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Belters and bohemians: Opera Locos @Sadlers_wells

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At the start of the Opera Locos performance, the announcement says that they really are singing. You could be forgiven for wondering that, given the amplification turns up the backing track and the voices so loud that you can't always tell what's real. But this is a mostly harmless and slightly eccentric blend of opera classics fused with the occasional pop classic. However, recognising the pop tunes would help if you were over a certain age. The most recent of them dates back twenty years. It's currently playing at the Peacock Theatre .  Five performers play out a variety of archetype opera characters. There's the worn-out tenor (Jesús Álvarez), the macho baritone (Enrique Sánchez-Ramos), the eccentric counter-tenor (Michaël Kone), the dreamy soprano (María Rey-Joly) and the wild mezzo-soprano (Mayca Teba). Since my singing days, I haven't recognised these types of performers. However, once, I recall a conductor saying he wanted no mezzo-sopranos singing with the s
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Scenes from the tube 22:20: Heading home from a flatshare hunt in the east end of London. Seat coverings in garish yellow and "back the bid" logos... As for the place at Mile End... Great place and unusually large as it is a warehouse conversion...  
Music: What I am listening to... Today despite the 2500 my iPOD tells me I have on it, I realised I need more music for the gym. I do have music but it is the same music I had two years ago and it seems so 2003. Music is all about association and I didn't need to re-live two years ago. So I went to HMV to get Kylie's "Body Language" album, and picked up a reissue of Liza's album with the Pet Shop Boys from 1989. But thinking of Bernstein's Candide from last night I did like the following lines from the final number Make Our Garden Grow : "Let dreamers dream What worlds they please Those Edens can't be found. The sweetest flowers, The fairest trees Are grown in solid ground." A stanza for those very sensible realists out there in the world no doubt... Moving: What move? Oh that move Before I move out of the current quarters, it is probably worth noting for the record that from today I officially living alone in West Hamps
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Saturday Night at Leicester Square 8:49pm: Thousands waited and watched the cars of stars go by at the BAFTAS. I was just walking by. Forgot that Cate, Leo et al were attending and already inside. 
Up and down on the Piccadilly Line Today looked at: 1. A place near Holburn - Excellent place in a sensible London location, but I don't think I will get it as I didn't think I bonded with the person there. Later today saw the guy at the gym I have just joined. We both had iPODs on so follow-up conversation was not required... 2. A place near Earl's Court - Nice place and large room sharing with a couple. It was made clear that the spotless kitchen was "the way it always is". I started having flashbacks to leaving coke cans on kitchen tabletops in Haringey. Still the couple were interesting enough and we chatted for a while. Providing I didn't use the kitchen for anything more than getting a glass of water I guess I could live there. Actually, the kitchen was in a very odd place. It was an alcove off the living room and there was no dining area. The area they used as a bedroom was the obvious choice to put the kitchen I thought but I guess that would make th
News: Crushes and constitutions In the past two days: * Charles proposes (and nobody seems to care) to his long-term mistress. Constitutional experts and the tabloids seem to show most interest. Thursday night Camilla was in a red dress so The Sun splashed the headline The Lady in Wed ... Weally... * Ikea store opens in North London and people are crushed and several hospitalised while trying to get a £45 flat pack sofa . Emergency services couldn't get to the store as people had abandoned cars on the motorway in search of a bargain. Once again proof to never get in the way of Londoners and their insatiable desire for a bargain. A stabbing was attributed to the store opening as well until it was determined to be an unrelated gangland incident that happened nearby Music: Candide Went to BBC Concert Orchestra's Candide tonight. The audience seemed a bit ambivalent to the concert until "Glitter and Be Gay" was performed by Carla Huhtanen (it was that sort of audience)..
News: Now f*ck off and cover something important you tw*ts Alastair Campbell's advice sent by blackberry in error to BBC's Newsnight team . Know your technology.
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Scenes from the Metropolitan Line Monday 9.59pm. Rush Hour has passed...