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CDA x 4: Alva, Baker, Benton & Strouse
Wow, what a haul we have today... Luigi Alva (age 98) was a Peruvian tenor who specialized in Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and other...
ladiesvoices
May 17, 20252 min read
Fabulous Friday: "Union Forever" and "Alabama Song"
I just started watching The Civil War, the PBS Ken Burns series from 1990. Can you believe I'd never seen it? It's interesting seeing...
ladiesvoices
May 16, 20252 min read
Diva/Mensch pair for May 14, 2025
I'm looking at the Pop categories from the 1998 Grammys. Diva: Best Pop Album - - Madonna, Ray of Light Mensch: Best Pop Collaboration...
ladiesvoices
May 14, 20252 min read
Voices of Ascension, May 8, 2025
Susie and I heard Voices of Ascension on May 8, 2025. It was a program of music by American composers. "Stant Syon Atria" by Horatio...
ladiesvoices
May 12, 20254 min read
Richard Clayderman concert, May 7, 2025
Tom and I saw Richard Clayderman in concert on May 7, 2025. I have access to occasional free tickets to concerts at a local theater and...
ladiesvoices
May 10, 20254 min read
Fabulous Friday: "Giusto ciel!"
I've been fixated on Adriana Lecouvreur lately. It's a campy opera from 1902 by Francesco Cilea, a fictional story about an actual...
ladiesvoices
May 9, 20252 min read
Noel MacNeal performance, May 5, 2025
I saw Noel MacNeal at 54 Below on May 5, 2025. I'd never heard of him but my friends Joshua and Abby invited me to join their group for...
ladiesvoices
May 8, 20252 min read
Diva/Mensch pair for May 7, 2025
The 1997 winner for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance was Tony Bennett, one of his FOURTEEN wins in that category. I adore Tony...
ladiesvoices
May 7, 20251 min read
Chamber Music Soc of Linc Ctr, May 4, 2025
Barbara, David, and John and I heard the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on May 4, 2025. I'd been to no more than a handful of...
ladiesvoices
May 6, 20256 min read
CDA: Priscilla Pointer
I read online last week about the death of actress Priscilla Pointer (age 100). She's a familiar face from TV and movies from the 80s but...
ladiesvoices
May 5, 20251 min read
CDA: Ruth Buzzi
My brother Howard alerted me to the death of Ruth Buzzi (age 88). She had a varied career but is best remembered for playing Gladys on...
ladiesvoices
May 2, 20251 min read
Fabulous Friday: "When Doves Cry"
I heard this song on the radio as I was walking through Penn Station the other day and every time I hear it I love it more. It's hard to...
ladiesvoices
May 2, 20252 min read
Diva/Mensch pair for Apr 30, 2025
I was looking through the 1997 Grammys list on Wikipedia and starting to worry that I wouldn't find anything suitable, let along...
ladiesvoices
Apr 30, 20251 min read
Fabulous Friday: *Seductive Reasoning*
My brother Howard used to work in a record store in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It was called Face the Music. Our mom sometimes called it Face...
ladiesvoices
Apr 25, 20252 min read
Diva/Mensch pair for Apr 23, 2025
Maya Angelou got the 1995 Best Spoken Word Grammy for her album "Phenomenal Woman." Here's a fabulous, phenomenal video of her performing...
ladiesvoices
Apr 23, 20251 min read
CDA: Pope Francis
I turned on my TV this morning to the news that Pope Francis had died at the age of 88. He had recently been hospitalized with double...
ladiesvoices
Apr 21, 20251 min read
Fabulous Friday: "I Thought I'd Never See You Again"
Sometime around 1985, in the heyday of cassette tapes, my brother Howard gave me a tape by a band I'd never heard of, Working Week. He...
ladiesvoices
Apr 18, 20251 min read
CDA: Wink Martindale
This was one of those classic CDA moments: "That dude was still alive...?" Wink Martindale died the other day at the age of 91. I grew up...
ladiesvoices
Apr 17, 20251 min read
Diva/Mensch pair for April 16, 2025
Just in time for my birthday, the 1994 Grammys were centered on improbable hero Tony Bennett. Who could have predicted THAT? His MTV...
ladiesvoices
Apr 16, 20251 min read
*Floyd Collins,* April 10, 2025
Karen and I saw *Floyd Collins* at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on Apr 10, 2025. The show was originally produced off Broadway in 1996 and...
ladiesvoices
Apr 15, 20254 min read
CDA x 4: Barrie and Stewart
I never like reporting on FOUR celebrity deaths! My brother Howard alerted me to three of them and my friend Jessica on the fourth: Barbara Barrie (95), Donnie Iris (83), and Patrick Stewart (86) from Howard and Elke Sommer (85) from Jessica. I first encountered Barbara Barrie playing Dennis Christopher's mom in Breaking Away. She was nominated for an Oscar for that movie. I later knew her from the original cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's Company, in which she and her hu
ladiesvoices
1 day ago3 min read
Fabulous Friday: "Then Came You"
I was on the stairmaster at Planet Fitness yesterday morning - - it wasn't an actual Stairmaster, it was a LifeFitness brand knockoff, but it's the easiest way to explain the thing I was using. Don't you say Kleenex rather than "facial tissue?" Anyway, I was on the stairmaster looking for something inspiring to listen to on my iPod. I needed a break from my usual picks (Boston, Earth Wind and Fire, Shirley Bassey) and somehow landed on this song. Which I ADORE. The four minut
ladiesvoices
2 days ago1 min read
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