Yesterday I had my requisite oatmeal and raisins, and for lunch traveled down to the Union Square Coffee Shop for my vegan wrap. I bumped into a good friend and chatted about my endeavor and the blog. A guy next to me at the counter overheard and inquired about it. I am convinced that when a 6'4" 264 lb man in a suit and tie talks about vegan, blogging, and no alcohol people perk-up and listen! I feel like a healthy E.F. Hutton. I assure you, if I was 5'9" 160 lbs with tattooed arms, disheveled hair and wearing Buddy Holly glasses I would not get a second glance - those guys are supposed to blog, and eat vegan and talk about abstaining from alcohol! Or, so everyone thinks...incorrectly.
Through an interesting set of new, last minute developments I had two great seats for the opera, Carmen, at The Met last night, and only one ass to fill them, mine. My starting pitcher was out for the season, so I went deep into the bull pen.
So, for dinner I met my old girlfriend at Rosa Mexicana near Lincoln Center. She was running late so I bribed the guy next to me at the bar who was getting up. I bought him a drink so he'd stay in the seat of this crowded restaurant til my girlfriend came. We struck up a conversation, and lo and behold, this was his last day of drinking for a while. He wants to lose 40 lbs and was going on the Atkins Diet again. Well, since I bought him a margarita that gave me the right to preach my thoughts on the serious problems with Atkins, and promote Dr. Fuhrman and his book Eat to Live. Funny, just a few months ago if a stranger told me he was trying to lose weight I would roll my eyes, say, "good luck," and ignore him. I sort of like this new pied piper roll for healthy eating!
My old friend and I (or is it me?) ate the homemade guacamole and an order of black beans (I only had a couple table spoons since I assumed they put too much oil in the black beans). And true to form, she asked if it was OK if she ordered a drink. So polite and so completely unnecessary! We then cruised across to the The Met - what a scene, what civilized behavior. The Metropolitan Opera House is certainly iconic, but its mid-60's decor makes me feel a bit like being on The Love Boat, and is nothing like the splendor of the Budapest Opera House, Hungary.
I've never seen Carmen before, though I have photos and programs from when my Grandmother performed it at the Worcester Opera House in Massachusetts in the 1930's. I have heard the music many times before, however.
One of the best movies about kids and sports ever made was the original version of The Bad News Bears. The film is very special to me since my Summer of 1975 was spent at our local park in Chatsworth, CA watching them film The Bad News Bears with huge stars Walter Matthau, and a very young Tatum O'Neill.
The film's score was almost entirely from Carmen! Below is a 2 1/2 minute clip of the last scene of the movie. A classic, and with the classic music from Carmen at the end. Before the suffocating lunacy of political correctness, they made films like this. Imagine handing out beers to kids today in a film? Enjoy!
To watch the real opera Carmen...
2 comments:
That was one of those summer none of us will ever forget! I prayed that the dugouts and the backstop with the press box was going to stay for our next season....
That was a great Summer! I remember the biggest star as far as we were concerned was, "Hey, that's the kid from "The Courtship of Eddie's Father!"
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