I ran to the store just now, and NPR, which is the station the car radio is tuned to, is broadcasting World of Opera, a weekly showcase of a wide variety of operas. I suppose the idea is to make opera accessible and approachable. At any rate, this week’s program was a production of Bizet’s Carmen by the Houston Grand Opera. I don’t care much for their Carmen, but the tenor singing the part of Don José sounds just like Steve. I put the production on streaming audio here on the computer, and Steve agreed that it did sound somewhat like him, although I don’t think he agrees that the tenor sounds just like him. The tenor’s name is Marcus Haddock.

A lot of Steve’s regular readers laud him for his writing talents, and Steve surely does love to write and is beginning to receive attention for his writing, but I have always felt Steve did not take his musical talent as far as he could have. If he had, he might be on that recording. He’ll probably grumble about me saying this, but in many ways, he has been his own worst enemy as far as establishing a career as a tenor. I know that his family holds him back, too. Frankly, he’d probably need to go to Europe in order to really establish a career, and I’m not ready to do that. I don’t think he really is either, truth be told. I have come to the conclusion that he never really wanted a career as an opera singer, but pursued opera because he was good at it. If he needed to do it, I think he would be doing it. In some ways, it’s sad; I’m sure there are a great many tenors with a real fire in their belly to be professional tenors, but they don’t have the talent Steve does. Doesn’t seem really fair, does it?