From The Department of Irony...

-
Sen. Tom Coburn(R-Okla.), who led the charge "to ensure that taxpayer money is not lost on wasteful and non-stimulative projects," such as funding museums, theaters and arts centers has kept money from his own daughter's pocket, the up-and-coming soprano Sarah Coburn.

(Aria Serious has heard incredible things about her Lakme. That's her to the left with Aria Serious friend Larry "Go Steelers!" Brownlee.)

You can read about all of it here. Meanwhile, I'm going to go waste money on completely non-stimulating things like Don Quixote.

-- Edward

Comments

Smorg said…
Man... That is an unfortunate amendment to the bill indeed. I fail to see what is so 'unstimulating' about funding the arts and museums. :oP They employ people after all... and there are loads of nearby businesses that cater to theater and museum goers!

But then I'm preaching to the choir. :o( Sorry, folks!
February 11, 2009 at 10:59 PM
Anonymous said…
We're all embarassed by our parents at one time or another...
February 12, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five Things About La boheme You Don't Need To Know But Will Be Glad You Did

-
Getting ready with Dr. Nic last week for a TV interview he came up with five tidbits about La boheme to be used on air. Live TV being what live TV is, not all of them made it onto the show, but I thought they were interesting enough to be recycled here on the blog. Besides, I'm busy hammering away at the 2011 press release so pressed for time today. 2011 press release you say? You betcha. But, faithful readers, here's a tidbit: a certain married couple returns to us next season in another opera by Gounod. Without further ado, five things about La boheme you'll be glad to know 1) Giacomo Puccini’s opera La boheme is one of the three most popular operas ever written but it wasn ’t always that way. It was not an immediate success. An opera by a rival Italian composer, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, on the same subject (and also named Le bohème ) premiered about a year after Puccini’s and was quite successful. It’s possible that, in fact, Puccini actually stole the idea ...
Read more

Pop Star to Opera Star

-
Image
We here at Aria Serious are torn by the news that ITV in the UK is filming a new reality series called "Pop Star to Opera Star" where pop stars will tackle the operatic repertoire while being mentored by Katherine Jenkins and Rolando Villazon. While we here at Aria Serious love to see our favorite art form on prime time TV, we're also concerned that this lowers the artistic standard. In a Company that prides itself in attracting the best talent possible, do shows like this undermine our work or is it a much needed breath of fresh air? One thing the show has going for it - Meatloaf (the singer, not the leftovers in your fridge) will be a judge. You can read about it here .
Read more

Turandot by Shanower

-
Image
What do you get when you cross Turandot with comics? A whole bunch of awesome. Earlier this week the Aria Serious crew invited some comic book artists to sketch a rehearsal of Turandot . While many did not show (we've since been told working with comic book artists is like herding cats) what we did receive was 28 individually wrapped presents that delighted us to no end. While this isn't the first time we've touched on comics and opera , what we're about to share excites us to no end. The sketches below are by Eric Shanower . Eric is a two time Eisner award winner and a New York Times bestselling author who's ongoing epic work, The Age of Bronze , is a detailed retelling of The Trojan War. Eric is also known for his Oz novels and comics. We've included links to his home page above and if you love comics, good storytelling and incredible art you owe yourself a visit. We also did a little Q&A session with Eric which you can find below. But you came here for ...
Read more