Thom Forbes

It has been a while since we've seen John "The X Man" X. (pictured below right) in these here parts, and we may, or may not, see him Wednesday.

Here's the latest update, issued from X's iPhone: "A friend of mine is trying to get me a pair of ducats to the Met. I'll know today if it's tue or wed, and will be in HoH if not wed."

If it's tue, and hopefully it will be, he'll be viewing "Tosca" which, as you may have read, drew boos and jeers for dealer Luc Bondy the likes of which have not been heard since Arthur L. last played Red & Black.  And I can see what the problem is with Bondy's production. Listen here.

For those of you who do not sing Italian, the slightly revised libretto for "E lucevan le stelle" in the current production, as best I can translate, is:

And the stars were shining,
and the cards were great, 
the front door scraped,
and a large man entered the room.
He came in, smelling of chlorine,
and fell into a seat.

Oh! damn luck, oh! winning hands,
His mere presence shall reverse my fortunes.
My dream of victory has vanished forever.
The moment is gone, and I die in despair!
And I never have loved Bundles so much!

In Bondy's revised version, however, it turns out it's all a dream within a dream and nobody really leaps to death, Geoff wins big all the time, and no one actually ever has had to play an OID game, ever. It's Nirvana on the Hudson, actually, and it's all happening at 4 Ridgedell this week.