Rants By Topic

General discussions of the art form apart from my own work on Detroit The Opera and The Boats

I Dreamed Of You Tonight – Snippet The Boats

02.21.2017

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats called I Dreamed Of You Tonight. Rock Opera vs. Real Opera. Naked Lunch. Slippermen. Relationships. Inigo Montoya and The Princess Bride. Bohemian Rhapsody. The Elevator Pitch.

Roger CortonA new snippet. This is exceptionally beautiful. I’m starting to hear a theme in the all the snippets you’ve put up.

I Dreamed Of You Tonight (Snippet)

JCHOh, it’s all connected, that’s why it’s taking so damn long. It’s just so personal.

RCBecause it’s your family story?

JCHWell there are also lots of things going on in my ‘real’ life, right now, but yeah, it’s been tough teasing out the story. See the thing I keep trying to get across to fans is that these are ‘for reals opera’, not ‘rock opera’. Progressive Rock fans talk about ‘rock opera’ all the time and I find myself channeling Inigo Montoya

RCFrom ‘The Princess Bride’?

JCHYes. As he […]

Trump, The Election And Detroit

11.19.2016

Culture, Detroit, Opera

Like, you, I’ve seen all manner of Interweb blather regarding the recent election. For all the good it will do, I’ve certainly added my portion of spleen to the mix. I am particularly galled (we’re apparently using organ metaphors today) by the reactions of so many of my left-coast pundits who cry, scream and generally act like babies about the results–occasionally using the same rhetoric as those on the right, eg. the “The election was rigged, I tell ya!” gag. But being intellectuals, this varietal is, “The Electoral College was rigged!”

My feelings have been somewhat more consistent over the past few years. At the risk of sounding like some obnoxious “Neener, neener, neener!” child, I’ve been screaming at the left for years about it’s estrangement from the very working people who built the Democratic Party back in the days of Roosevelt both here and at The Rational Christian Ranter.

Don’t Get Mad. Write An Opera!

My way of (cough) ‘expressing my concerns’ was to write Detroit, the […]

Another Operatic Snippet. With Organs

08.30.2016

Culture, Music Appreciation, Opera, Songs, The Boats

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats (Beautiful Boy). Two churches. Two organs. Your organ says a lot about you, heh heh. Deliverance. Guy Deutscher. Language and Culture. Philip Glass as career path? Walter White and the big, big money. The Who. Tommy. The best rhythm guitar ever?

Roger CortonOne last thing about the whole opera thing. We never got round to talking about the organs last week.

Beautiful Boy (Snippet)

RCI can’t decide if it’s really sincere or just really cheesy.

JCHWell don’t sugar coat it. Cheesy you say?

RCThe organ vibrato. Some of the lyrics sound so gushy. ‘Beautiful Boy’. People don’t really talk like that.

JCHOh yes they do. I know what you mean, though. OK, so there were two big churches when I was a kid. The C of I Church of Ireland–Protestant and the RC Roman Catholic. They were both almost across the street from […]

It’s Opera. With Fish. And Manly Men.

08.17.2016

Albums, Culture, Opera, The Boats

First snippet from the new opera, Boats. Nostalgia. Peter Gabriel & San Jacinto. Deadliest Catch. Willy Loman. Death Of A Salesman. Masculinity. Is golf as boring as opera?

Roger CortonGreat news. Another snippet?

JCHAnd the bad news is. It’s about the other opera.

RCI’ve given up trying to tell you to stay focused on one album at a time. So, is there a story in there someplace?

JCHWell that’s the other bad news. It’s a lot like Detroit The Opera. Except that it’s about fishermen. It’s Detroit. With fish. And manly men.

RCManly men?

JCHYeah. Not to digress, but I was listening to Peter Gabriel the other day. And I hadn’t noticed before; he covers this one theme over and over; There’s this ancient way of doing things that gives life–especially men’s lives–real meaning. And then it blows up. For example, “San Jacinto” is a great vignette. I think it’s his best lyric by a mile

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