Happy 200th Birthday, Richard Wagner

Greetings to those of you in Cyprus, Finland and Ethiopia and other parts to the world for taking time to read our blog. And, thanks to everyone here in America, who chose to read this as opposed to checking out "Dilbert" in their local newspaper. Of course, hopefully, there is time in your day to read "Dilbert" too!

Today marks the 200th anniversary of classical composer Richard Wagner's  birth. We, in no way, support his anti-Semitic views, but we do admire his tremendous body work, including "Rigoletto" which is one of our favorite operas.

So, we are going to quote the German composer here:

"Whatever my passions demand of me, I become for the time being_ musician, poet,director, author, lecturer, or anything else."

SIDEBAR: We want to wish our kudos to American Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman even though she did not win her "Dancing with the Stars" competition with her dancing partner; that honor went to country singer Kellie Pickler. We know one of them was paired with Mark Ballos and the other one was with Derek Hough, and if you want to know which one is correct then go check out Bing:)

IN THE WHOOPS DEPARTMENT: Ok, I just realized I inadvertently referred to "Rigoletto"as a Wagner opera; it is in fact an Italian opera by Verdi. But, as the great western philosopher Billy Joel once said: "You''re only human; you're supposed to make mistakes."

http://www.bing.com

http://www.dilbert.com

Things To Do List: Go the Car Wash

Here is the latest entry in our semi-regular Things To Do List, yes, there are actually more important things we need to do, but we don't feel the need to disclose those publicly:

1. Listen to WUVT (90.7-FM), the student-run radio station of Virginia Tech

2. Wash car...........and, the clean the inside...........then, clean the trunk

3. Yoga?!

4. Recycle

5. Wash Dishes (of course)

6. Go the opera (the reason for the middle image, though we are not going to see 'Otello')

7. Watch the three episodes of "Mad Men" that you've taped

8. Wear the Batman tie; it could possibly help you with girls

9. Go through the comic books and price them

10. Possibly give money to local PBS station to prevent it from going blank (yes, that's the reason for the TRT_ Turkey Radio Television_ test pattern)

http://www.wuvt.vt.edu

http://bikramyogabethesda.com/

http://www.lyricopera.org/

http://www.unctv.org/content/

http://www.trt.net.tr/anasayfa/anasayfa.aspx

The links are for 1) WUVT-(90.7 FM); 2) Bikram Yoga Center in Bethesda, Maryland (near Wash. DC); 3) The Lyric Opera Company of Chicago which is performing "Oklahoma"?! in May; 4) WUNC-TV, the public television station for all of North Carolina; 5) The official site for the TRT which is in Turkish, of course!

Quote of the Week- Francesco Totti

Since 2011 is the 150th year of Italy as a republic, we thought we'd quote famous Italians this month. After ice cream and pizza, the country is arguably best known for soccer and opera. Hence, the reason why we are quoting Francesco Totti (b.1976) here and the late opera megastar Luciano Pavorotti (1935-2007) on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

Totti is the captain of the Italian Serie A team Roma, and he has scored more goals than any in the league with 207 career goals.

But, he was only six years old when Paolo Rossi scored the game-winning goal against Germany to the 1982 World Cup in Spain. I watched that game as a 12-year-kid in the resort of Fethiye, Turkey, where many German fans were drinking beer and looking, well, pretty disgusted really.

Here is the quote from Totti:

"We will work as a group, we need to be a real team, that is the only way to go far."

Hmmmm....yeah, athletes, aside from Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson, aren't as good quote source materials as well people like opera singers!

Road Trip USA (1 of 20)_ A Night at the Opera

While we were listening to WVTF, the NPR station in Roanoke, Va., yesterday, I thought it was interesting that we heard the last minutes of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," which was being broadcast from Spartanburg, SC. Then, the next NPR show that aired was a live broadcast of the contemporary opera "Nixon in China," by the New York Met Opera.

All of this made me wonder how long it would take to get from Wade's Family Restaurant in Spartanburg (a city that is relatively close to Clemson University), which was mentioned in "Wait, Wait..." to the famed opera house (the opera pictured here is actually one of my favorites "Rigoletto.")

And, you get to take a guess here as to that answer...

Is it?:

a)10 hours and 17 minutes
b) 11 hours and 49 minutes
c) 12 hours and 28 minutes
d) 13 hours and 42 minutes

You would actually go through Roanoke while taking this trip!

SIDEBAR: Since I am a huge college gymnastics fan, I thought it would be interesting to mention that long-time powerhouse The University of Utah will be hosting Michigan on Friday. And, the Utes have a very unique promotion called Short Person Appreciation Night. Anyone who is under five feet tall gets in free! Today, happens to be the 19th birthday of sophomore Fumina Kobayashi of the Utes who is 5'2. Her teammate Nansy Damianova, a Canadian freshman from Montreal who speaks Bulgarian (?!), is 5'1.

Quote from The Composers- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Yes, we decided to use an image of the late '80s Austrian pop singer Falco (1957-1998), who alas like John Lennon and Lenny Bruce died when he was 40 (which is yikes my age!). Of course, all of us who grew up in the '80s or saw the movie "Adventureland" know that Falco (who was actually more like a two-hit wonder) was best known for the 1986 smash hit single "Rock Me Amadeus," which I think all of us got sick and tired of. But, today, much like the Swedish pop group Abba, it has grown on us like kudzu!

(If memory serves me right, Falco died in a car accident on some island near Jamaica. We need our Honduran intern Javier to verify that once he gets back from Chucky Cheese!).

As for the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), who also died quite young, he is of course known as 'the genius of Salzburg' as he composed many musical classics, including the operas "The Magic Flute," "The Marriage of Figaro" and "The Shephard King"- to name a few.

And, more importantly, he was the subject of Milos Forman's 1985 Oscar-winning film "Amadeus" which is based on a play of the same name by Peter Shaffer.

Here is our quote from Mozart, which is one I sincerely agree with:

"I pay no attention to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings."

For classical music lovers in Roanoke, Va., the Roanoke Symphony will be giving a performance called "Movie Masterworks" on Jan. 24. More details are available at their web site (rso.com).

Things We Learned on Twitter- Greensboro Coffee Shop Closes for the Day

Today, we learned on Twitter that Greensboro Coffee, a coffee joint on State Street in Greensboro, NC, is closing for the day due to flooding from snow that grazed through the Gate City over the weekend. Here was their statement regarding the matter:

"Greensboro Coffee announces it's closing for the day because of flooding issues. We will have to close for the day. We will have it all cleaned up and be open on Tuesday at 7 a.m. Enjoy your snow."

The store's special features include a White Chocolate Frapp.

The image above is from the comic book "Too Much Coffee Man" by Shannon Wheeler, a Facebook friend of mine, that was an underground hit in the 1990s. Wheeler now lives in Portland, Oregon, at last report and his comic book was actually turned into an opera!