As can be read on her own website, Natalia Orlova “is a classical singer and composer from St.Petersburg, Russia” – one who is equally at ease with classical material as with more contemporary sounds, as easily demonstrated by her own compositions (which can be sampled, again, on her website.)

She graduated from the Musical College of Rimskiy-Korsakov as a classical singer and then continued her higher professional education in the Theater Arts Academy on the department of the Musical Theater.
She started to give her first solo performances when she still studied at the second grade of the Musical College. Later she got the first price at the Francophone competition as the song writer for the songs that she composed and performed in French languages. So her first international concerts started in France.
There is no doubt, her vocal range impresses more than one professional of the same field and certainly captivates all music-lover’s heart with her unique way to perform that touches the cords of the soul.
Winner of numerous competitions and festivals both in her native St. Petersburg and abroad, Natalia Orlova has collaborated with several important orchestras such as the State Academic Symphonic Orchestra, The Admiralty orchestra, The Orchestra of the Radio and Television, the orchestra “Peter the Great”, etc…besides that, she also loves to often get involved and participate in charity projects…
Natalia Orlova can employ almost every vocal genres like classical operatic arias, the beautiful Russian folk songs, jazz, chanson, classic romances or romantic ballads of her personal composition.
She sang one of her personal compositions on November 11th, right here:

Наталья Орлова – as her name is truly spelled in her mother tongue – has got an angelic voice indeed. Her demeanor is that of a natural diva too; the way she made her entrance was veritably flamboyant as she walked down the main aisle at the perfect pace, carefully placing each step forward, advancing towards the improvised stage, so as to set the atmosphere for the entire evening which she handled masterfully indeed.

She alternated between classical and lyrical with ease and, after each piece, rousing applause and a few floral bouquets were only fitting as well as entirely required – for the souls of the audience had indeed been conquered by that time!

The lights illuminating the Basilique were alternating between colors most befitting of each piece and it all added to the magical atmosphere already permeating the august walls. With the aid of five local musicians (including the Basilica’s own organ player) Natalia Orlova truly enchanted her audience. The piano, guitar, balalaica and violin only accentuated that enchantment – all instruments perfectly mastered by their respective musician, each so honored to be a part of the event.

So many memorable renditions and pieces: from Novikov’s Nightingales to Zubov’s “Don’t Go Away” – from McCrae’s “In Flanders’ Field” to Schubert’s classical aria “Ave Maria”…! And her own creation too: Natalia Orlova’s own “Birch Tree” – do sample that one in particular on her website, you will be enchanted!

Her singing, heartfelt commentary between two songs and the all-around aura about her tell of a diva different from other divas: one who believes in God sincerely, knows it is a great Gift from Him that she received to be so musically gifted and one who realizes that she has the role, in effect, to bridge the gap between Heaven and Earth with this talent for music.

Her special care and attention to focus upon the souls of the departed soldiers, right from the onset of the concert, was especially touching as much as it was à propos for us here on the TLB Prime Network – even more so, we could say, than her nice gesture to include her magnificent rendition of “ô Canada” as her finale for the evening! Verily, it was another admirable gesture on her part.

Oui, Je me souviendrai toujours… du concert “Je Me Souviens… From Russia With Love” de la DIVA de St-Pétersburg, Natalia Orlova!

Make sure that you click on each and every picture for a few extras both about the concert as from the diva herself. Spaciba!

1910 – back when women kicked major @$$…! How things change in a 100 years, eh…

Aye – twas a fine evening of refinement at the theater; the famed théãtre du Rideau Vert, to be more specific. An evening of fine art.
Or rather an afternoon – not an evening at all, because the dernière (opposite of premiere) of the play was at 4pm – Eastern Standard Time!

And the play was… bitter Gorki (boy – that is redundant! But purposefully so – so it goes!) revisited by Russian metteur en scène extraordinaire Alexandre Marine’s version of VASSA! Of course – who better than a Russian to adapt and modernize another Russian’s masterpiece? And, I must say, the old Mariner of the stage did a masterful modernized adaptation of this classic – and just in time for its 100th anniversary too! (100th anniversary – and third collaboration between him and the stage diva of the stage that stars in it!) An adaptation so innovative too, different from previous takes on it in so many ways…

Of course the entire enterprise is well-served by a cast that is as colorful Éas it is well-trained; starting with the matriarch herself, perfectly embodied by the local diva of the Canadian stage (on the Quebec side, anyhow) Sylvie Drapeau! From there, Marine found all the suitable thespians to surround her solidly and effectively: Catherine De Léan, Jean-François Casabonne, Marc Paquet, Hubert Proulx and Evelyne Brochu, to name but them.

It was not difficult to see the reason why, mid-way through this run, Sylvie Drapeau had to take a few days rest, on doctor’s orders. For it is indeed a very physical play in which virtually everyone on stage has to get physical at some point or another: dance numbers, so many elaborate choreographies worthy of a music video that have to be repeated day after day, not to mention the fight scenes and other types of physicality as well… (On two occasions, at least, the matriarch Vassa is found slamming her hands hard on the wooden table visibly made of massive oak. On another occasion, earlier in the play, she smashes a tea cup with a hammer that appears in her hands out of nowhere! She slaps her daughter-in-law, her maiden servant and her son on three different altercations. She wrestles with her lover, trying to wrangle free of his strong arms as he lifts her effortlessly – aye, I was impressed by the strength of the stocky goateed man! But that is another story… In the near finale, with all characters on stage, it looks like a battle royale as a brawl erupts and the deformed nephew is found kicking his promiscuous uncle into oblivion! ‘Tis a very violent play, I tell you; or rather Marine’s adaptation focuses on the violence more than others ever did before! But I am digressing now… Yet again…) All this to say that, most certainly, all of this extra exercise added to the already exhausting mental gesticulation of having to memorize and articulately deliver each and every line, every single time, it had to be more than enough to drain Mrs. Drapeau of all of her creative energy – for a time! At least long enough to justify “le repos forcé” and the cancellation of a handful of représentations… (More than two – as many as five, or so I heard through the grapevine…?)

I sincerely doubt that the play was delivered every bit as well as it was on October the 16th – especially on premiere night, the actors must have been still at phase one of fine tuning their roles. The characterization was only planned out at that stage – not put in use in any other context than one of a repetition. After weeks of this fine tuning process, they can only improve with each performance. On the final evening (or afternoon, yes) the best had to come out; due to both factors.

Thus I sincerely hope that they videotaped the performance that I saw live, on October 16th, with my beloved spouse. It was, verily, a fine evening of the arts – in the afternoon, granted, but everyone could have an early dinner for that fact! And an earlier Saturday night brewski for that matter – but that is another story… again!

‘Twas time to remember the winning squad that paid the price, went all the way and won it all, lo, forty years ago – the Boston Bruins 1970 Cup championship team, led by Bobby Orr, that is!

The current roster of Bruins cannot wait to do exactly the same – and, quite honestly, should have done so in recent times too!  They had the best team in 2009 to do it – and were arguably robbed blind in the process of achieving their destiny (again – sic). But that is another story, for other blogs…

Let us stay focus on the magic number 40 – the 40th, as it is here… And so, the Bruins honor a 40th anniversary – and wouldn’t you know that there is ALSO a 4oth anniversary coming up in just a few short months after that - and you would never guess where it is being painfully remembered…! Extremely painfully, yes… (At least by those who knew Pierre Laporte…)

Indeed, another 40th anniversary of note is the 40th of the October Crisis – a tiny bit further up north, in Boston’s arch-rival town, Montréal!

Isn’t it just great, eh, when two of the bitterest rivals there could be are found to be celebrating an anniversary apiece – one commemorating truly the best of times and, the other, having to remember only the worst of them? Any more ironic it could not get to be…!

For Boston, it is the remembrance of a joyful event. For Montreal, it will be the exact opposite – for they will be remembering the only time they actually felt the sharp sting of oppression up there (well, those who actually do remember at all – not necessarily the majority at all, even though everybody and their cousins have the words “Je Me Souviens” inscribed on their car’s license plate – the fact is that they DO NOT remember squat! If they did, they wouldn’t have repeated so many times the same sorry mistakes, blunders and assorted misteps! But that is another story…)

Oppression being, in this specific case, having a threat and seeing the military walking the streets, imposing curfews and suspecting one and all of being part of that threat – said threat being not much of a threat at all since it was the FLQ – the sorriest excuse for a terrorist group like you’ll never see in the Middle-East, for instance… But still – they killed a man. For not much of a cause at all, they took a life.  Thus, as such, the FLQ is to be taken on the same level of fanaticism that Al Qaida is, reputedly on a much larger scale. But that is if you believe that 9/11 was perpetrated by a bunch of amateurish hijackers and not an inside job aiming at triggering a baseless war with Iraq just for the oil that was in it for the USA – but that is another story, once more…  (Hey – maybe we’ll get into it in greater detail as we commemorate that anniversary too: the 10th anniversary of the day of infamy that saw the twin towers collapse and planes crash here and there… That anniversary is indeed approaching fast too. Maybe we’ll get into that as well – just maybe…)

The October Crisis, though, was, overall, much ado about almost nothing.  Yes, a man (Pierre Laporte) was kidnapped by the FLQ and was subsequently killed. He was a target of choice, being part of the government, but he was an odd choice since he was, quite evidently, a francophone. Had the FLQ wanted to truly terrorize their targets, they would have really lived up to that definition of a terrorist group by targeting a victim that belonged to their defined enemy, that being the anglophone population. Had they kidnapped and killed an anglophone (resorting to murder after their “demands” were not met with approval by the then mostly anglo Prime Minister of Canada – another Pierre – “P.E.T.” – Pierre Elliot Trudeau) their campaign of terror would have been far more, ah, terrorizing. And their impact far more real and felt throughout their land of origin, Québec – which was their goal, supposedly.  For, had they done that, the anglophone population would have likely started leaving in droves – the brainiest not stopping at Ontario but going further south; perhaps even to Boston, eh…?  Montreal, Quebec would have been depleted – and left to the “Québécois (im)pure laine” and the zillions of immigrants that would have been necessary to replenish the system there…! As it is, with the practically inexistent impact that the FLQ and any “mouvement indépendantiste” that exists in Québec, only millions of immigrants are necessary in order to palliate to their (also) ineffective birth rate…

Boston comes out of all this in a double-win or a win-win situation, indeed: for, 40 long years ago, as they gained new fans on both sides of the border with what would be one of two NHL championships in three years, the city had not to endure a flow of unwanted immigrants from the north coming in either…!

I wonder what Bobby Orr thought of the October Crisis that followed his Cup Championship that year…?

Bobby is from Ontario, after all…!

:!

Just like last year when we had 9/9/9… And the year before that saw us have an 8/8/8… And before that we had the magnanimous 7/7/7, of course… And the ominous 6/6/6 before that… And of course, before all that we had been prepared psychologically with the 5/5/5s through 1/1/1s…! And still, all this is not to mention that in the next two years, we will have an 11/11/11 and a 12/12/12 too (watch out for that one, folks!)

You get the idea!

These once-in-a-lifetime dates that we have been living in for the past decade are always golden occasions to verse apocalyptic on you – so why not indulge them all, apocalyptically indeed, even at the risk of becoming dangerously (and did I mention apocalyptically) redundant… hmm?

How better, I ask thee, than to indulge in music and stunning (dare I add… apocalyptically stunning too?) visuals, all merged chaotically enough on videoclips for our viewing pleasure, delight and collective fright as well?

Alas, not all appropriately apocalyptic videos are embeddable- but just enough of them (10) are and, barring any future unavailability due to the enforcing of youtube rules against copyright violations, they should still be in the near future. Apocalyptic videos such as this one:

If future apocalyptic conditions prevent the viewing of any of the videos linked above or embedded below – well, it really will not matter anymore, now will it?

Therefore, enjoy viewing – while you can!

And remember – God Is An Astronaut. So do not fret over the prospect of being blown to smithereens as in this video – so much cosmic particules that will scatter all over the universe – because, well, we will just go back to the place we came from, right? We are all made of stars, hmm?

And we will fall onto capable hands then!
At last!

(Yes – that was a jab at all of our incompetent governments – combined!)

The wrath’s gonna fall on you all right – or the sun will!

And, in the meantime, do not be afraid to go against the grain – even if they say that you’re going backwards! We’re all fading away, no matter what we do – hence, it *truly* doesn’t really matter anyway!

Do not let all that fading away into nothingness and oblivion discourage you too much, though – puh-leeeeze…!

That’s right, folks: do *not* stop believing – indubitably!
+++

It came to my attention that, in my state of ubiquitous luminescence across the world wide web, I have garnered a multi-faceted aura that mirrors quite faithfully both my multi-sided personality as also my amazing ability to indulge in multi-tasking!
That is all well, fine and dandy with me – since I wanted it that way from the very beginning! Who do you think uploaded all those luminous visualizations of moi in the first place… hmm? Here are just a few of these…

As a matter of fact, TLB Prime has, from time to time, showcased some of these pics already…
In the right corner here, a digitalized version of Young Luminous Me…! Or, as I like to call it, Luminoso En Herbe! Herbal teas now – no pot for me! It is currently subbing for me on MySpace.Com, i.o.w. my Luminous Space on MySpace! Below, we find another allusion to my luminous corporeal form – I like to call that one “Luminous After Dark”!

However, as much as it is all out there and, essentially, all over the place (forgive the Dylanism) – I seem to have lost one, at the front!
No battles are waged without casualties, as you well know…
The former profile pic I had put up at one of the fiercest battlegrounds I know (second only to sports-related message boards) was replaced by the one pic at the top left that represents the luminous early years…
I give it back to you, here and now, complete with the caption that I added to it, on a day like today; when throwing a fit…!
And then there is always this sketch that may well be my portrait… By the ever-talented Anonymous Artist…

And yes, to those in doubt, I will confirm that I am the star of my own world – just like you are the shooting one of yours! So shut your yap and admire my luminous logo once more now… *LOL*
Nota Bene: It is strongly suggested and even luminously recommended to play the following song as you peruse the visuals of this post – for a complete luminous experience! Thank You!

persuaders theme
http://stat.radioblogclub.com/radio.blog/skins/mini/player.swf

Two more faces of Luminous for you, TLB fans… (*lol*)

Very fascinating choice of words generated by the ”cyborg namedecoder” there (hmm – maybe I am a Terminator-type yet! *lol*)
I am most proud about the immediacy of certain alleged activities there – though purported to be a part of my ”agenda” and totally unfounded claims, I am nonetheless of the opinion that, if assassination should be attempted, it needs to be an immediate, swift action – yes! No beating around the bush with THAT! *LOL*
As for the sabotage – alas, it is self-inflicted most times here…
We are our own worst enemies – don’t you all know that yet?
The Adversary can only succeed in tying us in that department…
But that is yet ANOTHER umpteenth story – yes!
For another blog – and another time!
As for here and NOW…

Aww, let’s provide my luminous fans with yet MORE depictions of their adored, adorable and adoring Luminous Luciano (adoration is a two-way street too!)

May the REAL Luminous Luciano please stand up
- and shine on!

NOTA BENE:
I do not know why WordPress is like this – yet – but I invite you all to simply have a look how much more comprehensive Blogger is towards external sources of HTML (such as the radioblogclub music player widget or either “cyborg” version of me that simply do not show up back there anymore…!)

Because, over there, (most if not exactly) all that HTML produces concrete results; results that will not replicate here, somehow… For whatever reason it is… Just have a look here.

For Luminous (\ô/) Luciano ™ has finally arrived at WordPress.com.

And that is “Mr. Luminous” to you indeed, mister…! (See comments!)

Mea Culpa… NOT!

However…

I still have to apologize here 

to all of my contacts,

old and new,

for if you have been spammed in my name recently,

let it be known that it WAS

NOT ME;

there was an usurper to the throne here,

one vile scoundrel that DARED

to pass himself off as *luminous_luciano*

aka LUCIANO PIMENTEL

and who proceeded to send,

to aaaaall of my contacts list,

this inane, poorly scripted,

two-sentence long dumb mercantile bait…! 

LET IT BE KNOWN THAT,even though I have been involved in mercantilism,

commercialism and everything that has to do with capitalism,

in the last three years,

IT WAS NOT ME AND IT WILL NEVER BE ME WHO WOULD SEND SUCH A SILLY MESSAGE…!

I WOULD NEVER STOOP SO LOW!

Hence, my apologies to all who received this, even if you DID think it was truly coming from MOI…

My apologies, even, to Windows Live – whose customer support sent me, as a *donotreply* to the reply reply (!), a cryptic one-liner that simply read… *Ratatouille cleanup*.
Hmm…
I could not reply to that, of course, it being a *donotreply* reply and all…

Thus, here is the reply right here:

*SORRY FOR THE FACT THAT YOUR INADEQUATE SECURITY

ALLOWED FOR SOME UNSCRUPULOUS SPAMMER

TO USE MY ACCOUNT TO SEND THIS TO ALL OF MY CONTACTS – INCLUDING YOURSELF!

NOW CLEAN UP YOUR ACT – INDEED!*

The Windows Live Watchdog barked at me – but, at least, the Windows Live Writer (shamelessly plugged on the bottom of this page, as I type these very words) left me alone just now…

• Writer is a desktop application that makes it easy to publish rich
  content to your blog. Get offline editing, spell check, and more. Download for free

WLW… hmm… I kind of like that, though!

But I am beginning to digress right now…

Full STOP! 

I sincerely hope this usurpation and unauthorized use of both my copyrighted monicker and oldest e-mail account will never happen again.

Ratatouille embrouille or not! 

AND TO THE SPAMMER, I SAY THIS:
er… spam off!

  Technologie : Actualité : ContentPosting_BV_Actualite 

Imagine THAT – a cyber universe WITHOUT Microsoft!

How can it be?  Ask IBM…!  Not ME…! 

I shall remain mum about it anyway   

Don’t want to tick off Windows Live Spaces peeps anymore

(than I already have in the past, that is!) 

I can repeat here the KEY WORDS though:

Canonical… Ubuntu… Novell… SuSE… Red Hat… Linux… and IBM, of course!

Together (and it takes all of them, apparently) they can make it happen: they can put together a PC without any Microsoft software – ever again!

Wow – so much for that monopoly, eh?

The good news is – for Microsoft I mean – that they will never again be found guilty in a court of law of trying to goad the market to come to them only, with all these unfair monopolistic practices of old…  Rejoice! No judge anywhere will EVER convict you on those counts, Microsoft! Not ever AGAIN that is!

 

I would be remiss if I did not mention the key words of NOTE there, though:

UBUNTU – I am because we are – such is the meaning of that, I do believe!

That word inspired the Boston Celtics to win an incredible 82 games this past season, and become the NBA World Champions for a record 17th time!

Canonical has a more lithurgical resonance, of course…

Novell and Red Hat have their own cachet too, invoking other things…

And then there’s SuSE!     *lol*

It’s always nice to HAVE THE CHOICE – even GOD ALMIGHTY Gave us that, after all… Hence, we can only be thankful to Linux and IBM here…!

 

Citer ~ Quote

Nelly Furtado: ‘In God’s Hands’

Artiste: Nelly Furtado | �tiquette: Mosley / Geffen | Compositeur: Nelly Furtado, Rick Nowels

~Indubitably~

we are all in God’s Hands

His Omnipotent Hands

The problem is

we thread upon the earth where

the devil’s foot stands!