Broadcast Eve

1. Caught on tape. Now on Showtime On Demand, a lurid love triangle involving a cellist of the New York Philharmonic.

2. Suzie AWOL? Because we have to have an item or two on the An American Tragedy ... the role of Sondra Finchley will be sung tonight by one Kirsten Chavez. (Heidi is a leading suspect in the joint NYPD-SPCA investigation.)

3. Department of Marketing. This week's Met Playbills (even those from Tuesday's disappointing Rigoletto? I can't be certain ...) included an insert ad for a signing event with our lyric wet dream duo Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon (Met Opera Shop, today, from 12:30-1:30pm). Sieglinde didn't go, but apparently both starlets did. So we're guessing allergies are cured, nostrils are back in business, and yes, the boy's ready for his close-up, Ms. Juntwait.

4. Crystal ball. To celebrate President Hillary Clinton's landslide election, the Met's 2008-09 season is set to feature the Adams/Sellars SF Doctor Atomic, a new production of La Sonnambula for Natalie Dessay, a La Rondine with the real lyric duo Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu, and a few Rings, with the Hojotohos to be shared between Deborah Voigt and Christine Brewer. Sieglinde bills the latter as the Showdown of the New Century. Reserve tickets early!

5. "Hot" off the press. Sieglinde ... er, Sieglinde's words make it to the New York Post. (Next up, the National Enquirer.)

6. Cultural treasures. The real heroes in the preservation and archiving of the Met's historic broadcasts (as well as non-broadcast in-house recordings-- an equally valuable trove) are the opera fanatics and "pirates." Long live the freaks, the hoarders, and the shut-ins!

7. Bronx Zoo. Garciaparra and Damon in pinstripes? The buyout of Fenway continues.

8. Who's liveblogging the Rigoletto broadcast? I hope someone does.