Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 06-13-19 09:57 <=-

Ok, that's what I thought... Verdi had his share of that sort of heroines, too.... :)

Oh, yeah. Sex sells, almost as well as death.

And sex with death.... surefire.... ;)

Luckily onstage versions of either are few and
far between. Just the titillating implications.

Indeed. :)

- nor uncomplained about. The rich patrons gave him
a pass because they thought he was a great genius,
but was he really one - I thought not, and is
anyone a great enough genius to make up for
ravishing children, and my answer to that is no.

I was enough on the sidelines to not have been aware of those things happening... all I knew about was how happy the Met was to have him
back after he'd been away because of a long illness....

The facts were there. People in and out of the business
actively ignored them, but the closer one was to the
action, the more the outrage. I knew of them from the
Cleveland and Chicago days (having had friends and
acquaintances in both circles) and was aghast when
Levine was given jobs at the Met and the BSO despite
overwhelming evidence and credible testimony.

Ah... so it does go way back, and still ignored by those who should have
known better... as you say, being blinded by what they perceived as
genius or at least great talent.... And I agree that even great genius
wouldn't excuse that sort of behaviour...

Wouldn't they need to be listed in the ingredients still, though...?

They're often listed by brand name. I don't know
a requirement for them to be further broken down.

I meant on the packages for the sweeteners themselves, not when they
are listed on other products.... :)

Oh, yeah, for sure, but a certain amount
of weasel wording is allowed even there.

True.... We've told the story of how the official make-up/recipe for
Peanut Butter included shortening and sugar, so if one just sold peanuts ground into a butter one had to call it something other than peanut butter... And that 2% milk is allowed to use coconut oil to bring the
fat content up to the requisite 2%....

That's called "filled milk" and is acceptable in some
jurisdictions but not others. It doesn't bother me
(anyone who drinks milk deserves whatever s/he gets),

It's why we (Richard and I) don't like to drink 2% (or 1%) milk... we've actually tasted it in there... Dunno if that's still allowed, but at
one point, they didn't even have to label it as "filled milk" or list as
an ingredient... Some of us don't have issues with milk... real milk, anyway.... :)

but what gets my ire up is that chocolate is now allowed
to contain noncocoa fats in many countries.

That's yet another abomination....

I've really been spoiled by Wegmans... we've been getting their flavored sparkling waters, non-sweetened, and I've found them a good way to stay hydrated without having other issues... and they now have them
conveniently in 12 oz can 12-pks... Now, up in the North Country, not
only could I not find it in that form, the one-liter bottles I bought
turned out to have sucralose in them... I opened a bottle and was
shocked by a sweet taste... The Wegmans sweetened ones say so on the
main label, which these didn't... I'd run out of the supply I'd brought
up with me... I did find a liter bottle today of Poland Spring lemon
("lively lemon") flavored sparkling water, in the cooler case at
Nature's Storehouse... that will have to last me until I can get some
more Wegmans water, maybe on my daytrip back tomorrow for a doctor
appointment I couldn't reschedule.... forgot to take the sweetened
waters back into town with me today, in the hopes of getting my money
back....

once had quite remarkable chops, so when she couldn't do
up to tempo, the frustration showed (not to the audience,
but to us).

I've accompanied some musicians who were like that... not particularly a pleasant experience....

Sometimes it's interesting, especially when it
doesn't get out of hand. There have been
performances that benefited from bizarre levels
of nervous tension, angst even.

If the adrenaline rises to meet the occasion... ;)

There are any number of factors that contribute
to an effective performance, and producer
satisfaction is not necessarily one of them.

True.

The "he" that told you was the pianist...?

Yeah - he was the only he in the story except
for Saint-Saens, who was dead at the time.

Or Heifetz....?

Heifetz wasn't relevant to the story and might or might
not have been dead at the time. I never met the man,
though I did encounter a niece of his, who unfortunately
looked just like him (didn't play like him, though - only
Erick Friedman and possibly Fredell Lack played like him).

Poor child... ;)

ttyl neb

... All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt

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