2255 Birthday weekend 2012 3-The Winter of my Life

The highlight of my 73rd birthday weekend was a 3D performance of Madame Butterfly with the Canadian Chinese Zhang Liping as Madam Butterfly and the experience was then followed by listening to the soundtrack of the stage musical Miss Saigon which is based on the Madam Butterfly story and where I have seen the stage show four times such was my enthusiasm for it.

It was a glorious sunny and warm day as I set off to go through the Tyne tunnel and indeed not a day for the inside of anywhere. I set off down the hill and was astonished to find that Ocean Road, the main thoroughfare between the town centre, passing the row of over a bed and breakfast hotels on one side and a similar number and more of restaurants on the other was blocked off.

On Monday morning because of a forecast of another good weather day I walked down and alongside the park before turning into ocean Road from the park end I discovered the cause of the blocking. The former public house and over recent year’s nightclub bar has almost been demolished. The closure of the building was no surprise as a number of other similar establishments have also been closed with one presently being turned into offices although even this work appears to have come to a halt. The demolition of the building is a surprise.

As I rounded the corner on my way to the Health centre for a blood test I was not surprised to see the John Wright centre boarded up. It was one of the first multi use centres for those with disabilities and in my time a chapel and a bar lounge had been added although its use was reduced with the creation of a modern work centre for those with a learning disability and the of visual disability creating their own centre. Given that in my time a purpose built centre embracing people with disabilities and the able bodied had been created in Jarrow and then in the late 1980’s a state of the art centre for multi disability use and for the elders was purpose built in Hebburn the financial justification for the three centres disappeared long ago if it ever existed. That they did reflect the finest aspect of a people based local democracy.

The exploration of what was going on meant I arrived later than intended at the Health centre and found 12 others before me although by the time the second block of ten people were called into the waiting area for the tests the 29th individual had been reached. However even with only two chairs the process was speedy and I was out within half an hour of arriving with time to head for a bacon roll and coffee at the Wetherspoons’ and an excellent coffee it was and then some shopping at the supermarket.

On Sunday I used my new Tyne Tunnel electronic payment disk for the first time. This is a solid plastic disk which fits to the windscreen with a sucker and which registers at the any of the barriers as having paid £1.24 instead of the cash charge of £1.40. One adds amounts in minimum of £15 which provides 6 return journeys about my average need for a year giving and overall saving of only £2 but more significant if not having to find the small change and a faster passage especially now that queuing has been eliminated with the opening of both tunnels. The tag costs £11.40 to provide and is made in China, where else?

I have re-examined my previous reporting on Madam Butterfly where I first saw a relay also on a birthday three years ago. That was a live relay from the Metropolitan New York and then I watched again on Internet connected TV. The 3D version is a filmed event specially constructed to give the impression of a performance before a live audience but where the need for close ups and on stage movement makes filming with the special cameras impossible with an audience although the audience reaction is added at the end.

There is only a limited build up this time and at one level nothing of the audience excitement before the raising of the curtain. Similarly there were no intervals with only a brief pause between the three acts so the performance lasts two hours instead of the usual two and three quarters although traditionally the opera is performed with only one interval. However this had the impact of increasing the emotional tension and sense of dooms despite everyone being familiar with the story as few in the well filled cinema theatre were under fifty. For some reason there was no lighting which made locating seats a problem as a consequence.

The two productions are significantly different with the Minghella production creating a vivid visual presentation which included the use of puppets and dancers as well as a fair size chorus of wedding guests of relatives and Geisha girl friends. His widow attended the New York Metropolitan Performance.

All the action in the Covent Garden production takes place within the confines of the minimalist rented home with the no furniture apart from mats for sitting or sleeping, storage facility under the stage and the occasional use of a small table.

One could argue that this is the one Opera where 3D has nothing to offer although I thought the impact of the additional dimension is that that one has a greater sense of the dramatic and of being on stage rather than as a member of an audience. This is also true for the 3D Carmen production but where the action enables great camera and visual creativity.

It is important not to forget that is the story of an innocent 15 year old Geisha trained Japanese girl Cio Cio San and a mature Naval Officer who these days would be accurately described a paedophile sex tourist and whose conduct is far more reprehensible that of the innocent GI in Miss Saigon when the new bar girl is bought for him by his best friend.

Butterfly was played Patricia Racette in the New York Production, a bulky opera singer but who nevertheless acted with the innocence of an adolescent, a waiting lover and a young mother prepared to sacrifice herself for her child. Zhang Liping is now in in her early forties having played the role to great acclaim in her early thirties and like Racette has the remarkable ability to act with the mannerisms of a young girl, but nevertheless is aware she is far from the child bride to which Pinkerton is drawn.

There was an important difference in the performances of Marcello Giordino as Pinkerton and that now of James Valenti. Giordino is also a bulky opera star which made the relationship in the Met production somehow more plausible if one forgets the difference in ages. Valenti is strikingly tall and very much the educated and sophisticated naval officer. My only problem was the lack of a connection between him and Butterfly You did get the impression that he felt passion for his bride although he is convincing about his guilt and remorse later.

In the opening of the Opera Captain Pinkerton makes it plain that he considers this to be a fake marriage, an experience before he settles down with a wife family in the USA. The girl is sold to him by an unscrupulous marriage broker who is not different from the Bar owner in Miss Saigon, finding virgin in the countryside who will become his premium Miss Saigon bride for the endless stream of lecherous GI’s. Moreover Pinkerton is warned by the Consul that the girl is taking the relationship seriously especially when she is denounced by an elder and who insists she is cut off from all her relations. This makes Pinkerton a dislikeable man from the outset. He is in a rush to complete the formalities and aghast when the relatives arrive and cannot get rid of them quick enough. Although 15 his bride has been trained as a Geisha with appropriate social graces and a personal maid and companion Susuki and while the performance of Helen Schneiderman is world class it cannot compare with that of Maria Zajick, the extraordinary Mezzo Soprano whose signature role are those in Aida but also of Susuki.

The first Act comprises the arrival of Pinkerton at the rented House on a hill overlooking the Nagasaki Harbour; I have always felt there is great irony here with the two rapes of the population of this once fair city. Pinkerton is brought by the marriage broker played by Robin Leggate and the US Consul to ensure the proprieties are maintained and who is troubled by the proposed marriage because he understands the different cultural perspectives.

Unlike the majority of the girls who understand the impact of being a Geisha on the rest of their lives, Suzuki comes from a wealthy family of standing who have fallen on hard time, and waiting in the wings is a young Japanese warrior of good birth wanting to marry her. In this production he is played as an older business man seeking a young attractive mistress no different from Pinkerton.

In Miss Saigon the girl is also from a village whose family fall on hard times with the death of her father. She was promised by to a young Communist warrior who wants her as a proper bride and not as a concubine. They are to take different paths in Opera and Musical.



The American Consul, the marriage broker and Pinkerton are all aware that the wedding ceremony is a façade to enable him to enjoy the experience of the young woman while he is in port, and that whatever he says or promises he has no intention of returning or establishing a permanent relationship. He admits his love em and leave them, a girl in every port, approach, the Consul who warns, from his knowledge of the girl that she is likely to put all her trust in him and take the marriage seriously. Pinkerton notes that the contract can be terminated by him at any time without notice or penalty. It is important to appreciate the cultural and language divide between the two, and the role of the Geisha in Japanese society at that time. This is the tragedy of the opera story.

The situation in Saigon is very different and apart from the exotic location there are have always been bars and bar girls as well as brothels catering for the soldier as there are now for the sex tourist. The soldier here is just as inexperienced of life as his paid bride for the night and for him this one night becomes just an important as he is to her. This is the difference between an experience based on infatuation rather than lust. Pinkerton says all the right words but we know from the outset he does not mean them.

A major in ingredient to the first act is that Madam Butterfly as she has become is that in order to adapt and fit into her husband’s life she has gone to the local mission to become a Christian thus alienating herself for her uncle, the Bonze (Buddhist Monk) who is also one of her uncles and from her other relatives. It is this aspect of the relationship with horrifies her family and alienates her from them not the likely temporary nature of the relationship. It is the way of things just as street children have become the way of things in Indian cities.

Suzuki quickly becomes her confident, mother figure and ally. Cio Cio San has had some education and on being told that she is as beautiful as a butterfly by Pinkerton she responds from knowledge that some men in the West collect Butterflies destroy Butterflies to which Pinkerton explains that they do pin them so as to stop them flying away.

Minghella divided the second act into two parts, which the usual way the Opera is presented in order to achieve maximum dramatic effect. In the first part of the second act three years have passed and Butterfly has remained constant in love and expectation that what he said about returning was truthful and she spends time taking note of the arrivals in the port from her vantage point in the hillside. Suzuki is loyal but sceptical and tries to help her to be more realistic especially as their money begins to run out. The marriage broker brings the young warrior who wants to marry her despite the relationship she has had with the American. She sends them both away. In the Convent Garden production he brings the business man who makes it plain she is to be his concubine and she sends him away clinging to her belief in Pinkerton and that the USA and not Japan is her country.

It is in this middle part of story that the musical Miss Saigon significantly changes. The young man is besotted with the girl and with the help of his friend and with his savings goes to live with her effectively deserting marrying and with the intention that she will become his lifelong woman. It is only because of the impending fall of Saigon and the sudden departure of the Americans that their relationship ends. He has to take one of the last helicopters out of the city while she is among the hundreds left behind to their fate.

Before this the man with whom she was betrothed as a child arrives and is horrified to find out what has happened but his feelings for her remain and he warns both about their fate. The bar owner in Saigon is also on his way out to the closest place where he can continue to trade. Both young women are abandoned but for very different reasons and both wait. It is in Madam Butterfly that she sings one of the great and much loved Operatic Arias of all time One Fine day “Un Bel di”. There is a similar musical number in Miss Saigon although of very different quality but is nevertheless as haunting.

There is also the visit of Warrior in Miss Saigon. This is one of the colourful and subsequently moving moments in the stage show. He comes to take her full of the triumph of the Communist success in driving out the invaders from his country is then is horrified to find that she has a blue eyed son, her pride and her joy and her reason for surviving. He had come to take her and not the child. Her solution is to kill the man with the revolver given to her by her husband before he was forced to leave.

The same scene is played differently in Madam Butterfly with the Consul coming to say he has had a letter in which Pinkerton is explaining his intention not to return but she misinterprets every word which the Consul tries to explain to her and he cannot bear to tell her the truth. When she produces her son all he can do is to leave and report the position to Pinkerton. The child is blue eye and fair haired and adorable. He is destined to break many female hearts on stage, in film and in life in the future.

Pinkerton’s ship arrives and the two women prepare for his visit. Susuki who had her doubts and expresses concern over their rapidly diminishing funds and favoured the match with the businessman as a solution is caught up in the excitement and goes to collect flowers from thee garden to cover the inside of their home. She, Butterfly and child sit waiting expectant for hour upon hour and throughout the night. There is the famous humming chorus and her aria of belief and hope, with similar number in Miss Saigon

In the stage show the war has ended and the Bar owner has discovered the girl and her son and sees this as his ticket to the USA. It he is who alerts the friend of the husband who is visiting to help the children of G’I left behind with an important political song about their fate. It is he who in turn informs his married friend and who in turn admits the relationship to his wife of three years and to whom he has said nothing of his affair and local marriage. There is an important exchange between husband and wife in Miss Saigon that we would expect in the 20th century. It is the expectations of the bar owner which takes the musical into the number The American dream symbolised by a Cadillac is brought on stage.

Butterfly, exhausted goes to bed with her son and Pinkerton the Consul with Pinkerton’s wife waiting outside arrive early to talk to the maid and asking her to break the news to Butterfly and that he has come her son. Although devastated and heartbroken for her mistress Suzuki agrees. Pinkerton is consumed with guilt at what he has done and cannot cope with the reality of the situation and goes off leaving his wife and the Consul talking with Suzuki but before they can leave Butterfly arrives and immediately senses correctly what is going on. She agrees to hand over the child on condition that Pinkerton comes in person for him. As he approaches she commit suicide using the knife which her father used, “to die with honour.”

This is where the Opera when brilliantly sung and acted can devastate an audience no matter how many times they have seen the show and know the story. In its own way Miss Saigon also has a similar impact because the audience has been caught up with the beautiful music and glittering sets and there is horror and universal guilt at the death of the young woman sacrificing herself so that her child will be taken to the USA and have the kind of life she once dreamed for herself.

In many respects it was not the kind of experience for a celebration weekend and affected me as I emerged into the evening sunshine. It was spring but I saw the winter of my life.

2086 Five talented Operara singers

The Cardiff Singer of the World competition final was held on Sunday evening with a surprising result

Meeta Raval opened the evening programme withTimor di me? ... D'amor sull'ali rosee (Il trovatore) - Verdi;
Sola, perduta, abbandonata (Manon Lescaut) - Puccini and Beim Schlafengehen (Vier letzte Lieder No 3) - R Strauss

She attended Wells Cathedral School and was the first Head Girl Chorister in the country. She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a first class honours degree and was awarded a Diploma of Distinction by Royal Academy Opera. Meeta won the Dame Eva Turner Prize and the Royal Academy of Music Pavarotti Prize. She has participated in master classes with Dame Ann Murray and Mirella Freni, and completed her studies at the National Opera Studio in 2010.

Operatic roles include Contessa Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Anna Don Giovanni, Micaela Carmen, Magda La rondine, Mimì La bohème, Liù Turandot, The Witch Hänsel und Gretel and the title role Suor Angelica. Meeta's operatic debut at English National Opera was as First Flower Maiden Parsifal. On the concert stage, Meeta has sung the Bach Mass in B Minor and Johannes Passion; Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem; Bruckner's Te Deum; Dvořák's Stabat Mater; Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder and Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Broadcasts include Contessa in Discovering Figaro and Soprano in Janáček's Diary of One who Disappeared, both for BBC Radio 3, and Teresa Das Wundertheater by Henze for RAI. Future plans include Cio-Cio San Madam Butterfly for Mid Wales Opera in September. Meeta enjoys shopping, travel, cinema, dancing and all kinds of music. I rated her performance 4th of the 5 competitors on the night.


Previously she had sung
· Signore, ascolta! (Turandot) - Puccini
· La mamma morta (Andrea Chénier) - Giordano
· How can I sleep ... At the haunted end of the day (Troilus and Cressida) - Walton
· Mercè, dilette amiche (I vespri siciliani) - Verdi

I placed 5th Hye Jung Lee from South Korea who had impressed everyone in the semi final which she won by singing· I am the wife of Mao Tse-tung (Nixon in China) - John Adams but had to contribute other songs for the final.

· Tornami a vagheggiar (Alcina) - Handel
· A vos jeux, mes amis ... Partagez-vous mes fleurs! (Hamlet) - Thomas

Born in 1983 she graduated from Seoul National University in 2006, with teacher Hyun Ju Yun. She continued her studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Dresden with Ilse Hahn and Mannes College of Music, New York with Beth Roberts. She was the recipient of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship 2006-2008 and winner of Metropolitan Opera Council in Indiana District in 2010. Hye Jung won second prize at the 2008 Shizuoka International Opera Competition, third prize at the 58th ARD International Music Competition in 2009 and won the Career Bridges grant award in 2010. Hye Jung joined the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera in 2010 and performed Giannetta L'elisir d'amore and scenes from Ariadne auf Naxos Zerbinetta and A Midsummer Night's Dream Tytania there the same year. Her repertoire includes Adele Die Fledermaus, Lauretta Gianni Schicchi, Ilia Idomeneo, Marie La fille du régiment, Zdenka Arabella, Nannetta Falstaff and Frasquita Carmen. She has also taken part in many concerts, including Mozart's C minor Mass, Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium at Carnegie Hall and a UBS gala concert at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. In July 2012, Hye Jung will perform Madame Mao Nixon in China with San Francisco Opera. I had wondered how China would react to this Opera so it is interesting that she is participating in this visit. In her spare time, she enjoys movies and yoga.

Of the three others I had expected Andrei Bonarenko, the Baritone from Ukraine and the only male singer in the final to win as he had the vote of the expert commentators for the BBC and had won the song competition final the night before. Born in 1987 he trained at the National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music in Kiev and the Kiev Conservatory. Since 2007 he has been a soloist in the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers in St Petersburg. Awards include third prize at the 2006 International Rimsky-Korsakov vocal competition in St Petersburg, third prize at the International Maniuszko Competition and finalist in the 2010 Operalia competition. In 2009 he took part in the Salzburg Festival Young Singers' Project, working with Michael Schade and taking master classes with Christa Ludwig, Marjana Lipovšek and Thomas Quasthoff. In 2010 he sang Grigorio Roméo et Juliette with Yannik Nezet-Seguin and this year The Emperor Le Rossignol with Ivor Bolton. Andrei's current roles at the Mariinsky include Gugliemo Così fan tutte and Conte Il nozze di Figaro. Other repertoire includes Onegin Eugene Onegin, Silvio Pagliacci, Marullo Rigoletto, Robert Iolanta, Aeneas Dido and Aeneas, Papageno Die Zauberflöte and Belcore L'elisir d`amore. This year, in Vienna, Germany, Moscow, St Petersburg and at the Sydney Festival, he takes part in a new Michael Sturminger project, The Giacomo Variations, alongside John Malkovich. Future engagements include his Glyndebourne Touring Opera debut as Malatesta Don Pasquale in 2011 and Marcello La bohème at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2012. Andrei enjoys playing jazz saxophone.

· Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo (Così fan tutte) - Mozart
· O Carlo, ascolta ... Io morrò - (Don Carlo) - Verdi
· Fin ch'han del vino - (Don Giovanni) - Mozart
· Ya vas lyublyu (The Queen of Spades) - Tchaikovsky

BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize Final repertoire

· In der Fremde (Op 39 No 1) - Schumann
· Intermezzo (Op 39 No 2) - Schumann
· Waldesgespräch (Op 39 No 3) - Schumann
· Die Stille (Op 39 No 4) - Schumann
· Autumn (Russia cast adrift No 1) - Georgy Sviridov
· Russia cast adrift (Russia cast adrift No 5) - Georgy Sviridov
· Simon, Peter ... Where are you? (Russia cast adrift No 6) - Georgy Sviridov
· O my homeland, o happy and eternal hour (Russia cast adrift No 12) - Georgy Sviridov

I wanted Mezzo-Soprano Olesya Petrova Mess to win because I enjoyed her voice and performances the most overall. Born 1982 in St Petersburg, she graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatoire in 2008 where she had studied with Professor Irina Bogacheva. She has been a soloist with the St Petersburg Conservatoire Opera Theatre since 2007. Olesya won second prize at the first International Galina Vishnevskaya competition in Moscow in 2006 and second prize in the XI11 International Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow in 2007. She has performed Lyubasha The Tsar's Bride for Perm Opera and Novosibirsk Opera and Amneris Aida in Bangkok. Oleysa's repertoire also includes Marfa Khovanshchina; Lel The Snow Maiden; Carmen Carmen; Olga Eugene Onegin; Countess Polina The Queen of Spades; Maddalena Rigoletto; Joan The Maid of Orleans and Ulrica Un ballo in maschera. Olesya's concert repertoire includes works by Bach, Pergolesi, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, Berlioz, Wagner, Mahler and Prokofiev. Artists Olesya has performed with include Valery Gergiev, Leo Kremer, Fabio Mastrangelo and Vladimir Fedoseev. She has given solo recitals in St Petersburg, Moscow and Ekaterinburg and has toured in Europe, the USA, South America, Korea, China and Japan. Future plans include Konchakovna Prince Igor in Zurich in 2012. In her spare time, Olesya enjoys the gym, cinema, reading and driving.

BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2011: Final repertoire
· Nyet, bit' ne mozhet! (The Tsar's Bride) - Rimsky-Korsakov
· Re dell'abisso, affrettati (Un ballo in maschera) - Verdi
· Voi lo sapete, o mamma (Cavalleria rusticana) - Mascagni
· Habañera (Carmen) - Bizet

BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2011: concert one repertoire
· Adieu, forêts (The Maid of Orleans) - Tchaikovsky
· Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix (Samson et Dalila) - Saint-Saëns
· Acerba voluttà (Adriana Lecouvreur) - Cilea

I was not surprised that the Joan Sutherland audience prize was awarded to the Moldovian singer Valentina Naforniţă
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Valentina Naforniţă was born in Glodeni, Republic of Moldova. She graduated from the Stefan Neaga Music College in Kishinev in 2006 and continued her training in Romania, at the voice department of the National University of Music in Bucharest, where she studied with sopranos Maria Slatinaru-Nistor and Eleonora Enăchescu. The latter is teaching her on the MA programme at present. In addition, she has taken master classes with soprano Mariana Nicolesco and conductor Christian Badea.Valentina has participated in numerous competitions. Recent prizes include the Orange Prize for Young Musicians, Romania in 2009 and the second prize in the Hariclea Darclée Voice Competition in 2010. She has appeared in concerts and recitals on the great music stages in Romania, including the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, and has also collaborated with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra. Roles performed at the Opera Studio of the university include Norina Don Pasquale, Adina L'elisir d'amore, Mimì La bohème and Lauretta Gianni Schicchi. In 2008 she performed in the chorus of the Romanian National Opera and later this year she will sing Norina Don Pasquale with them at the Bucharest National Opera House. Valentina enjoys reading, travelling, ballet dancing and swimming.

BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Final repertoire
· Regnava nel silenzio (Lucia di Lammermoor) - Donizetti
· Song to the Moon (Rusalka) - Dvořák
· Je veux vivre (Roméo et Juliette) - Gounod

Earlier she had sung

· Egli non riede ancora ... Non so le tetre immagini (Il corsaro) - Verdi
· Glück das mir verlieb (Die tote Stadt) - Korngold
· Amour, ranime mon courage (Roméo et Juliette) - Gounod

A strong hint that there was to be a surprise came result came when Dame Kire Te Kenawa, the new Patron of the competition following the death of Dame Joan Sutherland said in interview with the Chairman of the Jury Panel that they would have to consider hard who to award the trophy and prize money after hearing all the performances. Valentina had been awarded the fifth place in the final although the semi final had gone to the Ukrainian. In addition to her technical ability and potential and her performance on the night the trump card is her looks, which one commentator described as Drop Dead Gorgeous, whatever that means. She can play riles such as Juliet and Carmen the seductive vamp with credibility.

2077 A Grand dad goes to a Stadium Pop

On Tuesday May 31^st, I participated in the 4^th Take That concert at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light of their 2011 European Tour. I cannot describe myself as a fan of either the original or later Take That male singing group or of Robbie Williams the Solo singer who also participated in this concert by the group after an absence of 15 years. However when the invitation arrived there was no hesitation on my part other than to immediately accept and the event became the centre piece of the bank holiday half term week which included several meals out, some good swimming sessions and the first of the 20 20 cricket matches this season at the Emirates Durham International.

The last stadium concert attended was in 2003 to watch for the third occasion, Bruce Springsteen and the East Street Band. It was attending the Metro Arena X factor concert in Newcastle where Leona Lewis was the winning star which led to discovering of My Space and the publication of my new writings there and the decision to stop contributing to the now defunct AOL Blogs where in addition to the writings I had published some 40000 photos of my 101 work to that date. I mention this because it is as a consequence of writing about the Take That Concert that the decision has been taken to concentrate once more on my project 101 artwork and more significantly, on the work on my life to be published posthumously. I will complete the writing of the Game of Thrones experience but alongside that work of reading the books and watching the TV series. I will publish writings of my contemporary experience but these will be no more that diaries until the major writing is finished and then substantial progress has been achieved in the artwork project

I have been to several stadium concerts with David Bowie at the former Sunderland Football ground at Roker Park, coming to mind and Elton John, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones and the most memorable of all the July 13^th 1985 Live Aid Concert at Wembley. I therefore described myself as a seasoned rock concert goer prepared to queue early to get a good seat and to spend hours in traffic jams at end of an event. In this in instance there was a specified seat so there was no need to arrive mid afternoon and from my experience as a Sunderland Stadium of Light season ticket holder I knew where it is possible to park within a couple of minutes walk from the stadium if you arrive about two hours before event.

It was therefore possible on the Tuesday to take the Car for a midmorning swim at the Marriot and find surprisingly that the pool was again empty as lunchtime approached and then enjoy a cheese and pickle sandwich in the bar lounge with a soft drink before parking the car around 14.15 and returning home by bus. There are three bus routes from Sunderland back to Shields with the quickest and most direct the 35 which has the advantage of stopping close to the stadium and starts at the South Shields bus station. Around 5pm I walked part way down the hill to the local Wetherspoon’s for an eight oz rump steak with jacket potato, a mushroom, tomato and peas accompanied by a bottle of Beck’s, akin to Peroni all for the same price as the lunch! It was then time to walk down the rest of the hill to the bus station and a wait for ten minutes before the next 35 bus journey to the stadium.

Usually, in the roadway, immediately leading to the stadium there are programme, magazine and souvenir sellers with stewarding only within the stadium arena. On Tuesday there were dozens of stewards at the beginning of the approach roads advising everyone which part of the stadium they should head for. The car park area was fenced off for those who had ground tickets and wished to queue to gain entry into the arena and close to the stages. There were also stewards at the turnstiles helping to ensure that everyone had arrived at the appropriate entry point for their ticket which had to be inserted in an electronic check machine that opened the gateway. Other stewards inside the concourse were available to direct further if required although outside the turnstiles and inside there were large sign boards showing the locations of aisles, and seat numbering. Similarly within the stadium area the stewards were present to help rather than for security purposes. There was no security check for any baggage and no signs preventing the use of mobile phones or other recording equipment. There are some 900 videos available on You Tube of events at the stadium with one ten minuets of good quality vision and sound of the event. In addition to the music the videos provide evidence of the development in production from the days when concerts consisted of a stage, lighting and banks of huge speakers.

The seats were one row from the back of the second tier just below the Black Cat Club lounge whose window overlooks the whole length of the North Stand pitch immediately opposite the main stage. The seats were at the same height as those within the stadium outside the executive boxes which fill the whole length of the West stand above the Chairman’s and Board central seating area, the media area and the other more expensive seating in the stadium. The price of the ticket was £63 plus Vat plus booking fee.

The main stage was at the opposite end filling the full width and height of stadium. At each end there were close up screens and centre back, a larger electronic screen. Above and around the screen on what appeared to be just a covered steel frame with large coloured squares. At stadium roof level there was the lighting control gantry and above this, there was a huge spider man figure whose outstretched hands embraced the entire width of the southern end of the stadium. From the main stage area there was a large runway leading to the second stage area which was located in the final third of the arena, closer to our position than those hugging the guard rail front of stage. The runway and stage was at the head level of those standing in the arena. Major stage productions are not new with David Bowie setting the standard in the early 1980’s although it was Queen which created the international standard with its tour of the United States as they did with Bohemian Rhapsody video, a record which lasts twice that of the standard pop chart number and which everyone in the industry said would not be played but headed the charts for nine weeks, selling over one million copies 1975 1976 and is regarded by many as one of the top 100 singles of all time world wide.

The stadium was about three quarters full for the support act of the Pet Shop boys who played a set from about 19.20 to 20.00. If I am honest, and I try to be, I am more familiar with more Pet Shop songs than Take That with West End Girls, Always on my Mind, Heart and It’s a sin being known to me and to millions of others given sales of 100 million world wide and 42 Top 30 and 22 Top 10 singles in the UK charts. The duo compromises Neil Tennant now 56 born in North Shields and Chris Lowe, three years younger, from Liverpool and both with degrees, Neil’s in London which led him to become London based. He then worked for Marvel comics and then for music industry magazines and papers. He was one of the biggest donors to the Labour Party before joining the Liberal Democrats. Chris Lowe became an architect and a Trombonist before forming an association with Tenant in the early 1980’s both having an interest in the development of keyboard club dance music.

Their stage performance is traditional with Chris famous for his static playing of the keyboard without any movement or attempt to project himself to the audience. For the Take That tour performance Neil was accompanied by a backing group of four young women who wore coloured boxes on their heads for much of the act or performed healthy exercises in swim wear. The audience while appreciative of the music and singing along with the songs remained seated and there was flatness about their set as everyone waited for the main event. I say this in the context that their Glastonbury appearance last year was highly regarded. They have performed with Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, Elton John, Shirley Bassey, Liza Minnelli, Boy George, Kylie Minogue, Madonna, and more recently Girls Aloud and Lady Gaga.

The 2 hour Take That extravaganza commenced around 8.30 and was in three parts, and by this time I could not see a vacant seat and the pitch audience covered 90% of its area. The big screen showed some 54000 customers before it was dismantled along with the coloured squares revealing a five section backstage with a central section which also made way for various surprises. In the fist part Take That, the four entered and came to the foremost part of the extended stage to sing The Greatest Day and to say hullo, how appreciative they were of our presence and how much they looked forward to starting their tour in Sunderland. If I remember accurately they disappeared into the big screen and then became part of it just as Robbie Williams came out of it to commence his individual set of songs which ended with a rendering of Angels.

At the commencement of the writing I said I participated although my contribution was to stand for the performance, clap and move about on the spot in time with the beat of the music. This was one the less expressive performances from the audience who general knew the words and joined in whether they can hold a tune or not and vigorously moved body and hands with great energy. Given the cost fo tickets, the transport and accommodation for many, the programmes at £20 and T shirts and other souvenirs pro rata, it is understandable that many also drank several pints beforehand to get into the spirit of the event. In order to ensure that the voices of the performers were raised above the mass choir and the excellent backing band there was a great array of speakers slung around the rim of the roof as well as strategic positions at the stages so that the sound reverberated against the roof and against the windows of the Black Cat Club.

Looking at videos the Circus tour it is evident that that they are used to spending a fortune in building sets which add to the excitement and sense of wonder and which will form my lasting visual memory of which there were three main components. When located at the end of the raised platform closest to where I was sitting the group performed with dancers in a variety of costumes and effect which included fire twice with swirling flames for Light my Fire and then towards the end surging upward flames followed a major explosion of flame the heat of which I felt from where I sat for Relight the Fire. The most spectacular event at this end of the arena was KIDZ which involved a full set of living chess pieces engaging in combat and the most colourful Shine which included a large Caterpillar on top of which a member of the group sang.

The back stage was the setting for two spectacular moments with around 25 aerial dancers performing like spider men and then forming giant size figures of the evolution of human kind as we rose from being on all fours to two legs. The other event was the Flood which as the title suggests comprises water cascading the down the width of the stage. Finally all the framework screens were removed to reveal huge projection screens again the whole width of the stage to colourful visuals reflecting the mood of a song bathing the whole stadium as lighting around the stadium matched.

This leaves the central walkway which had to be lowered twice to facilitate the use of major mechanicals. The first has become a standard at concert involving a swing arm in this instance or some physical projection which enable the artist to move above the assembly allowing them to bend down and touch hands. This was a Robbie Williams moment. This was no more than a build up for the appearance of Mr Om a giant mechanical who first appeared on the front of the main stage but was then wheeled along ground base tracks to a central point in the arena where he was transformed from a flat position to standing tall with his head again above the height of the stadium roofing when the construction remained as the Encore finale took place at the extended stage end with the singers saying this was the end and while still singing, moved at ground level either side of the walkway shaking hands with the closest admirers.

Having had seats at the back of the second level before I know that if you do not set off five minutes before the end you have to wait until everyone else departs and in this instance those on the pitch area had to be included. Everybody left in orderly fashion and there was no crush. Reaching my vehicle I had expected to find a car jam when exiting into the one system to the right which takes vehicles back along the Newcastle Road towards the Regional Capital, or over the Wear Bridge into Sunderland town centre, or in the opposite direction along the coast road to Roker, Seaburn and on to South Shields. It is possible to get to South Shields by two other streams on the same one way system, by going straight on at the first set of traffic lights and joining the coast Road at the junction between the coast and the river, or swinging left with the option of taking a road parallel to the coast road, having first passed the former site of Sunderland Football Club, Roker Park, now an estate of yuppie housing, and on until reaching Sea Lane where I lived and swinging down the hill passed my former home to the Marriot Hotel, or alternately continuing through Fulwell to joining the road for South Shields which connects with the Newcastle Road going through the Academy of Light and the village of Cleadon.

For the same size of crowd or less at football matches unless you left the ground early one became caught up in a slow moving car jam but on the evening it was possible to join in and make the way home at normal travelling speed. The only thing spoiling the occasion was to find, or not find, more accurately, the remote control for the garage with the spare left inside the house. It was not until following afternoon that I visited the stadium in the hope of checking under the seat where I remain convinced the remote fell. What happened is that the person to my right spilled the pint drink at their feet and in the rush to rescue my coat which I had placed under my seat it was turned upside down and in the noise of the stadium I failed hear the remote fall out. Alas I was not given permission to check and after sending emails and a telephone call I received the information that the stadium had been swept and surprise nothing be found. Such a small item would have been easily missed and swept up with the rest of the rubbish. Fortunately the spare is in good order but a new spare will cost around £50 as the it has to be delivered a set with the cost of the petrol and labour being significantly greater than the remote itself.

After Sunderland there are eight days in the home town of Manchester, 2 nights at Cardiff and Dublin, 3 Glasgow and 2 Birmingham followed by 8 London before visits to Milan, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Munich, Given that the crew for the set were based in Sunderland over a three week period, it is amazing that the dissembling and resembling can be accomplished with a couple of days unless there is a duplicate staging. The Sunderland crew did not pack up into their two coaches until the day of morning of the final concert. It is said that the staging cost £15 million produce but with total audience set to reach 1.75 million a total yield in excess of £100 million is likely of which £50 million could be available to be shared between band members. Take That has an interesting history formed by bringing together talented individual singers in 1989 with Gray Barlow impressing most because of his catalogue of created original work. It was four years before superstardom came their way with a number I album success of original work by Barlow, and followed by new albums in 1994 1995 with a world tour planed for 1996. Meanwhile Robbie Williams was hitting headlines for the wrong reasons of drug abuse and talk of a solo career, being seen partying with other performers such as George Michael and Oasis. He left the band breaking his contract for which a $200000 settlement was arranged and while the tour continued, the band disbanded in 1996 with all the members following separate careers. The effect upon thousands of teenage girls was dramatic with so many in tears and threatening suicide that the government established counselling helplines.

It was ten years later that the group minus Robbie came together and went on tour culminating in backing Leona Lewis in her A Million Love songs single for the X Factor final live show. As Christmas approached their comeback album Beautiful World and single topped every chart in the UK including downloads and DVD thus becoming immediately the top group of its kind in the UK. They had major tours in 2007 and 2009 and foursome. It was in 2010 that the group confirmed that Robbie Williams had rejoined and he and Barlow had created a new album Progress which when released broke all records. It is said that over 1 million tickets were sold for the tour on the first day they went on sale leading to the addition of dates. A second album branded as Extended play called Progressed will be released later this month with both albums issued as a special edition. Among the numbers performed at the concert I have already mentioned Kidz, Happy Now and there was also Underground Machine with the one of single issued songs The Flood and Love Love.

It has been quite a week with on Sunday going for the first day of the successful cricket championship game in which Durham went to win against Lancashire by an innings. On Wednesday the morning after the concert I watched a recording of the ballet Swan Lake from Covent Garden Opera House and then had a great roast beef lunch at the Britannia Toby Carvery in Cleadon Village. The weather was glorious for the fist 20 20 game on Thursday evening when alas Durham could not get their heads from the Championship into the new format, whereas their opponents had a week to prepare. However it is the behaviour of the Durham University student on which I end after mentioning the excellent behaviour of the 50000 at the concert despite tens of thousands of pints being consumed. On Thursday evening a few hundred party mood students the worse for drink confirmed popular media imaging at the Emirates International Stadium. Added to which Durham lost.

1660 Puccini in HD

It is about ten years since I have experienced opera live, making special visit to the Opera House in Leeds for a performance of the Magic Flute. I cannot say that cost has prevented or lack of opportunity as Opera North, based in Leeds, performs regularly at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle and by coincidence the summer programme arrived in the post on Friday for the Theatre, revealing that three works are to be performed in English in June with prices from £35-£50, although in fact none of works appeal.

For the past three months Cineworld cinemas has relayed performances from the Metropolitan Opera House of New York at six pm on a Saturday evening, and when I saw that there was to be a Performance of Madam Butterfly on the weekend of my three years and ten I decided to book a seat and attend without knowing what to expect from the relay although by coincidence I had seen a full performance of the opera on a satellite TV channel within the past year and switched on the radio earlier in the week as an established artist sang a few lines of “one fine Day” talk a little about the opera and her role in the led and sang a few lines more, it was an auspicious omen.

Although booking six weeks beforehand the available seat was in the first row of auditorium banking with four rows in front after a wide space on the same level. Although not ideal therefore there was plenty of room to stretch legs and with the relay in High Definition there was no strain from the proximity to the screen. All seats were sold.

Before talking about the performance I must mention the nature of the relay where there was a sound connection to the Opera House before visual so one could hear the arrival of the patrons with their combined chatter and orchestra tuning up and then with a couple minutes to we looked on to the stage with a small countdown clock to the lower right hand corner. This was repeated during then two intervals for their middle section of 15 mins, either side of which there were behind the scenes interviews and films related to the opera and others to come and in the planned season for next Winter of nine relays The performance time is about 145 minutes plus the two half an hour intervals.

The short interviews included Cio Cio Patricia Racette, Maria Zifchak as Suzuki, the maid, and Marcello Giordani as Pinkerton and the widow of Mr Minghella as well as excerpts from an interview with Anthony about the production. All this together with subtitles and close ups as well as full stage shots created a memorable theatrical experience to what was an emotionally overwhelming experience because of the depth of acting and singing, the like of which I have not previously encountered.

The Metropolitan Association of New York was formed in 1880 and has become the biggest classical music organisation in the USA with over 200 performances a year. The Present Opera House, created in 1966 has one of the biggest stages and an auditorium with 3800 seats and is one of twelve cultural organisations which form the Lincoln Arts centre for Performing art. Because of the height of the stage it is not possible to show sub title translations as in the practice of many establishments so the solutions has been to create a small screen version before each seat which can be switched on or off and is designed not disturb those in adjacent seats. In addition to English the titles are available in French, Spanish, Italian and German depending on the opera and performance language

Luciano Pavarotti achieved world fame singing at the Met along with Placido Domingo and Renee Flemming who hosted the evening telecast.

Since 1931 it has broadcast a performance live each week and on TV on a regular basis since 1977. In 2006 the Opera commenced the Satellite transmission of live opera four times a week and then HD quality performance to cinemas throughout the world including the UK, the Far East and Australia. Although each production costs $1 million dollars to transmit such as been the interest in the live TV showings that there are more seats sold for these than for live performances at the theatre and the income generated now adds to that of the Opera House. Basic ticket prices range for $10 dollars to $375 for the average performance although up to £650 for a long Wagner, There are handling charges and house maintenance charges to these. It is now possible to listen to radio broadcasts direct for the Met, there is one tonight available on the internet. It is also possible to take out an annual, six monthly or monthly subscription to be able see on line 150 previous productions going back half a century on an unlimited basis, or pay to see individual works, including some of those recently shown on HD.

A major development during my lifetime is the open stage on which the performers are secreted or appear during the second that the auditorium and stage is cast in total darkness. Gone is the solid fire safety “curtain” and swing across curtains. For Butterfly, as the orchestra played an overture, Minghella adopted blackness and then a young dancer/mime artist, representing Butterfly, the young Geisha girl, came down stairs from the back of the theatre to create the illusion of a hill with black clothed and veiled mime artists in attendance unravelling swathes of cloth from around her waist and also introducing the use of puppets, and in particular the use of a puppet to represent the subsequent three year old son of Cio Cio San.

The story of Butterfly is one of the best known of all Opera’s along with Bizet’s Carmen and which because of the Spanish setting was the first to which I was introduced by my birth mother who also introduced to Swan Lake, the Tchaikovsky Ballet.

Originally a short story by John Luther Long in 1898 it was made into a stage play by David Belasco It is understood the core events of the opera took place in Nagasaki in the early 1890’s. The original version of the opera was in two acts and opened at La Scala Milan in 1904. This was not a great success and Puccini re wrote as three acts and continued to make different versions, five in total with the last in 1907. It was first performed in England in 1905 and New York in 1906 in English.

Cio Cio San, is a fifteen year old innocent Japanese Geisha girl in the port city of Nagasaki who has been the older Lieutenant in the USA Navy on a visit, desires her but finds in order to have sexual relations he must agree to a marriage formally arranged by a local marriage broker and the American Consul. He hires a traditional Japanese house overlooking the harbour on a lease and agrees to participating in a wedding ceremony according to Japanese custom and which involves relatives and Geisha girl friends. The house is rented along with servants including a maid Suzuki, who Minghella has turned into the second important role, of even greater significance to Pinkerton.

Unlike the majority of the girls who understand the impact of being a Geisha on the rest of their lives, Suzuki comes from a wealthy family of standing who have fallen on hard time, and waiting in the wings is a young Japanese warrior of good birth wanting to marry her. The American Consul , the marriage broker and Pinkerton are all aware that the wedding ceremony is a façade to enable him to enjoy the experience of the young woman while he is in port, and that whatever he says or promises he has no intention of returning or establishing a permanent relationship. He admits his love em and leave him, a girl in every port, approach, the Consul who warns, from his knowledge of the girl that she is likely to put all her trust in him and take the marriage seriously. Pinkerton notes that the contract can be terminated by him at any time without notice or penalty. To appreciate the situation it is important to appreciate the cultural and language divide between the two, and the role of the Geisha in Japanese society at that time.

A major in ingredient to the first act is that Madam Butterfly as she has become is that in order to adapt and fit into her husband’s life she has gone to the local mission to become a Christian thus alienating herself for her uncle, the Bonze(Buddhist Monk) who is also one of her uncles and from her other relatives. This is where Suzuki quickly becomes her confident, mother figure and ally. Cio Cio San has had some education and on being told that she is as beautiful as a butterfly by Pinkerton she responds from knowledge that some men in the West collect Butterflies destroy Butterflies to which Pinkerton explains that they do pin them so as to stop them flying away.

Minghella has divided the second act into two parts, which the usual way the Opera is presented in order to achieve maximum dramatic effect. In the first part of the second act three years have passed and Butterfly has remained constant in love and expectation that what he said about returning was truthful and she spends time taking note of the arrivals in the port from her vantage point in the hillside. Suzuki is loyal but sceptical and tries to help her to be more realistic especially as their money begins to run out. The marriage broker brings the young warrior who wants to marry her despite the relationship she has had with the American. She sends them both away.

Pinkerton’s ship returns and she is full of expectations and commences to make preparations and the Consul arrives with a letter which queries whether Butterfly remembers him and which goes on to explain that he has married and American girl and therefore will not be in a position to see her. Such is her enthusiasm and expectation that the Consul is unable to explain this, especially when Butterfly introduces him to her son of three years. The consul goes off to inform Pinkerton that he has a mixed race looking son. The two women and the boy sit overlooking the harbour and roadway up the hill for the arrival of the husband, accompanied by the humming chorus. Earlier in the this second part Butterfly has sung one of the most famous if not the most famous, arias of belief and hope, One Fine day “Un Bel di”

In the second part, Butterfly goes to bed having waited up all night and Pinkerton, his wife and the Consul arrive early to speak to the maid in the absence to ask her to break the new to Butterfly. Although devastated and heartbroken for her mistress Suzuki agrees, but when the child is seen and the position changes again with the decision to take the boy with them because of the better life which can be provided. Pinkerton consumed with guilt at what he has done cannot cope with the situation and goes off leaving his wife and the Consul talking with Suzuki but before they can leave Butterfly arrives and immediately senses correctly what is going on. She agrees to hand over the child on condition that Pinkerton comes in person for him. As he approaches she commit suicide using the knife which her father used, “to die with honour.”

The approach of Mr Mingella (who Directed Truly Madly Deeply1990 and won an Oscar for The English Patient 1996, and he Talented Mr Ripley 1999, also Produced Iris 2001, The Quiet American 2005, Michael Clayton 2007 and The Reader in 2008) was to encourage the singers to emphasise the emotional and dramatic, and as a consequence to pare down the set to essentials sot hat the focus is on the singers. This approach meant that those of us watching on screen with the close ups were at an advantage and able to appreciate the emotional involvement and depth of the principal performances. Dwayne Croft, a baritone, has sung 3000 performances in twenty productions for the Met was convincing as the diplomat, attempting to ensure Pinkerton understood what he was doing and showing great compassion for the plight of Butterfly. As Pinkerton, the Sicilian born Marcello Giordiani also commanded and impressed for his ability to communicate his role as an irresponsible paedophile who is confronted with the reality of his behaviour and exposed as a coward. Over the past twenty years he has created a repertoire of 40 of the great operas and has performed in the leading opera Houses in the world and in the United States. In 1994 he developed vocal problems which imperilled his career until he re-established himself after retraining his voice. He has sung of 170 performance with the Met.

For me the second outstanding performance of the evening was that of Maria Zifchak, mezzo soprano, who is a winner of the Metropolitan Young Performer award which led to her appearing as Mrs Pinkerton in a previous production of the opera at the Met in 2001. She is known to have played Suzuki for at least the past five and is scheduled to do so again during the rest of this year at other Opera houses in he USA and again in 2010. She communicated brilliantly the role of a servant who becomes a confident, supporter and protector of Butterfly, devastated by the course of the events. The interaction between her performance and the extraordinary Patricia Racette, who has surely now given the most emotional performance of any in the title role. She explained in interview that she gave over her life emotionally to her roles cutting herself off from everyone and she is reportedly known for dismissing those who want to discuss her performances and opera in technical terms, by asking them he question but how does it make you feel. She also joked about the difficulty of playing a girl half an age, when in fact she is 43/44, but all her movements and facial expression were that of such a young woman. In 2002 she made public her sexual orientation, marrying fellow opera diva Beth Clayton in 2005.
There are two other aspects of this extraordinary experience which I need to mention. I had reservations about the use of a puppet for the three year old tried. This was a decision taken early on by Mr Minghella because the use of a child of such a young age has always created a distraction for the singers. The cinema watchers throughout her world were able to see that the puppet was manipulated by three veiled mine artists dressed in black and veiled but in close we could that the showed on their faces the emotions they were attempting to communicate through the puppet. I was won over.
The widow of Anthony Minghella was also interviewed and was invited on stage for the curtain call. Dressed in black herself she added to the emotion of the evening. The curtain call was as stunning as the rest of the production with the performance appearing down the slope looking steps and they moved off stage as suddenly and slowly Madam Butterfly herself appeared, replicating what had happened during the overture and audience in the theatre rose up from their seats to greet her. At the cinema there had been a magnificent stunned silence when the opera ended and everyone stayed in their seats to enjoy the curtain calls. I thought out silence and our awe was more fitting an immediate response to that of the applause and cheers at of he Opera House, although I also thought that having recovered composure with many taking a handkerchief to their faces it would have also been good if we two had give a clap and a cheer where Ms Racette came forward.

I have an inexpensive 2 CD record of the opera and a single Long Play record of Madam Butterfly as well as full recording of Puccini’s Turandot with Placido Domingo and the orchestra conducted by Herbert Von Karajan as well as a recording of Bizet Carmen, as well as compilations of arias ranging from a 2 CD edition of the recordings of Beniamino Gigli to the three tenors and Maria Callas, but I have never previously been moved by an individual work or performance as I was on Saturday evening. I understood why some individuals spend their whole lives trying to capture and then repeat such an experience. It has taken me as close 70 years as is possible and to have done so once is a blessing.

1627 Songbirds

The last day of January experienced in several dimensions of time, sound and mind

Sometimes I am very slow in working out the best way to do something or the best use of my time. Sometimes I am very very slow. For several years I have gone to bed or got up in the early hours an played music or watched TV with the sound turned low anxious that would disturb the adjacent neighbours, despite thick walls which deadens the sounds of my neighbours activities, unless there is work or contact directly on the partitioning wall. Yesterday wanting to listen to music loud so that it dominated my sense I decided to try the super headphones I use for my keyboard located in the upstairs work room adjacent to a neighbour’s bedroom. This has a volume control on the connecting lead and on the desk top a link is available at the front for both input microphone and output, and so for the greater part of the day while writing I was able to be overwhelmed with sound.

However I did not make a note of tracks which I am doing now listing to some of the tracks again. I commenced with Duffy whose work and persona has became my new artist for 2008 with her Rockferry Album, Warwick Avenue, Serious, Stepping Stones, Distant Dreams and of course Mercy were all numbers I was looking forward to hearing again after watching her performances on TV over Christmas, other tracks were Syrup and Honey, Hanging on too Long, Delayed Devotion, I’m scared, Rain on our parade, Fool for You Stop, Oh Boy, Please stay, Breaking my own Heart and Enough love.

She replaces my girl of 2007 Amy Winehouse where there is nothing but sadness for what is happening to her. I listened to the Back to Back Album Rehab, You know I ‘m no good, Me and Mr Jones, Just friends, Back to Back, Love is a losing game, Tears dry on their own, Wake up alone, Some unholy war, He can only hold her, and Addicted. Hopefully she will not become a one year phenomenon .

I was then in the mood for Billie Holiday selecting from a compilation These foolish things, I’ve got my love to keep me warm, I must have that man, He’s funny that way, You go to my head. The very thought of you, More than you know, Strange fruit,, Night and day, The man I love, Body and Soul, Time on my hands, Solitude,| Lover come back to me, Don’t Explain, Good morning Heartache, and my Man

I also listened to a little Nina Simone from her Tribute to Billie Holiday Album, including Strange love Fine and Mellow, Tell me More, It don’t mean a thing, I love you Porgy and I love to love

A recent discovery has been Amy McDonald and her album This is the life with Mr Rock and Roll, This is the Life, Poison Prince, Youth of Today, Run, Let’s start a band, Barrowland Ballroom. LA, A wish for something more, Footballers Wives which should be played at start of every game at every Premiership game. During

While I wrote, thought and listened I also kept one eye on the soundless telly where first Stoke beat the bottomless bank of moneybags Man City 1.0. And then Boro was held to a draw by Blackburn and stay in the relegation zone while in the evening Man United not only won 1.0 but their goal keeper has not allowed the opposition to score once in the past 12 games, a British Record. Later to day Sunderland visit St James’s Park.

As I wrote I reflected further on Valkyrie, impressed by the extent to which the film followed the actual events and which perhaps some critics felt it was not Hollywood thrilling enough. In my judgement it is not a subject for cheap thrills or entertainment just entertainment. It achieved an excellent balance of chronological unfolding and emotional interest although the outcome was known over sixty years ago.

It was not all the ladies with James Morrison’s Broken Strings and from the Bob Dylan collection Woody, Blowing in the Wind, Masters of War, A hard rains A-gonna fall, The Times they are a Changing, It A’nt me Babe, Like a Rolling Stone, Just Like a woman, It’s all over now Baby Blue. I have never experienced hearing Bob live and also Joan Baez missing both when they came to Newcastle in 2006.

Farewell Angelina is still one of my great album possessions from when it was first released. The album also has Its all over now Baby Blue as the opening number, sung in German Where has all the flowers gone Sagt Mir Wo DieBlumen Sind, Daddy you have been on my mind and Satisfied Mind and A Hard’s Rain’s A-gonna Falling. I left to another day the title song, Colours, Rangers Command, The Wild Mountain thyme and Puavre Ruteboeuf

During the day I listened to a French group Pep’s and their Album Utopies Dans La decors with Melodie, Poterie Des Dieux, Liberta, Dans Ma Tete, J’Te Serre, Utopies Dans le Decors, Fakir, No Indentifie, Ca Va, De Le air, A L’Insouciance, Me Contente De Rein, .... Ca Vient, Liberta live at Lyon with the audience joining in the English chorus, Tristan, J’Te Serre. Liberta - Just want to be free in this way just want to be free in my world Liberta is a top ten song. I also found catchy Dans Ma Tete. I love the sound of the French language even if I only understand a few individual words and wish I could speak although there was a period when with visits and watching French films I was able understand a little more and get by on visits.

I also worked hard to achieve the 3 new sets a day target having settle for this over the greater part of the past year, finishing the task around 7pm and also doing the preparatory work for new volumes of My Space Blogs as I come close to two thirds of the target 101 x10 thus matching what I achieved for AOL now no longer available online, My Space Friends volumes have increased as I come close to matching the number of Blogs with over 600 registered. The speed of the increase over the past three months means that I have not been able to give the attention I would like to the additions but will focus on this later in the year when I am only adding one a day or so. I photographed a completed My Friends volume with 304 photos. I was not in the mood for taking more photographs or scanning slides.

I had a pork chop with apple sauce and baked beans as he main meal and a salad with olives and sardines in tomato sauce. There was the weekend treat of a small pot of caramel mouse and cherries for afters. I had soup and a roll for breakfast and a tea time snack of four crackers topped with pickle

1606 Abba

Music has always played an important role in my life, although always second to the film on the subject of imagination and influence. Music has been by means of emotional expression thus the greater sense of failure that I have been unable to become a musician, from traditional jazz blues in my adolescence to Beethoven wile in prison and the power of Verdi’s Requiem Mass on an early visit to the Royal Albert Hall. I was never into the Beatles and Elvis Presley when they first hit the headlines, but one Group who were and remain a visual delights and who music express great joy, whose lyrics always tell a story and towards their final performing years included some of the realities love, relationships, and its failures, was ABBA.

It has been an odd choice of music to enjoy over the past few days dominated by news of a devastating tragedy in my extended family but it was a way of holding things together in a way which other more serious and sad music will have been more difficulty.

The DVD, Super Trouper, marking the 5th year of the London Show Mama Mia had come in the New Year, along with In Bruges, and therefore had not been a first choice, but as soon as I commenced watching it touched so many memories that as with In Bruges I held it back to watch again, and did so.

The DVD also marked the occasion when three of the four member of the group appeared together on stage, not to perform, but to mark thirty years since they first became internationally recognised entertainers wining the European Song Contest with Waterloo. The four did come together in their homeland Sweden for the opening of the musical production there and then more recently this year for the opening of the film, both called Mama Mia.

On stage in London they were presented by Pete Waterman with a Los Vegas style elongated plaque with all their Platinum triumphs and not a gold in sight.

(The record industry categorises its awards in each country differently and in the UK a gold record is issued for 100000 albums sales and platinum for 300000 while in the USA the award is for half a million and 1 million and Diamond for 10 million while in some countries an award can be for significantly fewer sales in quantities of for sales in only thousands and tens of thousands. For the traditional single, which these days are often an EP, the awards are for 400000 and 600000 and in the USA half and a million again with no Diamond award. In the USA where digital downloading has become common the same standard is in operation. It also appears that sometimes the industry announces and award based on initial sales and forecast rather than actual sales. Even lists of popular and successful record sales is open to significant manipulation within the industry and should be treated with great caution. It is not as bad though as the scandal of Boxing.)

Abba is general regarded as having sold Albums in their millions and the plaque presented on the London stage mentions some 360 million albums although Wikipedia gives the total of 400 million an increase of over 10% in five years for a group that has not performed together for over twenty five years.

The DVD is structured in a confusing way with film of their career as a group especially the amazing tour of Australia when tens of thousands lines the streets all the way from the airport into the city and the hysteria was such that they became hotel prisoners for whole tour, an experience which happened elsewhere, but to less extent, and which resulted in affecting Agnetha, especially who found the crush overpowering and threatening

The DVD includes individual interviews about their early music lives and contains rare footage as well as of music performances. Is there anyone who does not know that Abba stands for Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid, who is known as Frida? Or that they shot to fame by winning the European Song Contest with Waterloo and were the first Continental group to sells records by the millions in the USA, as well Australia, Germany and South Africa as well as in the UK.

Benny was part of a popular Swedish Beatles style Rock group that had hits in Sweden who was mainly a keyboard instrumentalist who started to write for the band. Bjorn was a singer guitarist who was part of a group, the Hootenanny Singers and when both groups found themselves performing at a Folk festival one attended the party of the other and Bjorn and Benny decided to write song together while continuing with their groups.

It was during the Swedish contest of an earlier European Song Competition that Benny Anderson met Anni-Frid and they decided to date and within a month they became a couple. Benny and Bjorn then did an album of work together so the three became linked..

Agnetha the natural blonde, had a separate career where she had a hit record when she was only 17. She met Anna at a TV show and Bjorn at a concert shortly afterwards. Bjorn and Agnetha met again commenced a relationship and married and also got involved with each other’s recordings and then Benny and Anni provided backing vocal for an Agnetha album so the four worked together for the first time. Anni Frid: Freda, was in fact the youngest early performer of the four, starting at the age of 13 with bands playing a jazz cabaret style. She had her group at one point and made records. Thus ABBA was not a music management creation of people with little proven talent and no previous experience of performing and recording. They were individually established and experienced performers where Waterloo could have proven their first and only lasting international success. One f the remarkable aspects of their longevity is that their first language, and their performing language was Swedish.

The four commenced to work together and to perform regularly in 1971. It was not until a couple of years later that they decided recording and performing as individuals was unwieldy and their manager Stig Anderson, who had privately referred to them as ABBA, the name of a Swedish fish canning company, that they needed a group name, and they became known as ABBA .

Their Euro contest winning song Waterloo was an instant chart success reaching first spot in the UK, Germany and Australia and significantly 6th in the Billboard 100 in the USA. There second Honey Honey, featured in the film, (I have not seen the stage show and assume all the songs are the same in both, was not an instant success and it was likely that they and the international music world thought they would they were what so many others have been, a one song or one album success story, never be defeated or surpassed.

Their first tour to West Germany, Austria and Denmark in 1974 was not a great success but their tour of Sweden and Finland in 1975 attracted huge crowds and their further records topped charts in Australia and South Africa. Their third Album included S,O.S and Mama Mia and while they had international success including the USA, they were not regarded as International Superstars until Dancing Queen and their Australian Tour and its film. Fernando written originally in Swedish for Frida and became a hit in 12 countries and remained top in Australia for 14 weeks. Money Money Money followed and Knowing Me, Knowing You But then they produced Dancing Queen in 1977 which became number One in the USA and the rest they ay is history. They then commenced their European tour and 3.5 million mail order requests were received for their two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, 580 times its capacity. Part of the London Concert was filmed for use as part of the film ABBA the movies based on the tour of Australia.

In 1979 their recording Chiquitita was created for the Unicef Year of the Child with royalties to the charity and became a number 1 in ten countries.

As many people continue to point out ABBA song tell stories of human experience and are complex and difficult to sing. The two girls would be required to spend hours learning and recording them, bearing in mind these were also in English and not their thinking and speaking language this only underlines their professionalism. Benny and Bjorn also used their studio time creatively making stronger and deeper sounds by double tracking voice and instrumentalists and this created problems with some in the live audiences audience who found that the stage performances sounded different from the records. This was so with their first and only tour of the USA and Canada although every concert was sold out. Then they played in 23 sold out concerts in Europe including six nights at Wembley Arena. By 1980 they had produced Super Trouper and more significantly perhaps The Winner Take All and this raises a major issue which has affected all my writing and other work past and resent,

The lyrics of their songs at this time reflected some of the emotions experienced as their young marriages turned into divorce. As I have previously written there is a sorrowful spiritual aspect to the Swedish soul hence their high suicide rates. There is also a frank adult openness which the traditional middle class English have felt uncomfortable about, and the films of Ingmar Bergman reflect this creating a succession of masterpieces and clinically perfect relationship studies of marriage and between parents and children.

I have always found writing the truth about myself, especially my emotional self, difficult to impossible and have always questioned the use by the artist of specific experiences relating to their personal relationships with others. It is not just a question of respecting the rights and interests of others but the using of personal experience in this, for me, takes away something from the actual experience, in music the same way that I often do not take or use my camera with people I know and care about and for my mother’s 100th birthday, I have relied mainly on the photographs taken by others,

What is a different issue and something which applies to ABBA is that personal participation in tragedy and relationship traumas, or involvement in major events such a War or natural disaster does effect the quality of artistic work as well as lives in general. Some artist true genius when their work reflects the deeper emotions, passions and psychological insights without the individual having had direct experience

My reservations and inhibitions mean that my daily writings can be unbalanced because they do not affect the personal emotions experienced in my life which I believe should remain private to those directly concerned. Hopefully something of the full rainbow of emotional experiences during my day is communicated.

The public break up of the second couple within ABBA resulted in the official breaking up the group as stage performers and recording artists in the early 1980’s, that is two and half decades ago and yet in some respects the public love of their music has become stronger, affecting generation after generation.

While they all continues to perform and record or to be involved with writing and music production, some with success, nothing has come close to their collective work as ABBA and is derivatives, the stage musical and now the film.

There was involvement with the production of Chess and the musical Abbacadababra produced in France for TV and for children. Individually they have sometimes included ABBA song in their performances with Benny and Bjorn performing together. However 25 years was to pass before the four met together for the Swedish openings of their work. While attention has focussed on Benny and Bjorn because of their work with the musical and the film, Agnetha and Frida continued with their careers. In 1995 Frida issued a box set of her solo records and a three and half hour DVD of her professional life in which she guides the viewer,

In the 1990 Abba Gold was released, I have a copy of their greatest hits, one of the 26 million sold. This was followed in 1994 by the Thank you for the Music compilation, a four disk set. The opening of the Musical Mama Mia in 1999 ignited international interest and it is true that they were offered 1 million Swedish Kroner £140 million US dollars for a world tour in 2000, although the precise amount is something of legend. There is no sign of public interest in the musical fading and other language versions have been created and opened in different parts of the world. The film Mama Mia is likely to become another chart topping success as has the DVD. While there is a nostalgia aspect the those who took to the group in the 70’s and 80’s new generations have joined in. Their music lives on.

1431 Jazz on a Summer's day

Jazz on an English Summer's afternoon became an amazing experience which will be long remembered. The day commenced with a disturbing dream which was of being rejected, the details of which I vaguely remember but will not attempt to recapture the detail. This is only significant in terms of the subsequent acceptance.

After waking and getting up and did some writing I prepared for the arrival of a local builder and household repairer at 10 am. He arrived early as I was finishing coffee after two slices of toast. I had attempted to open the garage doors and they had continued without stopping so I continued to have a problem and decided to leave them as they were, finding the hand winding tool just in case.

Not only did the builder immediately identify the problem causing the rain penetration on to my work space area but the solution was provided immediately. There was also time to fix the bathroom cold water tap which involved the collapse of the valve and the a return visit was promised for later in the week to sort out the light fixture and clear the guttering which would need someone else to hold the ladder. I was well pleased with the work and the cost and given that it was sorted by 11 and the sun was shining I decided to go to Tynemouth for the mouth of the River festival and the three concerts by bands participating in the Whitley Bay Jazz festival. The atmosphere of my day had changed within the space of one hour.

I prepared two ham and cheese sandwiches, a banana and a flask of coffee and one of cold still water., also a notebook and pens, my hat and rain top and the coloured red umbrella which I thought could be used as walking stick to lean on if I could to find a seat. I decided against the camera as the rucksack was already weighty. It was only 11.30 when I left the house and walked to the ferry landing, finding that a ferry had arrived, the passengers disembarked and already filling up but fortunately there was a small queue which enabled me to become the last person on board as the vessel immediately set off. There was no available seat on the entry deck so I had to go upstairs, decided to begin my notes, felt like a drink of cold water but only had the first small cupful when I realised we had already reached the other side. There was a small queue formed for the bus which when it arrived was the North Tyneside and back bus and the driver mistakenly or massively said there was no special bus so I stayed on but a couple with whom I had spoken pressed him and they got off. I should have followed them for as we set off the number 2 special bus to from the Ferry to Tynemouth arrived. I guess the competing bus company was upset about the loss of trade with everyone heading for Tynemouth.

The bus terminal is nearby the Metro station and having missed the location of the Tynemouth Metro station on my previous visit I thought this was a good opportunity to find its location and was rewarded with a bonus. For on Saturdays there is a station market with over 100 stalls I would guess packed onto both platforms, selling records, including jazz records and books antiques and nick knacks, I had a quick look but as midday had arrived I was anxious to see if there was a seat for the first jazz band concert.

The fine weather only lasted till then as the clouds commenced to gather overhead as I made my way passed the Tynemouth School which is opposite the station and then turning right into the main road which leads to the Tynemouth High Street, a wide thoroughfare where car can usually park at the dividing central areas. It is a road full of bars and bistros, antiques shops and boutiques. A delightful place to visit on any day. A little way along the road is closed to traffic where there is a performance area which was already busy with visitors and events getting underway. The Jazz stage is set back on a small green against the Gibraltar Rock Inn where two meals are available for £6.75 every day and children eat free. There are railings to one side, good for leaning against, separating the green from the roadway and green entrance to the ruins of Tynemouth Castle and priory. On the nearest side to the main road from the Metro Station there are seats facing on the road but if you are nimble you can sit reverse or get a side view to the stage. Not only was I able to find one seat but within half an hour able to move to the end of the seat and where there was a gap on the green. This meant that I could put by umbrella and haversack down but have access as well as face onto the green and stage.

The first band was from Milan Italy called the Chicago Stompers, a ten piece band of hot Chicago instrumentalists aged between 16 and mid twenties with a singer who had the looks and style similar to Thursday night called Elena Paynes and she was sometimes joined by Veronica Sangagostina Baldi who in addition to vocal support played the Tenor Sax, Clarinet and Ukulele. In addition to the usual make up of drums, piano, trumpet Trombone, Alto sax and Clarinet individual musicians doubled with Alto, Cornet, Guitar and Violin. Given that they had flown over just for the weekend festival, funding their performances justified a good amount from my month's council tax. It occurred that this was well spent Council tax money, albeit by North Tyneside.

As a challenge to the weather the band played on the sunny side of the street. Their performance of Minnie the Moocher which the Humph band was fond of playing can be found on You Tube and there is a video on their own site www.chicagostompers.it. It was while they were playing I was joined by a couple just younger than me and then their friends who have been passionate followers of traditional jazz since their on youth but have remained stalwart of the local jazz club, had been New Orleans and attended both the Edinburgh Jazz festival for over a decade as well as that at Whitely Bay. Their friends had been to the Benny Goodman show on the Thursday so were able to show joint amazement when the player of the vibes was one of the star turns in MaMa and the Kids from Switzerland. MaMa is a joke because the oldest member is Papa and his son is the main vibes player and they have a MySpace site.

Raymond Grasier is an extraordinary musician and performer who at the Sage was very sedate playing authentic Lionel Hampton who let himself go only with a piano duet but this afternoon he was mainly on the drums and provided the vocals as well as joining in on the vibes but the highlights was when he took to the washboard with tin hat and his antics delighted the younger members of the audience. However those listening as well as watching noted that even here he was a brilliant musician. There are four numbers on MySpace.

Then it really rained but were we downhearted no and I felt sorry for the final band of Local Traditional Jazz players the Vieux Carre Jazzmen as the passing by spectators commenced to dwindle. I also stayed for only the first set however not before having two experiences which added to the day. First the couple who I had met at the Ferry bus stop came over for a chat and their daughter worked as a nurse at the District General. Then a female voice said don't move your umbrella away and someone two if not three decades younger than me snuggled up under the umbrella, although she was accompanied by her husband I would add who stayed in the rain, which they subsequently admitted they did not mind having remained passionate campers throughout their lives which left to another chat about camping horror stories when I met them again at the bus stop back to the ferry landing although they were going in a different direction.
Earlier I had been tempted to join the conversation between a local couple and local man, a widower who had sat on the grass a few feet away and marvelled at the extent to which experiences of people living on their own are similar from the gratitude at waking up each day to the enjoyment of going out and about to the small practicalities such as getting up after getting down. During the afternoon I was to talk about the free bus travel experiences and pass on information about special travel lodge offers so I felt I was contributing something.

Staying at the Jazz stage meant that I only saw something of the rest of the festival as individual performers came by. There was a group of giant figures four males with musical instruments forming party of their heads followed by two female head figures and led by a normal size person playing two wailing clarinet type instruments. They moved in slow procession into the main performance area behind the Castle and back into main street three times and were a great attraction for the children. There were three dragon form figures, also two person size being chastened by a wicked witch from the north figure. There was also a human size bee and a woman in a machine collecting honey. There was also a screeching mechanical called Paka the Fire Horse made out an old electric wheel chair.

We were able to watch the Castle and Priory site prepared for the evening concert, paid ticket affair hence the army of stewards arriving before the sad looking audience given the weather conditions. The concert was to begin as I was leaving at 5 with Beverley Knight the main headliner at 8. There did not appear to be many at the earlier time.

Back home I enjoyed two Bream fishes after a glass of red and some peanuts followed by delicious fresh strawberries without sugar. The weather was taking effect with several sniffs so I enjoyed a whisky, put on the central heating, started to write and look up performers on the internet before a coffee. There was also an interest and moving film from China Seventeen and the end of the third day of the Lord's Test but again this will be left to another day. I could hear the sound of fireworks despite the damp conditions and that it had just stopped raining but I thought having got warm its was sensible to stay in and plan for the morrow.