Alphabet associations - I

[amateur51]

Yes, I'd go along with the father's characterisation but it did remind me of an incident when I was 15 and a 28 year old came to ask my father permission to take me to a party ......... in Notting Hill

A sucker for the 60s? Heartface, you were just a cute chubby toddler then, you can't possibly know anything about them!

Sorry Angle, haven't had a moment to think about D today. Thanks for posting menu Ams, always enjoy reading menus.

I've not been there in an age, since the funds (aka paid work) dried up in fact, but it's fairly-priced and the cooking is good and imaginative and ... honest. Not too many scallops wrapped in milk skin here (can you believe that!?) They also sell their Loire wines as a separate concern at fair prices too.

Sorry, Angle - I have been trying but I'm .... clueless in fact

[Angle]

Number 1 is known for fairly deep roles.
Number 2 worked as an engineer under a forename-sake and had a notable signature.
Number 3 scored soundtracks, one at mid-day.

[vinteuil]

like Twelve O' Clock High ?

... the score for High Noon was by Dimitri Tiomkin...

[Angle]

so it was
keep going

[amateur51]

And Dmitri Hvorostovsky is certainly known for deep (baritonal) roles?

[Angle]

Shostakovich was a child prodigy as a pianist and composer, his talent becoming apparent after he began piano lessons with his mother at the age of eight. (On several occasions, he displayed a remarkable ability to remember what his mother had played at the previous lesson, and would get "caught in the act" of pretending to read, playing the previous lesson's music when different music was placed in front of him.)

Sorry about the misleading second secondary about the engineer.

That's one each for Vinteuil, Amateur51 and Mercia.

[Nick Armstrong]

Angle, a most intriguing question, your "D". Could you possibly tie the answers back to the question for me? I can see how the answers come from your clues, but not entirely from the original teasers

A sucker for the 60s? Heartface, you were just a cute chubby toddler then, you can't possibly know anything about them!

Sweet of you, Anna - but I was 8 when the decade ended and I do find 60s set films evocative of early memories... Actually, I prefer films and documentaries actually made then, as I find the street shots - the cars above all, the advertising in shops, the general feel of the era - most evocative.

Ammy that RSJ recommendation looks great. Sometimes need to take SE1 based clients to lunch, it's a good-looking option

And I completely agree, vinteuil - a chilled red Sancerre or St-Nicolas-de-Bourgeuil at lunch with some fish is wonderful. One of the few wine-tasting trips I've made was a week around the Loire. Chilled reds and those amazing dessert wines from the little Coteaux du Layon area, were the prime discoveries But it's the reds which are much more to my taste now.

[amateur51]

Angle, a most intriguing question, your "D". Could you possibly tie the answers back to the question for me? I can see how the answers come from your clues, but not entirely from the original teasers



Sweet of you, Anna - but I was 8 when the decade ended and I do find 60s set films evocative of early memories... Actually, I prefer films and documentaries actually made then, as I find the street shots - the cars above all, the advertising in shops, the general feel of the era - most evocative.

Ammy that RSJ recommendation looks great. Sometimes need to take SE1 based clients to lunch, it's a good-looking option

And I completely agree, vinteuil - a chilled red Sancerre or St-Nicolas-de-Bourgeuil at lunch with some fish is wonderful. One of the few wine-tasting trips I've made was a week around the Loire. Chilled reds and those amazing dessert wines from the little Coteaux du Layon area, were the prime discoveries But it's the reds which are much more to my taste now.

Caliban, I'm sure that, should you find yourself at the end of a financial period with a large balance in your favour on the client entertaining budget, vinteuil & I would be prepared to help you out with un bon répas chez RSJ, innit

Who knows, we might be able to persuade Anna to make up the foursome and add some considerable female charm to the assembled company

But only if you need a hand, natch

[amateur51]

Shostakovich was a child prodigy as a pianist and composer, his talent becoming apparent after he began piano lessons with his mother at the age of eight. (On several occasions, he displayed a remarkable ability to remember what his mother had played at the previous lesson, and would get "caught in the act" of pretending to read, playing the previous lesson's music when different music was placed in front of him.)

Sorry about the misleading second secondary about the engineer.

That's one each for Vinteuil, Amateur51 and Mercia.

Not me, Angle - I only stumbled on mine because mercia & vinteuil had already led the way. And if mercia has to be an angel at the hozzie today (hope it goes ok) then I would suggest that the E sits firmly in vinteuil's elegant lap

[Angle]

What a conundrum. Am51 says, "Not I" and Mercia isn't going to be around today, so that leaves Vinteuil who is not on line at present. WE really do not have a no choice but to wait.

For Caliban:

Though not Italian became a specialist in Italian opera?
Dmitri Hvorostovsky was born in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. His stage repertoire in recent years has almost entirely consisted of Verdi operas such as Un Ballo in Maschera, La Traviata and Simon Boccanegra; he has also appeared in Rigoletto and Il Trovatore in a David McVicar production at The Met with Sondra Radvanovsky

Pretended to read music and failed to come up to the mark?
Dmitri Shostakovich , at the age of five, displayed a remarkable ability to remember what his mother had played at the previous lesson, and was "caught in the act" of pretending to read, playing the previous lesson's music when different music was placed in front of him. He failed his exam in Marxist methodology in 1926.

Moved to play duets with his room-mate before marrying someone who later supervised dances?
Dmitri Tiomkin’s roommate, Michael Kariton, suggested they move to Paris to perform piano duo repertory together, which they did before the end of 1924 and, in 1927, married the Austrian ballerina Albertina Rasch who was later hired to supervise dance numbers in MGM movie musicals.

By the way, what has happened to rubbernecker and Tapiola?

Time to live again: it rained all day here yesterday, so there was no going out. Today, I hear the call of what is left of book and record shops. Then there will be the inevitable coffee in, of all places, Bold Street.

[amateur51]

By the way, what has happened to rubbernecker and Tapiola?

Time to live again: it rained all day here yesterday, so there was no going out. Today, I hear the call of what is left of book and record shops. Then there will be the inevitable coffee in, of all places, Bold Street.

Ah the lure of life, eh Angle? You can't beat it, even on Bold Street

Robertson Davies, Canadian author, wrote something to the effect that 'Evil is the revenge of the unlived life'. I mentioned this to a magistrate I'd just sat next to at dinner once. I got her cold shoulder for the rest of the evening

[Nick Armstrong]

What a conundrum. Am51 says, "Not I" and Mercia isn't going to be around today, so that leaves Vinteuil who is not on line at present. WE really do not have a no choice but to wait.

For Caliban:

Though not Italian became a specialist in Italian opera?
Dmitri Hvorostovsky was born in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. His stage repertoire in recent years has almost entirely consisted of Verdi operas such as Un Ballo in Maschera, La Traviata and Simon Boccanegra; he has also appeared in Rigoletto and Il Trovatore in a David McVicar production at The Met with Sondra Radvanovsky

Pretended to read music and failed to come up to the mark?
Dmitri Shostakovich , at the age of five, displayed a remarkable ability to remember what his mother had played at the previous lesson, and was "caught in the act" of pretending to read, playing the previous lesson's music when different music was placed in front of him. He failed his exam in Marxist methodology in 1926.

Moved to play duets with his room-mate before marrying someone who later supervised dances?
Dmitri Tiomkin’s roommate, Michael Kariton, suggested they move to Paris to perform piano duo repertory together, which they did before the end of 1924 and, in 1927, married the Austrian ballerina Albertina Rasch who was later hired to supervise dance numbers in MGM movie musicals.

... Then there will be the inevitable coffee in, of all places, Bold Street.

I presume it must be a branch of this company:

http://www.bonacoffeecompany.com/bonalifestyle.php

Very elegant solutions to your well thought-out "D", and thank you for the comprehensive explanation Angle.

I got her cold shoulder for the rest of the evening

Gave me visions of you swiping the meat from her plate while she wasn't looking.

[Anna]

Caliban, I'm sure that, should you find yourself at the end of a financial period with a large balance in your favour on the client entertaining budget, vinteuil & I would be prepared to help you out with un bon répas chez RSJ, innit

Who knows, we might be able to persuade Anna to make up the foursome and add some considerable female charm to the assembled company

Ooh, that is a consummation devoutly to be wished! (Or do I mean a consommé?) Haven't had a chance to log in today, thought we would be on an haitch at least. Also, think we need an updated list from rubbers?

I put 'Bold Street, Liverpool' into google and it appears "In recent years, the street has formed the basis of a local urban legend regarding time slip phenomena in which people have claimed to travel briefly back in time to Bold Street as it was in the 1950s and 1960s"

[Angle]

Hi, Caliban and Am, there isn't much about Bold Street these days that is bona. It might have been a hundred years ago. Thanks for the link but Manila seems a long way to go, though I wouldn't mind the climate.

I am still waiting for the opportunity to tell a clergyman what the greatest Sin of the Fathers is/was.

Isn't it time that someone set an E? Perhaps we should requisition Anna's talents to get things moving again, if Vinteuil doesn't turn up today.

[rubbernecker]

By the way, what has happened to rubbernecker and Tapiola?

I'm both touched and sorry that my absence from the board has prompted a mention in dispatches. While I cannot speak for Tapiola, I can only proffer the very feeble excuse that other distractions have vied for my time the last few days.

Saturday saw Mrs R and I spending the night at an extremely elegant establishment in Somerset; I hesitate to call it a hotel, more like a guest house which happens to be run by a 'name' chef.

Sunday evening was taken up with an electrifying and emotionally charged concert in our local church with a 'scratch professional' string quartet led by Marcia Crayford (ex-leader of the Nash Ensemble and guest leader of the RSNO, among others) which included Shostakovitch's masterpiece 8th quartet.

Monday daytime was spent stripping and refurbishing all our wooden garden furniture, a long over due, time consuming but strangely satisfying task. Another concert in the evening in the local theatre, with the Berlin Philharmonic wind quintet playing Reicha, Ligeti and Francaix. Absolutely peerless playing, although in comparison with the string quartet, it left me wondering what equivalent works there were for wind quintet, in the mould of the Shostakovitch, and whether winds can ever replicate the emotional intensity of strings. Most music for wind quintet always sound a bit lighthearted, I always think.

The house is in a mess with decorators in, and a lorry knocked me off my bicycle on the way to work today, (fortunately I escaped uninjured) other than that things are all perfectly normal (unless this present outpouring entails I am suffering some latent brain damage ). What is happening with E?