Saturday, January 30, 2010

Time To Schweick

Sitting on stage waiting for a sound check for the last Good Soldier Schweick performance in Santa Monica.

Posted via email from Teri's posterous

Monday, January 25, 2010

Without An Audience It Doesn't Matter


photo by beFrank

Ask any performer.

Without and audience, what we do doesn't really matter.

With an audience, there's nothing quite like it.

Long Beach Opera's "Good Soldier Schweick" opened to excellent reviews Saturday night.



The music is extremely demanding. The orchestra (with not a string instrument in sight!) played well, putting our hearts into it.

The audience responded.

We hope we touched their hearts.

There were two audience members I was especially pleased to see - blog hero beFrank and his lovely Action Wife.

It was Action Wife's birthday, and beFrank was pulling out all the stops to make it a memorable one. I'm so glad I could be a part of the celebration.

Thank you audience members one and all. And a special thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Frank for becoming season ticket holders.

We do this for YOU!





Saturday, January 23, 2010

The Good Soldier Schweick

Opening night is tonight!

A 60 second spot:


An in depth interview with Conductor and General Manager Andreas Mitisek:


Tonight's show is SOLD OUT, but tickets are available for the Santa Monica performance next Saturday.

Please join us!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Oh Hail

The heavens have opened up yet again and hail is noisily pelting our neighborhood.

It's raining, it's pouring.

Stop already.

Posted via email from Teri's posterous

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Rehearsal

We all slogged our way through horendous weather to the Center Theater in Long Beach to rehearse the opera "Good Soldier Schweik". Here is General Manager and conductor Andreas Mitisek conducting as if he didn't have a care in the world. In fact, the ceiling of the company's administrative offices caved in during the torrential downpour this afternoon causing severe damage and taking out the box office running at peak capacity 3 days before opening night. You would never know it by looking at him. Andreas defines grace under pressure. Rock on!

Posted via email from Teri's posterous

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Tornado Warning

A tornado has been spotted off the coast. We in Signal Hill are being told to take shelter.

Posted via email from Teri's posterous


UPDATE: The storm blew over to the northeast. The scariest moment came when the pressure changed so dramatically that my ears popped. We're on high ground and fine now.


Thursday, January 7, 2010

California Adventure

Bob and I ran into friend David wearing his colorful Mickey's Playhouse costume at Disney's California Adventure this afternoon.

Posted via email from Teri's posterous

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Sony Pocket Reader

"Highest Duty" by Chesley B. Sullenberger on the Sony Pocket Reader

I have been hankering after a Kindle for a couple of years. The price tag, however, kept me from acting on the hankering. Still, I was firmly set on someday acquiring a Kindle.

That changed when I discovered that the Kindle could not download ebooks borrowed from the library.

I am a big library fan. I LOVE books! I just can't afford to purchase them. The library feeds my hunger for new reading material.

When I learned that the Sony Pocket Reader could download library ebooks, I sat up and took notice. Although both the Kindle and the Sony can download free public domain books, the Sony Reader was the only one of the two that could supply me with large amounts of current books FOR FREE.

That sealed the deal for me. My mother-in-law's generous Christmas gift made it possible for me to indulge in the luxury of the Pocket Reader. Purchased from Costco.com, the price included an AC power adapter AND a leather book cover.

Downloading books from Project Gutenburg and the library is painless and blazingly fast. I've powered through several books already, and find the reading experience pleasing and comfortable.

Kindle, you had me at hello, but the Sony Pocket Reader is the one that delivered the goods.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Holidays 2009 - Batting A Thousand

As you saw from a previous post, I was down for the count on Thanksgiving Day. I was eager to head north again for Christmas, reveling in the fact that I felt well and looking forward to getting in all the partying I missed at Thanksgiving.

What could go wrong?

I will say that Christmas Eve was lovely. I felt especially fine and enjoyed the company and massive amounts of delicious food immensely.

Christmas Day started at 2am for me in our hotel room. No, I wasn't hyped up wondering what Santa had left for me. I was, how shall I say, stricken with an exceptionally violent case of stomach flu.

The next 24 hours were spent in a misery of extreme nausea with attendant body aches, headache, and other, um, other interesting manifestations.

What were the chances?

By the next day I could drink Gatorade and smell food without wishing for death. I spent the afternoon at my sister's, prone on the couch, hiding under blankets until our late afternoon departure.

I'll admit to a few tears of frustration and self pity as we pulled out of their driveway. I missed Thanksgiving AND Christmas. BOO HOO. Poor me.

It was almost a week before I could stand up for more than a few minutes without getting dizzy. No matter. I had a delicious stash of books to read. Who needs to stand for that!

New Year's Eve arrived and I was feeling pretty good. Bob went out and rounded up some delicious treats, and we spent a quiet evening at home enjoying each other's company.

The new decade dawned warm and bright here in Southern California. And guess what! I felt FINE!!!!

I'm putting the ills of the old year behind me and embracing the fresh promises of a fine New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!