Maybe Samuel Clemens was infatuated with General Ulysses S. Grant.  Maybe General Grant really was a great guy.  Wiki him and you can see that he did a lot of Good.  Why his bust is not among the others on Mount Rushmore is an honest question.

Grant was a Republican.  But one must remember that the ideology of Republicans and Democrats back then are 180-degrees from what they are now.  Former slaves adored the Republicans because the Republican Abraham Lincoln freed them.  The Democrats back then were the carpet-baggers going into the south to scope out a freebie seat to Congress.

But enough about politics of 1880s.

In one of the first chapters of Mark Twain's Autobiography, which came out this week (and weighing in at a hefty, deathly hallowed 735 pages), Mark had a lot to say about the former president U.S. Grant.  All of it makes General Grant appear to be the most magnanimous and charitable person ever.  Grant used his prestige and office to benefit those who beseeched him, but only if the request was warranted.  I'm sure if someone wanted his neighbor rubbed out, Grant would not have intervened.  Grant was a friend of China and helped resolved some issues with a backwards thinking administration in China that wanted to take back some chinese students studying abroad in the United States.


Twain's description and vivid illustration of Grant paints the Civil War General as a most dynamic, charming, magnanimous, intelligent and kind-hearted man.  His presidential administration was tainted with corruption, but the man, apparently, was incorruptible.  I find his (Grant's) generosity a stark contrast to the recent former president, who quickly (ghost-) wrote a memoir, only to hustle it by going on various television talk shows and tell people to, "buy the book!"  Puh-leeze.

I went this evening to see The Makropulos Case, an opera by Leo Janacek at the War Memorial Opera House with the SF Opera.

Wow, what an opera!  Ok, let's get this out of the way:  no memorable arias, no hummable tunes to walk home with, nothing special except an incredibly entrancing story.  And, at least in this production, sensuous and seductive acting by the incomprably sexy Karita Mattila, who plays the title character, Elina Makropulos (or Ellian MacGregor or Emilia Marty or Eugenia Montez).

I managed to score a ticket at the steps of the War Memorial from this very nice lady who needed to sell her ticket.  $20 for a nose-bleed section of the seating area.  (I've done this before and managed to get a ticket to Tannhauser for free and at a much better location.)  The Makropulous Case, not being one of the operatic warhorses, didn't get a full house.  Oh well, others' loss.  Those of us who attended can certainly claim we had a great experience.

The staging and lighting were amazing.  I would like to know how it was done during Janacek's time, when all the fancy lighting and stage movements were not available to him.  In our case, time was the main theme.  We see an imposing clock that tells the actual time (the opera ran 2:15, according to this clock).  Everything hinges on time.

I won't bother explaining the story line: you can google or wiki it.  What made this opera fascinating was the story, the costume and staging, and the eerie yet sexy overtones of the story.  Of course, Karita's portrayal of Emilia Marty/Elina Makropulos was incendiary.  She made it scathingly hot and I applaud her efforts.  Too often, the lead soprano role is sung unmovingly with the singer's feet firmly planted to one spot on the stage.  Great for the voice, but makes for bad action.

Karita made the story compelling with her acting as well as her singing.  I can see this film noir opera going on the silver screen.  It probably won't be set to the operatic score, but this story can be told in a number of ways.


If you're reading this around November 10, 2010, I urge you to go and see it for yourself.  Go scalp a ticket or two from those who have the ticket, but can't see it that evening.  It's a novel experience, no doubt about it.