After weeks of exploring America, Art Life and Stilettos is finally back home. I spent the good part of two weeks on the great American road trip: driving across America on Route 66, and trust me the song doesn't do it justice.

I started out in my hometown of Toronto, then drove straight to Chicago where I spent two nights. After that it was 66 all the way to Los Angeles, California. On the way I saw many interesting and odd sights, and visited many friendly and unique towns. From Joliet, Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri; Springfield; Stanton; Bourbon; Rolla;  Baxter Springs, Kansas; Vinita, Oklahoma; Oklahoma City; Elk City; Texola; Amarillo, Texas; Santa Rosa, New Mexico; Santa Fe; Albuquerque; Pertified Forest, Arizona; Flagstaff; The Grand Canyon; Seligman, Arizona; Oatman; Barstow, California; and finally through Los Angeles all the way to the Santa Monica Pier.

There were so many other towns we visited, there is just no way I can mention all of them. Let me tell you that the trip was amazing, lots of fun, relaxing and gave me a true taste of real American Car Culture. I will never forget my time driving through the mid and south-west and hope beyond hopes that I have the opportunity to do it again. I highly reccomend the drive for anyone itching to do a road trip. Oh, and LA? I envy your weather more than you will ever understand. Yesterday in Toronto IT SNOWED!! Take me back to Paridise City, please...

Seeing as I can't show you every picture from my trip, I'll start with a few highlights from Chicago. I hope to keep sharing interesting photos with you in future posts.

Chicago:

I wanted to attend the Lyric Opera of Chicago production of Handel's Hercules, featuring Eric Owens, Alice Coote, David Daniels, Lucy Crowe and Richard Croft, but alas I could not locate any tickets. Instead I attended a wonderful concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The evening featured three perfect Saturday night pieces: Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture, Penderecki Concerto grosso for Three Cellos and Orchestra, and the beautiful Elgar Enigma Variations. The concert was conducted by Charles Dutoit (not Muti) and featured cellists John Sharp, Kenneth Olsen and Katinka Kleijn. The evening was superb.

I snapped a few photos after the concert:

Get well soon, Maestro.

After highbrow symphony we hit up some dirty blues at Kingston Mines. This is where I tried Rib Tips for the first time. Sometimes I wish I asked what a dish actually consists of before ordering it, even if it is a Chicago specialty. Anyone else try Rib Tips? What do you think?

Here's a picture of B.L.U.E.S. right across the street in Blues Alley:

Love you Chicago, can't wait to return.

xoxo Art LIfe and Stilettos

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Photo by Daniel Mosquin courtesy of UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research

Sorry I haven't been able to update you on my journey across America, but don't worry Art Life and Stilettos will be back in April. I hope this picture of the Petrified Forest in Arizona tides you over until then. I was there yesterday and it was breathtaking.

Con affetto

Hello everyone,

Since the holidays are here I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading Art Life and Stilettos, and for making the arts, especially opera, a part of your daily life.

Please watch the attached clip, which I'm sure will help to get you in the festive mood. It is Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo singing O Holy Night, and it is stunning, of course.

Con affetto,

Nadja Auermann as Carmen for 2008/09 Deutsche Oper Berlin ad campaign.

To those who read my blog, and to those who don't, you will have noticed that I have been MIA for a few months now.  I needed a break to focus on school and really think about what I want to say with this blog.  The focus will change a bit...or actually, what I mean to say is that the blog will gain focus.  My first love is opera, my second is singing, and my third is everything else. From now on the blog will focus more on the first two items.  You may like that, you may not. Be my guest to stay or to go.

I will say that for me there is nothing sexier, more imaginative, more debatable, or fantastic than opera.

con affetto,

xoxo

"After 10 years of Berlusconi as a PM, thanks to the impressive media power at his disposal, Italians are now living in his imagined world. It's a world without respect for women, legality or financial accountability; which values only individual success, money. It sees the image as more important than the word."

Giulio D'Eramo, Index on Censorship website, in response to the Government "pushing for a bill that would restrict internet freedom by making it compulsory, even for blogs, to get a government permission before posting political comment on the web."

Globe and Mail's Elizabeth Renzetti explains why the celluloid vision of Italy glamorized in the film NINE (clip above) is a far call from the Italy many Italians know today. Matteo Garrone's gritty docu-drama Gomorrah (clip below) shows the harsh reality that undermines the culture in Naples and Caserta, two cities in the region of Campania.

As an Italian it is hard to look at the depth of corruption, but it remains a quiet reality regardless. Please know that as a southerner I have never seen first-hand the violence or grit documented in Gomorrah, nor do I necessarily agree with everything Renzetti articulates, but I am aware of the corrupt underbelly that continually breaks the country down from the inside.

Click the link at the bottom of this post to view Renzetti's complete article.

Click Here for the Full Article

People may think that great things come with little effort, but the reality is very different.  It takes real drive to be so dedicated. This it what it takes to become an overnight success:

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OVERNIGHT SUCCESS VIDEOS