We ended the HGO season last night with Rigoletto at the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park here in Houston. A classic opera thing happened, that somebody had to jump in and sing a new role at the last second. Hector Vásquez, who was singing Rigoletto, felt a little under the weather so he couldn’t sing after the first act. Instead Octavio Moreno, who was doing Marullo, had to sing Rigoletto, while mr Vásquez acted the part without singing. This without any rehearsal at all, they just switched parts in the middle of the show! That’s impressive! Mr Moreno did an outstanding job, and the audience was very enthusiastic , great way to end a great season.
Friday was ine of those days when I was running around constantly, without getting anything done. In the afternoon I had to take my oldest son Jakob and a couple of his buddies to a schoolproject. I had 45 minutes before I had to pick them up, and since I desperately needed a haircut, that’s what I did. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to go to my regular $3.99 place (I’m as cheap as they come), but found this other place. A little bit more expensive, but OK, this time I’ll spend the big bucks, I’ll pay the 7 dollars! My Spanish is not that good, maybe the lady misunderstood me, but when I looked in the mirror, I had this strange looking bush growing out of the top of my head. By that time I was already late picking up the kids, so I had to dash out the door. Yesterday action was needed, fast. I plugged in my clippers and stood in the backyard, cutting my hair and using our backwindow as a mirror. The look on Jakob’s face when he saw me running the clippers over my head was great, his jaw dropped to his knees. The lesson? Don’t spend the extra money, stick to the $3.99 haircut.
I’m on my way over to the Houston Community College to play a benefit for the great guitar player Mike Nase this afternoon. Mike is a native Texan and one of the finest jazz guitarists I’ve ever heard. He’s featured on three of the tunes on my upcoming CD from Tierra Studios. About two weeks after our session in December of 2008, Mike had a stroke and couldn’t play. He’s slowly getting back into playing, and is doing really good. Today all the Houston jazz musicians are getting together for a marathon Mike Nase benefit concert, from 3 pm to at least 10 pm. It’ll be a great occasion. Keep swinging!
