THE JO-TEL …believes some of what Nathaniel and John say, but believes England is still our sovreign

Last night Shannon and I attended the San Francisco Opera’s interpretation of Das Rheingold, an opera written by Nietzche’s Favorite, Wagner (update: so perhaps its a bit glib for me to say Wagner was Nietzche’s favorite, as loyal Jo-Tel readers know that Nietzche’s relationship with the composer is complicated).

True to rigid German form, the Opera started promptly at 8:00, which meant rushing through dinner and getting to the War Memorial Opera House, ascending four long flights of stairs, rushing to the bathroom, opening a new package of toilet paper and watching said package roll under the stall, leaving a long trail of toilet paper across the women’s room (recounted to me by Shannon), almost walking into the women’s bathroom, not realizing that it was just a second entrance and that the men’s room is on the other side of the theatre, running to the men’s room, running the gauntlet of very courteous volunteer ushers, in order to make it to our seats at the dead center of the very back row of the Opera House. I had been to the Opera a couple of times before, once to see a show, and once getting the grand tour when Pete worked there, but I always seen the place from the bottom up. Seeing it from the back gave me a respect for the size and grandeur of the place and the need to bring binoculars.

I won’t really get into Das Rheingold itself, as better reviews of the show can be found elsewhere, but I will say a few things about the art of copying. A few members of the Jo-Tel are avid fans of good ambient music, Brian Eno, Stars of the Lid, Bill Laswell, etc. I didn’t really get the connection between ambient music and classical until the opening notes of Das Rheingold. The playbill describes the opening Eb movement “as if it had always been there, pulled from the ether” {not an exact quote}. For about 4 minutes or so, the strings section did a legato workout focusing on the texture of the piece rather than the melody, developing a rich soundscape with a sustained chord. The effect is really cool, and its pretty obvious that ambient music pioneers like Brian Eno were greatly influenced by this aspect of classical music and wanted to bring it to a wider audience.

Luckily for those of you who don’t want to sit through the opera, you don’t have to wait for the movie to be made. Das Rheingold reminded me quite a bit of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. A lot… Its about a ring that gives the wearer supreme power over those around him. The Nebulum in Rheingold were a lot like little dwarves working in goldmines. The deceit surrounding the change in ownership of the ring was echoed in Lord of the Rings. The comparisons can go on, but I’ll spare you the boredom. Apparently Tolkien vehemently denies ripping off Das Rheingold, but jesus the parallels are too strong.

Anyway, another thing to note about the War Memorial Opera House is that their seats are very cushy with nice deep, bouncy cushions. At one point, engrossed in the Opera, I let one go, without even realizing it in probably one of the worst situations in the world to fart. It went something like this in my head:

{ppppppppphhhhhhhffffffffftttttt…}

OH SHIT!
wait…
wait…
wait…
{getting noticeably embarrassed}
wait…
{chest getting hot, breathing a little heavy}
wait…
{eyes shiftily y inspecting the expressions of my neighbor, thoroughly embarrassed at this point}
wait…

And nothing. I was saved by the absorption of rich cushions of the War Memorial Opera House.

Das Rheingold: 7.5

-Johnny D