Bose Prose and Other Woes….
Friday morning, been up since 5 and already feel the drag of lost sleep tugging at my thoughts. I am steeping as I type, my second (rare) cuppa french-pressed coffee (black, no sugar).
I spent half an hour or so this morn critting someone's poem at an online poetry workshop site. It is a function of writing poetry that is oddly rewarding. Especially when you believe the poet is really interested in what will improve their writing. My ability to do this is limited (as are my writing skills) but I can offer suggestions up to the level of what I know…or think I know. I am not above fooling myself!
A fucked up thing happened this morning too. My squirrely email program ATE every, EVERY email I had in my In Box. Totally wiped out. Zero. It did this last year. At that time, it ate the previous 5 years or so of Every email I had ever received. I guess having gone through that trauma, I am a less devastated at this annihilation on a smaller scale. Perspective, it's a bitch and a savior.
I know this should have been an upbeat, YAY! it's here post about my Bose. Well, it's not. Well not entirely. But I will say, yay, it's here, for the record.
My getting a Bose was the result of considering (for all of three days) becoming MP3 capable and portable. After some research (and some help from my cyberbud Tom!) I discovered that my Windows 98 would need to be upgraded (coupla hundred bucks). Then I'd need to upgrade my UBS ports (cost Plus installation) and probably would need something called a Firewire installed (more $$) and then there was the high cost of getting an MP3 player. I was specifically looking at Apple's ipod. So with the hoops, hoopla and bucks I was faced with, I decided that for much cheaper, I should finally just get myself a decent stereo…
It arrived last night 3 hours after expected. 6pm rolled around and I thought something must have happened to it and they were going to inform me: 'Sorry, but we accidentally drove over your Bose.' I mean, I knew it was on the truck, because my tracking number and the internet told me so. But alas, the UPS truck stopped by my house and the Upsman delivered my Bose-box. The box itself advertises what it is instead of being generic box-brown. Personally, I don't think that it is a good idea to basically cover the box of an expensive, portable item with the message: "Steal me!! I am easy to pickup and run with!! I am a B.O.S.E stereo for Gawd's sake! Look! I am a BOSE. Take me Please, if you happened upon me before its true owner arrives." (end quote) What the hell are they thinking?!? It is the equivalent of leaving the keys in the ignition of say, a BMW or Mini-Coop.
How does it sound? Thanks for asking! It's okay. What? You want more? Okay, here is how it happened. It was already after 6pm when I got the sucker opened and plugged in. I ordered the larger sized remote (there are NO buttons on the player) and boy am I glad I did. The remote that comes with it is literally the size of a credit card. I'm not sure WHY!?! I mean the stereo is not battery operated and portable, so why have a wallet-friendly-remote? Do they assume their consumers have ONLY enough space in their homes to place the 16" wide player on a shelf and then not another iota of free space to lay the remote? I really don't get "it." Maybe they are rocket scientists (or some such) but they are not especially practical. Wait, on second thought, they DID charge me an extra 10 bucks for the larger remote (a humongous, 2 credit cards big) so maaaaybe they aren't so slow after all…Hmmmm….
So it is Thursday night after 6pm and at 7, 'Survivor' starts, then 'The Apprentice,' this means I have less than an hour to play with my new toy. Fortunately there was no learning curve to figuring out how to operate it. With NO buttons, only the remote, it has been dummied down to my level of comprehension. It took only a few minutes to figure out that the cd-sized slot in the front, was where to insert the disc.
Earlier, when I had woke up Thursday morning, knowing my Bose was arriving that afternoon, I pondered what song/piece to inaugurate it with. Pretty much immediately, I decided to give the honor to that double-crescendo, cello-intensive piece by Sir Elgar: Concerto for Cello, played by the late great Jacqueline Du Pre.
The slot in the front sucked in the disc and I quickly searched for the Track changer on the remote in my hand. This concerto was number 3 on the cd. It started playing number 1. I nearly panicked! Then I found the arrow to move the track to 3 and it started. Like the accelerator of a fine sports car, I rode the button that increased the volume, cranking it higher and higher still, listening to the heavenly sounds I imagined it should possess. But almost right away, I noticed a bit of a sizzle in the background. My previous stereo, a cheap thing , actually had a small fan running constantly and noisily, in order to cool the groovy blue light it eminated, but it screwed the sound up something terrible. So here, I am listening to this odd background noise in Du Pre's performance and thinking, 'What the…??!!?" Then I heard it, the cough. I have a couple of versions of this concerto. This one was a Live version. That explained the background noise I was hearing. And boy, did I NEED that explanation and Fast. My brief disappointment fell and I listened in anticipation for that first crescendo, then the second. And I was happy.
The next piece in my pre-arranged line up was La Boheme, with Bocelli at the helm. "O suave fanciulla" was second; then "Che gelida manina" from the same cd. I switched the cd to hear the soprano intensive piece,"Un bel di" from Madame Butterfly. It always makes me wanna tear up.
I haven't even been listening to opera much lately, but this occasion cried for the dramatics only opera could fulfill.
Next in my preordained pile was Turandot's, "Signore, ascolta" followed immediately by "Non piangere, Liu" with Corelli and Nilsson. Then back to Bocelli singing, "Nessum dorma" (also from Turandot). These 'non-live' versions were playing absolutely distortion free. There is a balance of all the sounds that made listening to these pieces a new and improved experience.
I still had a little time before my obligations to "Survivor" would draw me away. I scrounged around looking in both spots in my house where I keep cd's, finding what I was looking for in the first place 'scrounged.' It was my favorite opera, Rigoletto, with my favorite soprano, Edita Gruberova. I have a vhs tape of her playing the role of Gilda. Five years ago or so, it was my first real connection to the art of opera on stage, having only listened to cd's to that point. So I fell in love with Rigoletto and found a greater understanding of what 'this' was all about.
One of my favorite parts of Rigoletto is towards the end. The Duke is at the assassin's home along with the assassin's sister. The Duke sings the well-known, "La donna mobile." Meanwhile, Gilda and her father are outside listening. A quartet ensues and is one of the most beautiful, sublime pieces written for voice I have ever heard. So this is what I chose from a list of faves from Rigoletto. I get chills again, just writing about listening to this last night, in pure, undistorted beauty.
I think I'll keep it….
