POP OUT-OF-THE-BOX IS TOPS!
PACIFIC OPERA PROJECT is a Southern California opera company known for its innovative productions. POP is faithful to opera tradition, but with out-of-the-box thinking that delights and enhances this classical … Continue reading
ROBIN HOOD AND THE CALIFORNIA PERSPECTIVE
WIFE DOTTIE AND I recently enjoyed a Robin Hood flick on the telly. What a hoot! A classic tale of medieval England, California landscapes, and, come to think of it, … Continue reading
CELEBRATING THE BROWN DERBY(S)
I WAS VERY WELL connected at Hollywood’s Brown Derby restaurant, albeit only briefly. A recent mention of this restaurant on SiriusXM “Radio Classics” rekindled the memory. There were actually four … Continue reading
HAIL TO THEE (WHOEVER HE OR SHE IS) PART 2
WE CONTINUE OUR celebration of national personifications here in Part 2 by encountering a previous SimanaitisSays cameo, a British yeoman, and an All-American. Germany’s Arminius. Arminius, aka Hermann the German, … Continue reading
HAIL TO THEE (WHOEVER HE OR SHE IS) PART 1
IN THESE PERHAPS overly nationalistic times, it seems appropriate to review national characters, emblematic personages of the world. Plenty of countries get by with a generic Mother This or Father … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: PEEVISH, PETULANT
“PETULANT” WAS the first word that came to mind when I heard Trump’s threat to dump immigrants into U.S. sanctuary cities. But then etymology furthered my enlightenment. According to Merriam-Webster, … Continue reading
SELECTIVE KLEPTOCRATIC SCAMS
KLEPTOCRACY IS DEFINED by the OED as “a ruling body of thieves.” Merriam-Webster amplifies a bit: “government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of … Continue reading
OPERATIC OCEANTICS
HIGH SEAS have had their share of high C’s. Here’s a sampling of operas with ocean motifs, along with related theatrics of one sort and another. Daniel Auber’s Haydée, ou … Continue reading
SAVORING GOOD DESIGN
GOOD DESIGN is no more expensive than shoddy design. And New York City’s Museum of Modern Art has advice on the choice in “The Value of Good Design,” an exhibition … Continue reading
RESTORATION RIFFS
ENGLAND’S DISSATISFACTION with Puritan Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, 1599–1658, led to more than the people’s exhuming his body in 1661, hanging it in chains, beheading it, and then losing the … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 