Tra la la la la

I don't think Stephen Wadsworth has any idea how deep his influence is in opera companies around the country. It seems to permeate everything we do. I wasn't even the one to bring the rubber chicken. I swear! I was walking outside of the symphony the other day and they have these speakers out back for the crew to hear where the show's at.....I heard the last page of RHEINGOLD and realized just how much I missed that opera. And, in a very strange way, how much I missed the summer.

And Carmen rolls on....Stormy makes a good pirate, but she and Franchesca brought cheerleading outfits for Halloween, so sadly, we'll not see her as a swashbuckling ASM anytime soon.
Tim Buck, Master Carp, is in town doing the load in. It was his last night in town and many hijinx ensued. We had a few drinks....
Then went for a carriage ride in the city. It was chilly, we were all snuggled under the blankets, and our horse's name was Storm. Ha ha ha!
The driver took us to all the clubbing streets in town. It was a very nice juxtaposition. Wandering around town at the speed of a horse with techno blasting from all the clubs around us.
It was such a delightful evening.....and then Tim had to go back to Seattle.

How horrendously lax have I been? Oh, it can only mean one thing. Opera. Lots of it. It's true, I haven't been able to photograph anything lately. It's not that there's nothing to snap, it's that I'm suddenly shy pulling the camera out at all opportunities with people I don't know as well. So I photograph the city. The cafes. The bookstores.

This is my new dinner-coffee-if it's not raining-spot. It's a big ol' bookstore called the tattered cover. Very nice.

She can't be mad at me for photographing her. This is Foxy. Park and George's pooch. She lives in the big old rambling Victorian I'm staying in. I get to walk her whenever I want. She's exactly the dog I'd get if I could. It's funny, because I've had a ridiculous amount of dog fever lately. I have no idea where this is coming from, but I'm convinced that before this year's out (2006), I'll have a new place to live, a '60 Ford Falcon, and a little Foxy of my own. Who knows where the hell I come up with this stuff.

In other new, Carmen is going well, all things considered. Getting to finally meet and work with Rupert has been an absolute delight. One could get addicted to having folks like him around. Tim Buck, Master Carp of Seattle Opera, is here with us loading in the set. He's such a good man...makes me miss home all the more....

End o the first week

The end of my first week in Denver is good. This company and their policies just make me giggle, as we only have the first cast Carmen for one day before tech, the second cast Carmen for two and a half days before tech, and a Don Jose who comes two days before tech. Not to mention a director who comes and goes and an AD who's never done the show. Oh, and we only have 8 days to stage the double cast show before tech. The whole thing just gets sillier with each phone call. But the people are great, the city is so beautiful, and the weather finally makes me smile.
All in all, a decent beginning to what will surely be a strange ride of an opera. Oh, and it's a brand new opera house with all the problems that'll cause....Ugh.

The snow is gone, and Denver is once again a beautiful place. It's turned out to be a good, fall week. The opera is coming along, even if we just lost a tenor, and things are slowly taking shape. The company is good- I'm really starting to enjoy it.

My little coffee shop. It''s so nice and empty here; the have free wi-fi, too! Yippy! Oh, and they let me smoke, which as you all know, is necessary. I come here way too often, but it's a good spot to hang out in.

Stormy Edwards. She's kickin' butt and taking names. Thankfully, we seem to have gelled again right off the bat.

Franchesca. Great ASM, good friend of Stormys....

That's all for Denver photos so far. I'm so lame, have barely taken out the camera. I'll do better!

Holy Crap

Denver is so frickin' cold and it's SNOWING. The last time I saw snow was over the holidays at home in Chicago. There, it was cute and nostalgic. Here, it's depressing and annoying. I had to buy a scraper for my car and now am out hunting for warm insoles for my little shoes. I completely forgot how difficult it is to get crap done when everything is WET and COLD. I've turned into such a west coast baby!

End of the Road

Our last full day...we spent the whole of it driving around the Colorado Rockies hitting any strange site that struck our fancy. Little car did very well on the hills, but the road aptly named "Oh my God" road scared the heck out of me. It was a lovely day, all told, but the end of the road came too soon. 1,887 miles later we arrived in Denver, checked into our hotel, and toasted our last glass of wine. Great trip, all things told, and I can't wait to do it again.

Flaming Gorge and others....

As you can see, the fall colors have completely exploded all over our trip. The second we descend into forested areas, it's like a virtual wonderland of autumn colors. We're such lucky devils!

Mid week on the Road with Mom

We are happy, somewhat healthy (me- nasty cold in my nose, Mom- nasty cold in her chest), and amazed at all we've seen so far...

On the road again.....

And off we go....Mom and I got an early start on Monday morning heading west via #90. It was a beautiful morning drive.....

The Cascades were just waking up as we drove into the mountains. Mom had a thousand travel books at her feet and read aloud as we drove....

Our first stop was the little town of Roslyn. We were, of course, starving, and got a bite to eat in a little bar. So begins my horrible coffee experiences. They have not gotten better since.


Mom enjoys our little mascot in the back window very much, but we had to get a new one, so.....
Meet Marvin the moose. He sits by my gas gauge and tells us when to refill.
We never stop bird/animal watching. The list goes on and on as to what we've seen so far on our scenic byways. Mountain sheep, falcons, hawks, sandhill cranes, and of course, a million magpies. We were told there were turkeys running around, and spent hours looking for them. I think they were putting us on...
The country is beautiful. We're now in Idaho on our way to Craters of the Moon State Monument. We'll post more later.....

10:15 on a Saturday night

We went to a fancy party on Consolidated Works last night. It was a fun filled evening of music, strange art projects, and some very fancy dress.

I do enjoy the heck out of strange artistic types, so it turned out to be very entertaining.
All the boys had a crush on the blond trapieze artist. Except Dan. He was gunning for the brunette. Paul actually said, "That's the most beautiful trapieze artist in the world."

We ended up out in the back bar....
Fred.
Time to go to sleep! Thank God Fred can drive stick.....