Pavarotti

For that old contrarian dad29 ... Merry Christmas.

Beautiful Voice

Being an accomplished baritone in private, much like Mr. Tanner of Harry Chapin fame, I have always been a fan of great voices, from Luciano Pavarotti , Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday to my personal favorite, the late Freddie Mercury of the rock band, Queen. Of Mercury's talents, I think this paragraph in Wiki sums it up nicely:

Regarded as one of the greatest singers in popular music, Freddie Mercury possessed a very distinctive voice, including a recorded range of four and a halfe octaves. Although his speaking voice naturally fell in the range, he delivered most songs in the tenor range. His highest notes are F6 in falsetto and C5 with his normal voice. He used a falsetto in many songs as well. Biographer David Bret described his voice as "escalating within a few bars from a deep, throaty rock-growl to tender, vibrant tenor, then on to a high-pitched, almost perfect coloratura pure and crystalline in the upper reaches." On the other hand, he would often lower the highest notes during live performances. Mercury also claimed never to have had any formal training and suffered from vocal nodules. Catalan soprano Montserrat Caballé, with whom Mercury recorded an album expressed her opinion that "the difference between Freddie and almost all the other rock stars was that he was selling the voice."

This version of "Who Wants To Live Forever" is a telling example of the soaring beauty of his voice.

What? It Could Happen

With apologies to Tom Tomorrow.

In McBride World, where non-objectivity in journalism is a virtue, where one can be on the faculty of a major university even though they are not, and where down is up and she broadcasts a radio show from her bed ... well, anything is possible.

RIP Harry

Harry, one of my 12-year old son's beloved gerbils died after a very brief illness ... cause unknown. Harry was about three years old. There were some tears, but Ian has been assured that Harry has joined his gerbil brothers wherever gerbils go when they leave this plane of existence.

It's been a slow post week.