I am less sanguine about the power of this technology to save.
Weekend Reading – Drink Your Coffee Like A Man
I consider it a point of pride to drink it hot.
We’re still thinking about Adrienne Rich.
At least they provided caffeine.
“Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” – Leonard Cohen
Friday Reading – Now Recite It From Memory
Midweek Staff Meeting – Downtown Tampa
I notice that this list of fast changing neighborhoods includes downtown Tampa and the neighborhood just east of Logan Circle in DC.Tuesday Morning Staff Meeting – Kristen Stewart Loves Surrealist Poetry, Apparently
That’s Right… A Science Fiction Musical Western Starring Gene Autry….
BAM!
Apparently, that’s what Books-A-Million is now calling itself (BAM – Books-A–Million).
But one opened in the spot where the old Borders used to be, next to Jo-Ann Fabrics in Columbia, Maryland.
I used to often go there when my better half would need to buy fabric next door, killing time in the cafe and reading some lit mag or what not. I was pretty sad when it left.
But I’m glad there’s another bookstore there, but it’s also a little creepy. The selection is a little smaller and a little less challenging. Less poetry and fewer books by lesser known poets. No literary journals. No classical music CDs. And no philosophy section. But things were generally in the same area of the store as they were when it was a Borders. A pale, platonic shadow of the departed place (even the bookshelves are similar, but not quite exactly what Borders had).
Nonetheless, I so glad it’s there. It’s never amiss to find a bookstore present where you thought there were none.
Werther
The other week (May 25th, to be exact), I went to the Washington National Opera to see Jules Massenet’s Werther. Having only recently read the Goethe novel upon which it was based, I was a bit excited.
Massenet is not among my favorite composers, by any means, but I enjoy the works of those great French composers who followed him and built upon his work, like Debussy and Saint-Saens.
Overall, the two leads (Werther and Charlotte) were strong singers, but the opera itself, frankly, lacked.
In terms of the production, the 1920s style costume and design, were present, but not used to add anything to the opera, so I’m not quite sure what the point was.
But mainly, when I say the opera lacked, I mean the music and libretto. And mainly, I mean the first half.
The opera ends strongly, with the two singers pouring their hearts out in some truly moving duets. But the first two acts are rambling and have a lot of loose ends. For example, there are two friends, drinking buddies of Charlotte’s father, but heck if I know what their dramatic purpose was. I can’t even remember if they appeared in the second half and if they did, they certainly didn’t have much to do. So why were they there, except to fill up space and time?
Massenet is accounted to be famous for his ability to match music to the conversational pace and cadences of natural conversation, so that the singing comes across as unforced and natural. Which it did. But Werther is about all-consuming, tragic, deeply romantic love and not about the rhythms of life in an idyllic French countryside. So push the musical envelope a bit, eh? Like those two disappearing characters, I don’t really know what the point was to a lot of the early music.
So, some excellent singing, but in a flawed opera.
You can read the Washington Post‘s review here.
the coffee philosopher 