Hi all!

Remember last year, when I put Toyshop on sale for $1 in an attempt to get out of debt? It did some good– word got out, people who had never heard of me discovered me, some people really chipped in and helped out. But, I am still in debt, and extremely underemployed. I am looking for work right now, but in the meantime, I have to get this thing paid off.

So I present to you, Get out of debt sale part 2: Deep discounts on song commissions.

Have you ever commissioned a piece of music before? Hired an artist you admire to write a song for you, according to your specifications? Doesn’t that sound cool? Now’s your chance!

Commissions are usually pretty expensive, because they require so much attention and creativity from the composer/songwriter. But in an effort to raise money to pay off my album loan, I am going to offer them crazy cheap, for a limited time only.

Have you seen this commission I wrote? A generous fan offered me a $1000 donation to write a song called “Kelli’s getting Vaginal Rejuvination.” Here was the end result:

It actually ended up becoming a really popular song. Wish I’d had the commission in time to include in on the album. Next time! (If you like it, you can download it here.)

$1000 is actually a pretty fair price for a commission. But from now until February 28th, I’m going to offer song commissions for…..

Wait for it…

$139.

You see, my monthly payment is $126.83. So I’m charging that, plus I added on 10% to help with the extra costs: PayPal fees, interest, sending things in the mail.

Here are some reasons people get commissions:

• Gift for a loved one
• Having your own poem set to music
• Having your favorite poem or text set to music
• Weddings
• In memory of a loved one
• Song to cover in your own performances
• Just because

Here’s how it works: send me your request. It could be a title (like Kelli, above), a theme, your own lyrics, whatever. If you have ideas about how you want it to sound- fast, slow, major, minor, dorian, whatever- that’s cool, too. I’ll write something, make a live recording of it (a studio recording would send the price through the roof) on my high-quality Zoom recording, send you an mp3/wav/whatever you prefer, and the lyrics (if I wrote them). Can also do a YouTube video as above if you like.

My skills: I am an excellent singer and songwriter, an OK acoustic guitar player, and a mediocre pianist. So I’ll assume most of these to be voice-guitar songs, but let me know if you prefer piano and I’ll see what I can do. Of course, if you cover the song yourself, you can play it however you want.

I’ll try to have a fast turn around time on these, but as creativity can be tricky to tame, I ask that you give me a month just to be sure. (If you need a rush order, let me know and I’ll try to work with you.)

The fine print:

I retain the rights to the song. Since I’m an indie artist, I have control over my songs, so as long as that’s the case I’ll be happy to grant you rights to perform and record them and use them in your student films. But that might change some day (probably not, but who knows). So technically, I own the rights to the song. And you can’t sell downloads of my song for money (I can, though), but if you made a cover version, I would (assuming I’m still independent) be cool with you selling that for money.

I don’t promise that your song will be available for commercial release, on an album. If I make another album one day, and it seems like the song would go well on it, that’s a possibility. But no plans to do that so far.

I will do my best to make you happy, but I can’t positively guarantee satisfaction. I might be able to tweak things, but I won’t make endless rounds of edits.

I reserve the right to reject projects, like if you have some crazy racist hateful stuff you want set to music, I can be like, no dude.

Alright, so let’s see what we can come up with!! I look forward to creating with you.

Photo by valkyrieNYC.com.

For those who don’t know, Danimal is my intellectually disabled brother. He doesn’t quite form sentences the way most of us do, and sometimes ends up saying hilarious things. This year, we decided to make a Top 10 list. They’ll probably only be funny to those who know him, but if you don’t, it’ll give you a little window into the White Family.

10. About my brother’s expected baby. “Is the baby come out or not?”

9. I came down in my homemade hippie pants one day and he said, “It’s DISCOOOOOOOO MANDA!”

8. Discussion between Dan and Emily:

Danimal: Why are you painting the floor grey?
Emily: Because the waterproofers made it all dirty and chipped.
Danimal: Why painting it GREY?
Emily: I don’t know.
Danimal: What for, grey?
Emily: I don’t know, to be pretty!
Danimal: No grey. I like dirt.

7. I put on a winter knit hat with a big poofball on top, and Dan said, “I’ll call you Waldo.”

6. Emily was having a conversation with Eric while Dan was mopping in the next room. When there was a lull in the conversation, they heard him say quietly to himself, “I want to mop the ceiling.”

5. Dan and Emily were sitting at the dinner table, and Dan texted her and said “Hey Emily, look at your phone.” The text said “You like what why who” That one is just baffling.

4. One day Dan sat down with Dad:

Danimal: Dad, what should we do?
Dad: Do?

Danimal: Yeah, guys and men.

Dad: Guys and men?

Danimal. Yeah. You’re a man. I’m a guy. Guys and men.

(Translation: I think he was trying to use male bonding as an excuse to go see a movie.)

3. When Emily’s old dog Sprite was put to sleep, Dan texted her, “The dog doctor came and put Sprite in sleep mode.”

2. Dan’s suggestions for Mike’s baby’s name: Danny, Jesus, or God.

1. OK, this one wasn’t from this year, and my mom and my Uncle have different versions of the quote, but I’m going with Uncle Jeff’s ’cause it’s funnier. And since this is the first year of the list it doesn’t matter that it’s not from this year.

Uncle Jeff calls on the phone.

“Hi Dan, it’s Uncle Jeff! Can I talk to your mom?”

“Ok. MOMMM! It’s Uncle Jeff! I thought he was dead?”

Everybody take notes for the best quotes of 2012!

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Eulogy Delivered at Tony’s Funeral

I’m Liz Hastings. Of the sixty plus years that the Amato Opera existed, I sort of fall in the middle generation. From 1973 to 1986 I played the piano, and eventually, conducted at Tony’s. Yes, that’s what we called it; Tony’s. It was Tony’s opera company. “What’s coming up?” “Oh, I have a Bohème at Tony’s.”

While many people predate me there, I’m quite sure there were people in that last show in 2009 who hadn’t been born yet when I played my last show.

I auditioned for Tony, straight out of college. I wasn’t particularly an “opera person”, but Lois Dunton – I swear only later did she become “Lois Ann” – said that Tony Amato was always looking for pianists.

I called to see if I could audition. “Amato Opera”, a voice said. Certain that I was speaking to a woman, I asked if I could speak to Mr. Amato. A hearty laugh followed. “I’m Mr. Amato. Call me Tony.”

He must have liked me, because he didn’t make me sight-read the Ballatella, a piece, he later confided, he would throw at pianists if he wanted to get rid of them. I got off easy…Voi che sapete.
He only used piano and organ in those days. New pianists were not entrusted with playing the piano scores until they had played for a semester or two of his classes.

Oh, the classes…

You guys that came later on…you have no idea what you missed. He would do eight weeks of classes of three operas – Monday would be Rigoletto, Tuesday would be Faust, and Wednesday would be Magic Flute. I remember that Cav and Pag were particularly daunting for me, and after those classes, Tony would take me upstairs and give me a little glass of something with an Italian name that made me feel better and got rid of my Verismo jitters.

Once the classes were up and running, different people would be called upon to get up and do different scenes from week to week, but at the first class, everybody sang. You haven’t lived until you’ve heard eight Lucias sing through the Mad Scene, all at the same time.

*****

I did my first everything there. It would have been a wonderful experience just to play through all those scores with a cast of singers each week, but to be the recipient of Tony’s knowledge while doing so was an extraordinary privilege. To this day I have colleagues in the business who were never really exposed to all that stuff that comes in between the arias; you know…the opera.

He knew all there was to know about opera and gave of his knowledge with generosity and unflagging enthusiasm. He rehearsed the music, dictated the staging, taught sword fighting (something about a couple of figure eights and a final thrust). He knew about the musical style, the period, the history, the original sources; name it.

He showed the tenor how to wipe Mimi’s face so it wouldn’t get a laugh…

The contract scene in Lucia – Enrico is commanding her to write; “Scrivi” – the Lucias are over-eager to sing “La mia condan…” – “Uh! Uh! It’s a LONG name!”…(writing “L-U-C-I-A D-I L-A-M-M-E-R-M-O-O-R” in the air)
Butterfly – Now the minute the baby comes out on stage I make sure he’s facing upstage.

Azucena’s hair pulling was never more convincing than when Tony demonstrated.

Butterfly’s entrance never had as much delicacy, as when he did it.

Years later I would call him up with questions; “Tony, tell me again why it’s midnight in Ballo but the clock only strikes 6 times”…

*****

He always insisted he had no sense of humor, and in fact he never “got” jokes, but comedy – now that was another matter. Does anyone remember his Alfred in Fledermaus, and of course his waiter in Bohème? (That’s not even a real character!) I know that there must have been other people on stage but I really didn’t notice.

One of the first shows I played there was Fledermaus. After the rehearsal Tony said “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I didn’t understand why a rehearsal was needed the next night. I thought things had gone rather well. Well, the next night we took it from the top with a WHOLE ‘NOTHER CAST.

And that’s when I realized what made Tony different from other people who put on opera. I got it. I had learned the secret handshake.

Tony liked to make you better. If you got really, really good, maybe even famous, well that was fine, but wasn’t really the point.

Tony was proud and happy to provide an environment that fostered triumphs of all sizes. Could anyone’s life be devoted to anything more important and enriching?

*****

Making operas affordable for families and making the stories understandable to children was of enormous importance to Tony. He did the Operas in Brief at Town Hall, and took shows into schools before “outreach” had come into the lexicon. And of course, the intimate theater on the Bowery was the ideal place for children (or even grownups) to experience their first opera.

Tony and Sally had no children, but did have an extended family…

The Goddammits.

They are a wide-ranging tribe and wear their name proudly, like a medal.

Possibly you remember Bernie Goddammit, or Shaffer Goddammit, Konnie Goddammit, Ricky Goddammit, Sadler Goddammit. I’m pretty sure there was a Boney Goddammit. I myself joined the family when I married Nathan Goddammit. I would like to think that there is another generation of them since my time.

But the mother of them all was…Sally Goddammit. Sally…

Those who were fortunate enough to know Sally were lucky indeed. She and Tony put their blood, sweat and tears into the Amato Opera as equal partners. Married for over 50 years, she and Tony spent almost every waking hour together, be it at work or at home, and they thrived on it. Tony missed her
terribly after her death in 2000 and referred to her always as “my dear Sally”.

His memoirs are imbued with her name and her spirit.

Amato: A Love Affair with Opera.

This remarkable couple inspired a movie about their love, and their dedication to opera. I don’t see anyone rushing out to do the same for James Levine and Peter Gelb.

*****

When I was asked to do this, I looked up the word “eulogy”, and it said, in part, “A speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly” and I realized that I have been eulogizing Tony Amato since 1973.

I searched for the words to describe him; warm, passionate, generous, imaginative, kind, honest. Wouldn’t the Boy Scouts like this? Wait!…That’s it!

Tony was Trustworthy.

Tony had a teaching style that was all his own. He told the truth – “Your French stinks!” He was honest – “Your Italian stinks!” And he kept his promises. – “I’ll give you a part in The Magic Flute. It’s in English”.

Tony was Loyal.

He was loyal to the singers under his watch, and promoted them from within the ranks when he felt they were worthy. They in turn were deeply loyal to him.

Tony was Helpful.

It is now about 30 years ago that I had to learn Tosca in a hurry. I was to be the Music Director for a production with a small opera company. “Tony, I don’t know Tosca”. “Come in at 4 o’clock”, he said. In one amazing hour he gave me tempos, rubato, a little trivia (“La do…” – ask me later) and the staging for the end of Act II in case it ever came in handy. It did. He would of course take no money for the session.

Tony was Friendly. Tony was a friend to all. He was friendly to his singers, to the bums outside, and to the fire department with their surprise inspections.

Tony was Courteous.

He treated everyone with respect, and in turn was adored.
That made him very hard to say no to. Ask anyone who was tempted to try. Tony could charm the pants off the most obstreperous patron, and did just that when the occasion arose.

Tony was Kind.

Yes.

Tony was Obedient.

No.
He didn’t need to be. He was the boss. He was the director and the
conductor, and they never, ever argued.

Tony was Cheerful.

Almost unfailingly.

Tony was Thrifty.

Who else would put instant coffee in the urn? He recycled before it was fashionable. Every schedule was printed on the back of something else. In 1988 we went to see Tony conduct “Lo Schiavo” which he did at Marymount Manhattan College. We commented on the elegance of the theater and then looked into the pit, where we could see tin foil used as shades on the stand lights. He was the master of “jerry rigging”. Nothing got thrown out if it could still be useful…for something. I think he felt the same way about the people in the company.

Tony was Brave.

I can remember more than once when he had to evict some Bowery denizen sleeping by the front of the door. Where others might have been timid he merely did what he needed to do for the sake of his theater.

Tony was Clean.

During my time there I can remember coming in for more than one Saturday rehearsal and finding him cleaning the bathrooms and mopping the floor. Nothing was beneath him if it was something that needed to be done. In a larger sense he was a catalyst in the slow and steady cleaning of the whole neighborhood around the theater.

Tony was Reverent.

Tony revered Mozart; Verdi…He didn’t need gimmicks or updates. What the composer and librettist wrote was quite enough, and worthy of respect.

Tony was Unique.

*****

On Tuesday, I didn’t cry when I heard that he was gone, but I got strangely emotional playing my first coaching of the day, and I realize that he’s still here.

He’s right here in my head, sometimes counting, sometimes singing, maybe muttering something naughty in Neapolitan.

“O il…gentil…pensier…” [Traviata] DEAD VOICE, MIMI, DEAD VOICE [Bohème]

“If I rush you” STEP STEP [Falstaff]

He’s in my musical DNA.

*****

I never thought Tony would die like regular people… I was quite sure he would be on the podium and his last words would be directed to the poor soul who had just missed a light cue – E Master, E Master… Or that against all advice he would be up on the ladder – remember Tony on the ladder, changing light bulbs in the chandelier?…and would take that one heart-stopping step into Valhalla.

But no – underneath the magnetism and magic, he was alarming mortal.

But oh so wonderful, so wise, so warm, so patient, and so generous. We will miss him.

We love you Tony. We will never forget you.

Elizabeth Hastings

December 16, 2011

Hope you like us! (And no, you can’t really see me, I’m all the way on the other side.)

The Messiah is a massive work. Some of it (Part 1) is about Christmas. Some of it is not. The Hallelujah Chorus actually follows this little ditty for tenor:

“Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;

Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Hallelujah!

You know what chorus from the Messiah is about Christmas? “For unto us a Child is born.”

This is at least the second time I’ve done Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata, but I can’t remember where I did it before. Boston? Paris? Maybe my first church in NY (the one that fired me), as I recall the director had been a student of Pinkham’s.

Anyway, it has three movements and they are really great, and there is brass. The Gloria (3rd movement) is probably the best-known. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a professional recording of it on YouTube, but at least this one has a nice tempo.

The cool thing about this movement is the way the refrain is so catchy and traditional sounding, then the verses kind of come out of nowhere. Also cool is the brass during the last round of Glorias. They are pretty held back until then.

Hope to see some of you tomorrow night at St. James!

I remember the solo lines in this piece being one of the first solos I did at the American Cathedral in Paris. Happy memories! I miss Paris!

Incidentally, we are singing this at the St. James Cathedral Christmas Concert on Saturday at 7pm. Come if you can make it!

Ceremony of Carols is popular not only because the tunes are lovely, but because it’s written for treble choir, which usually means kids, which means lots of parents have been dragged to see this. Also, it’s accompanied by harp, so you don’t have to pay a whole orchestra. It has my seal of approval because I have a weakness for antique English texts, with their charming spellings and all.

I’d say the most-loved movement is the lullaby, Balulalow.

Tonight’s entry is Gustav Holst. In my Boston days, I sung his “4 Songs for Voice and Violin” at my farewell recital (before moving to France, not before retiring). Fortunately the recital was recorded, and when I rediscovered the recording years later, I decided that it was most excellent.

This is from 2002. 9 years ago!!! It’s the most “Christmas-y” of the lot, but some of the others are quite likeable, so I encourage you to explore the set.

(Incidentally, this track and the others in the set are currently free downloads. Get ‘em before I change my mind!)