Random Access

(1) The moment the cable news found out this morning that Harriet Miers pulled her name from the nomination, a scramble for words ensued. Amidst discussion of a weakened White House, John King of CNN warned critics to never 'misunderestimate' the president in times of urgent political crisis. (2) Yesterday I downloaded La Cieca's latest Unnatural Acts podcast, the first act of the 1980 Paris Die Frau ohne Schatten, with a galactic cast of Jones, Behrens, Dunn, Berry, and Kollo, led by Maestro Christoph von Dohnanyi. As far as I know, this live recording isn't available 'commercially' (on both legit and semi-legit labels), but has been seen floating around in DVD form. Running on the beach with a Frosch on iPod is among the most thrilling things on this earth. The Gwyneth tickled, as always, but it was the Mignon that reenergized and pushed me to go the extra half-mile. (3) A bit disorienting to begin a run with the voice of La Cieca, however. She doesn't blend peacefully with a landscape of pelicans and great egrets. But s/he has a lovely baritone, sharply expressive, solid up and down the register: a rich, animated sound that should have been picked by the Met instead of Margaret Juntwait. (Can you imagine.) The parterre box podcasts are worth downloading, even if only for La Cieca's fabulously hilarious intros. Kei-ko-bad-ko-bad-ko-bad-ko-bad ... (4) Blue sky today; I'm outta here.

UPDATE: Oh look, 'misunderestimate' has 62,000 google hits.
UPDATE 2: Act II's up.