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.

- 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.

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

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.

That's impressive.... how long ago was that....?

Thirty-something, when I was thirty-something. That was the
pianist who took the coda of the Saint-Saens violin sonata at
200 something, when it's marked at 160, and Heifetz took it
at 180-ish. I didn't pay attention until he told me when
listening to the recording of a performance we did in Boston.

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).

... A flash of light, a cloud of dust, and... What was the question?

As one might wonder. The story The Incredible Elopement
of Peter Wimsey is brought to mind.

The Watershed Chocolate Cake
categories: celebrity, dessert
yield: 1

Butter and flour for pans
1 3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 ts baking soda
1/2 ts salt
1 c extra strong brewed coffee
- decaf if desired
5 oz finely chopped unsweetened chocolate
2 eggs, room temp
1/2 c peanut or vegetable oil
2 Tb pure vanilla extract
1/2 c sour cream. room temp
h - For frosting
1 c heavy cream
1/4 lb unsalted butter
1/3 c granulated sugar
3/4 ts salt
1 lb semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped
1 ts pure vanilla extract
1/4 c double strength brewed coffee

Preheat oven to 325F.

Butter/flour two 9" cake pans. Brew coffee
extra strong.

Sift together dry ingredients in bowl, blend
with wire whisk. Add unsweetened chocolate to
1 c coffee and cover; stir after melted.

Whisk eggs sith oil, sour cream, and vanilla,
then add chocolate/coffee mixture.

Dump dry ingredients on top of wet ingredients
in 1/3 increments, whisking aggressively after
each addition (no more than 1 min but enough
to knock out big lumps and add some structure).
Pour into prepared 9" pans, bake 30 to 40 min
until few crumbs on toothpick - it's a moist
cake. Let cool in pans for 3 min, then remove
and cool on rack.

Heat the cream, butter, sugar, and salt over
low heat until butter is melted. Remove from
heat and stir in chocolate until melted and
smooth. Add vanilla and coffee, stir until
blended. Allow mixture to cool to room temp
and to a spreadable consistency. Frost the
top of one layer, top with second layer,
then frost the top and sides.

Cover with dusting of confectioners' sugar.
Serve with choice of ice cream, whipped
cream, berries, etc. Confession: I often
eliminate the frosting and bake ingredients
as one cake, allowing additional time for
the thicker cake to completely bake through.

after Scott Peacock via Arnold Steinhardt
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