Going to Georgia,” “Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod?,” and my favorite, “Against Pollution.” Which actually, I have a recording of Perry Owen Wright singing. God, I hope he doesn’t google himself and think I am insane. Well, enough fangirling, I’ll just say that the show was breathtaking and much needed after a rough fall of unemployment. If you want, there’s a complete set list and great audio of the show at nyctaper. You can also watch a good video from the concert of “Old College Try” on YouTube.
Space Invader sighting in Manhattan.
Here is the continuation of my last post, although I guess technically all of these posts are continuations of the ones before them. Today was rather rainy, nevertheless Elizabeth and I had delicious smoothies at the Liquiteria before looking at Halloween merchandise.
Dumpling Man looking at a giant dumpling at the Dumpling Festival.
Saturday was rainy (a trend of October), but we still made it to the Dumpling Festival and saw the above giant dumpling and got our picture taken with the Dumpling Man on the right of the photo. We also did a bit of shopping where I upgraded my wardrobe to a more professional level. After that we watched the OU/Kansas football game at the alumni bar, which offered some redemption after Texas.
The start of fall colors in Central Park.
That evening we went to the 92Y Tribeca for the DVD film screening premiere of Sufjan Stevens‘ The BQE. And Sufjan Stevens himself was there to emcee! Before the film, DM Stith played a set. It was the first time I’d heard his music and really enjoyed the subtle instrumentation and his unique voice. I was thinking during the performance that he’s one of those singers who uses the microphone to turn a voice that’s almost a whisper into a room-filling noise. After his set, the string quartet Osso played selections from Run Rabbit Run, an album of instrumental arrangements of the electronic songs inspired by the Chinese zodiac on Sufjan Stevens’ Enjoy Your Rabbit. Maybe it was the clever ways they used the instruments to mimic distortion and electronic texture, but I found the music to be really entrancing, and string quartets aren’t usually engaging enough to keep my attention for long periods of time. Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond also came onstage as a special guest and sang “If I Were Queen.” After Osso’s performance, Sufjan Stevens came back to introduce The BQE, his triptych film and orchestral score about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Despite the fact it was mainly footage of traffic, it was beautiful. I live really close to the BQE and walk under it everyday on the way to the subway, so I guess it’s one part of Brooklyn that feels familiar even while most everything else feels new.
The Uglysuit performs at Dfest in Tulsa.
The last weekend in July, Tim and I went to the two-day Dfest music festival in Tulsa. It was our third year to go, having seen awesome performers including the Flaming Lips and mc chris in 2007 and Ghostland Observatory, the Apples in Stereo, and the Roots in 2008. Although always hot enough to melt my shoe soles, I couldn’t miss out on going this year when I happened to be in Oklahoma at the right time.
Crowd at Dfest.
On Friday evening, we stuck with one of the giant outdoor parking lot stages, where the theme seemed to be internationally-flavored bands with over six members. First was Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, a six-person group from California which played some 1960s-influenced indie rock. I wasn’t expecting to like them when I first walked up, but their enthusiasm won me over. They were followed by a favorite band of mine which I’d never seen live: Dengue Fever, a Cambodian pop band based in Los Angeles. Their spectacular lead singer, Chhom Nimol, mainly sings in Khmer with a few songs in English and is accompanied by five amazing musicians. Next was Ozomatli, an eight member group which was new to me, and played an exciting mix of hip hop, Latin, and rock music. It seems they are pretty popular, and I can see why and I’m glad that we stayed for their set. However Gogol Bordello, the last band that night, put on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. I’ve listened to their music for a while, but had never had a chance to see their gypsy punk live, and they were over-the-top energetic and had the crowd dancing like they were east of the iron curtain, rather than in the middle of downtown Tulsa.
Mates of State performing at Dfest.
After some much needed sleep, we went back to the cluster of music venues and stages in the Blue Dome District and decided to spend some time at the other giant parking lot stage. I should mention that there was some sort of underwater theme, so the massive stages were called the Poseidon Stage and the Triton Stage respectively and featured artwork like an octopus playing the drums and a sea horse playing a trumpet. With the heat and the asphalt, I wouldn’t have minded being submerged.
Cake performs at Dfest.
We started by watching a local Oklahoma act, the Uglysuit, and then saw Mates of State, a husband-wife duo from Kansas. They were yet another group I’ve been keen on for a while, but have never had the opportunity to see live. Then we switched stages to see Chicago/Detroit hip hop group The Cool Kids. I’d heard one of their albums, but they were much more engaging live and the crowd was really into it. There was still a while before the headliner, but we decided to go back to the appropriate stage to assure a close place. Blue October was playing, who are apparently popular, but it was my first encounter with their insanely dramatic music. But it was endearing and reminded me of the music I listened to in high school. Plus, they lucked out by singing a song about the rain coming down right when we got a 10 minute downpour. Finally, it was time for Cake, the headlining band. I hadn’t really heard from them since the 1990s, but I was surprised at how many songs I recognized and I loved their performance. Even better, we were next to a railing that we could sit on and see over the huge crowd. I’m really curious to see who they get as the headliner next year. How do you top the sequence of the Flaming Lips, the Roots, and Cake?
