appaws
Banned
So I decided to put together a really high end evening for our anniversary.
This weekend I took my wife to Chicago to the Lyric Opera to see Madama Butterfly, by Puccini. It was our 16th Anniversary. We had a nice dinner first at an Italian place called Nonnina. Our seats were the best seats you can get at the Lyric, in a center private box. They were $579 each, so it was hard for me to get over the sticker shock and even make the purchase of 1100+ dollars after all the fees and shit for one night of entertainment. I mean, that is almost what we pay for our Kentucky Football season tickets, just for one night! I wore my nicest lawyer suit, my wife looked gorgeous in a red dress, with a black sequined jacket. I got the hotel to have a bottle of champagne on ice waiting for us when we got back. I'm the man.
The show was amazing. Obviously, being at the Lyric means that for being a singer or musician, that is like the elite level. These people are like the NFL level of singers. (Its so crazy, they fill that giant place with their voices with no amplification!) The story is super dark, a story of love and betrayal and death. It is super interesting seeing an Italian opera that features the story of an American sailor falling in love with a Japanese woman in the late 1800s. We are so used to media reflecting our view of the world, it is interesting seeing how a European understood (or misunderstood) Americans and Japanese. Some of the lines about American adventurers and swashbucklers going around the world "wherever we want" come off really funny today. "Butterfly," the main character comments on the "fat and lazy" Japanese Gods, who are slow to answer prayers, hidebound and traditional...and the American God who moves quick and rewards his followers. I think Puccini was contrasting dynamic 19th Century Anglo-American Protestantism just as much with Catholic Europe as with Japan.
Anyway I highly recommend the experience. Most of the time I would just want that Punk Rock show and Old Styles, but we all need to broaden our horizons sometimes. (...and impress girls, even our wives.)
This weekend I took my wife to Chicago to the Lyric Opera to see Madama Butterfly, by Puccini. It was our 16th Anniversary. We had a nice dinner first at an Italian place called Nonnina. Our seats were the best seats you can get at the Lyric, in a center private box. They were $579 each, so it was hard for me to get over the sticker shock and even make the purchase of 1100+ dollars after all the fees and shit for one night of entertainment. I mean, that is almost what we pay for our Kentucky Football season tickets, just for one night! I wore my nicest lawyer suit, my wife looked gorgeous in a red dress, with a black sequined jacket. I got the hotel to have a bottle of champagne on ice waiting for us when we got back. I'm the man.
The show was amazing. Obviously, being at the Lyric means that for being a singer or musician, that is like the elite level. These people are like the NFL level of singers. (Its so crazy, they fill that giant place with their voices with no amplification!) The story is super dark, a story of love and betrayal and death. It is super interesting seeing an Italian opera that features the story of an American sailor falling in love with a Japanese woman in the late 1800s. We are so used to media reflecting our view of the world, it is interesting seeing how a European understood (or misunderstood) Americans and Japanese. Some of the lines about American adventurers and swashbucklers going around the world "wherever we want" come off really funny today. "Butterfly," the main character comments on the "fat and lazy" Japanese Gods, who are slow to answer prayers, hidebound and traditional...and the American God who moves quick and rewards his followers. I think Puccini was contrasting dynamic 19th Century Anglo-American Protestantism just as much with Catholic Europe as with Japan.
Anyway I highly recommend the experience. Most of the time I would just want that Punk Rock show and Old Styles, but we all need to broaden our horizons sometimes. (...and impress girls, even our wives.)
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, I do not think opera would be for me but who knows if I get to 16 years of marriage I Might try it but not at those prices, would rather use that amount of money to go on a nice holiday.. sorry of subject, you know what you earnt that night at the opera. more power to you 
