Hello and welcome back to the Texapolitan Opera Roadshow~ I’m Michael Mayes your host, and I am here to tell you that this week, we’re taking a little detour. Normally my guests consist of Singers, Directors, Conductors and the like, but this week I’ve made a slight departure, which I am sure you’ll find refreshing. Barihunks(click for site) is a website I’m sure you’ve all heard of. More and more, as newspapers cut their artistic staff, we’re relying on arts bloggers to fill in the void left by these cuts… and Mr. Barihunks, as we’ll call him, was one of the first out there on the cutting edge of opera blogging to put a crazy new spin on this phenomenon and exploit the trend of movie star casting in a very specific and unique way. His blog gets an enormous amount of traffic, both here and abroad, and is an excellent example of how grass roots action can be utilized to promote our beloved art form.
As always, make sure and head over to the website, www.texapolitanopera.com, and check out all of the other wonderful guests that have come on the show, or head to the iTunes store (Click Here!)where you can give the show a review, as well as subscribe for free and have the episodes automatically downloaded every week.
So, get out your body oil, manscaping kit, and p90x videos, because the Texapolitan Opera Roadshow is hunking it up with Mr. Barihunks himself…
TORS Barihunks
Elvis is my jesus
FWOP was not the festival in 1996 that it is now
You’ve come a long way baby
The deification of DKW
Edgy Choices and Donor Flight
6 hour long opera on OPENING NIGHT?
Soprano Baritone and lots of Bird Sounds
The Barihunks Dinner
I’ll fill up my Barihunk iPod with Willie and Hank
Getting to play a good ol’ boy
Channeling my inner frat boy for the rape scene
Ruphying the Barihunks
If you want to distract a Tenor, hand him a mirror
The genesis of Barihunks
3000 hits/day
Barihunks has a certain Germanic appeal
Baritones in high heels
I just think they ilke sex
This is the Golden Age of Baritones
The Baritone voice is the voice of the man
A boheme where Mimi goes for Marcello instead
Act 3 duet takes a turn for the worst
I HAVE GOT TO GET A KEY RING
BOOGA BOOGA is boring
Scarpia as the head of the IMF
Continuing the tradition of raping the African continent
Scarpia is more threatening if he’s dashing than just fat and slow
Greer is the Fabio of opera
A diaper is not a good look for the male form
Greer Grimsley scares children and eats voices
Keeping the bitchy catty bullshit out of the mix
The intent is to promote careers
Opera has to compete with movies and television
The pecs get them in the door…
Nudity is only permitted en scene
Sending obscene pics?.. thats not the way fella.
The Barihunks pin-up calendar in the making??
Heterosexual countertenors make sure and let you know
yeah, so what’s he gonna do with that
He’s an opera singer.. BUT HE’S MARRIED
He ain’t one of them fellers
Losing your sense of self on the road
Coming of the rails
No one wants to say no
“You’re a singer, sing.” – Roberto Mauro
There are people whose job it is to know
That’s why we have coaches
50 is when the REALLY great roles start
All i’ve wanted to do is get older
25 yrs old today is like 15 back then
The great Dons are the older ones
Score with the ladies
I want to hear more about your cat…
Shattering the Mysterious Opera Singer
Opening yourself to the weirdness
Sexuality is not to be hidden
On the whole, its been positive
Spousal Pride produces the most content
Sending in stuff of yourself…
Trying to not be mean
Angry German Emails
Once you put yourself out there, it changes the way you interact with people
Everyone thinks they’re a celebrity/political commentator
The hyper-correctors
You’re an opera FAN not an opera EXPERT
CBC, LA Times,
Barihunks has made it into the operatic lexicon, in print
Will it make it into the Webster Dictionary
Mr. Barihunk
The power of the blogger/podcaster
How television/movies have affected casting in the opera world
BariCHUNK?
Bearihunk
There ain’t a whole lot of Manscaping going on in prison
Are you playing a 12 yr old?
GIOVANNI WOULD HAVE HAD CHEST HAIR
Crotch fleas? no those are crabs
The Don definitely had the clap
Restasis~ eye herpes? REALLY???
Waco strip clubs…
Thank you Suzanne Summers
Fort Worth Love Fest
If you’re not using social media, you are at an immediate social disadvantage
You can’t beat free
Video Blasts WORK
HD Broadcasts
One performer on the Broadcast will be seen by more people in one shot that Rosa Ponselle and Caruso put together
Exposure is good, any kind at all
I could totally take Robert Redford
The passion of the artform manifests itself in so many positive ways
Creating Fans
Turning up the static
The Chosen Ones
This business is about sticking around
LA Opera’s ring should have been punished
You don’t put Gordon Hawkins in a giant mask that hides his face
I never want to be the most experienced person in the room
The vacuum of informed musical criticism
Bloggers are filling the void
Operanow tells it like it is
The emperor has no clothes phenomenon
If the singers are great, everything else can be forgiven
We’re saturated with beautiful images… we need to accommodate that
GImmicks get you in the door, but the artistry brings you back…
Holograms? In Opera? yeah, that’s DKW
Imitation, Flattery, and all that
Let’s walk down there and f*ck all them cows
Thomas Allen and Mark Delavan, my frosted and wheat sides
Vale Rideout, the definitive Pace Pace Gioia Gioia
That’s a wild interview. Lots of fun and completely off the wall!