Monday, November 7, 2005 - Sunday with the Sopranos

Yesterday Elina, James and I went to a benefit concert at our church. I say our church but I have been to church a total of maybe 5 times or so in the last 18 years since arriving in the US....... unless you count the Wee Kirk O' the Heather wedding chapel  in Las Vegas, where my one time room-mate was married to his Scottish girlfriend by an Elvis impersonator???

Elina takes James to church on a semi-regular occassion, since it is on a Sunday morning I am usually playing football so don't go with them, after all you have to get your priorities right and what is more important I ask myself, potentally saving one's soul from eternal damnation or running around chasing a ball with other fat old farts?!?!

We thought it would make a nice change to hear some classical music as we used to have season tickets for the Hollywood bowl but do not get the chance to go now we have a son, and no babysitter.

It was a nice candle lit early evening benefit concert for All Saints Sunday( so I still got my footie in, in the morning), there was a female soprano and a boy soprano, the female's voice was very strong and she performed particularly well. The concert was divided into two halves, it consisted of more melancholy pieces for the first 'Sorrowing' part of the recital  seperated by an intermission after which the happier 'Rejoicing' songs followed. The 2 best pieces of the night were Pie Jesu by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alleluia(Exsultate Jubilate) by Mozart.

 James was as good as gold for the most part, he did get a bit bored and shouted "NO MORE" a few times during the brief pauses between songs, which will no doubt sound hilarious on the video tape which the church had set up.

The boy soprano did quite well for an amateur and I got the feeling he was being enthusiastically and vicariously coached by a his Mom, who seemed to be pushing him forward into a possible life of stardom, which is great as long as the kid enjoys it too. The boy had an Italian surname and I got to thinking of ways that his mother could promote him on a serious path towards Aled Jones type fame.

With an Italian last name and with him being a 'soprano' I thought maybe T-shirts with the catchphrase 'Bada Bing you should hear me sing'.