Moonriver and me

One afternoon I came home from work with no gameplan in mind. Usually I would be running crazy with list of things to do. From watering the plants to cooking dinner, my hyper self would always find something to do. Not this time though. I found myself staring at the ceiling until I got bored with its whiteness.

So I hit the keys and surfed away.

YouTube is one of my faves these days. It's like a manna from heaven. With just one click I can find the music I'd like to hear that goes with my current mood.

I was in the mood for Sarah Mclachlan. Her "Surfacing" album is simply timeless. When I searched for "Last Dance," it led me to a video of a guy (or a kid?) playing it on piano. He did it so well that for the first time ever I left a comment on Youtube.

His profile says he's up for requests so I wrote " how about Moonriver on piano or violin?" His reply came just a few days later:



FYI, "Hlodavecvodni" means water rodent. I don't know what YouTube was thinking or why it felt free to give me this awful nick.

Anyway, me and Moonriver go a long way back. It's been a favorite since time immemorial. At least that afternoon didn't go to waste. Moonriver got played for me when I least expected it. Ha!

Miss Saigon in Praha

I've long wanted to watch musicals that I'm familiar with such as Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. I missed Miss Saigon when they staged it in Manila so I'm thinking why not watch the local version here in Praha? Problem is, I don't know if I'd be satisfied with the performance. I wont be satisfied if it wont be no less than Lea Salonga performing as Kim anyway so maybe I shouldn't bother.

Stumbled on these vids after a series of relentless YouTube searching for a different one. This was what I missed in Manila-- Lea performing as Kim with mostly the orig cast of MS minus, of course, Jonathan Pryce as the Engineer....




Totally mind-blowing performance! Robert Sena as Thuy was phonomenal and Lea... well, she earned a Tony for this so I need not say more. But for those who would like to catch MS in Praha, here's when and where it's at:

GOJA MUSIC HALL
Prague 7 - The Prague Exhibition Grounds Výstaviste, Holesovice, www.divadlogmh.cz
Box office: Yamamusic, Prague 1, Jungmanovo nám. 17, tel. 224 236 303. Box office open Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Tickets also available at: Ticket Art, Ticketpro, Ticketportal, Cedok and Sunny Days travel agencies.
23 Fri. Miss Saigon - 7 p.m.
24 Sat. Miss Saigon - 2.30 p.m.
30 Fri. Miss Saigon - 7 p.m.

Remembering Raine

Raine is my nick for my Mom. Nobody, until now, knew this but me. It started two decades ago when she told me a story about one of her many Mills and Boon heroins named Raine. The name just stuck in my head, I guess. She was so moved with the girl's plight I swear she was fighting off tears while telling me the story. My Mom was a certified Drama Queen.

Like mother, like daughter.

This was my tribute to her on All Souls' Day. She passed away when I was 15. Each passing year my memory of her gets blurred but there are things I will always remember about her. Such as how she loved the color tangerine and how she was a sucker for sunsets.

This montage is a compilation of sunrise and sunset pics from our picture files. I made this specially for Raine.

Snow in Sahara...er Svatoslav

Mamka called to tell us it snowed in Svatoslav today. It's a tiny village near Brno where the family has a weekend house. Snow in October?

With the accelarating rate of Mother Nature's inconsistencies, I wouldn't be surprised if snow would fall on the Sahara. This thought reminds me of Anggun's song from way back. I searched it at You Tube and voila!



I love this song but honestly, I shudder at that thought that it would snow where and when it shouldn't. Now snow is falling in October. What's next?