Street Opera

Today on my way home from class I heard the operatic voices of my new friends Litz and Robert and had to take their photo. As you'd guess, we got talking. Here is a summary:

Cara: How did you start singing together?

Litz: I followed his voice. I heard him singing and told him, I'm a soprano. He said prove it. So I started singing and Robert (who prefers to be called "Lord Close") said 'Meet me here on Monday."

Cara: How long have you been singing together in public?

Lord Close: Since '83, but I've done productions too...
[here is a synopsis of a pretty long monologue about his experiences, which I couldn't exactly capture on my small note pad... okay, I tuned out a bit too.]
...He went on to tell me that some famous Opera guy told him that he loved his voice but said 'you're still a little fat for opera.' He said many opera singers don't look that good, but Franco Corelli was a good looking guy. He had bad stage fright though and had barf bags off stage. He threw up 4 to 5 times a night.

At that point, a 'reclined' 'pimped-ride' drove by with 4 guys riding pretty low and Lord Close stopped mid-thought to wave and the guys who waved back.

Cara: Do you know them?

Lord Close: Yeah - they're rappers. You know Isaac Hayes once gave Litz a $50. Alicia Keys walked by with her lawyer and they each gave $10.

Litz then told me that the prior evening they had performed at "Rudy's" birthday party along with cover bands by the likes of "Shred Zeppelin," "The Back Doors," and "Pearl Essence; Janis Lives!"

If you want to catch the beautiful voices of Litz and Lord Close, you can find them on Grant Ave. off of Geary on Saturday and Sunday. But Litz won't be there next week because she is going to see her inlaws.

Lord Close: Litz got married to Kat; it's a same sex marriage. It's the trend now.