Oh the people we meet...

Well this past week has certainly offered its fare share of humor, nervousness, excitement, and reward.

Wednesday evening found my wonderful pianist and I trying the local hotspot here in Clarksville, "Rafferty's". Now, at first glance it seems that this would be any sort of "Bennigan's" or fill in your random chain restaurant. Ohhh, so mistaken were we. We took our place at the bar for a few drinks after a successful dress rehearsal of the recital. To our amazement, here is what they had to offer on Wednesday evening. $1 margaritas, $1.25 draft beer, and 1/2 price appetizers. WERE THEY KIDDING? Needless to say the fun meter was swinging towards drunk. Seriously though, we had a great time, and met some very interesting people.

To my right there was Charles, Stacey, and Kim. Charles was obviously there with his girlfriend Stacey. They were a lovely couple that, as they put it were, "Married, but, just not to each other." Charles made his living outdoors in the construction business. Stacey "washes dishes, does laundry, and thats about it." Oh, it gets better. Charles seemed to be having a bad day, so I inquired. W: "Whats the matter Charles?" C: "Well, I just had a shitty day." W: "Why, what happened?" C: "Well, I had to go to this stupid Domestin Violence class, and its just all bullshit." S: "He used to beat his wife." C: "It wasnt ever my fault." -- I swear y'all, this is too good to make up. So, I had to get to know these folks a little better. Kim apparently transcribes medical records for a doctor's office out of her home...seems harmless enough. Then Stacey pipes in, "You should see her nipple rings! She just got them done and they are sooo pretty." Kim nodded and said that she needed a few more margaritas before she showed them off. I think I'm happy that she either forgot that she was supposed to do a show or rather became so drunk that she couldnt manage the moves.

To my left was the lovely Doug and then rather resonant Jake. Doug seemed a nice enough fellow that certainly gave my pianist an earful. I think that he liked what he saw! Jake was the interesting one here. I overhear, J: "Yeah, sometimes they just try to kill themselves." W: "Who's that?" J: "Well, I'm a counselor at a maximum security prison." -- Was this really happening? I mean, come on! Jake goes on to tell us the stories of trial and tribulation of his 20+ years in the Coast Guard and his brief stint in the Navy. I tell ya what, this guy is a story teller. It turns out that he was even on a PBS special about prisoners that try to commit suicide. He had stories and stories, and more stories. So, I had to ask..."Whats the weirdest thing that you have ever seen go down on the inside?" Without missing a beat he says so that everyone can hear, "Well, there was this one time when a riot broke out and there were a group of 5 or 6 guys that wanted to rape this ol' boy. This guy did the first thing that popped into his mind, he started defecating and rubbing it all over his body, face, and on his teeth. The guys that wanted to rape him just looked at him and said how crazy and sick that he was. " Jake then went on to explain how thats what he would have done as well. Perhaps this should be a topic in the fun game "Would you rather..."

After numerous well needed drinks we headed back to the hotel for a good night's rest for the big day. Did that just seriously happen? Yeah, it did.

I found the light of day on Thursday around 10:30am or so and decided to just take it easy, look over my music and watch a little TV. Its always a game of patience on the day of a performance, especially when its just the 2 of you on the stage together. Recitals tend to be a little higher on the ol' stress meter. An hour and a half of solo singing is not an easy feat by any imagination. I have certainly found my way with these recitals and have learned what works and what doesnt after doing a few of these this past season. I should take this moment to thank the Marilyn Horne Foundation for doing what they do. Ms. Horne is right, the recital is an art form that every young singer should have the opportunity to take part in, and is a very valuable part of getting one's performing chops up to snuff. What does that mean, "up to snuff"? Hmmm...

6pm finally rolled around, so I got dressed and headed over to the concert hall, which by the way, was wonderful! Great acoustic, intimate space, fantastic piano, all that anyone could ask for! They had set up dressing rooms for us and had the bottled water and bananas that we asked for. After starting a few of the pieces and getting a feel for the hall again, it was show time! The concert went very well. I performed Handel's "See the raging flames arise", Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen", Ravel's "Don Quichotte a dulcinee" and then ended the first half with the bigt show stopper Handel's "Sibillar gli Angui d'aletto" from his opera, Rinaldo. WHEW! The hard stuff was over with. We took a 15 minute intermission and headed back out for Samuel Barber's op.10 "Rain has fallen", "Sleep now", and "I hear an Army" followed by Musical Theater Treasures, "Some Enchanted Evening", "Ol' Man River", "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'", and "Soliloquy" from Carousel. The audience was very appreciative and seemed to want more. (I was going to give them more regardless) For encores I sang "At the River" and then on a whim my pianist, during our dress rehearsal, said that I should sing "If I loved you" - so I did. It was a wonderful evening.

Afterwards there was a lovely reception and an opportunity to sign programs. I still find that so weird that people want my autograph! After things started dying down I offered to the young college students to go out to dinner with us at where else, but Rafferty's! I had a great time answering their questions, laughing, drinking $1.25 draft beer, and celebrating a very successful week.

With one rental car and with my pianist's flight leaving at 6:45am and mine scheduled to depart at 11:20, there was a problem. So, I decided to do the right thing and fly stand-by on the 6:50am flight back to DFW. So, we headed back to the hotel, packed up our stuff and drove the hour drive down to Nashville and took a 3 hr nap in the car before checking in for our flight. Of course my 6:50 flight has been delayed to 7:38, thus, providing the time to write this novel for you!

I truly hope that everyone had a week that offered as much as mine did!

Clarksville, TN

Well, after a few days here in the surprising coldness of TN, I'm kinda ready to be back in TX where I can still wear shorts and flip-flops well into December! Haha! Seriously though, everyone has been so wonderful here in TN. We started the week with 2 High School presentations on Monday. My wonderful colleague, collaborator, and friend, Miah Im and I talked with the students about the importance of the art song recital and what it is about art songs that make them unique in the genre of classical vocal music. They seemed interested and were chomping at the bit to get the free tickets to the recital that I'm giving on Thursday evening...so, I'm guessing that it was a successful presentation! We did 2 more of the same on Tuesday and were essentially exhausted. I really dont know how teachers do it. Kudos to you mom and Dennis!

Today is my day off / dress rehearsal for my recital tomorrow night. The hall is wonderful. We are performing at the Austin Peay State University here in Clarksville, TN and their concert hall is perfect for song recital. Its an intimate hall that seats about 300, I believe. Maybe its 600. Anyway, they have a Bussendorf Grand piano (with the 5 extra bass keys...very odd) -- So,if all goes well we should have a fun time tomorrow night at 7:30!

I'm back in the Dallas / Ft.Worth area on Friday and am looking forward to being in one place for longer than 5 days.

Finally...home.

<--- Thats a Texas sunset and a Mesquite tree.

After a very fun and sucessful 7.5 weeks in New York City I wrapped up the final performance of Die tote Stadt this past Saturday afternoon. I was also wrapping up my belongings that I have been carrying with me over the past 4 months while I've been out on the road! I got everything packed in the car and headed out on my journey from NY to TX.

The first day I got out of NYC at about 5:45pm, as it took a little time navigating the traffic in and around the Lincoln Tunnel. The one thing that I do love about the Lincoln Tunnel is when you leave and are in NJ, it wraps you around and gives you the most beautiful view across the Hudson of the skyline of midtown Manhattan. My destination, Roanoke, VA. The trip was pretty uneventful, which was good. I made it to VA and stayed at the lovely Courtyard Marriot that my father in law hooked me up with! Thanks Big Daddy! I think I arrived at approx 1:15am. Not bad, 8 hrs or so on the first day. But, I knew that the next day would eat me up and spit me out.

After waking up at about 7am, I was on the road again by 8. My destination today? Little Rock, AR! What I found most amusing today were the accents that I encountered as I picked up breakfast, lunch, and dinner in various parts of "middle America". I believe that it was the McDonalds in Roanoke that I first noticed the draaawl of VA. Subtle, but sweet. That afternoon I think I had made it to middle of nowhere Tennessee. Wow. This was as bad as you could imagine. The first person that I saw at the Wendy's was a guy that literally had dried up drool on his lips. He might as well been playing the Deliverance tune with a twinkle in his eye. And the accent...yikes! I safely made it out of there and was back on the road. Finally I made it to AR (yes, thats the abbreviation for Arkansas, not AK ...thats Alaska.) I stayed at a lovely little La Quinta just off I-30 and the receptionist was just cute as she could be...the attractive Southern accent was almost here. I do find that the Texas accent is quite attractive when coupled with an attractive woman.

So, yeah...day 3. This was nothing compared to the previous days...a mere 5 hrs and I'd be home! I have to say that I was very excited...not only to be crossing the Texas border in mere hours, but that I would get to see my wife!! ...and actually live under the same roof as her!! Go figure.

So, its been a few days and I've figured out where the silverware is and where the bowls and dishes and stuff go. I have to say I LOVE my apartment. Granted its just a temporary place whie we look to build a house to move into next year...but its a very beautiful place to come home to.

The beginning of a new era...

Ok, so, its official. I have been released from my prior contract with Columbia Artists and am free to begin my new managerial relationship with the lovely Caroline Woodfield. I know it may not seem like that big of a deal to family or to those that truly dont understand who this amazing woman is...but, its a huge step in the right direction! So, yeah, that was my big news. I truly am excited about this next step in my professional career.

This week is filling out to be par for the course in this crazy business. We start rehearsal tomorrow for our performance that we have Friday night with the Juilliard alumni gang (at 8pm at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater; formally known as the Juilliard Theater), then Thursday morning I am getting new photos done here in NYC, then we have the final rehearsal on stage at 1, and thent I have performance #4 that night of Die tote Stadt. WHEW! Friday I have an audition in the afternoon for Santa Barbara Opera and then it is the Juilliard "Sing For Hope" performance with all my alumni buddies that evening, and then it would seem that I have the weekend off. Oh wait, my pianist is coming in to rehearse our upcoming recital program that happens at the end of this month. Mind you, none of the above include my TV programs - Friday Night Lights (premieres tonight), LOST (season premiere is tomorrow), The Office (which I have to miss on Thursday...but have the itunes season pass) - so, yeah...I do find time to watch TV! heehee!

As I sit here in the Starbucks at 67th and Broadway writing away, its interesting to me how weird people are in New York City! This may not come as a surprise to any of you, as we are sort of known for it here. But, wow. I just saw a woman that must be in her late 70's wearing all spandex. WHAT?! There are also many windows for people watching on the street outside. Fun times.

On a side note, please check out my wife's new blog which can be found to your right amongst my links. If you are a singer and have a significant other, I urge you to perk their interest in her blog, and perhaps start a blog of their own. I am sure that there are many significant others of opera singers, or SOOOS as I like to refer them to that need help! Hahaha...is it coincidence that the above kinda looks like SOS? I think not...we are a crazy breed.

Down time...

One of the many things that goes untold about this crazy opera business is all the down time that one has on a gig once performances kick in. We opened Die tote Stadt on September 24 and have already had 3 sucessful performances, with 3 left to go. This weekend begins my down time. My next show is Thursday, so that leaves me with a few days to myself...well, sort of.

Another project this week is the Juilliard Alumni "SING FOR HOPE" concert. We have a rehearsal on Wednesday, a run-thru on Thursday, and then we have the performance on Friday night. It should be a fun concert with reunions of old friends.

In addition to my upcoming concert at the Juilliard Theater on Friday, October 6th I also have a recital coming up at the end of this month. I am collaborating with a long time friend and colleague, Miah Im. She is a beautiful pianist and I look forward to making music with her, in Tennessee! So, yeah...I should also be looking at that music and making sure that I'm all caught up with memorization. I think there must just be something about having the day off that makes me want to go into a coma in front of the t.v. and just veg out. How do you spell "VEGE" like hedge...hmmm...

This coming week will surely bring new information that I should be able to share publicly...so, stay posted for some exciting news! :o)