Comments on: Perfect Illustration http://bluecrabboulevard.com/2006/10/10/perfect-illustration/ Summum nec metuas diem, nec optes - Marcus Valerius Martialis Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:00:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Norman Rogers http://bluecrabboulevard.com/2006/10/10/perfect-illustration/comment-page-1/#comment-26425 Norman Rogers Wed, 11 Oct 2006 13:40:24 +0000 http://bluecrabboulevard.com/2006/10/10/perfect-illustration/#comment-26425 FYI -- I was at the concert, but my wife decided it was time to leave about a minute after the GWB impersonator appeared on stage -- so I missed the fun parts of the audience interaction. I had read about this part of the show and warned the missus, but she was still unprepared. And I was prepared to stay to lend my voice to the Bronx cheers (a NY tradition), but she wanted to remember Babs as a great artist (this was the first time she saw her live) -- and not as an idiot. So I missed the fun. I wonder if anyone asked Babs to quote Shakespeare? Or why, with her 3-and-a half years of high school, she imagined herself to be the intellectual superior of our President? Or why she needed to imagine it? Want my critcal review? Babs is 64 and while she retains and exhibits prodigious talent, she doesn't have the voice she had. Her phrasing and timing and pitch are all still perfect, but at least early on, she was "singing in her throat". She has lost some range and I think some of the songs were in a lower key than her recordings. And she avoided the more challenging songs from her repetoire (no comparisons between her and Betty Buckley at this concert, please). And, she doesn't appear to have trained anything other than her voice for this concert tour. Now, few of us in our sixties have silouettes similar to ourselves in our twenties -- but, BUT, given her wealth and schedule she could have and should have hit the gym and locked the fridge in preparation for these shows. It probably would have helped her singing, too. FYI — I was at the concert, but my wife decided it was time to leave about a minute after the GWB impersonator appeared on stage — so I missed the fun parts of the audience interaction.

I had read about this part of the show and warned the missus, but she was still unprepared. And I was prepared to stay to lend my voice to the Bronx cheers (a NY tradition), but she wanted to remember Babs as a great artist (this was the first time she saw her live) — and not as an idiot.

So I missed the fun. I wonder if anyone asked Babs to quote Shakespeare? Or why, with her 3-and-a half years of high school, she imagined herself to be the intellectual superior of our President? Or why she needed to imagine it?

Want my critcal review? Babs is 64 and while she retains and exhibits prodigious talent, she doesn’t have the voice she had. Her phrasing and timing and pitch are all still perfect, but at least early on, she was “singing in her throat”. She has lost some range and I think some of the songs were in a lower key than her recordings. And she avoided the more challenging songs from her repetoire (no comparisons between her and Betty Buckley at this concert, please).

And, she doesn’t appear to have trained anything other than her voice for this concert tour. Now, few of us in our sixties have silouettes similar to ourselves in our twenties — but, BUT, given her wealth and schedule she could have and should have hit the gym and locked the fridge in preparation for these shows. It probably would have helped her singing, too.

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