Bohemian Rhapsody
Operaman is going home to Calgary today, and I'll miss him. It seems like he only just got here. This lame little libretto is for him.
In fact he did only just get here, in February. Came to the big city, Canada's cultural centre, home of opera and theatre, to pursue a career as a tenor. He's just 26 years old and looks less like Placido Domingo, more like Topher Grace.
Good singers, it seems, somehow naturally find their way to KAK at the Rivoli. On his second day in Toronto, Operaman found us. Me and my bohèmian karaoke buddies Mimi, Marcello, and Musetta, that is. I liked him right away.
A few weeks ago Operaman and I went to Atom Egoyan's Camera Bar on Queen Street to watch a film called Keeping Time, a biography of sorts about a jazz bassist named Milt Hinton. Milt toured the U.S. and played in Cab Calloway's orchestra during the jazz heydey of the 1940s and 50s. Later, he became a sought-after studio musician. What's more interesting about him, though, is his photographs. Milt started taking pictures as a teenager, the same time he decided on a career as a musician, a career that was long and storied, and punctuated by over 20,000 photographs. The film, largely narrated by Branford Marsalis, was directed with all the aplomb of an episode of Survivor. The photographs, however, are outstanding.
There's something special about bass players. America, you missed your chance.
Here's a picture of Operaman, taking the mic on his last night at the Rivoli, probably to sing U2. Oh yes, Operaman can hit the Bono notes. Watching in awe is Carson T. Foster, the bodacious host of Kickass Karaoke.
Before he left, Operaman auditioned for The Lord of the Rings. I hope he gets a callback. I hope he comes back to Toronto some day.
* * *
For more pictures of Postmodern Sass and her karaoke buddies, go here. For the next story about karaoke, go here. In the next story in sequence, Sass plays "Is This Anything?" with David Letterman.
In fact he did only just get here, in February. Came to the big city, Canada's cultural centre, home of opera and theatre, to pursue a career as a tenor. He's just 26 years old and looks less like Placido Domingo, more like Topher Grace.
Good singers, it seems, somehow naturally find their way to KAK at the Rivoli. On his second day in Toronto, Operaman found us. Me and my bohèmian karaoke buddies Mimi, Marcello, and Musetta, that is. I liked him right away.
A few weeks ago Operaman and I went to Atom Egoyan's Camera Bar on Queen Street to watch a film called Keeping Time, a biography of sorts about a jazz bassist named Milt Hinton. Milt toured the U.S. and played in Cab Calloway's orchestra during the jazz heydey of the 1940s and 50s. Later, he became a sought-after studio musician. What's more interesting about him, though, is his photographs. Milt started taking pictures as a teenager, the same time he decided on a career as a musician, a career that was long and storied, and punctuated by over 20,000 photographs. The film, largely narrated by Branford Marsalis, was directed with all the aplomb of an episode of Survivor. The photographs, however, are outstanding.
There's something special about bass players. America, you missed your chance.
Here's a picture of Operaman, taking the mic on his last night at the Rivoli, probably to sing U2. Oh yes, Operaman can hit the Bono notes. Watching in awe is Carson T. Foster, the bodacious host of Kickass Karaoke.
Before he left, Operaman auditioned for The Lord of the Rings. I hope he gets a callback. I hope he comes back to Toronto some day.
For more pictures of Postmodern Sass and her karaoke buddies, go here. For the next story about karaoke, go here. In the next story in sequence, Sass plays "Is This Anything?" with David Letterman.
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