David Daniels

I first heard this countertenor in 2007 when he sang the role of Orfeo in Glück's opera Orfeo ed Euridice.  His type is incredibly rare because the usual male voice is either are tenor, a baritone, or a bass.  You hardly ever find a grown male with an alto singing voice.

It has been four years since I first heard David Daniels.  This man is just astounding.  Because his voice-type is rare and he's amazing at what he does, he has made my list of absolute favorite singers.  I haven't heard him on the radio very much because he specializes in the Baroque repertoire and a lot of those pieces were written for castrati (yes, that means castrated.  It was done to achieve a permanent high male singing voice).  But given the lack of castrati in this day and age, those roles are usually sung by a female mezzo-soprano.  So I love it when David Daniels takes on one of those roles. 

I've visited his website.  If you haven't heard of this guy, then you've missed out on something awesome and you need to fix that.  Come on, don't tell me that this guy isn't great.  He's so awesome he can knock an opponent over with his voice.

Bar Signs

I was driving down Main Street while on my way to work, and there was a sign on the side of one of the bars reading, "There Is No Town Drunk.  We Take Turns." 

It's amazing what signs people come up with these days.  Frankly, I think this goes on the list of most incredibly ridiculous.   Taking turns at being the town drunk.  What are these people doing?  Being goofy or trying out for the role of Bob Ewell? 

Heresy vs. False Prophecy

I recently learned that there is a colossal difference between heretics and false prophets.  Heresy means that the doctrine is different (witness the Albigensians and Agnostics).  False Prophecy is where someone claims to be speaking God's word but is really lying (witness the Prosperity Gospel). 

Heresy is where the doctrine is completely different from the what Gospel says.  This is where you get all the creepy and annoying cults.  And these people blur the truth by saying such things as "It doesn't matter what you do; you'll go to Heaven anyway".   The Albigensians claimed that only the spiritual world was created by God and that the physical world was made the devil.  This is heresy.  God made both the spiritual and physical worlds. 
Dante placed the heretics in the sixth circle where they are trapped in flaming tombs.  The idea here is that the heretics deny the Resurrection.  No surprise.

False Prophecy includes such lies as the Prosperity Gospel.  People who teach this claim that God only wants you to be happy.  Bullshark.  Jesus specifically said that following him entails suffering and persecution.  It's hard for me personally to accept persecution as part of the deal, but I know it's there and should expect even though it pushes my berserk buttons.  But those who preach prosperity gloss it over and portray the Christian life as pleasant from beginning to end. 
Dante placed false prophets in Circle Eight, Bolgia Four with diviners, soothsayers, fortune-tellers, and other frauds who tries to see the future via forbidden means.  Their heads are turned backwards on their bodies and are compelled to walk/run backwards and keep bumping into each other. 

Watch out for these folks.  As Jesus said, "By their fruits you will know them."  And this particular lot do not produce good fruit; they produce poisonous fruit.  And they will destroy you if you listen to them.

That's Cool.

I read today that there is a region in Peru called Tacna.  It comes from two Quechua words: taka (strike), and na (something to do).  So it literally means "a place to strike at".  How cool is that? 
It apparently comes from many centuries ago when the Quechua people conquered the Ayamaras. 

Christmas Sepctacular (In More Ways Than One)

Friday, December second saw the performance of the Madison Symphony Orchestra with their annual Christmas Spectacular; complete with the awesomeness of bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen and the enjoyable Gospel arrangements of Christmas tunes by the Mt. Zion Gospel Choir.

It all started out with the ever popular "Joy to the World" which a lot of people don't realize was written by the master composer George Frederic Handel.  That was an amazing arrangement.

That was followed by two excerpts from the "Christmas Oratorio".  One sung by the choir the other by Mr. Ketelsen.  The latter was incredibly awesome.  Mr. Ketelsen was reading his music a lot, but that's generally to be expected at a concert like this.  His voice is just sensational. 

Soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine sang two arias from Mozart's "Exultate, jubilate" with amazing precision.  I have heard her sing for the Christmas Spectacular before.  This was the second time I heard her perform.

The first half concluded with the classic "Hallelujah" Chorus from Handel's oratorio "The Messiah".  One thing that most people forget is that Handel wrote this piece for the ending of Part Two, about the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus. 

The orchestra opened the second half with Leroy Anderson's classic "Sleigh Ride".  That was the only instrumental piece in the whole show.   That was amazing.

There was also a performance of "Sing We Now!" by one of the youth choirs.  I thought that was very well done.

Ms. Guarrine and a boy soprano sang the "Pie Jesu" from Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Requiem".  That combination was just spectacular.  And a boy soprano is something no one should miss.

Mr. Ketelsen sang the so-called "Christmas Song" (also known "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire").  This version was the jazzed-up version that I find so annoying; but Mr. Ketelsen's voice is so awesome, he can make even mall-store muzak sound like art.  And he did an awesome job at it.  That song was swiftly followed by Mr. Ketelsen and Ms. Guarrine singing "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin.  That was so cool it couldn't be beaten.

I don't think that any Christmas Spectacular is complete without some good Gospel music.  The Mt. Zion Gospel Choir performed some amazing arrangements of "Carol of the Bells" and "O Come, All Ye Faithful".  That had to be he Crowning Music of Awesome that night.

The performance was concluded with all the choirs singing a Gospel arrangement of "Sing Praises to Thee" and a Christmas sing along.

There were quite a few other pieces performed that night other than the ones listed here, but I don't have enough words to describe them.  All I can say was that it was an awesome night, and if no one's heard Kyle Ketelsen sing before, that needs to be fixed.  Pronto.

How Common Was This?

I learned today that a particularly barbaric form of human sacrifice was practiced in Peru before the time of the Incas.  The Chimu culture, like the Aztecs and the Mayas from Mexico, cut of the hearts of their victims, although they did this on children rather than on captive men. 

Human sacrifice is evil no matter what; but this Ripping-The-Heart-Out-Of-The-Victims-Chest-While-He's-Still-Alive method is especially cruel.  I don't even want  to imagine the level of pain it caused. 

My question is this: How common was this demonic Rip-It-Out method?  The Aztecs did it, the Maya did, and now I learn that the Chimu did it as well.  What made this form of human sacrifice so popular among these tribes?

If anyone has an answer, please let me know.