A taste of OH!

Last night at "Overture" opera lovers got a tasty mouthful of the OH!s coming season. 100's thronged the lobby where delectable morsels waited to be washed down with St. Arnold's Brew, water and wine, just waiting for the highlight of the event, the presentation by OH! singers. And a lively bunch they were, many favorites are returning for "The Tales of Hoffmann", the first opera on tap, sung in French. A small sampling of the arias were presented by them.

"Big Ben" (at 6 ft something, the tallest baritone I know- a veritable Barihunk ;-)
- want to hug him do bring a stepladder) LeClair, heard here as Guglielmo in Cosi
whose big voiced (and much richer after some Santa Fe seasoning :-) this summer) villains will be heard in Hoffmann.

Mezzo Heather Scanio showed off her deep gravelly sound in an aria of Nicklausse, a trouser role.
(Below with Jacqueline Thompson).

Jonathan Hodel, sang an aria of Hoffmann with his usual panache and delightful lyrical notes.

(Here as Duke in a previous Ballo at OH!)

And soprano Jacqueline Thompson, remembered as a lovely Manon, gave her take on the Bacarolle (yes, that song..so often heard in a non operatic environmen!) with Heather Scanio.

Clip of sisters singing the same

And that was all, just a teaser to let us know what beautiful sounds will wait for us at the OH! with performances on Thursday September 23, 24, 25 and again September 30, Oct 1 and 2. As usual, the major roles are cast alternatively (emerald and ruby), thus 2 tenors and 2 sopranos. It is always sooo tempting to come hear the emerald cast one night and the ruby cast the next or the second week...and never be disappointed.

But the night was not over yet, newcomer, soprano Elizabeth Andrews Robert  flung off a fiery Czardas (albeit in English translation) an aria, the Rosalinda sings disguised as a Hungarian Countess in the 2. OH!  presentation Die Fledermaus, slated for November for which Elizabeth WILL return to the OH!   Elizabeth pictured at left.

Below sung in the original German. 

 

Tenor John Rodger (tall, slim and firm of voice) sang a piece from Don Carlo, OH!'s 3. opera. He sang it in French (as did Alagna in the clip below) - but did faithfully promise to be fluent and just as great in Italian, when he returns to OH! for Don Carlo in January!

.

And to top it all off, Jacqueline Thompson (left) returned to sing 'Leila's aria to show that Bizet's 'Les Pecheurs des Perles'  (OH!s last opera this season) offers definitely more beautiful music than just THAT famous Baritone - Tenor duet, it IS famous for. 

All these musical appetizers (videos clips chosen as much as possible to give an idea how these singers sound)  really should whet your appetite for the full menu at the OH!

Do come and join the ball (as in the FLEDERMAUS), you'll not regret a second of it!

 All Photos by artandhockey
Final Bow: Lt to rt:
Thompson, Hodell, Robert, Rodger, Scanio, Big Ben LeClair and accompanist.



All's well that's coming up purple?

Last night, I dreamt a drama in 3 acts.
What a wild one! What a muddled one! A really weird one!
And everything was purple: costumes, lightening, sets, ice -imagine skating on purple ice! and,  no-not the prose!

Act one:

A game of hockey in purple jerseys.

All the famous "Ones" were there,

regardless of time and/or positions ;-)...

Sawchuck, Howe, Gretzky, Messier, Lafleur, Belfour, Orr, Lindsay, Jagr, Satan, Brodeur, Ovechkin, Park, Crosby, Kovalchuk etc etc.  imagine them all in purple jerseys! 

Not necessarily in such a one as that!

Some of Hockey's best videos????

Act two:

Hockey as opera while those players skated,  famous opera singers sang: 

Domingo as Howe (Turandot),  Alagna as Gretzky (Aida),  Kraus as Crosby (Fledermaus), Callas as Brodeur (Norma), Fleming as Orr (Capriccio), Nilsson as Lafleur (Walkure)...etc. and never mind matching gender of players and singers!

Act three:

Carmen sung in French Canadian with  JM Daoust as Don Jose,  Noreau as Escamillo, and Kassian as Jose's superior, Gillies, Rau and Almond as gypsies, all clad in purple traje de luces with castanets playing.

Somewhere too, there WAS a Carmen - but the image is blurred ..

which player (AHL, NHL??) played her:-),
the singer was most defiantly (lol) Geraldine Farrar?

Ah, well, it was just a dream with no rhyme nor reason.
Guess I AM ready for both: Opera and Hockey.
And for Icevet: seems like his evaluation of Hackett and Kuemper has been proven by the excerpt from Russo's Rant: "On Saturday, they beat Carolina 2-1 behind goals from Joel Broda and Tyler Johnson, and 29 saves from Matt Hackett. On Sunday, they beat Columbus 5-1 with Darcy Kuemper in net. Jarod Palmer, Cody Almond, Jared Spurgeon, Nate Prosser and Casey Wellman scored the goals, and apparently Josh Caron had a mammoth fight". Yes, indeed, the coming Aeros season is looking ever more exciting

The day after..

sadness still reigns and those incomprehensible images, seen live on TV  (yes, the 2. plane and the aftermath) remain burnt into my brain forever. I was not present on "The day of Infamy" in 1941. The memory of that morning on 9/11 is with me yet! And no sea of flowers can wipe it all away!

 I, for one, do not believe that all believers in one or another religion are evil, just because they believe in another way. I do believe that decency should take first place. That no one should spit into the eye of another because of what he/she believes or may have been led to believe.

History, alas, has too many, way too many, instances of the evil of 'suggestion', of 'brainwashing', of 'mesmerization', of 'indoctrination' ... however one calls it! Sadly, the controversy rages on and on.

I also believe, that human memories of  'bad' things are ever shorter!
May it be due the constant onslaught of images in the news of disasters, man made or natural, that we, seemingly, have lost the ability to empathize... too horrible, too ugly, too fearful - simply  -  too much to comprehend meaningfully.
Or because our brain just throws up a barrier to shut off dreaded images and feelings? We really may have an inherent ability to 'forget' bad in order to survive. And that IS the danger that events repeat themselves. Must every generation experience the unspeakable?

But is it really necessary that, as a friend recently pointed out, a Greek Orthodox Church (St. Nicholas) which had stood for almost 100 years, on Cedar Street in the 'shadows of the Trade Center' and was completely destroyed on that fatal day, has been 'forgotten' by the powers that be in New York? See photo at right.

I know some will not quite understand why this day of national remembrances recalls to my mind a very controversial production of Wagner's Rienzi by the Deutsche Oper Berlin last January. Others, who read history, will do.

Below excerpts from various news sources at the time, photo from the Oper Berlin website:

Photo Deutsche Oper Berlin

"Director Philipp Stoelzl has turned the title character from a 14th-century Roman tribune into a 20th-century fascist demagogue in an Alpine country that could easily be Germany. In case the point isn't clear, Stoelzl plays extensive film footage of Rienzi haranguing the adoring populace; invents a swastika-like flag emblazoned with the letter "R," and even provides a bunker for Rienzi to hide in with his sister, Irene. Oh, and she has blond hair like Eva Braun and exchanges long kisses with her brother that are far more than sisterly. This was all too much for some of the hometown audience, so that in the fourth performance of six, boos mixed with cheers both at the first-act curtain and at the conclusion." 

And it would have to have been a Wagner Opera, given in Germany, in Berlin yet!

From the Deutsche Oper Berlin website: "Director Philipp Stölzl interprets RIENZI as a parable of the dangerous tightrope walk between idealism, hubris and realpolitik. The republican dream of the people’s tribune ends in dictatorship and destruction. For him, in a series of symbols unique to himself, the stage becomes a multimedia experiment, set up to show the inevitable fate of a “hero.”

Richard Wagner : RIENZI, Der Letzte der Tribunen

Rienzi – Torsten Kerl, Irene – Camilla Nylund, Steffano Colonna – Ante Jerkunica, Adriano – Kate Aldrich
Paolo Orsini – Krzysztof Szumanski, Cardinal Orvieto – Lenus Carlson, Baroncelli – Clemens Bieber, Cecco del Vecchio – Stephen Bronk
Berlin Deutsche Opera Chorus and Orchestra (chorus master: William Spaulding)
Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor, Philipp Stölzl, stage director and set design, Ulrike Siegrist, set design
Kathi Maurer and Ursula Kudrna, costume design
Recorded live from the Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2010. And now available on DVD-BluRay
Judging from the clip the singing was exceptional, the orchestra and chorus did well under the baton of Maestro Lang-Lessing, appreciated by HGO audiences during his appearances here.

New or amended.. NHL rules

A new paragraph added to  the NHL rule book:
 "If a defending player has been pushed, shoved, or fouled by an attacking player so as to cause the defending player to come into contact with his own goalkeeper, such contact shall be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for purposes of this rule, and if necessary a penalty assessed to the attacking player and if a goal is scored it would be disallowed"

Now THAT will help.. if memory serves me right, there were a time or two last season when the Aeros would have profited from this new rule!

For the complete information on the NHL rules go to
http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=64050

Photo By Jerina, I believe

Just passing time...

Since the news in the media is rather depressing this morning, I went surfing...
the net, that is, for funny, funky stuff to start MY day! Join me if you need a boost!
MUSIC, funny or serious, has no boundaries.
This is "SWAN LAKE" interpreted by an Indian choreographer
Is this an Alpine version of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik?
Mozart might have enjoyed that-he seemed to have had an 'earthy' kind of humor from all I've read about him.

For Hockey fans and those that do enjoy a bit of tongue-in-cheek irony:

Haven't you have enough giggles yet?
Well, for all opera lovers and haters: opera CAN be funny..

Humorous musings on sports

The other sleepless night I was musing on what draws us fans to any sport.
And what draws man/woman to a specific sport.

There are the "egomaniacal" :-) sports such as weight lifting, shot put, hammer throw, javelin throw, long and high jumps, skijumping, single luge, kayaking, golf, etc... you get the idea.. sports in which the *me* first and foremost competes against the *me*, and only after that against the *foe*. *I* have to better *my* time, length, height.,..etc. then I go up against the *other* who also strove mightily to better *his/her* time, length, height etc. And some is wonderful to watch, indeed.

Then you have the  "twofers" such as fencing, sumo, wrestling, boxing, tennis-lawn and table,  etc. when the *me* competes opposite *him/her* necessitating  strategy as well as personal striving.. slightly more exciting to watch.

And lastly the *all for one, one for all* sports in which the *me* is subordinated/integrated into the group. Strategy, prior planning, on-the-spot decisions, working with and supporting the mates in order to outwit, outrun, outskate, outscore the *foe of the day* which in a year or less time may become *our* teammate again. Must be slightly paranoic to play against a foe that with a decision from above becomes a mate (hockey seems to be rather prone to that, as players are traded back and forth within the season)

Hot Mayan Hockey?

This can be the joy of team sport fans, to watch - at best -  a well oiled machine in which each cog does its part well to the final success!

"United we stand Defense"

Alas, at its worst, it is more like a jumble of individuals only 'doing' for themselves.

And that ugly, disjointed, frustrating play leads to fan dissatisfaction, even disgust.

Fans, being only human, curse, weep and swear NEVER to buy another ticket...

and yet.. next season rolls around, new players & coaches come, and the hopes of fans flare again!

And so with this song from a 1932's German movie..."It will get better" -
fans are hopefully optimistic, or are they masochistic  :-D!

And in this vein, as the Aeros have signed another goalie, can we assume that "Dimples" will move to Minnesota, whilst Tordjman becomes 'veteran goalie as THE role model'  in the Aeros net' with Hackett and/or Kuemper as B.U.G.? 
And where does that leave recently signed German goalie Endras? Still in Europe of course ;-)!.

With the Kaip signing, the Aeros now will have Kassian And Kaip ("K.& K. Defense") which does sound like a 'law firm of public defenders', lol.

Aeros Hockey news

Josh Tordjman (born Montreal Jan 11, 1985) Aeros new goalie,
makes a save a bit earlier in his career
Height 6'1"  Weight 155 lbs 
Key StatisticsW-L-OTL 20-17-6  GAA 2.96  SVPCT .902  SHO 1 Min 2536:53
Last 10 Season-fans will remember some of those games.
Date vs. Score W L OTL GA SA SHO SV%
4/11/10 HOU W 3-2 1 - - 2 26 0 .923
4/10/10 ROCK W 4-2 1 - - 2 37 0 .946
4/8/10 HOU L 3-5 - 1 - 4 22 0 .818
4/6/10 @ TEX L 1-3 - 1 - 3 25 0 .880
4/3/10 CHI W 3-0 1 - - 0 25 1 1.000
4/2/10 @ TEX L 3-4 (OT) - 1 1 4 24 0 .833
3/28/10 LAKE W 4-3 1 - - 3 26 0 .885
3/20/10 @ CHI L 3-6 - 1 - 5 34 0 .853
3/17/10 PEO L 5-6 (OT) - 1 1 6 44 0 .864
3/14/10 PEO W 5-2 1 - - 2 30 0 .933
Career Statistics
Season Team GP W L OTL GAA GA SHO Mins A PIM
09-10 SA 45 20 17 6 2.96 125 1 2536:53 2 6
08-09 SA 51 25 19 4 2.61 127 6 2920:54 3 8
07-08 SA 43 22 11 7 2.65 109 1 2465:50 1 10
06-07 SA 37 15 16 4 2.58 91 1 2112:52 3 0

Rylan Kaip (born Saskatchewan March 19,1984)  is the Aeros new fighter/defender .
Center
Height 6.01 -- Weight 188 -- Shoots R
Selected by Atlanta Thrashers round 9 #269 overall 2003 NHL Entry Draft
Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
----------------------------------------------------------
2002-03 Notre Dame Hounds SJHL 57 20 36 56 164
2003-04 Notre Dame Hounds SJHL 54 30 36 66 133
2004-05 U. of North Dakota NCAA 22 0 4 4 20
2005-06 U. of North Dakota NCAA 42 3 5 8 76
2006-07 U. of North Dakota NCAA 38 5 7 12 55
2007-08 U. of North Dakota NCAA 42 8 7 15 81
2008-09 Chicago Wolves AHL 42 1 2 3 17 -- -- -- -- --
2009-10 Chicago Wolves AHL 68 4 7 11 59 9 0 0 0 8
-----------------------------------------------------------

It works-live watching Rigoletto..

am sitting here and listening to the third and final act of Rigoletto from Mantova direct via the French connection as listed in the previous blog. The picture is a bit jerky but the sound is great. And  since it is broadcast on French netsite the subtitles are an francais.. rarther quaint to see the translation and hear the Italian sung. What fun.

Now it is over, c'est fini! La 'Maledizione' took the life of Gilda, and Rigoletto is in despair.
Domingo played him as an old  but still soigne,man, had he handicap? No idea, nothing was really visible.
The camera angles were over the top, IMO, but perhaps dentists would appreciate that "Gilda" had no cavities.

Anyway, what the internet has wroth - is simply amazing.
Soon, we need no more buy DVD's, CD's, just mail your check or rather EFT for a month's worth of opera, concerts, films, music....
Of course had the computer screen been bigger one could have sat back in a recliner to watch it, instead of hovering almost nose to screen.

Sunday - a new way of showing opera

Rigoletto and Gilda

<>

 cameras capturing a scene

"Part I of «Rigoletto a Mantova», a hybrid of opera, cinema, and Giuseppe Verdi was presented on RAI  as a virtual opera. From reports this was not done in a proper opera house, where singers are on stage and the orchestra and conductor in the pit.  This was shown as  live TV show from an Italian Palazzo and the orchestra elsewhere". Some photos taken by Italian Photographer(s) show how it was done. This was ONLY act one, with the rest to follow on Sunday-tomorrow..am not certain at what time Central Summer Time but you could go to

 http://www.rtbf.be/culture/musique/rigoletto-en-direct-sur-la-une/

Sinfonia Orchestra

The article I read, mentioned "the slow conducting (Zubin Mehta had to slow things down because it must have been a nightmare to keep things together under those conditions -- already at a slower-than-normal tempo-- a fast Rigoletto would probably fall apart anyway) and the way Mehta didn't really seem to be meshing with the singers. Again, the orchestra was somewhere else and everything had to be linked and patched together".

 Rigoletto being duped to assist in his own daugher's abduction

Placido Domingo "turns Rigoletto on its head, making that a key of his interpretation of the character. Rigoletto as a man on the brink of madness and of cruelty. Rigoletto as a weak man playing his cards very close to the chest. But the key here is the shaky balance between weakness -- it's always the curse (never his fault) to the tragic end -- and the love for his daughter".

"But it's such a treat to see the red carpet being rolled out for opera -- on prime time Italian State TV on a Saturday night with the Italian President as MC.

It warms every opera lover's heart, regardless of the results"

There is this....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575448083053935368.html#

Parody is a form of flattery or so this (old-remember I was off line for a while) article posits. And  a howling success IMO a parody well done can be!
It must be my Austrian Galgenhumor, or is it an overactive funny bone that draws me to parodies, satires, ironies, tongue-on-cheek expressions or simply puns on words in any language?
Nicknames that are funny but in a nice way..well, I think so.
Somehow most Aeros hockey players lend themselves to such designations.
Just think of last season:

The Scrapper, MacAttack, Kassassinator, Ironman....and so forth.

All those nicknames have kernels of truth and fact in them.

Sunny... the smile did it!

The Scrapper .. always in the midst of scrapes, seemingly fearlessly.

MacAttack...taking on BIG penalties.

Kassassinator...taking down the 'enemy'.

Ironman...appears to be hurt, but next thing he's back on the ice

and doing what comes so naturally to him, aiming powerful slapshots!

Ah well, you do get the idea, no?

So, since I do like reading, too- (aren't you just a bit surprised...hockey, opera, literature - of course not, you've read the posts on many a thing) I was heartily amused by that article. And not a wee bit surprised that English/UK literature lends itself even more so to being parodied...it's that diffident, surreal English humor  that created such movies as "Kind Hearts and Coronets" for instance.

Back in heaven..

well, almost.
The computer works again.

Not much YET on the AEROS front.

Meanwhile "Earl" has changed the flight schedules for some OH! artists.
But even so 'Tales of Hoffmann' WILL go into rehearsal, as planned.

On the HGO side we welcomed the new and old crop of Studio artists - some already making names for themselves. Some just in fromSanta Fe, Wolftrap and such summer festivals which are still abundant. At last count 4 singers at Wolftrap hailed from Texas among them 3 from HGO Studio, Nathaniel Peake -Tenor, Michael Sumuel -Bass Baritone and Catherine Martin - Mezzo. And we will hear and see all of them in HGO's Productions this season

 blog photos about Wolftrap's Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten

During the enforced 'absence of the computer',  reading provided some joy. 

A novel by Ingrid Rimland about Mennonites in Russia and their Odyssey to Paraguay caught my attention, called 'The Wanderers' published 1977. The author survived WWII and apparently drew on personal experiences in Europe as a young girl, and in Paraguay.

Martha Eggerth in a 1936 film.

Don't exactly fits the novel, but it is just about the right time frame ;-)

One feels, she based the last character, Karin, on herself, a young woman ever questing, ever querying the way her people lived, they way worshipped, the way they cling to old habits, language and rites. 

Although the subject is interesting - I could not really relate to her heroines' actions or reactions, with the exception of the last girl, Karin, who rebels or tries to rebel against a life as restrictive as a Mennonite's can be.  Most characters in the novel seem a bit one dimensional, some are fleshed out more, and yet not too creditable. But that is only my take. Others may find deeper meanings in the events of the novel.

Religious courage, women's survival, a man always bending with the prevailing politics.

But one is left with an unfinished feeling, what did become of KARIN?

Lost...

I don't mean THAT TV program, which, BTW  I never watched and plan not to watch.
I mean lost without MY personal buddy, the Computer. Still uncertain of its future...why am I not a techie minded person? I have no clue what is wrong, is it really OLD age (of the computer-not only me ;-)!
Borrowing someone else's is OK for a bit but it lacks access to MY stuff..
so again patience is a virtue .. hang in there.
On the other hand, enforced inactivity, blogwise, opens time slots for reading, writing (yeah, there are still buddies of mine who have NO email) and more.

News or not...

well, there is News - of a kind.
On the operatic side we have the arrival of Anna Netrebko and Erwin Schrott's baby-the future of opera is saved now, eh?
On the Hockey side we now know that Kevin Constantine will coach en France, Troy Ward assist in Abbortsford (so might see him when the Heat plays the Aeros) and LeRose ends up as a head coach.
Mich Love signed at Echl Mudbugs in Shreveport...hey, Love fans, worth a trip to the Bossier City/Shreveport to watch that old favorite?

The Annual Theater Ditsrict Open House went well, albeit with fewer visitors than in the past! As I recall the first 10 yrs, we counted somewhere between 19.000 and 20.000 curious passers by, despite the fact of the airshow.
On the other hand reports are that ticket sales for HGO, Da Camera, SPA, Ballet, etc. went surprisingly well.
Having your photo taken with "Brunnhilde" HGOs's Art car was nothing to sneeze at. Although, I'd say the Mice and Nutcrackers and Tutu clad lovelies gave heavy competition, especially the little or larger tykes were much taken...
what could beat rolling on the floor surrounded by brown somersaulting mice with looong tails, right?
Computer has to go to the ComputerWhizz hospital for a check up.
So there will not be much posted in the days ahead.
Tata, see ya later, ciao, Auf Wiedersehen.

And now we wait...

now that  the NHL and AHL schedules are out, the Aeros team is in place plus or minus a few last minute free agent signings, if any, the team's system established, we, the fans, can just sit back, choose our games, if we do not buy the whole season ticket package and wait for day one!

Or we can start planning our trips to

a) coincide with OUR team's away schedule, or

b) compare the hockey and the opera schedules and arrange trips around both.

Which is what I'd rather do, so San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Estero, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, Sarasota and more, are definitely on our agenda. 

Plus some scheduled surgery for Better Half which will restrict his movements for about 2-3 weeks, but after THAT we are free to go again.

It would be a neat and different thing to see OUR team in Minnesota, plus the Motherteam's face off with our OLD team, the St. Louis Blues... alas, there is NO opera playing at that exact time we'd like to see (the week before, some time after that February 12th)  but nothing the night before or a night after, BIG SIGH.

And as much as I like Hockey, an expensive trip without an opera or two is not quite the thing when we can have that and more in Florida...Tampa (Tampa Bay Lightening), Estero (Everblades), Ft.Lauderdale (Panthers), Sarasota (2 Operas - The Crucible AND I Lombardi!) etc. plus lolling in Bonita Springs ;-0! 

Meanwhile, Opera in the Heights artists are arriving for a Zarzuela Evening, and start rehearsals for The Tales of Hoffmann, while at HGO, Madame Butterfly and Peter Grimes are the first operas in  its repertory plus a much touted Mariachi Opera with favorites, like Octavio Moreno (Baritone) David Guzman (Tenor) and Mariachi Vargas, one of the best known and much traveled group, sample clip  below.

Ruins, Prescott, Jewish Cowboy Painter

Montezuma was NOT here, and yet his is the name given.

Tuzigoot tops a hill in green River Verde valley,

looking at Jerome, a mining town glued to the steep hills to the left in the distance, while the hot sun burns down.

Man Of Acoma-Bronze

Prescott National Forest ascends and descends via s bend curves to Phippen Museum featuring Kenneth Freeman, the so-called cowboy artist in a special showing.
And granite boulders

 and back to the Red Rocks of Sedona..

A little bit of the Wild West ?

On the train to and from The Grand Canyon, while passing Ponderosa furs along curving upwards climbing tracks, passengers were 'entertained' by some imagined (?) Wild West fun: sheriffs shooting it out with Outlaws (What IS the difference between Outlaws and Inlaws? Outlaws are wanted :-)!) at the train depot BEFORE embarking on the train (wheelchair ramp equipped, as well).  Itinerant musicians regaling with banjo, guitar, mouth harmonica and accordeons...the banjo singer did have a pleasant voice (Trained?). The harmonica/accordeon player (above) was more slapstick and brought it off rather well..lots of laughter followed his progression through the train. Finally...what is that...riders with face masks in pursuit? Must be those pesky outlaws surviving the shootout :-D...to rob the train and still (leisurely - tee hee - pursued by the Marshall!)

More Red , Belladonna?

The area around Sedona is stunning - one can drive and drive and still find new vistas to marvel at, including a pretty thing in purple. Since that IS my favorite color I zoomed in on it.

Belladonna?

BUT deadly, or so I was told. If wrongly informed, botanists please stand up and say so :-).

Other funny growth, the tree around a stone or ?

And a WET creek for once, and people have to totter across a tree bridge to frolic in it!

<>

Red Crossing

"New" Aeros Team Meets the Press..

Just back from a press conference with the 'old' as in Jim Mills and Joe O'Donnell,
the 'new' as in Mike Yeo, Darryl Sydor and Brian Wiseman, but all about the AEROS.

Now let's see.. the average age of the 3 newbies is 38, with Yeo at 37, Sydor at 38 and Wiseman at 39.
Between them they have 2 Turner Cups, 3 Stanley Cups, several Eastern and Western Championships and other kudos (Frozen Four, Memorial Championship, NHL ALL Stars, etc.).

Only Yeo and Wiseman have some coaching experience, while Sydor defintely leads in NHL playing experience with almost 1300 NHL games in 18 seasons.

So it comes to no surprise that the coaching team (I should - maybe- include Bob Mason -goalies coach, primarily located with the Wild) is eager and hungry for success.

Yeo, who charmingly explained that he always wanted to be a great coach and always studied his coaches' actions after games at night, alone in his hotel room, feels he and his team have THE system ready.
A system that will rely on fast, physical and aggressive playing - in other words (will THAT be this seasons slogan?) "IN YOUR FACE HOCKEY"! Fans ought to love THAT!

Now that strikes a chord.. Opera in the Heights has been offering: "IN YOUR FACE OPERA"!

And it's a good thing, just to rub it in!
Baseball, football and soccer, golf and tennis fans, even Lacrosse fans
Houston has IN YOUR FACE HOCKEY" - just saying.
Plus TWO morning games to nurture and expose the kiddies to this game of fast action and young hot athletes! Season ticket holders donate yours to your kids! Because YOU work at that time anyway!

Further, Yeo, explained that he and Wiseman will work on power play skills;
Wiseman will work also with the forwards;
while Sydor will concentrate on honing the defense and penalty kills.
As already mentioned  Mason will do double duty as goalie coach,
but I get the feeling, HE will be mostly up at the Wilds.

Which means that Khudobin (must find new petname for "Dimples" as would be suitable for his responsible position) is expected to exemplify experience and work ethics opposite the young quality prospect goalie Hackett, and eventually Kuemper (The Darcy Vader of successful plays end of 2009/10!).

Possible NHL'ers were named , even as they may play with Aeros, such as Wellman, Cuma, Palmer, Prosser, Broda.  Scandella, whom we all know from previous seasons was slightly injured during the Wild Camp and not displaying much other than his BROAD shoulders :-D!
Bagnell and Peters are looked to be the providers of veteran experienced leadership, which, it is hoped, will augur well for this season's AEROS.

Others slated in Yeo's eyes for leadership:
Noreau, "Ironman" (is our Max finally getting the recognition he so deserves?) and Mc Millan ("MacAttack") and the separate but special talents of Kassian ("The Kassassinator"- let's hope marriage will not mellow HIS aggressive play).
OOOPS, FALK is the marrying one, unless Kassian is sneaking it past!

On asking (by yours truly) about Jean Michel "The Scrapper" Daoust and Chad Rau"WOW", Sydor admitted he had not seen them play at camp, but... if Daoust plays as a fearlessly and with his usual "ice sense", he MOST definitely will be a good fit with Yeo's aggressive system.
Rau, not a flashy player, might probably provide the solid, intelligently played, backbone for the young team.

Anyway, enthusiasm and mutual respect among the staff from Mills on down is rampant and palpable!
It just might turn the tide for AEROS to stage a comeback to Championship, even Cup level.

And that IS music to my and all fans's ears, n'est pas?

The competition within Texas (Aeros-Rampage-Texas Stars) is to continue, and the new opponent in Oklahoma City is expected to deliver extra spice into the stew!

Words is out that the team is working on offering a special package (air, hotel AND Wild/Blues game ticket) to season ticket holders for that February game in Minnie, or the ticket holder may elect to receive extra ticket to a home game of his/her choice

Ballooning

Inflating

The early bird gets a Balloon ride! And no it is NOT cold...flames keep your heads warm, LOL.

The sun also rises

Volcanic Cone

A Basket of Shadows

In Tandem

How facts backfire - The Boston Globe

How facts backfire - The Boston Globe

The Importance of being...what  - right or wrong - but really do YOU care?

I have always sensed this.. now research (don't they have anything better to do? Like discover the cure for idiocy, perhaps?) raises its head and says YES! Just kidding. 'Nuf said.